Fr. Don Hying named new auxiliary bishop in Milwaukee

As most people reading this in Milwaukee already know, Fr. Don Hying has been named the next auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. This type of appointment represents the continuing state of our church towards a conservatism that sees abortion as the only issue in the Catholic Church. In the past few months, Hying has led a holy hour for the sanctity of marriage at the seminary and wrote about his time at the "abortion mill." Marriage and abortion... these are the issues that define the modern church for new bishops.

I hope that Fr. Hying also realizes that the church is larger than these two issues. On occasion, he has mentioned the defiance shown by Archbishop Romero toward the injustice of the El Salvadoran government. Unfortunately, this ended up being a segue for a anti-abortion story. Callahan was such a disappointment as an auxiliary bishop, I hope Hying can be more pastoral with Catholics he does not agree with.

A Faithful Catholic

In Milwaukee: "In Lawyers We Trust"

The sexual abuse crisis continues to cause shame all over the globe and right here in Milwaukee. As reported in the local paper, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee is denying that it owns the Cousins Center, which houses the offices of the Archdiocese. Originally, the Cousins Center was the St. Francis de Sales Preparatory Academy, and even though that institution is defunct, the Archdiocese is maintaining in bankruptcy court that they rent from the Academy and that the land is not available for the victims of sexual abuse. In 2004, the Archdiocese began listing the property separately in their financial statements and until Archbishop Listecki came last year, Dolan had been trying to sell it with the express purpose of funding a sexual abuse fund FOR victims.

Listecki has made it known that he likes the Cousins Center, does not want to sell it, and wants to relocate the offices that had vacated the Cousins Center back at that location. This all smells really bad. But that is what happens when you depend on lawyers and the letter of the law rather than Jesus Christ and Christian morality. Most of what happened a couple years ago to the cause the housing market crash was legal, but it definitely was not moral. The same basically holds true for the Archdiocese in this case. It is also telling that there is not a written lease agreement between the Academy and the Archdiocese, it is just understood that the Archdiocese rents there in return for keeping the place up. A spokesperson for the Archdiocese admits that there may have been some "imprecise communications." If Milwaukee was on the national scene, I could see this phrase catching on. I wonder if Listecki will confess these "imprecise communications" the next time he goes to confession.

A Faithful Catholic

Australian Bishop Sacked

Buried in all the news this morning dedicated to the assassination of Osama bin Laden AND the beatification of John Paul II is what newspapers calling the sacking or firing of Bishop William Morris, who had been bishop of Toowoomba in Australia since 1993. This "firing" is the result of a statement of Morris in 2006, in which he stated that women and married persons who are called to the priesthood should be ordained by the Catholic Church.

From Morris's own admission, it is clear that he is vacating his seat unwillingly. Obviously, Pope Benedict had hoped that he would resign and make the axing go much smoother. On a side note, this type of action does make it look like the Pope is in charge of a corporation called the Catholic Church, Inc., which give credence to lawyers who want to sue the Pope for not removing priest-rapists.

Nevertheless, it is oddly appropriate that Morris was fired for promoting women priests in the same news cycle as the beatification of John Paul II. This is an act of injustice that would have warmed the previous pontiff's heart. Up until this time, I had been led to believe that Benedict was more open to disagreement within the Catholic Church than John Paul, but I guess disagreement can only happen when the Pope says so (i.e., condoms).

A Faithful Catholic