Attacked for teaching the truth

Bishop Robert Morlino has been doing his job as a shepherd in both guiding the flock and defending against attacks for….teaching what the Church teaches.

Now look at just the headline alone in this story. You know where it’s going when it starts out with the words “pro-choice advocate.” The person thus referred to is a Catholic politician named Nancy Keenan, who was confronted by Bishop Morlino for her position on abortion. Good for him. But the article doesn’t reflect that sentiment.

How can [you] hold this position as a Catholic?” the bishop asked her.

    “You can dictate in the halls of the cathedral,” Keenan told him, “but you can’t dictate in the halls of the capitol.”

    Then a Montana state government official, Keenan firmly held the view that you should “stand by what you believe in” — even if it meant defying your own church by supporting abortion rights.

That conviction has guided Keenan since the beginning of her political career. She is now president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, one of the country’s largest abortion rights groups, where her mandate is to help get pro-choice political candidates elected.

This loaded language is so tendentious, it should be labeled an editorial.

It’s the job of the bishops to teach what the Church teaches, and the fact that it applies to everyone and should inform everything you do. Some values drive every decision, action, choice and law. The clash of orthodoxies, which is how Princeton Professor Robert George describes it, is between the secular orthodox and the religious orthodox. The former is a pseudo-religion.

But orthodox secularists hold a lot of power in the academic world, in politics, law and the media. So they use their platforms to promote their orthodoxy. But they try to bully people like Catholic bishops who apply teachings of the Church to the issues of the day.

The Bishop of Madison, Wisconsin, is defending his right to inform Catholics about the Church’s stance on issues of faith and morals after a watchdog group accused him and the diocese of electioneering in the weeks leading up to a vote on the state’s proposed same-sex marriage referendum.

According to a press release issued by the Diocese of Madison, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign filed a complaint with the Elections Board over the appropriateness of a brochure on the marriage debate, which the diocese created and distributed directly to its parishioners.

“To claim that I must pay a fee and report to the state about my teaching activities in Catholic venues blatantly violates the rights of myself and my sister and brother Catholics to the free exercise of religion,” said Bishop Robert Morlino in a statement.

“To have my teaching about marriage in Catholic venues called ‘electioneering’, so as to seek the imposition of penalties from the state, seems an attempt to intimidate the Catholic Church as we try to teach the truth in an admittedly volatile atmosphere,” he added. 

Way to go, Bishop. Same for the diocesan communications office for their response.

While the Church “does not play partisan politics … this does not mean that when important issues arise, the Church will remain quiet while the truths of the dignity of the human person and of Christ are being threatened,” the diocesan statement reads. “The Church and her members have a moral responsibility to engage the culture and political world in which we live.”

To which Morlino added:

“As we move ahead in the future, I will do everything to support authentic human rights for all people. The right to redefine marriage is not one of those authentic human rights.”

“Saint John the Baptist laid down his life to protect the marriage bond.  Throughout the history of the Catholic Church the Popes, the successors of Saint Peter, have similarly defended the marriage bond specifically, even up to the present in the case of Pope Benedict XVI.  It is my responsibility and obligation to maintain that communion,” Morlino said.

Unapologetic and unafraid. That’s the kind of courageous witness we need in this clash of orthodoxies.