The Martino Event - Complete Coverage

Reports are still coming in, and I'm not prone to immediately trust the account rendered by the Wayne Independant, but we'll follow CNA's summary first:

An election forum at a Pennsylvania parish that took place last Sunday was organized to allow Catholics the opportunity to defend their support for McCain and Obama. However, the forum took a surprising turn when an unexpected guest showed up to guide his flock, the Bishop of Scranton, Joseph F. Martino.

... After Sr. Gannon spoke, the bishop took the floor. Bill Genello, a spokesman for the Diocese of Scranton told the Wayne Independent that when Bishop Martino arrived, his intention was to listen “to the presenters and how they might discuss Catholic teaching.”

However, he continued, “Certain groups and individuals have used their own erroneous interpretations of Church documents, particularly the U.S. Bishops’ statement on Faithful Citizenship, to justify their political positions and to contradict the Church’s actual teaching on the centrality of abortion, euthanasia and embryonic stem cell research.”

When the bishop heard the speakers using the bishops’ statement to justify their choice for president, he reminded the audience that those “groups and individuals who make statements about Catholic teaching do not speak with the same authority or authenticity as their bishop.”

The prelate then clarified his authority as bishop and the Church’s teachings on abortion as an election issue.

“No USCCB document is relevant in this diocese,” said Martino according to the Wayne Independent. “The USCCB doesn’t speak for me.”

“The only relevant document ... is my letter,” he continued, “There is one teacher in this diocese, and these points are not debatable.”

Bishop Martino has taken plenty of flack on the local front (as I detail here), but he evidently isn't phased.

Rocco notes:

The Scranton prelate was absent from last November's USCCB meeting in Baltimore which -- in a rare show of (near-)unanimity -- passed the Faithful Citizenship statement with 98% approval from the nation's hierarchy.

My main issue with the Wayne Independant is the horribly unflattering picture they chose to publish with the story. Really, he doesn't always look like such a bear.

Initial reactions (as reported by the WI):

After his comments, most of the audience stood and clapped loudly while some were angry that the bishop usurped the forum. About a quarter of the audience left after the bishop’s comments, which preceded the last half of the forum, a question and answer session with the panelists. Martino exited shortly after his comments.

... “I think this meeting was torpedoed,” said Gene Tagle, the forum’s moderator. “He’s (Martino) known for three months that this has been in the works.”After calm returned, Boylan said: “We were very careful not to endorse anyone.” He said it was meant to be “a political slash editorial forum about the presidential election” and that he “carefully followed” state church guidelines for such an event.“I did not know that the bishop does not support the U.S. Conference of Bishops,” said Gannon, after Martino’s remarks. Shepstone said the forum was “giving cover” to candidates who support abortion and promptly stormed out. Parente left without notice. It went on, however, for another 45 minutes with the focus remaining on abortion.

Not surprisingly, eye-witness accounts conflict, this from the daily review:

Participants at the event described a spirited exchange of ideas that was either interrupted or invigorated by the bishop’s arrival.

Gene Tagle, the moderator of the event, said the bishop “torpedoed” the forum, even though he had been told about the event as early as May 27 this year.

“If the bishop disapproved, it seems all he had to do was have his secretary pick up the phone, call our parish pastor and tell him not to go ahead with the forum,” he said. “Instead he came in at the midpoint of the meeting and totally surprised everyone.”

Tagle said the bishop criticized the resident pastor, Rev. Martin Boylan, for holding the forum and “seemed to justify his presence there by stating that he owned the building.”

He also described the bishop’s tone as “angry and admonishing” and said his words created a surprising level of emotion in the audience.

“When he left it was chaotic,” Tagle said. “He incited his supporters to wild applause and shouting. And some individuals were castigating others for supporting pro-choice candidates. It was pretty wild there for a while.”

The bishop left shortly after his remarks and many audience members — some put the number at two-thirds of the group, others say a quarter — left after him.

Shepstone, the panelist, was one who left.

“I left because it was singularly inappropriate to continue the meeting after the bishop had spoken,” he said Tuesday, explaining that the bishop had made it clear he wanted the meeting to stop.

“He spoke eloquently and he spoke forcefully and there was nothing else to be said.”

Wow.

Okay, two things happening here:

• 1) a dramatic, controversial encounter between people who hold different positions
• 2) a theological question regarding the weight one must give to the local bishop's statement when it appears to focus on the issues in a different way than the USCCB's document

I'm betting we will witness more instances of "1" in the next weeks. I wonder what people think about "2"?

update: a third account.