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Our favorite of what we heard Bishop Martino say:

For some time now there has not been a clear consensus among the clergy and people of the Diocese of Scranton regarding my pastoral initiatives or my way of governance. This development has caused me great sorrow, resulting in bouts of insomnia and at times a crippling physical fatigue.

In other words, there has been large scale disapproval of his church and school closure plans. There has been so much outcry, apparently, that the stress has gotten to him. And while the stress is visible in Bishop Martino's physical presentation, it doesn't appear the entire situation is being revealed here.

Later on in the video, in response to a question posed by a journalist, he makes sure to comment about how he "did the right thing" and that his "conscience is clear." What struck us as odd about the "my conscience is clear" comment is that if your conscience is clear, would you feel the need to say it? It was clear from his body language that he is not at all certain that his conscience is clear. His demeanor was very awkward, jittery, nervous, and he appears very obviously insincere throughout the video (in contrast to Cardinal Rigali, who's able to pull off sincerity pretty well, in our opinion).

Bishop Martino also mentioned that he doesn't know many retired bishops who sit around looking out the window all day, but they are often called on to do any number of things, often under other bishops. Clearly he expects to be at work behind the scenes somewhere, perhaps causing similar damage but without having to be the public face of it.

Overall it was our estimation that Bishop Martino came off as a career-minded politician nervous because of some sort of scandal and glad to be finally off the hook. Whether he actually has something to hide beyond what is currently in the public view remains to be seen, but he conceded that in the eyes of many his tenure might be seen as a "failure" due to his lack of "success," but that he tried his best to make the diocese "lean." In reference to his massive "lean" and mean church closure program, the bishop smirked in a wholly inappropriate way. Closing churches is nothing to smirk about. It is not funny, nor is it cute to make the analogy that the Diocese of Scranton needed to go on a diet. These sorts of comments are typically reserved for CEOs in corporate America. Frankly, had it not been for his dark suit with roman collar and his requesite and incidental religious references, you woudn't know he was a bishop at all. (See also his photo in streetclothes. Hey, at least he's not in shorts and a polo shirt.)

In any case, Bishop Martino's stepping down due to insomnia? Ummm, we just don't buy it. With greater excuses than that I could've dropped the kids off at the orphanage any number of times and retired from being a mother. Martino's nowhere near retirement age and admits to being in good health overall. Bishop Galante, on the other hand, actually has legitimate health issues (aside from insomnia), so a resignation from the Bishop of the Camden Diocese due to health difficulties would not be unreasonable. So what's really going on with Bishop Martino? One wonders what was said in his meeting with the Holy Pontiff.

Whatever the real cause of Bishop Martino's stepping down, it's too bad for the people of the Diocese of Scranton that the damage is already done. We have word from contacts in the Diocese of Scranton that Martino's left the place a shambles.

Please be sure and see Scranton's two websites on the issue: The Catholic Watchdog and also Leave No Catholic Student Behind. The former has particularly good coverage of the Scranton church closings. 

Archdiocese of Philadelphia sold to Follieri, too:

Besides the Camden connection to Follieri, published reports have revealed that the Archdiocese of Philadelphia sold two closed churches to the Follieri group in 2005 for almost $3 million.

Is this why we're not hearing a peep out of Cardinal Rigali? Glass houses and all that?
Read very, VERY brief piece here It's from a month ago, just missed it.

The Council of Parishes asked me to attend the USCCB convocation called "Life, Justice & Family: Partners in the New Evangelization" today (Friday). Held at the Crowne Plaza in Cherry Hill, Bishop Galante was a defacto host of the event (along with Cardinal Rigali, who I believe will help close the event on Sunday). Attendance at the conference, in my view anyway, was quite pricey so it was no small wonder that it was not as well-attended as it might have been. Only people whose organizations could help defray the cost (or, perhaps, who are extremely interested in the subject matter) would attend such an event. However, I noticed that there were people from a variety of places in attendance, including Oregon (by way of the Bronx) and Kansas, among other places.

Mass
Friday's portion of the conference began with mass, which was pretty much what one would expect from a typical novus ordo mass, except that it was in a ballroom-type location, with the altar on a stage, etc. Msgr. Frey, pastor of St. Rose of Lima Haddon Heights, co-officiated with Bishop Galante. (I am a fan of Msgr. Frey and it was good to see him, but didn't see him at the presentations afterwards.) As a total estimate, I would guess that the number of people attending mass was about 50, but I did not do a head count or anything.

Given the theme, an unusual thing about a conference like this is that it seems to attract people on either end of the Catholic spectrum. In attendance were both the very orthodox "pro-life" activists as well as the more liberal "peace and justice" types. So on one side of me during mass there were two women kneeling during mass (and myself as well) and on the other side of me were two women standing even during the consecration (I think they may have been sisters in street-clothes).

Mass-wise, there were only a couple of oddities. One was that there was a "worship leader" type person who kept exhorting us to give her an "Amen," an "Alleluia," or a "Praise the Lord,"  particularly before mass began. Although I appreciated the enthusiasm, this is not the type of thing I personally am accustomed to at mass. I'm used to having quiet time to pray before mass. And given the very sterile, controlled, corporate environment of the conference location it seemed even stranger.

The second noticeable oddity were the lyrics to the song that the swaying, clapping choir sang during communion. The song is called "A Communion Hymn" and is attributed to Nolan Williams, Jr. Since the hymn was in our little booklets, I can share them with you. Here are the lyrics I found somewhat startling:

You said: Take this bread and eat of Me
This symbol broken represents My body

You said: Take this cup of sacrifice,
It represents My blood which gives you new life

Attributing a symbolic or representational meaning to the Eucharist is not what I understand to be Catholic, so I found the selection of this hymn surprising. (It reminded me of what I read here--scroll down to the last paragraph before "consecration of a bishop.") Other than these things, the mass itself was not out of the ordinary in any negative way.

Speakers
The first speaker was Bishop Lori of Bridgeport, CT Diocese. Though I know very little about him, I was impressed not only with his talk, which centered on the encyclical Humanae Vitae, but even more so with his answers to the questions posed afterwards. Unfortunately I cannot tell you precisely what was said because, strangely, my notes were taken along with my name tag, but I can mention a few things I liked. For example, he alluded to the very rift in the Church I mention above that sometimes exists among the pro-life and social justice contingents. He said, though, that we "are not an either-or Church, we're a both-and Church." He also discussed the Diocese of Washington (DC) and how they instituted a program called, "The Light is on for You" which promotes all churches in the diocese having confession in coordination. "Promoting the role of priest as confessor" is something he feels is hugely important in bringing people in to the Faith and in to a closer relationship with Our Lord. Bishop Lori also discussed the importance of good catechesis in Catholic high schools and colleges because if parents are paying for a Catholic institution they ought to be sure what they're getting is truly Catholic! He said that Catholic schools are very important and afford a very significant opportunity that must not be passed by--to integrate Catholic religious teaching with all subjects. In addition, Bishop Lori mentioned the importance of teaching NFP and Theology of the Body in marriage preparation courses which will at least cause couples to think about the Church's teachings regarding the marital act. He said so many great things, was clearly extremely intelligent and orthodox, and as a bonus was very accessible and approachable afterwards.

After his talk was a presentation by Marie Smith. (Who, by the way, mentioned that her husband is Congressman Chris Smith, whose very nice website I link to here. I see among other things that he is doing autism awareness too, which I am personally affected by because of my son.) Mrs. Smith's special calling is her work in human rights. She is a true crusader for a topic that has long been close to my heart as I was a human rights campaigner back in high school and college. Going into the presentation I confess I was not expecting much since "human rights" is such a vast topic, I assumed it was way to broad to be covered in any useful way. I was wrong. Her presentation was an overview of the human rights violations in the world today with a special focus on children and women, who are much more likely to have their rights violated in so many ways. Though at times it was hard to listen to the facts she presented, such as her discussion of child soldiering, genderscide, infanticide, stoning of women, etc., her presentation was simply excellent. I'd encourage anyone who has the opportunity to go hear her speak.

By the time of the third talk, my body was getting very stiff from having sat there in that chair so long and I needed a break. Each presenter had been at least 1.5 hours, plus there was breakfast in the same chair and mass before that, so I skipped out on the third speaker who discussed bioethics. Having a philosophy background, I'm interested in this subject, but my brain and body were a little sore. Based upon the quality of the first two speakers, I now wish I had gone.

Protest
In the early morning and late afternoon, rallyers were in attendance with signs protesting Bishop Galante's actions in the diocese. Since Bishop Galante had left the premises in the morning, when he returned in the afternoon he met the protesters at the door. It never ceases to amaze me how the timing always seems to work out that way. The protesters were asked to leave the premises both times since the area they were standing on was private property, but it took them quite awhile to decide to ask them to leave. In the afternoon they were asked to leave about 20 minutes after they arrived and after the bishop had already passed through them. However it was particularly unfavorable looking for the bishop to send someone out to ask a young man with his infant son in arms and an older  woman with a walker (among others) to leave. Frankly, it just makes the bishop look bad and elicits public sympathy. (There were a bunch of people from the conference looking on from a window inside.) As a prime example, since I was inside at the time, I overheard some people say, "Here come the protesters. Well, you really can't blame them. Who wants their church to be closed?" Since the crowd was so geographically diverse, overall they seemed unaware of the whole scandal involving the bishop here in the Diocese of Camden, but that is not a surprise. Nevertheless there is certainly a lot of sympathy for our cause simply because every Catholic can relate to the horror of having their church taken from them. Really there is very little the diocese can do, in my opinion, to make the proposed largest church closure in American Catholic history palatable, particularly now with the shadow of the Follieri scandal hanging over it. The financial motivations seem so very clear now to those following the ordeal.

We need to involve one of our nearest neighboring diocese. We need to CALL CARDINAL RIGALI and not let up until he agrees to meet with us.

His number is: 215-587-4538

Why should Cardinal Rigali intervene?

Because we are not little mini-churches in vacuums. The Church that we belong to is the ONE, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. If the bishop in one diocese falls into error and is intent on bringing all the souls of the diocese with him, something must be done. There is not an option to do otherwise than intervene. Cardinal Rigali is a successor to the Apostles in the Apostolic Church. The job of a bishop or archbishop is to tend the Lord's sheep and keep them from wolves! "We cannot interfere" is an unacceptable and indefensible position. It is certainly no reason to fail to stand up for what is Right and True. Church leaders must be held accountable.

We want Cardinal Rigali to intervene on our behalf, but the least he could do is hear us out. Bishop Galante cannot close half the diocese, ship off many of its priests, and institute general chaos without a word from his colleagues. We are Christians--lay and religious--and it is our duty to speak the Truth. Where are you, faithful shepherds of the Lord? Priests, Bishops, Archbishops, what do you have to be afraid of besides the justice of God?!