Bishop Morlino vs. Platteville Catholics

[47of74]

Bishop Morlino of Madison, Wisconsin is throwing his weight around with Platteville area Catholics;

Madison Catholic Bishop Robert Morlino has moved to quell a backlash against a group of conservative priests in Platteville by warning parishioners they risk formal church censure unless they stop spreading "rumors and gossip."

The action by Morlino, which two Catholic scholars called highly unusual, appears to include the possibility of offenders being prohibited from taking part in church sacraments such as communion, confession and burial.

The warning came in a five-page letter Wednesday from Morlino to St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Platteville. The congregation has been roiled by opposition to the traditionalist priests, who began serving the parish in June 2010.

Within months, church donations fell by more than half, and about 40 percent of the church’s 1,200 members signed a petition seeking the priests’ ouster. The church’s 77-year-old school is set to close June 1, a loss many parishioners tie directly to the collapse of donations.

[rug]

1. He can't bar a Catholic from Confession.

[47of74]

2. He'd probably love to try

[rug]

3. It's probably sloppy reporting.

He's likely talking about an excommunication or an interdict that only the bishop or Pope can lift, but that's not Confession.

Can you imagine a bishop withholding absolution, not to mention barring a Catholic from entering the confessional?

What a bozo.

[47of74]

4. It seems these days that Bozo is in the job description...

...for a Bishop.

[hedgehog]

5. Hmmm...... one parish has decided to let their wallets do the talking and it's a national story...

what if 2 parishes let their wallets do the talking?

[47of74]

6. The Bishops would really be marking their laundry then.

[Syte]

7. Imbalanced reporting

It's from the Wisconsin State Journal and it's imbalanced reporting.
A better perspective : http://sytereitz.com/2012/04/wisconsin-state-journal-inflames-parish-conflict-with-imbalanced-reporting/

[uppityperson]

8. Welcome to DU. If you have issues with 60%-40%, tell me about these statistics...

"America is mostly conservative (Gallup 2012: 40% Conservative, 30% moderate, and 21% liberal)."

Does 40% = "mostly conservative"? Is this balanced or imbalanced reporting? I am curious as to your opinion. Thank you.

[47of74]

9. Don't bother waiting for an answer

He's already had a meeting with a member of MIRT...

[Matilda]

10. It's also reported in NCR

Link here: http://ncronline.org/news/faith-parish/wisconsin-bishop-threatens-denial-sacraments-rumors-and-gossip

If it's correct, it's very disturbing - to even think about excommunicating somebody for speaking their mind is an abuse of power. Excommunication is a terrible thing to threaten anybody with, and should only be used for the most serious offences, and then only when all mediation has failed. I don't think Christ was ever in a hurry to cut people off from God.

There is a move - and it comes from Rome - to bar altar girls and even lay Ministers of the Eucharist, except in cases where there is no alternative. Similarly, the Second Rite of Reconciliation is frowned on. In our church, all three are the norm (although we have few young altar servers of either sex these days - I guess it isn't cool), but I know of other parishes where the laity play a very passive role. I really can't see how anybody is harmed by having girls serve at the altar, or the laity giving communion. And I find it much more productive to sit down with a priest and discuss a problem face to face in an honest way rather than kneeling in a confessional and reciting a list of sins by rote. These things should be a matter of style and left up to the parishes to decide.

[hedgehog]

12. Priests in the US consider the Second Rite to be ilicit and don't offer it!

I think mainly because they didn't read the memo!

[Matilda]

13. It's certainly frowned upon by the Vatican,

except in "emergency" situations, whatever they may be. Our priests offer it at Easter and Christmas. We still have the First Rite weekly on Saturday afternoons, but the old confessionals are now used for closets (which I find just a little bit sad).

[demosincebirth]

11. Instead of taking the Church forward they are taking it backwards.

[meow2u3]

14. Feeneyism: the heresy of right-wing "Catholics"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feeneyism

Fr. Leonard Feeney
Main article: Leonard Feeney

Fr. Feeney had originally been a Roman Catholic priest and a member of the Jesuits. The Jesuit order dismissed Fr. Feeney in 1949 on account of disobedience, and on 4 February 1953 the Holy Office (now the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) declared him excommunicated "on account of grave disobedience to Church Authority, being unmoved by repeated warnings".[1] He was reconciled to the Church in 1972.[2] Fr. Feeney co-founded the group known as the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.