‘Bishop who knows how to Bishop’: Bishop Martino Refuses Misericordia University

A very dear friend of mine, an evangelical Protestant minister who is a Champion of Life, commented to me upon reading it, “Boy, does this Pope know how to Pope!” In this instance, my reaction to Bishop Joseph Martino’s continued defense of the truth in his Diocese was “Boy does this Bishop know how to Bishop!” And further, how desperately we all need him - and others like him - as we walk through the smoke of what Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, right before he was elected to the Chair of Peter, prophetically called “the dictatorship of relativism.”

The latest news out of the Diocese of Scranton concerns the Bishops’ insistence that Misericordia University, a Catholic College in his Diocese, comply with his reasonable request before he meets with them. They have not done so and want a private meeting. Our readers will recall that this Catholic University, against the Bishop’s explicit direction, sponsored through its “Diversity Institute”, an advocate of the movement among practicing homosexuals to obtain a legal equivalency between homosexual paramours and those who are married.

This activist leader came to this Catholic College campus and spoke on the very matter which raised the Bishops concerns in one of his talks. He used a Catholic platform to directly oppose the truth as taught by the Natural law, confirmed by Revelation and taught by the Magisterium of the Church concerning human love in the Divine plan. So, after the event, the Bishop requested that this University offer a public release of specific information on how it teaches Catholic morality regarding sexuality and homosexuality, and how it is adhering to the four essential characteristics of a Catholic institution of higher learning. They have not done so.

I don't know all the legal ins and outs, but I'm quite sure the bishops doesn't "own" Misericordia or relate to it as a landlord to a tenant. It was founded by the Sisters of Mercy (RSM), and possibly belongs to the RSM's, or is incorporated under a Board of Directors which may or may not be dominated by RSM's.

What I'm getting at here, is that the bishop may have no legal authority at allover the University, and his only canonical authority would be to do just what he's doing now: to investigate their claim to he a "Catholic" University, examine the evidence,and then make a judgment as to whether they can still call themselves "Catholic" or not.

They could just go the way of, say, Manhattanville, and say, "Fine, so we're not Catholic anymore. Eh." They may be saying as much by their (so far) refusal to comply with the Bishops' simple requirement that they show how they are transmitting the Church's teachings. Evidently they are not.

Anyone who knows anything about the legal and canonical relationship between Bishop Martino and Mesericordia, please jump in here, because I am making assumptions here based on what I understand about some other Catholic universities (and they're not all set up the same way.)

If the Bishop wanted to get really bullish, he could excommunicate Catholics member of the Board if they persistenly defy him. If he wanted to go for a tactical- nuke, I believe he could expel all the the RSM's from the Diocese. But I don't think he'd do that: it would ignite rebellion in a multitude of parishes and schools where I suppose the RSM's still teach, and probably tear the Diocese apart.

What he's doing now --- preemptively going public with the whole mess--- is, in itself, highly provocative. To which I say, "Amen, and it's about time."

You have any suggestions about what he should do?

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