Astonishingly Perceptive Wisconsin State Journal Article Portrays Bishop Morlino in 2004

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Treasures in My Basement
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DIOCESE HAS NEVER HAD A BISHOP LIKE MORLINO

HE WADES INTO CONTROVERSY, BUT HE IS TOLERANT OF THOSE WHO DISAGREE WITH HIM.

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Bishop Morlino’s address to the World Future Society was one of his early encounters with secular Madison and was entitled “The Future of Religion.” It was presented at Fluno Hall on the University of Wisconsin Madison campus.  Bishop Morlino pointed out during that address that Democracy maximizes individual freedom and minimizes restraint by the government.  Thus it requires free self-restraint, which makes sense only in a religious framework.  Government ought to favor authentic religion– when self-restraint under God is promoted, the government has less restraining to do.  Religion, therefore, must have a future if democracy is to have a future. In hindsight now in 2019 with Antifa type disorder rampant, this prediction by Bishop Morlino made 15 years ago (in 2003) comes across particularly inspired.

*** By William R. Wineke Wisconsin State Journal Six months after becoming spiritual leader of 265,000 Roman Catholics in southern Wisconsin, Robert Morlino is proving to be a bishop far different from any the Madison Catholic Diocese has seen before. He is at once more self-assured and, paradoxically, more humble than any of his predecessors, more willing to engage in public controversy on behalf of his church and more tolerant of those who disagree, a man who seems at ease with himself, his values and his abilities. He also begins his leadership of the diocese at a time when trends in the church that have been occurring for years are reaching crisis proportions. His priests are getting older and there are a few replacements in the pipeline. The result is that each pastor serves an increasing number of parishioners each year, parishes are being merged and ongoing scandals in the church at large are testing the faith of Catholics locally. Perhaps his biggest challenge, however, is confronting what Morlino sees as a pervasive secularism in Madison. Morlino said his first six months here have convinced him of the necessity for dialogue with the outside culture. “Madison has to face all the challenges of secularism,“ he said. “I think the challenge in Madison is to enter into dialogue with the culture that is secular. To strengthen people’s faith requires some flexibility and versatility.“ He says he is somewhat surprised by the extent of the secular culture here and by what he perceives as a split between the culture of Madison and of the rest of the 11-county diocese. “I knew it theoretically before I came here, but I didn’t realize how strong that culture is,” he said. He does much of his teaching through his column in the diocesan newspaper, The Catholic Herald. In a recent column dealing with the referendum on expanding gambling at Madison’s DeJope  bingo hall, Morlino put the whole issue into the reference of the cities alleged secularism. He said it is hard to argue against gambling in the city that welcomes abortion and the production of anti-Catholic plays, such as “Corpus Christi,“ a play that portrays Jesus and his disciples as gay. A national organization, America needs Fatima, has organized a protest against its performance, which is scheduled for March 5-27 at the Bartell  Theater. “The kind of community we are seems to indicate a high comfort level with virtually no public morality,“ he said. But, he asked, “is that really the kind of community we want to be in the Diocese of Madison and in the state of Wisconsin looking into the future?“ His column reported in the front page story in the Wisconsin State Journal, elicited responses of both support and outrage. Both the State Journal’s and the Capital Times’ editorial pages criticized Morlino‘s position, and Capital Times columnist (Aside from Syte: calumnist?😂) Doug Moe wrote a piece on the newspaper’s front page taking the Bishop to task. The common thread in the editorial response was that Morlino hasn’t lived here long enough to pass judgment. Those who argue with him tend to do so from the perspective that in a pluralistic society, secular values of open-mindedness should prevail. The State Journal’s editorial page, for example, has been barraged with letters supporting and opposing Morlino. Philip Keillor, a Madison activist with a history of working with the poor, noted the city’s hard work in providing shelter for the homeless and suggested “moral minimums in our community seem to be developed on issues when there is enough agreement to ‘make it happen’ and those who remain uninvolved either accept or don’t strongly oppose controversial activities. And the Rev. E. Ellwood Carey, retired pastor of Parkside Presbyterian Church, suggested there is “nothing in Christian scriptures that reveals Jesus’ sexuality, so a word of caution regarding assumptions is appropriate.“ Many Catholic readers, on the other hand, argue that a Bishop’s letter to the people of his diocese should not be read as an allegation of immorality on the part of non-believers. Mary Weisensel, Sun Prairie, a Catholic laywoman  long active in church causes, noted that “a closer examination of the bishops column in our diocesan newspaper reveals that he cast no stones, he only sought to help us think through a moral issue. That’s what bishops are supposed to do…” What the flap demonstrates more than anything is that Morlino does not duck controversy. His recurring theme is that there is an “objective public morality, a moral truth.“ In Thursday’s column, for example, he said “our freedom is accountable to the moral truth and, as I have written so many times, the fact that something is done freely does not make it morally right, that should be obvious.“ He use the column to criticize the Super Bowl performance, in which the singer Janet Jackson’s bodice was ripped off to reveal one of her breasts during the nation’s most watched television event. He also commented on reducing love to its “sensual dimensions,“ adding that the “ongoing effort to assert into the civic life of our country and our culture the right to redefine marriage“ is “certainly not among the inalienable rights conferred upon each human person according to the mind of our nation’s architects from the beginning.“ Morlino, 57, who succeeded Bishop William Bullock last August, is the fourth Bishop to serve the 11-county Madison Catholic Diocese. He is a native of Pennsylvania, the only child of a Scranton couple. His mother died when he was a teenager. Morlino was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1974. He holds a bachelors degree in philosophy from Fordham University, a masters degree in philosophy from the University of Notre Dame and a doctorate in moral theology from the Gregorian University in Rome. He is a large enthusiastic man who appears to enjoy company, love sports and doesn’t like being bound by rigid schedules. He doesn’t talk “down“ to people – which means, also, that he expects people to be able to hold their own when they speak with him. He had a diocese that was formed in 1946 and was led, successively, by bishops William O’Connor, who served from 1946 to 1967, Cletus O’Donnell, who served from 1967 to 1992 and Bullock, who served until 2003. If their tenures could be described by a single word – none would wish to be so described — O’Connor was a builder; O’Donnell was a national leader, Bullock was an administrator and Morlino is a teacher. Audio for many of Bishop Morlino’s homilies is available at the Cathedral Parish Media Archive – click above text for link and search “Morlino.” He seems perfectly willing to challenge a society he thinks is too secular and seems to have no questions about his ability to do so. However Morlino also insists on respect for those who disagree. He says that, in dialogue with the secular world, he is convinced that “the truth wins out by its own gentle power.“ Morlino writes long pastoral letters each Thursday in the Catholic Herald, on subjects ranging from support for the controversial orders of LaCrosse Bishop Raymond Burke (now Archbishop of St. Louis) on giving Communion to legislators who support abortion, to analysis of the best-selling novel “The DaVinci Code,“ to Marian devotions. Lorraine Endres of Waunakee, a Catholic laywoman who says she hopes to be considered a good Catholic but who is not known as an activist, says most of what she knows about her new Bishop comes from his pastoral letters. “I haven’t met him personally, but I think he’s going to be good for the diocese,“ she said. “He’s pro-life and he lets people know it. I read his column in the Herald every week and it’s easy to understand where he’s coming from. He’s down to earth and he lets people know what he thinks.“ Morlino confronted his Priests with a tightly reasoned multi-page letter on changes in Catholic worship having to do with confession and First Communion and, when asked by some priests for a simpler version they could share with their parishioners, he replied that cutting it down to five pages was as far as he could justifiably go. If Morlino expects his priests to bone up on their theology, however, he has also scored points with those same priests by announcing he won’t even read unsigned letters complaining about them. “I think he brings a great deal of renewed optimism to the diocese,“ said the Rev. Felix Oehrlein, pastor of Saint Cecilia Catholic Church in Wisconsin Dells. “He’s been very affirming. At our recent gathering of priests, he had a town-hall meeting, sat down with us for a couple of hours and just anyone who had something to say to stand up and say it. He wasn’t defensive about anything.” At the same time, Morlino has spent comparatively little time on administering the diocese, something Bullock prided himself as doing. During his first six months as Madison‘s bishop, he travel to other states for days and weeks at a time, sometimes to for fill commitments he made before arriving here, sometimes to take a few days off. In an interview with the state journal, Morlino said it’s all a matter of emphasizing a bishop’s talents. “There are bishops who hover with their investment officers and develop financial strategies,“ he said. “No one would be more useless at that than me. There are lay people with far more financial skills than I have and I think we ought to let them use those skills for the good of the church.“ Much of the work of actually administering the diocese has fallen to his vicar general, or second in command, Monsignor Paul Swain (Aside from Syte: now Bishop of  Sioux Falls) who, nevertheless, says Morlino has brought a sense of zest to the office. Morlino may have best explained his concepts of personal strengths in a talk to diocesan young people recently in Wisconsin Dells. Comparing life to jigsaw puzzle, Morlino said, “I can’t go anywhere I want. Every piece is fitted to occupy a certain spot. I know I have strengths and weaknesses and if I don’t like my strengths and weaknesses, if I don’t accept them, there is no joy.” Morlino stunned his staff at the Bishop O’Connor Pastoral Center by giving each person two weeks off over the Christmas season. Those who had to work to keep the facility running were told to take extra vacation time later in the year. Telling his staff to take more time off also has its pastoral side, Morlino suggested. “Our culture really does need to slow down,“ he said. “What drives it is the materialism of our age. If you’re never satisfied with what you have, there’s only one way to get more and that is to work longer hours and that has its effect on all sorts of other values.“ As for himself, Morlino confessed, “I know I don’t make my best decisions when I’m overtired.“ Morlino raised some eyebrows locally when, shortly after being installed as Bishop, he joined a group of abortion opponents in a march to an abortion clinic, where he recited the rosary. People weren’t surprised that he opposes abortion – all Catholic bishops do – but his predecessors hadn’t been involved in public marches. Perhaps more telling than Morlino‘s participation, however, was his admonition to his fellow marchers to love their opponents. “When someone is promoting error, that error has to be corrected, of course,“ Morlino said then. “But the person promoting the error never loses that dignity and sacredness of the human person.“ Morlino said that’s just basic Catholic teaching. He applied the same judgment to politicians who may not conform to church teachings. “I can’t judge the heart of an individual, but, objectively, those who hold public office and are in public positions have to be challenged, not only for the good of their souls and the state of their own faith,“ he said, adding that if politicians “publicly promote things we can’t abide by, that becomes sinful for them and scandalous for the Catholic community.“ The issue, Morlino continued, isn’t that politicians must take orders from the church, but they must live up to their own vocations. Morlino’s strong stance on social and moral issues seems to be popular with his fellow Catholics, many of whom are writing to the newspapers in support of him. Within his church, Morlino has been most controversial in Baraboo, where the pastor of Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church, the Reverend Gerald Vosen, was accused of sexual improprieties and was removed from office last September. The man Vosen is accused of abusing denies the allegations (they were made by the man’s sister), but Morlino and the diocesan body charged with investigating sexual abuse charges have neither confirmed the charges nor returned Vosen to his pulpit. Morlino suggested, obliquely, that other allegations may have been made. At any rate, Saint Joseph parishioners– and even pastors of Protestant congregations in Baraboo – have protested and marched against what they perceive to be Morlino’s inaction. Morlino scoffs at the one-word descriptions of Bishop’s records cited above. “I don’t think of myself as coming to leave a mark,“ he said. “I think the bishop should do what the church wants him to do and that is to try to create an environment in which every person, every day, is invited to meet Christ, risen from the dead, in a gentle and kind the way.“ He added: “I am not the Messiah and things may go awry. But, the gifts I have, I will use. If it turns out later that I have left a mark so be it.“

“I am not the Messiah and things may go awry. But, the gifts I have, I will use. If it turns out later that I have left a mark so be it.“ – Bishop Morlino

Bishop Morlino has certainly made a very positive and very remarkable mark in Madison, and his mark includes:

40 new priests
30 seminarians
Perpetual Adoration Chapel in Madison (well know by Faithful Catholics to generate priestly vocations)
New St. Paul’s Campus Catholic Center at UW Madison (preserving the faith of our youth and generating numerous vocations)
Opening discussion of relativism and the importance of moral truth
Courageous defense of life and marriage
Opposition to embryonic stem cell research
Clarification of Church teaching on controversial issues like immigration
Willingness to take strong stands on protecting victims of clerical sexual abuse, both in his own Diocese, and all the way up to supporting Archbishop Vigano’s calls for Papal transparency.

For more of Bishop Morlino’s accomplishments, see Bishop Morlino was Truly a Churchman of His Time 

See also:

Madison Catholic Herald on Bishop Morlino

Madison’s Bishop Celebrates 15 Years!

Rest in Peace, Bishop Morlino

Madison’s Brilliant Bishop

What on Earth is Going on with the Catholic Church? or The Flip Side of Mercy

Platteville Journal Editor Dismayed at Being Lumped with Liberal Media

Apparently my article on the progressive media’s coverage of Bishop Morlino last week stung the conscience of the editor of the Platteville Journal, Steve Prestegard.

I got the following 2 messages from him on facebook:

You know, before you lump me in with all the other liberal media, maybe you should find exactly who I am. Try out www.steveprestegard.com for starters.

and

And I wrote this: www.swnews4u.com/section/1/article/24863/

My reply to Steve Prestegard:

Steve-

(First, an aside-You also wrote THE BISHOP AND ME.)

The hyper-sensitivity you demonstrate to my criticism suggests an emotional involvement in this issue that is not characteristic of most journalists.

This professional conflict was apparently already obvious to you, judging from your published comments admitting that you are “someone in the media being a participant in the story.”   

Your decision to cover the story at all reflected a lack of perspective and a willingness to give exaggerated coverage to dissidents in the Catholic Church- the same accusation I leveled at Chris Rickert of the WiSJ.

Forgive me for pointing out that you seem to be a dissident who may even have left the Catholic Church, too?  Do you have an axe to grind here?

So it was not professional of you to follow the Bishop, to use your status as a journalist to give a platform to several dissidents who clearly attended the Bishop’s talk with intent to disrupt it, carrying signs and humming, who were clearly not there to listen to what the Bishop had to say.

When the media make bad judgments that fail to represent my Church justly, I call them out on it.
You may have noticed one of the headings on my blog- “Don’t diss my Church.”

I was surprised to see your displeasure with my post, in which I primarily called out Chris Rickert.  I made only oblique reference to your involvement, and did not use your name.

Considering your coverage of the event in the Platteville Journal, you actually deserve the same calling out that Chris Rickert received.  But in that post I was addressing a recurring problem the WiSJ exhibits in their imbalanced coverage of the Catholic Church.

Your coverage was not balanced either, and you over-analyzed what you thought the  Bishop should or should not have done in the face of a confrontational audience.  You came across as a disgruntled Catholic trying to use his job to spread rancor.

If you think that my calling you out is inconsistent with who you are, ask yourself whether your actions in this particular matter were consistent with who you claim to be (journalist/libertarian–conservative/Christian husband, father, Eagle Scout and aficionado of obscure rock music, according to your website.) . You did not behave toward Bishop Morlino as I would expect a Christian or an Eagle Scout to behave.  Judging from the facebook message you sent me, your conscience does seem to be smarting.

I suggest you read my blog post on the Platteville issue   for a more balanced perspective on who is actually responsible for the closing of the Platteville school that you apparently value– it is not the Bishop of Madison who is responsible for closing that school.

Your disgruntled attitude toward the old Platteville issues, your willingness to participate in the news event you were covering, the emotional nature of your reporting, and your volunteering of your Catholic background in the Platteville Journal article all indicate that you are a disgruntled Catholic or ex-Catholic.  In either case, you have no business airing your gripes publicly and mis-using your position as editor of a Wisconsin paper.

You tried to resurrect an old defunct issue, you did not do your homework on both sides of the question, you got involved personally in the event you were covering, and you dissed my Church.
So when you behave just like the progressive media, don’t be surprised when people associate you with the progressive media.

If you ask me, you owe the Bishop of Madison an apology for the sloppy hatchet job you tried to do on him.

The next time 7 or 8 supportive Catholics decide to attend a talk by Bishop Morlino, doubt whether you will come running, camera in hand, to cover the event, as you did for 7 or 8 obnoxious and rude dissidents.

Please try reporting on some real Catholic news.
And in Platteville, try reporting on the majority of Catholics, who support the wonderful priests who have been assigned there, instead of criticising their sacrificial service to the parish.

Setting The Record Straight

PART I

or

Is Doug Erickson a George Soros Henchman?

It seems that the liberal media takes every opportunity to misrepresent and malign Catholicism. A person can grow weary trying to keep up with setting the record straight, but here we go again…

Don’t Diss My Church!

Below is another recent misrepresentation/false accusation leveled by media at my Church.

Madison’s Wisconsin State Journal, Gays and Baptism

Not too unexpectedly, Madison’s Wisconsin State Journal has again been trying to make an issue out of standard Catholic Church teaching and policy. The latest issue raised by reporter Doug Erickson is infant baptism for same-sex couples.

The Catholic Church Postion

For all infant baptisms, the Catholic Church requires that parents and godparents promise to raise the child in conformity with the Catholic faith. That’s why godparents cannot be atheists, for example.

Not a very shocking suggestion, considering the pointlessness of initiating a person into an organization whose principles that person does not plan to uphold. In the case of the infant, the adult sponsors are making the promise and following up on that promise for the child.

Gay Protests at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago

Same-Sex Parents and Godparents

It does not take a rocket scientist to realize that a same-sex couple might not be inclined to follow up on such baptismal promises to stay faithful to the Catholic Church, considering the fact that Catholic Church teaching does not permit gay marriage, nor acknowledge the sexually active gay lifestyle as a morally or medically healthy one.

It follows that the Catholic Church would have some guidelines on how to handle requests for baptism from same-sex couples– to determine whether these are bona fide requests for sacramental baptism, or progressive in-your-face challenges similar to those frequently exhibited by the gay community toward the Catholic Church.

Gay Attitude Towards the Catholic Church

Here is a three minute example of how Madison, Wisconsin’s gay community has mistreated the Catholic Bishop of Madison in the past:

Given the treatment the Catholic Church gets from the gay community of Madison (above video), it comes as no surprise that the Diocese of Madison has to plan on how to follow age-old baptism requirements, to confirm the good intentions of gay couples who present a child for baptism.  The Church wishes to ensure that the parents and godparents intend to fulfill their promises to raise the child in conformity with the Catholic faith, and that they are not simply interested in using the Catholic Church for free media coverage, as has been done in the past.

Wisconsin State Journal is Surprised

Typical Wisconsin State Journal article trashing Catholicism

No surprise to most of us that the Church follows Catholic teaching, but apparently a surprise to Doug Erickson and the Wisconsin State Journal, and an opportunity for Catholic-bashing for their “progressive” readers who tolerate only their own views.

The Wisconsin State Journal (WiSJ) has long exhibited a bias against conservatism and religion, by publishing numerous negative articles about Catholicism, by omitting positive coverage of mainstream religious events, and by favoring the small fringe radical groups who oppose mainstream religion.

In  the WiSJ, petitions against the Catholic Church are publicized, arrests of Lutheran Bishops are featured prominently, biased articles are published to inflame parish conflicts, but no mention is ever made of hundreds of people joining in Corpus Christi processions around Madison’s Capitol, of thousands of people gathering in support of Pro-Life causes, of over a thousand signatures in support of Madison’s Bishop following WiSJ’s advertising the signatures of 24 dissidents, and no mention of a global rosary campaign originating in Madison through which almost 50,000 rosaries have been prayed for Bishop Morlino so far, and through which 325,000 rosaries have been prayed for bishops worldwide.

Wisconsin State Journal Promotes Fringe Radicals

In contrast, fringe radicals get plenty of press from the Wisconsin State Journal.  Announcements are made of Atheist Churches in the Planning, free promotion is given to two ex-Catholic nuns who successfully hijacked land, and are attempting to hijack congregations as well from the Catholic Church, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, (FFRF) which represents only one per thousand atheists, is promoted regularly, almost religiously.

The contrast between lives lived according to Christian belief and the intolerant destructive activities of groups such as the Freedom From Religion Foundation is striking, and was previously discussed in The Contrast.

Yet the Wisconsin State Journal favors and promotes the Freedom From Religion Foundation regularly.  Somehow, Doug Erickson even managed to promote the FFRF CHRISTMAS sign this week, in the middle of August. Despite the fact that FFRF claims to be against public expressions of religion, they do advocate paganism themselves – publicly, at the Wisconsin State Capitol, including pagan references on their Christmas plaque.

And Doug Erickson of the Wisconsin State Journal wants to help.

Grasping At Straws

So what makeshift excuse did the Wisconsin State Journal use this time for sensationalizing Catholic Church policy on infant baptism for same-sex couples?

Doug Erickson of the Wisconsin State Journal reported the collection of 20,000 signatures from people upset to hear the Diocese of Madison’s policies on infant baptism.
Signatures demanding an explanation of the baptism policy which has already been thoroughly explained.

20,000 Signatures

Were the 20,000 signatures from Madison?
No.
Were 20,000 signatures from Catholics?
No.
Where were the 20,000 signatures from?
The 20,000 signatures came from a small fringe Christian organization, Faithful America, which is not Catholic, is not faithful to mainstream Christianity,  is not large (310,000 national membership), and which specializes in opposing what they call the “Christian Right.”

Faithful America is a gay advocacy group funded by George Soros, which was responsible for trying to block comedian Bob Newhart from speaking at a Catholic summit because the 84-year-old actor supports traditional marriage.

Doug Erickson
George Soros Henchman or Wisconsin State Journal Religion Reporter?

Funded by WHOM?

Yes, “Faithful” America is funded by George Soros, who was also behind the Nuns-on-the-Bus campaign, another pathetic attempt to discredit the Catholic Church by publicizing and exaggerating the rebellion of two elderly nuns.

So now, Faithful America – George Soros’ progressive henchmen –  are trying to challenge the Diocese of Madison’s not-very-surprising plan to protect the sacrament of Baptism from political manipulation in Madison.

And Doug Erickson wants to help.

Faithful America succeeded collecting the signatures of less than 7% of their own group, which in itself represents only 0.1 of 1% of American Christians.

Yet the Wisconsin State Journal gives them visibility.

Destructive Versus Constructive Groups

Faithful America seems to be taking a page from the Freedom From Religion Foundation operations manual,  critically prying into the business of far-away communities and attacking the beliefs of others, rather than orienting their efforts into constructive service to the community instead, as the groups they attack, such as the Catholic Church, do.

And the Wisconsin State Journal joins them, reporting on fringe disgruntled dissidents in preference to reporting on the good that the Churches of Madison, Wisconsin do.
Doug Erickson seems to devote himself to giving credibility to many fringe progressive groups in the Wisconsin Sate Journal, while failing to report on the power of my 2,000 year old religion, Catholicism, and what it accomplishes in Madison, in Wisconsin, and in the United States. The disproportionate and unprofessional nature of his reporting betrays his agenda- that of promoting fringe progressive thought.

George Soros

More than one of the groups promoted by Doug Erickson receive funds from George Soros, a billionaire with the stated goal of transforming the world.

Soros Biography by Dr. Joy Tiz

George Soros is an atheist who, in his own words, “grew up in a Jewish, anti-semitic home.” George Soros, as a teenager, helped to cart off the stolen possessions Jews after they were rounded up and transported to death camps. He claims that he has no personal regrets about his actions.

In one interview, George Soros portrayed himself as someone who shared numerous attributes with “God in the Old Testament”― “You know, like invisible. I was pretty invisible. Benevolent. I was pretty benevolent. All-seeing. I tried to be all-seeing.”

So the self-proclaimed invisible, benevolent and all-seeing George Soros, reputed to be a psychopath, goes about waging war on the Catholic Church, trying very hard to be subtle about it.

And Doug Erickson wants to help.

Doug Erickson and the Wisconsin State Journal

Whether Doug Erickson is familiar with these facts about George Soros, with Soros’ connection to  Faithful America,  or Soros’ connection to the other fringe groups Doug Erickson favors in his reporting, is not clear.  It is also not clear whether he or the Wisconsin State Journal benefit in any additional, more direct way from their biased reporting, or from George Soros.  But a good reporter would figure these things out before taking on this agenda.

We can say for sure that Erickson’s and the Wisconsin State Journal’s attacks on mainstream religion and on mainstream morality, no matter how clandestine or clever they think they are being, are quite transparent. The results of these attacks on Wisconsin’s values are reflected in the newspaper’s dwindling circulation.

Should a Young Man Go for the Priesthood?

Wisconsin State Journal Article

So- the Wisconsin State Journal interviewed a young man, Jose Flores, who is considering the priesthood as his vocation instead of pediatrics.

The article by Doug Erickson was remarkably well done, was respectful and professional.  Time will tell whether the Wisconsin State Journal has switched to fair reporting on Catholicism, or whether this is another set-up similar to last month’s, and the ball will shortly be spiked, just in time for Easter.

‘Good and Godless’ Chimes In

“Good and Godless” being melodramatic

Nevertheless, an anonymous reader with the screen name “Good and Godless” had to chime in, in the comment section, on a negative note, bemoaning the resulting loss of a pediatrician who can help humanity “in a tangible and effective way,”  and lamenting “the corrupting influences of religion.”

How melodramatic!

And illogical.
For one thing, what is the likelihood of a pediatrician from Madison spending their life in a place where babies die for lack of doctors?

Which Need Is Greater?

And here’s the most important rational question: In the U.S. today, what is the greater need- more doctors, or more godliness?

Close to half our population can’t even figure out that killing a baby before birth is not morally different from killing a baby after birth.  Nor can they figure out the practical negative impact of abortion on a society and on an economy.  Nor can they figure out how much human misery is generated by divorce, and the importance of repairing struggling marriages.

What if this fine young man becomes a priest, works with youth, prevents countless young people from engaging in promiscuity, prevents countless babies from being killed by abortion, and saves countless marriages?
What if he teaches countless children the morality and the voluntary self-restraint that is an essential part of Catholicism?
In that case, his value would be far greater as a priest than as a pediatrician. Not only medically in the saving of lives, but also spiritually and psychologically in the saving of the the souls and sanity of the parents.

The Value of a Priest and the Power of Religion

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Priests, by providing people with Sacraments and with moral teaching, prevent countless human tragedies, something that no KGB, NSA, police force, or even (unconstitutional, despotic) presidential executive order can prevent.

A moral population exercising voluntary self-restraint has been the foundation of success in this country.
In God we trust, and on Him we rely.
The formula has worked for over two centuries in the U.S.

Madison seminarians with Bishop Morlino

Go for it, Jose!  Every young man should ask himself where God is calling him to service.
A priest impacts society WAY more than does a pediatrician.
So go to seminary, ask God whether He is calling you to the priesthood, and listen for His answer.

Explosion of Young Men Going into the Priesthood

The Diocese of Madison has had an explosion of fine young men interested in the priesthood as their calling.
Maybe the generation that has been hurt most by the progressive agenda of promiscuity, abortion and divorce, errors which are promoted and defended by people similar to “Good and Godless,” has now grown up, identified the solution, God, and wants to spread the Good News.

Want to know what they are thinking?
Here’s a You Tube of one who tells you:

The Holy Season of Lent: Time for Bashing Catholics in Madison Wisconsin

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The Wisconsin State Journal Defiles Itself Again

Common Knowledge

It is common knowledge among people of faith that “enlightened” irreligious progressives who do not engage in customary Lenten spiritual sacrifice/self-improvement, frequently spend Lent attacking Christians and attacking the Catholic Church in the media and elsewhere.

Why? Anybody’s guess.  Too much free time?  Subconscious guilt?  Satan preying on undisciplined minds and spirits?  Conscious exercise of Alinsky Tactics by progressives who want to damage the reputation of the Church?|

After all, the Catholic Church is the largest, most organized and most effective opponent of the radical agenda in the world today, and Madison, home of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and the place where embryonic stem cell research was developed and patented, is not a welcoming place for Catholics or for their philosophy.

Predictable Lenten Attacks

So, in predictable fashion, Lenten attacks against Catholics have been escalating in progressive

Madison in recent weeks, led by the Wisconsin State Journal (WiSJ), which seems bent on self-destruction, like it’s partner publication the Cap Times, which is no longer available in print.

The Wisconsin State Journal just published an interview with Madison’s Bishop Morlino about Pope Francis’ teachings.  Although not biased in itself, the interview spawned vicious online discussion attacks on the Bishop, with “enlightened,” highly educated and “tolerant” Madisonians dredging up old false myths and accusations against the Catholic Church, denigrating Madison’s Bishop, and even ridiculing Catholic liturgical vestments.

Unbiased, or Set Up to Spike?

This Wisconsin State Journal’s “unbiased” interview actually only looked unbiased to those uninitiated to Madison and it’s WiSJ. The interview article was actually a set up, like a volleyball play set up by one player for another to spike the ball.  Once the interview was placed by reporter A (Doug Erickson, who incidentally tried just last month to associate the Bishop of Madison falsely with child abuse allegations elsewhere in the US), attackers followed.  The attackers included a second WiSJ reporter B (Chris Rickert), who ridiculed the Bishop’s interview and questioned his motivations in a second article, in which Rickert presumed to know the mind of God.  The Editor John Smalley participated by publishing three letters from angry readers ( 1,  2,  3 ) who attacked the Bishop and the Diocese.  And finally, attackers included the “regulars;” anonymous Madisonians who attack the Catholic Church, the Diocese, and the Bishop routinely in the discussion forums after each WiSJ article published about Catholics.  These “regulars” include Madison’s biggest bullies hiding their true identities behind screen names, lacking the courage to spread their hateful slander undisguised.

Obama Sets Up and Spikes

This set-up-and-spike tactic is not uncommon among progressives; it was the very tactic used by President Obama to attack the Catholic Church in the early planning stages of ObamaCare.  President Obama invited Cardinal Dolan, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to the White House, assured him that ObamaCare will respect the religious rights of Catholic institutions, invited Cardinal Dolan to relay the message to the other bishops to put the Catholic Church at ease, unprepared for what was coming next.  The axe fell a few months later, when President Obama issued the Contraception Mandate, to which many other groups were exempt, but to which the Catholic Church received no exemption, thus requiring Catholic institutions to violate their religious beliefs or be punished financially and cripplingly by law.

At present, President Obama is fighting 91 Religious Liberty lawsuits, and the Vatican’s Chief Justice, Cardinal Burke, has declared that Obama’s policies are “Progressively More Hostile Toward Christian Civilization.”

Intolerant Progressive Dogmatist Attacks

So these set-up-and-spike tactics are not new to progressive politics.  Not too surprising, for a group that advocates free birth control and promiscuity, followed by abortion which perpetrates eugenics, lack of fiscal accountability either in government or in citizenry, and numerous other unethical policies which violate the Ten Commandments and the Constitution of the United States.   The WiSJ simply appeared to be mimicking President Obama in it’s use of tactics against the Catholic Church.

Second Round of Attack – Who Ridicules Victims of Arson?
Stations of the Cross?

The above series of attacks stemming from the interview with Bishop Morlino about the Pope was then followed by reporter B’s (Chris Rickert’s) publishing a very disrespectful piece about the Diocese of Madison’s burnt down Cathedral site in Madison, which now houses a temporary outdoor Stations of the Cross until the economy permits the rebuilding of a Cathedral

Who ridicules? Chris Rickert does

downtown.   In this second round of attacks, Rickert failed to even mention that the plot of land had housed a Cathedral burned down by arson, he showed no sympathy for his fellow Christians (he actually claimed to be a Christian in the piece!) for the tragic loss of their Cathedral, and made wise-cracks about the tax-ability of the land, suggested its use for public bathrooms, lamented that the land was not used for soup kitchens, Girl Scout and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and suggested it would be more useful for tossing a football or for “smooching under the stars.”

If Rickert is truly a Christian, he could look into some Lenten spiritual self-improvement rather than ridiculing the Stations of the Cross during Lent.

Professional Journalism, or Professional Suicide?

The level of misinformation and disrespect delivered by Rickert’s piece was pretty remarkable for someone who claims to be a journalist and claims to have a “laser-like perspective.”  More remarkable is the fact that his editor, John Smalley, allowed it to be published. Finally, most remarkable of all, is the fact that the second largest newspaper in Wisconsin publishes such literary offal.  Offal which insults the 25% Catholic population of Madison, of Wisconsin and of the United States.  All the while claiming to be a mecca of tolerance, intellectualism and enlightenment.

The Wisconsin State Journal is likely to go the way of other progressive organizations that have imploded from their own boomeranging tactics.  That would include the Capital Times of Madison which abandoned print editions in 2008, and the plunging ratings of MSNBC, CNN, and even of President Obama himself, whose lies and misrepresentations are coming home to roost, both at home and abroad.

More Disgruntled Progressives During Lent

Wisconsin State Journal is not alone in their nefarious activities this Lent.  Apparently, the Freedom From Religion Foundation of Madison also got a bee in it’s bonnet over religion recently.  They were incensed to hear that (Christian) Governer Scott Walker tweeted a scripture reference recently  (Philipians 4:13), and demanded removal of the tweet.  The scripture verse reads “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Why would the Freedom From Religion Foundation be in such a quandary over the tweeting of a scripture reference?  Because the scripture reference summarizes the Power of Religion and alerts people to the fundamental reason why Freedom From Religion wants eradication of religion from public life—the fact religion advocates an inviolable moral code, which places limits on the actions in which all, including the powerful, can engage. The Freedom of Religion Foundation is terrified of nice men who are powerful; for politicians, these men are dangerous.  Such men include Pope Francis and Scott Walker.  In actual fact, the Freedom From Religion Foundation represents only 1 out of thousand atheists, and only one out of 10,000 Americans, so they do not represent a serious threat to the rest of 80% Christian America, unless we allow ourselves to be bullied into submission by a pathetic and angry minority.  Most atheists (999 out of 1,000) are quite happy to coexist with Christians without demanding to control their tweets.

Have a Good Productive Lent, Everyone

So, as the disgruntled media and progressives continue their customary attacks on Christians in Madison this Lent, let’s remember that Religion is Power, and including God in the plan helps us to win the war.  Our opponents can attack and sputter as much as they want during Lent, but as Governor Walker reminds us, in Christ, we can do all things.  Lent is our training camp, the Way of the Cross is our salvation, and the Resurrection and Easter are not just symbolic; they are very, very real.

No wonder the Enemy is sputtering at the approach of Lent and Easter each year!

Have a good and spiritually productive Lent, everyone!

.
Praise be to God!

Want to Complain?

COMPLAIN TO:

• John Smalley, editor of the Wisconsin State Journal, (608) 252-6104, jsmalley@madison.com
• Doug Erickson, faith and values reporter of the Wisconsin State Journal, (608) 252-6149, derickson@madison.com
• Chris Rickert, metro columnist of the Wisconsin State Journal (608) 252-6198, crickert@madison.com

Want to Pray for Our Bishops?

Check out the cool global map  at Rosary for the Bishop, a website organized in 2005 to help support Bishop Morlino against the attacks he was suffering in Madison, and which now coordinates 1580 members from 258 dioceses and from 996 parishes, who have prayed 278,300 rosaries for 456 bishops globally since then.

Join the effort by signing up to pray as little as one rosary per month for the bishop of your choice. Note: Pope Francis is also a bishop, and you can sign up to pray for him.

Against odds like this, Chris Rickert, Doug Erickson and the Wisconsin State Journal have little chance.

See what happened the last time we took to global prayer: Making Sense of Syria.

Doug Erickson and theWisconsin State Journal Are Up to Their Old Tricks

Smear Journalism in Madison

Despite Madison, Wisconsin’s claim to be very “progressive” and very tolerant, the Wisconsin State Journal (WiSJ) and reporter Doug Erickson have slanted their reporting on the Catholic Church and the Church’s Bishop in Madison in the past.
One of the prime reasons for my establishing this blog was to defend my faith against such “progressives” in Madison who apparently feel the need to malign the Catholic Church.
Many of my articles, including this one, fall under the blog category “Don’t Diss My Church.”

To be fair, there was a time last year when Doug Erickson and the WiSJ appeared to have reformed their reporting on Catholic Madison.  The article written on Bishop Morlino’s tenth anniversary as Bishop of Madison was balanced and reasonable.
Just two days after the balanced article, the WiSJ was back to their old tricks, publishing a misrepresentation cartoon of Bishop Morlino.
To their credit, Doug Ericson and the WiSJ seemed to behave better during the last few months, focusing on promoting their own liberal agenda, rather than focusing on maligning the Catholic Church directly.
But this week Doug Erickson and the WiSJ are clearly back to their old tricks.

This week an article was published  in the WiSJ with a headline linking Bishop Morlino to a Diocese which is going bankrupt due to sexual child abuse allegations.

• Never mind that the alleged heinous acts did not occur on Bishop Morlino’s watch.
• Never mind that some of the alleged heinous acts occurred before Bishop Morlino was born.
• Never mind that the lawsuits in question were filed up to 71 years after abuse was alleged to have occurred.
• Never mind that the allegations were only made in 2011, almost a decade after Bishop Morlino was no longer at that diocese.
• Never mind that Catholic Priests abuse children at a rate far lower than that of other males in the general population and that the priests have been politically and unfairly targeted by critics of the Catholic Church (previously reported by this blogger and acknowledged by Newsweek and by USA Today).

The simple fact that Bishop Morlino worked at that diocese in the past was enough for Madison’s leading newspaper to find an opportunity to link this good Bishop’s name with child abuse scandals which did not happen, nor did they surface, on Bishop Morlino’s watch.

What’s Good for the Goose is Good for the Gander

I say to Doug Erickson and to the Wisconsin State Journal:

Have either the University you attended or an employer you worked for previously ever been the subjects of sexual abuse litigation?
Was a teacher/staff member from your middle school ever accused of child abuse (9.6% of public school students are targets of educator sexual misconduct)?

Have you ever rooted for Penn State, whose football coach Jerry Sandusky is a convicted serial child molester? 

Are you a fan of Woody Allen movies, whose sexual molestation of his family has been in the news in recently? 
Have you ever vacationed in Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Korea, Mongolia, Philippines, Thailand, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, or Uruguay, all countries reputed to be involved with Child Sex Tourism?

If the answer to any of these questions is “yes,” then we better write an article about YOU, similar to the one you wrote about Bishop Morlino, announcing that this place you were associated with in the past has been accused of heinous acts:

Wisconsin State Journal Reporter’s Previous Employer
Filing For Bankruptcy Due to Child Abuse Allegations
or
Doug Erickson’s Previous Employer
Filing For Bankruptcy Due to Child Abuse Allegations

We can pretend that we did not smear your reputation with our suggestive article by publishing a quote from you on how you were unaware, or not involved, or only there in a different decade.

Bishop Morlino wasn’t even born at the time as some of the allegations you write about were said to occur, and the problems did not occur on his watch, yet you include his name in your sensational title. 

Once a suggestion is made, whether directly or indirectly by association, it cannot be taken back. 
A journalist should have the integrity not to engage in such smear tactics.
Shame on you.
How unprofessional!

It’s Not About Catholic Priests

The media’s smearing of the Catholic Church is  not about Catholic priests.  It’s about smearing the Catholic Church, smearing a moral authority which encourages citizens to hold government accountable to the laws of God .

Progressives have an agenda.
They want to live their lives centered on pleasure, and want to destroy anyone who suggests that they hurt others with their selfish agenda.
They want promiscuity celebrated, they want the resulting babies aborted, and they want their new morality to be praised and to be taught in the schools.
Media is their weapon.

Whether it is conscious or not, this is the agenda the Wisconsin State Journal and Doug Erickson are promoting.
Catholics get the most flack because they are the most numerous and organized of Christian groups,  and thus have the most power.
Catholic Bishops are particularly frightening to progressives, and are under particular attack.

Want to Complain?

COMPLAIN TO:

• John Smalley, editor of the Wisconsin State Journal, (608) 252-6104, jsmalley@madison.com
• Doug Erickson, faith and values reporter of the Wisconsin State Journal, (608) 252-6149, derickson@madison.com

Want to Pray for Our Bishops?

Check out the cool global map  at Rosary for the Bishop, a website organized in 2005 to help support Bishop Morlino against the attacks he was suffering in Madison, and which now coordinates 1580 members from 258 dioceses and from 996 parishes, who have prayed 278,300 rosaries for 456 bishops globally since then.

Join the effort by signing up to pray as little as one rosary per month for the bishop of your choice. Note: Pope Francis is also a bishop, and you can sign up to pray for him.

Against odds like this, Doug Erickson and the Wisconsin State Journal have little chance.

 See what happened the last time we took to global prayer: Making Sense of Syria.

Diocese of Madison Prohibits Field Trips to Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery
or
Progressive Guide to Attacking Catholics

Wisconsin State Journal Reports

Doug Erickson of the Wisconsin State Journal has published another reasonably balanced article on the Catholic Church in Madison (click here for 1st reasonably balanced article), and the Diocese position in the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery’s embryonic stem cell research.  Appropriate, since the Catholic Church represents the largest religious denomination in Madison and in the United States, and 25% of Madisonians and Wisconsinites are Catholic.  The article raises an important question on the morality of embryonic stem cell research, which should be evaluated and discussed by our intellectual university town of Madison.

Intolerant Progressive Dogmatists Attack

Yet the online discussion forums following this article are completely dominated by Madison’s intolerant progressive dogmatists, who have shifted the meaning of tolerance away from accepting the right of others to hold dissenting views, to demanding that all agree with progressive dogmatists, under pain of uncivilized attack and ridicule.

Discussion Diverted

The 36 comments so far include no intellectual discussion whatsoever of the morality of stem cell research, but instead try to divert true discussion with the standard barrage of unrelated and bigoted false accusations routinely used by progressive opponents of the Catholic Church in Madison – accusations of ignoring war and poverty, ignoring the teachings of Jesus, supporting Republicans, rejecting evolution, supporting child abuse, supporting the School of the Americas, and misrepresentations of the Catholic position on contraception, of tax exemption of religious institutions, and of the old Galileo question.
Translation: when you can’t win the argument, change the subject.  Attack, even if you have to do it with lies.

How Undignified

.

This diversion of discussion to unrelated topics also includes the usual unintellectual name-calling aimed at Catholics- including bastions of ignorance, thugs, religious nuts, antichoicers, misogynists, anitgays, bubyull (?) thumping idiots, narrow beliefs, hypocrites, “choice” to be ignorant, “imaginary people they claim to be concerned about,” fevered minds, Imam Morlino, Catholic idiots, Vatican has done more to damage the human race, incapable of free thought, anti-intelligence, and book of fiction (the Bible).
This, coming from tolerant, intellectual Madison, and published without question by one of Wisconsin’s leading newspapers, the Wisconsin State Journal.

Translation: When you have nothing in your arsenal during a debate, use name-calling and lies.  You just might snow and distract the audience.

.

King of the Mountain

This barrage of comments represents an attempt to eradicate the intellectual assessment and discussion of truth, and it forbids rational dialogue.  It resembles more an adult version of the playground game “King of the Mountain,” in which pushing and shoving are the only tactics that prevail.

The Progressive Image

The idea that Madison’s intolerant progressive dogmatists view their boorish tactics as advancing debate about science, progress, or representing the high moral ground, is ironic, and very counterproductive.

Primitive name-calling and the blind misinformed ridicule of people’s religious beliefs do not lend any credibility to Madison’s progressives, but only make them appear juvenile and foolish.
Intelligent people should realize when they are shooting themselves in the foot.

The Catholic Response

Catholics and conservatives need only sit back, pray, and watch Circus Madison.
Progressive Alinsky Tactics eventually come home to roost.
Obama’s recently unraveling reputation illustrates the principle.
Join Catholics in prayer.

Related Articles:

Urban Myths About Catholics

If You’re Looking For Child Abuse, the Catholic Church is the Last Place to Look

Update on Catholic Child Abuse Scandals

Wisconsin State Journal Flunks Journalism Again! 0r What’s Wrong With Gay Marriage?

The Contrast

On Alinsky Tactics –

Clashes between Liberals and Conservatives – Washington, United Nations, Madison – Common denominator?

Wisconsin State Journal Flunks Journalism Again!
or
What’s Wrong With Gay Marriage?

Two days after getting some praise for their balanced article on Bishop Morlino, the Wisconsin State Journal was back to its old games, misrepresenting the Bishop yet again.
They managed to shoot themselves in the foot quite handsomely this time.

Here’s a cartoon they published, quoting both Pope Francis and Bishop Morlino out of context, in an attempt to make it seem that Bishop Morlino is in disagreement with the Pope:

How Does This Cartoon Shoot WSJ in the Foot?

How does WSJ shoot itself in the foot with this cartoon?
Let me count the ways:

1. It’s unprofessional to nest your references so deep that the original source being quoted can hardly be found.
2. It’s unprofessional to compare apples and oranges.
3. It’s unprofessional to quote your sources out of context.
4. It’s unprofessional to ignore the Bigger Story
5. It’s unprofessional to contradict yourself.
6. It’s unprofessional for a journalist to spin the news.  (And it’s triply embarrassing when you spin it badly and get caught.)

This unprofessional behavior would be more suited to the grapevine whispering game, in which messages become unrecognizably altered as they are whispered from person to person in a chain, than to a professional journalist.

•  It’s unprofessional to nest your references so deep that nobody can find the original source being quoted.

So, in his efforts to malign and misrepresent Bishop Morlino, Phil Hands had to dig far and deep, and ended up quoting out of context from a homily given by Bishop Morlino in 2006.
In fact, Phil Hands quoted Doug Erickson’s artilce, who quoted a 2006 Bill Wineke article, who quoted Bishop Morlino’s homily from the 2006 Madison Catholic Herald, out of context.

• It’s unprofessional to compare apples and oranges.

Phil Hands was comparing Pope Francis’ comments about a Catholic homosexual who is following Church teaching on chastity, with Bishop Morlino’s comments on the the legal repercussions of governmental redefinition of marriage.  Those repercussions have already violated the religious freedom rights of Catholics and have already closed Catholic adoption agencies.  More on the legal details in the Appendix below.  But suffice it to say that comparing discussion of chaste Catholic homosexuals with discussion of the legal implications of redefining marriage is not a very professional move on the part of Phil Hands.

• It’s unprofessional to quote your sources out of context.

Pope Francis’ statement in context:

In these situations, it’s important to distinguish between a gay person and a gay lobby, because having a lobby is never good. If a gay person is a person of good will who seeks God, who am I to judge? The Catechism of the Church explains this very beautifully. It outlines that gays should not be marginalized. The problem is not having this [homosexual] orientation. No, we must be brothers and sisters. The problem is lobbying for this orientation, or lobbies of greed, political lobbies, Masonic lobbies, so many lobbies. This is the most serious problem for me. And thank you so much for this question. Thank you very much!

Bishop Morlino’s statment in context:

I’m spending time on this today because we’ve got a battle. We’ve got a battle at the federal level in June and we’ve got a battle at the state level in November. And I’m serious about it, I can’t imagine what happens if marriage goes down the tubes. If marriage goes down the tubes, life will become one big custody suit. And who will decide who raises children and how they get raised? The State, more and more and more. Marriage goes down the tubes, the State will be deciding who gets custody and how the kids get taught. And when the State does that, rather than the natural parents, that’s the end of democracy.

In context, both Pope Francis’ comments and Bishop Morlino’s comments mean something quite different than what Phil Hands tried to imply in his cartoon.

• It’s unprofessional to ignore the Bigger Story

Madison, WI Masonic Temple

Anybody who reads the Pope’s comment above will notice that the Pope made some pretty newsworthy statements.
The Pope’s claim that his most serious problems come from lobbies of greed, political lobbies and Masonic lobbies should raise a few eyebrows.
Apparently Cybercast News Service (CNS) found the Pope’s Freemasonry comment worth reporting. And exploring the reasons for such a comment.
Madison, with it’s giant Masonic Temple one block from the Wisconsin State Capitol building, might be more interested in hearing why Freemasonry might pose a threat to Pope Francis, than hearing old 2006 quotes from Bishop Morlino being compared out of context with the Popes’ comments.
Misquoting Bishop Morlino’s 2006 homily is not news.

• It’s unprofessional to contradict yourself

Sloppy reporting has a way of coming back to bite the journalist.
Ironically, the very homily that Phil Hands was  misquoting from, that Bill Wineke misquoted from and Doug ERickson misreported on, that very homily is one in which Bishop Morlino actually does the opposite of what WSJ claims.  In that homily, Bishop Morlino spends two paragraphs emphacising how Catholics must treat the gays with whom we disagree with love and respect, and undescores how Catholics must avoid association with gay-bashing in any shape or form.

• It’s unprofessional for a journalist to spin the news.  (And it’s triply embarrassing when you do it badly and get caught.)

So there we have it.
Phil Hands’ best effort to spin the comments of Pope Francis and Bishop Morliino, a painful stretch, involving  a 100% reversal of what Bishop Morlino actually said in the homily from which Phil Hands is quoting.
Meager attempt to malign Madison’s Bishop Morlino, and to make him look heartless.

Spin.
Bad spin.
Caught, and (hopefully) embarrassed.
Although with progressives these days, you never know.  Some of them are very proud of their Alinsky (crooked) tactics.

Grading the Wisconsin State Journal on this one:  F-

In fact, WSJ’s journalism license should  be suspended for this one.

 

Appendix– Why Bishop Morlino is Right in His End of Democracy Comment
or
The Legal Repercussions of Government Redefining Marriage

 

What Changing the Definition of Marriage Does

For millennia, marriage has been defined by religion, and government has rarely tried to challenge that definition.
The biggest challenge to date by government was by Henry VIII, who introduced divorce, and how has that worked for our society?
Women and children are no longer guaranteed stability, most women must work, and most children are virtually raised by the State (by the Obama Administration).

The redefinition of marriage  by government to include marriages between persons of the same sex would have, in addition to numerous moral repercussions (on which people disagree), a large number of legal repercussions, which have nothing to do with opinion, but stem from law and from fact, and are inevitable.

Legal Details for Lawyers

For the lawyers among us who want this from the legal “horse’s mouth,” (unlike the WSJ, we make the original sources available), the legal impact of the redefinition of marriage is described at:

• UCLA Williams Institute of Law:  The Future Impact of Same-Sex Marriage – Nan D. Hunter, Georgetown Law
• Harvard Law:  Or For Poorer? How Same-Sex Marriage Threatens Religious Liberty – Roger Severino, legal counsel for Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
• Less technical information: How Could Gay Marriage Harm Anyone? 

 

Layman’s Summary

For the rest of us, I will attempt a layman’s summary of the logic involved:

Legal Definition of Marriage Alters Impacts Many Areas of the Law

The legal definition of marriage does not exist in isolation; changing it alters many areas of the law.
The definition of marriage plays an important role in the laws of :

• adoption
• Education
• Employee benefits
• Employment discrimination
• Government contracts and subsidies
• Taxation
• Tort law
• Trusts and estates.

These laws, in turn, impact the ongoing daily operations of religious organizations of all kinds, including:

• Parishes
• Schools
• Temples
• Hospitals
• Orphanages
• Retreat centers
• Soup kitchens
• Universities

Complex Intertwining of State, Federal, and Religious Definitions of Marriage

Current law, particularly law on child custody, provides little room for non-uniform definitions of marriage within a state and across states.

As a result, changes in marriage law impact religious institutions disproportionately because their role is so deeply intertwined with the institution of marriage.
Religious institutions have been regulating marriage since time immemorial, and law has adopted and accommodated religious conventions.

As a result, if the legal definition of marriage is changed to differ dramatically from the religious definition of marriage, all the religious institutions mentioned above will be negatively impacted.

Can Government Compel Religious Institutions to Act Against Their Conscience-  Accomplished

Changing the legal definition of marriage will likely  result in government compulsion of religious institutions to accommodate same-sex couples, something contrary to their beliefs, and public benefits will likely be withdrawn from religious institutions which provide preferential treatment to traditionally married couples.

Already, failure to participate in the HHS “Contraceptive” Mandate, which requires religious employers to provide contraception and abortifacients to employees against the employer’s conscience, is likely to subject all religious individuals to legal penalties for failure to provide HHS Mandated services.

Threats to religious liberty can come both directly and indirectly.  They include court ordered injunctions or fines in retaliation for following one’s religious beliefs, particularly for violating anti-discrimination laws in employment, housing,public accommodations, as well as labeling the statement of religious beliefs as hate speech.

How Christians Become Excluded From Many Professions – Accomplished

It quickly becomes clear how a Christian can no longer become an employer or a pharmacist because they will not dispense abortifacient pills, how a Christian cannot become a doctor because they will not offer abortion services, a Christian cannot rent out half of their duplex because they don’t want the gay lifestyle in close proximity to their family home, a Christian cannot become a public school teacher because they are required to teach acceptance of the gay lifestyle, and so on.

Financial Crippling of Christian Institutions – Accomplished

And the lawsuits, injunctions, penalties and legal bills required to fight these battles are likely to cripple Christians financially, and are likely to bankrupt religious service institutions.  The Catholic Church has already been forced to abandon adoption and foster services in Boston, San Francisco, Washington D.C., and Illinois as a result of their policy to make sure children are placed with a mom and a dad who are married.

When You Force Christians Out of Service in an 80% Christian Country, Who Takes Over Providing Services?

When service institutions have traditionally been operated by volunteer religious institutions, and now religious institutions are forced out of these ministries, there is only one option– for government to take over providing these services.
The history of government performance, in the absence of financial pressure and accountability, in providing essential services has had a very bad track record, both in the United States and abroad.  The U.S. Postal Service, Medicare, and UK Medicine are all examples of services that fail abysmally when operated by government.
The control of everything by government is the definition of totalitarianism.

Totalitariansim: Of, relating to, being, or imposing a form of government in which the political authority exercises absolute and centralized control over all aspects of life, the individual is subordinated to the state, and opposing political and cultural expression is suppressed.

Bottom Line

• Religious people (90% of US) can be forced against their conscience
• Christian (80%) excluded form many professsions
• Financial crippling of Christian Intitutions
• Totalitarian control of everything by government

= End of Democracy

And the good Bishop was right.
Wisconsin State Journal, grow up and do your homework!

 

 

Addendum: WSJ Editor Responds to Our Criticism:  Stands His Ground

(For anybody interested in contacting this editor about the Bishop Morlino Cartoon he published:  JSmalley@madison.com)

From: Syte Reitz Sent: Thursday, August 08, 2013 1:53 PM To: John Smalley Subject: Defamatory Cartoon in WSJDear Editor Smalley-Phil Hands’ cartoon published in the WSJ August 1st was a gross misrepresentation of Bishop Morlino. There was no option provided for discussion or comments, so my comments can be found in a blog article which outlines the reasons why publication of that cartoon was such a poor choice on  your part. Many Catholics had become hopeful of getting fair treatment in the WSJ following your publication of Doug Erickson’s article on Bishop Morlino’s 10 year anniversary in Madison. As a Catholic blogger who was first motivated to blog by seeing media misrepresentation of Catholicism, I’m very sorry to see you returning to WSJ misrepresentation of Catholics so soon. Please share my comments with the cartoonist, Phil Hands. Syte Reitz SyteReitz.com	Syte Reitz Madison Catholic Blogger
From: John Smalley Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2013 14:45:30 -0500 To: Syte Reitz Subject: RE: Defamatory Cartoon in WSJSyte, Thanks for your note, and your comments on the recent cartoon by Phil Hands. We will have to agree to disagree on this topic, in that I don’t think we’ve misrepresented Catholics in the past, or that we’re doing so now. I’m sure you understand that editorial cartoons are meant by their nature to exaggerate to the extreme. We publish many cartoons on the page that I would personally disagree with, but we think it’s important to represent a full spectrum of thoughts and opinions on the page. In fact, we always give preference to letter writers who disagree with our editorials. It sounds like you thought Doug’s anniversary story on the Bishop was a worthy effort. I certainly felt that way. Thanks again for your feedback. Best wishes, John Smalley Editor Wisconsin State Journal	John Smalley WSJ Editor
From: Syte Reitz Date: Sat, 10 Aug 2013 13:54:57 -0500 To: John Smalley Cc: Reitz Rolf Subject: Re: Defamatory Cartoon in WSJ John- You gave me no substance in your response. If you “agree to disagree” without supporting your position, you come across as a low-information thinker, something I hope the editor of Wisconsin’s second largest newspaper is not. You are in a unique position to moderate a serious and important cultural debate, and you should not be pandering to pressure from Madison’s progressives. A newspaper professional should not show bias. Your newspaper would benefit by hosting lively cultural debates, and your newspaper only suffers when you diss the leaders of Madison’s and Wisconsin’s leading religion without substance. Honestly, that was a blatant misrepresentation of Bishop Morlino that you published, and you should retract or apologize for it. You could also consider publishing arguments from the blog critique of the cartoon, which illustrate why the cartoon was such a bad misrepresentation. The Wisconsin State Journal purports to serve the entire population of Wisconsin, and Madison claims to champion tolerance, so who better to show some respect for Catholicism and it’s leaders than the State Journal? God bless, Syte	Syte Reitz Madison Catholic Blogger
From: Romulus Date: Friday, August 09, 2013 9:57 AM To: John Smalley Subject: Bishop Morlino Cartoon Dear Mr. Smalley:   The Phil Hands smear of Bishop Morlino is in no sense an exaggeration.  It is a lie.  If you lack the sense or else the integrity to grasp this distinction, you belong in a different line of work.  Since your heart seems to be in the field of dishonest advocacy, public relations for a really sleazy organization might suit your talents. Or you could man up and apologize.  Your call. Romulus	Romulus

 

Grading Wisconsin State Journal Report on Bishop Morlino’s 10 Year Anniversary in Madison

So, the Wisconsin State Journal reported on Bishop Morlino’s 10 Year Anniversary in Madison.
Was the report balanced?

Short answer: Yes, it was balanced.  Doug Erickson, who has been criticized frequently by numerous Madison Catholics including this blogger for previous imbalanced reporting, gets an “A” on this one.

Longer answer: On the negative side, Doug spent much effort documenting controversies faced by Bishop Morlino during the last 10 years in the article, while spending much less effort documenting the Bishop’s accomplishments, supporters, and successes. But his excellent documentation of the Bishop’s phenomenal record in the area of attracting and ordaining young men to the priesthood (16 men ordained and 34 seminarians at present), and his accurate portrayal of the Bishop as the very nice person that he is, made up for the deficiency in cataloging the Bishop’s other accomplishments and support.

Live Chat

Here is a portion of the “live chat” that took place online with Doug Erickson on Monday:

 How Do We Know the Report Was Balanced?

How do we know?
Easy.
The radical “progressive contingent” in WSJ forum discussions went nuts with criticism. There were even a few comments so rude that were deleted by WSJ; likely reported as abusive.

In Madison, we have a handful of angry atheists who often devote their spare time on Sunday to vicious and baseless attacks on the beliefs of others in WSJ discussion forums.
What a sad way to exist, defining oneself by one’s hatred of others!

The vicious comments following this article on Bishop Morlino’s anniversary illustrate the pressure some Madisonians try to exert on WSJ to ridicule religion and Catholicism.
We congratulate Doug Erickson on publishing a fair article which has obviously enraged these hate-mongers.

Why Should the WSJ Report on Catholics Fairly?

25% of Madisonians are Catholics; Catholicism is the largest religious denomination in Madison, in Wisconsin, and in the United States.
Fair reporting on these good Catholic people and their wonderful devoted leaders is overdue for the WSJ, one of Wisconsin’s biggest newspapers.  The militant angry fringe atheists, who only represent about 1 out of 1,000 atheists, and only 1 out of 30,000 Americans, must be ignored.  There is no room in a democratic republic for minority or bully rule.

Angry intolerant atheists repeating their mantra, insisting that religious people are ignorant, is getting pretty old.
80% of Americans are religious, and there is virtually no correlation between education and religious faith.
Although university liberals sometimes do manage to propagandize some young people into abandoning faith, most of those young people return to faith very quickly upon experiencing a bit more of life after college. If this were not so, we could not have 80% of Americans identifying themselves as Christian and praying regularly, as we have.

Thanks for reporting on reality, Doug Erickson and WSJ. Hope to see more of the same in the future!

Addendum: Well it took just two days after writing the reasonable article described above, for WSJ to post a calumnious cartoon misrepresenting Bishop Morlino.
See Wisconsin State Journal Flunks Journalism Again.

Adoration

Pope Francis invited all Catholics to join in a global Holy Hour of Adoration on Sunday, June 2, 2013, Corpus Christi Sunday, or Body of Christ Sunday. (More info on what adoration is below and at Explaining Adoration.)

The Pope’s Invitation

The Pope’s invitation received global response, and 77 Catholic parishes in the Diocese of Madison, WI alone, participated. Worldwide, there were probably hundreds of thousands of parishes participating.
It was a big deal, and a global deal.
Even secular  (non-religious) MSNBC reported, publishing a photo of participation in  Hanoi (below).

Media Reports (or Doesn’t)

Despite the fact that Catholicism is the largest religion in Madison, in Wisconsin and in the United States, Madison’s Wisconsin Sate Journal (WSJ) did not report on the historical global holy hour.  Clearly hostile to Catholicism, WSJ prefers to report on Catholic dissidents, often on as few as two of them,  rather than to report on thousands of Madisonians participating in a historical global prayer effort.

Historic Event of Biblical Proportions

The image of the entire world kneeling in adoration of Our Lord, led by the Pope, imploring God’s assistance, presents a picture of historical and Biblical significance.  It calls to mind events such as God’s call of Nineveh to repentance, or the miraculous Christian victory at the Battle of Lepanto, attributed to God’s intervention after massive prayer of the Rosary.

..

The assembly of all Catholics in simultaneous global prayer represents no small effort.  There are about 1.2 billion Catholics in the world, and about 2,800 Catholic dioceses, so the number of  people participating in this global holy hour was likely in the millions. Pope Francis requested feedback on participation, so details on participation may soon be available.

Rome Reports:

Putting Religion into Context in 2013

The secular (non-religious) “progressive” world, i.e. Madison’s Wisconsin State Journal’s (WSJ) world, despite their minority status in the United States, views religion as archaic and primitive.  Their “enlightened” modernists ridicule religious beliefs and rituals, and try to reinterpret traditional belief in the light of new and modern philosophies.  WSJ articles either ignore the existence of religion altogether, or attempt to spin (not very subtly)  their reports to discredit proven and established religion.

A short visit to the WSJ discussion forums demonstrates the lack of tolerance and the air of conceit exhibited by many Madison progressives who use the forums for anonymous hate-mongering, particularly hate-mongering directed at the Catholic Church.  A little participation in those forums (plus a bit of detective work) often reveals some major participants of those forums to be members, or even staff of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF). To read those WSJ forums, one would think religion to be an embarrassing and primitive Medieval error, which has now been corrected by enlightened modernists, who are themselves the infallible source of all wisdom and knowledge.

Secular (Non-Religious) Culture: the Rule or the Exception?

In reality, these sceptic/atheists constitute only 10% of America.  And the angry, intolerant brand of atheist like FFRF constitutes only one out of 1,000 atheists, or one out of 10,000 Americans:

999 out of 1,000 atheists are tolerant, nice atheists, many of whom, according to Pope Francis, are candidates for salvation.  Too bad the squeaky wheel, FFRF, often gives them all a bad name.

What Americans Actually Believe

In the United States, the most educated and technologically advanced nation in the world, 90% of Americans believe in God, 82% of Americans pray regularly, and 47% pray daily.
Why would they do that?
Because it works.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, the symbolic seat of American Catholicism, where Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass, and where Cardinal Dolan, the President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops now serves. Catholicism is the largest religion in the United States; 25% of Americans are Catholic.

82% of Americans say that God answers their prayers.

The “enlightened” modernists would claim, of course, that the 82% of Americans who believe in God and who pray must be the primitive uneducated fools of America, while the 18% who do not believe in God and do not pray are the intelligent educated Americans.

But no.
There is no correlation between belief/unbelief in God and smarts or education.
Gallup polls tell us that 71% of Americans with postgraduate education believe that God is responsible for creating human beings (Gallup, 2010).
78% of all Americans (of any educational level) believe the same thing.
Only 16% of Americans believe in evolution without any involvement of God.

Proverbs 2:5-8

The knowledge of God comes from observation, experience, and common sense, and is available to the simplest of us.  That knowledge is not lost by those who are get some formal education.  We can all see that the sky is blue, whether we get graduate degrees or not.  The brainwashing that often does occur on modern US campuses and is carried out by progressive minorities, evaportes quickly as soon as college kids leave the campus environment and start experiencing real life.
You couldn’t get numbers like 82% and 78% if the progressive brainwashing in college lasted.

What Do Believers Do When the Going Gets Rough, and Does it Work?

So, despite what mass media tells us, despite what Hollywood and television shows us, despite what agenda progressive governments try to push in our schools and in our legislation, Americans continue to believe in God and to pray.

When faced with powerful opposing forces, the now Progressive (previously Democrat) party, which tried to eliminate mention of God from their platform in the last election, desperately reaches for underhanded and unethical methods to win, believing that the ends justify the means. But those who believe in God and know that God’s power dwarfs our own, double down and pray.  Pray hard, and wait.

We pray, and prayer works. The Alinsky tactics of the radical left backfire, progressives fall into their own traps, the silent 82% majority starts organizing, and hope returns. We are now in the midst of witnessing the progressive Obama administration tripping on their own crooked Alinsky tactics, while conservative people of faith respect the rules of democracy, wait for the next election, and continue to pray.

A concerted global prayer effort in these difficult times is an even better idea than individual prayer.  The Catholic Church is one of the most populous and organized groups capable of of arranging concerted global prayer, and that is what our very wise Pope Francis has just arranged.

If you think that the prayer and peaceful activism of the last few  years are bearing fruit in unexpected ways today, with new Obama administration scandals surfacing almost daily and shocking even the mainstream (liberal) media, just wait until the fruits of this week’s Global Adoration begin to arrive.  The radicals who have tried to strong-arm America into expansion of national and global federally-funded abortion, redefinition of marriage, and violation of religious freedom, will stand no chance against a praying American electorate.

For Skeptics

A reminder for skeptics of the mysterious mechanisms behind global change–

The demise of Communism and the end of the Cold War were not the result of politics, plans, troop movements, or elections.  The Soviet Union was brought to it’s knees in 1991 without bloodshed because it fell into it’s own traps, while two courageous religious men, Pope John Paul the Great and “born-again Christian” President Ronald Reagan, stood up for what was right, while Catholic Poland resisted peacefully, and while the world prayed. See The Holy Alliance.

Concerted prayer efforts work just as well in the 20th and 21st centuries as they did in Biblical and Medieval times; God is outside of time. Those who don’t know history do not know this.

Why Some Don’t Believe

We don’t want to dismiss those good people who lack faith, or the reasons for their lack of faith.  Those reasons can include a failure to understand why God does not always answer our prayers exactly the way we wanted Him to, and a failure to understand why God would permit evil to exist in the world.  These are important questions addressed elsewhere,  but can be summarized by making an analogy between God and a good parent.

The fact that God has not always given you what you want does not mean that He is not there, or that you cannot tap into His power if you approach Him the right way.  Presumably your parents did not always give you what you wanted, particularly if you did not approach them in the right way, and you have not concluded that your parents do not exist.

God might also, like a good parent, allow you to experience a limited brush with evil, if that inspires you to make a course correction which will transform the rest of your life.

One more factor contributing to lack of faith in the world can be “religious” people who fail to live up to their professed beliefs.  Religious people do make mistakes, much as math professors and doctors can make mistakes.  Their mistakes (sins) do not invalidate the truth and beauty of Christ’s message or of His Church, but they do give non-believers a bad image of that message.

One good resource on understanding evil and suffering: How to Make Sense of Suffering – Marguerite Duportal

What Was The Pope Calling Catholics to Pray For?

The intentions for which the Pope requested this global prayer were:

• For the obedience of the Church so that she appear before the world as “beautiful,without spot or wrinkle,holy and without blemish.”
• For victims of violence, drugs, human trafficking, economic insecurity and social marginalization.

Paraphrased, first for the holiness of the Church, so that the beauty of her message might be more apparent to the world, and also for the masses of humanity who are suffering from the sins of the world.

Violence, drugs, human trafficking, economic insecurity and social marginalization are all products of humanity’s violation of the Ten Commandments and of Christian morality.  They are products of sin.  If humanity did a better job of recognizing and following the wisdom and beauty of Judeo-Christian morality, human suffering would be reduced drastically.

No whale needed for Pope Francis. Unlike Jonah, he offers no resistance and does his job.

The misery and immorality of the present world resembles that of Nineveh in the Bible.  The solution is a return to God’s law. Pope Francis is a modern Jonah, calling us to get down on our knees and to make the necessary corrections.

What is this Seemingly Archaic Rite of “Adoration?”

The word archaic , often  used by progressives to describe the Catholic Church, her teachings and her ceremonies, can be interpreted in a negative or positive way, depending on one’s reference point.  A narcissistic modern attitude might define archaic as old, out of date, or irrelevant.  But a more broadminded modern approach would suggest that something that has survived 2,000 years successfully must be pretty advantageous and pretty awesome.  Evolutionism is, after all, a popular modern mechanism for appraisal of ideas.

If the Church has persisted for two thousand years, and 1.2 billion people subscribe to it today, this Church would only be archaic in the very positive sense of being ancient, being respected, and being awesome.  And despite what the media would like to tell you, the Catholic Church is treated with great reverence and respect worldwide.  Why else would the funeral of Pope John Paul the Great draw over four million mourners, many of them not Catholic, and draw the world’s largest gathering of statesmen from over 200 countries to Rome?

What about this archaic word “adoration?”

Perpetual Adoration Chapel in Madison, WI

 Adore:
–to regard with utmost esteem, love and respect; honor.
-to pay divine honor to; worship;
-to adore God.
-to like or admire very much: I simply adore the way your hair is done!
-to worship
Origin: Latin ad + orare to speak; to speak to

So to adore God is to esteem, love and respect God.
To adore God is also to speak to God, i.e. pray.
Those who believe in God, in the Creator of the Universe and source of all that is good, adore God and pray to God.
That would be 90% of Americans (who believe) and 82% of Americans (who pray).

Catholics have a special opportunity to adore/pray to God in person, or face-to-face, since they have the Real Presence of God available to them in the Eucharist, or in Holy Communion.  They have access to God personally and physically just as much as the apostles did 2,000 years ago. They have the Mass, they have Holy Communion, and they have Adoration, sometimes called Exposition, of the Blessed Sacrament.
Why settle for virtual conversation with God (without the physical Presence), when you can have a face-to-face conversation?

Finally, regarding the pomp and ceremony with which Catholics treat the Blessed Sacrament-
If you were to meet face-to-face with God (not the Queen, not the President, not your future spouse at the wedding altar, but GOD), how much dressing up, bowing, kneeling, and reverence do you think would be warranted?

 So How Did This Call to Global Adoration Look in Madison?

Bishop Morlino leads Adoration at Madison’s Cathedral Parish

In Madison, Bishop Robert Morlino responded to Pope Francis’ call for global Adoration by leading his Sunday congregation in Adoration for one hour before Sunday Mass, before the exposed Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance (the big gold thing holding the small white Communion host).  The hour included scripture readings, a homily, and silent prayer.  The Bishop’s (June 2) remarks will soon be available at Madison’s Cathedral Parish’s media archive.

Following the Holy Hour of Adoration, Mass was celebrated, and then the Blessed Sacrament was carried in procession through the streets of Madison, to the Capitol Building, where Catholics have been gathering to pray frequently throughout the last year (Last Year’s Corpus Christi Sunday procession, Freedom of Religion Rallies, Rosary at the Capitol). Benediction (a blessing with the Holy Host in the monstrance) at the State Street steps of the Wisconsin State Capitol in downtown Madison concluded the ceremonies.

Thanks to Tom Reitz of Reitz Internet for these great photos, which are taken from Tom’s Facebook page:

Corpus Christi (Body of Christ) procession begins after the Holy Hour and Mass

Christ, truly present in the Communion Host inside the gold monstrance, is carried through the streets of Madison

Knights of Columbus lead the procession

Christ approaching the Wisconsin State Capitol, alongside Ride the Drive bicyclists on June 2, 2013

On Capitol Square in downtown Madison

Lots of Incense

Christ on the streets of Madison, WI

Processing on Capitol Square

Climbing up the State Street Steps

Corpus Christi at the Wisconsin State Capitol Building

Looking down towards State Street

At the Wisconsin State Capitol

Bishop Morlino incensing the Monstrance

Benediction (Blessing Madison and it’s people)

See also an article about this event by Sofia Guerra at  AlwaysCatholic.com.

Prayer Can Work Miracles

Now, almost a week after the Global Adoration event, followed by worldwide Corpus Christi processions, a minor miracle occurred in the New York Times:  the New York Times took President Obama to task for his abuse of power, stating that the Obama administration has “lost all credibility.”  (NYT Article here.)

Of course, skeptics will correctly point out that cause and effect are hard to prove when it comes to prayer, but in one humble Catholic’s opinion, we ain’t seen nothin’ yet, when it comes to the fruits of Global Adoration.
What worked for Reagan and for Pope John Paul II in 1991 (turning to God) will work for Pope Francis in 2013.
I’m bracing for the ride.
It should be a good one!