By John Jalsevac
SCRANTON, PA, March 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – For weeks now Bishop Martino has been making headlines in the news on what sometimes seems to be a daily basis, as he has defended the teachings of the Catholic Church on some of the most controversial issues of the day, including abortion and homosexuality.
However, whether writing to Sen. Bob Casey (a member of Martino’s diocese) asking the senator to revoke his vote against reinstating the Mexico City Policy, or demanding that Misericordia University cancel an appearance by a homosexualist speaker, the bishop has generally shied away from media interviews.
Last week, however, the bishop agreed to an on-camera interview with a local TV station. The bishop made his brief remarks following a special Mass for people with mental and developmental disabilities.
“I think that we, in our society today, believe that we can decide who should live and who should die, who’s perfect and who’s not perfect,” Martino told WYOU News the Sunday before last. “So, it’s interesting while young men and women are here with disabilities, there are probably a lot more that have been eliminated over the years in our culture of death.
“That’s why I speak so forcefully about the right to life. The sanctity of life, from its beginning at conception to natural death, that we not make ourselves God, the way Nazi Germany did.”
The bishop has received high praise from pro-family and pro-life leaders in recent months for his forthright and unapologetic outspokenness on the most pressing social and moral issues. Besides writing to Senator Casey twice over the senator’s stance on abortion, the bishop has also made clear that if pro-abortion politicians are honored during St. Patrick’s Day events, the diocese’s Cathedral will not be open to the festivities, and has exhorted Misericordia University to dissolve its “Diversity Institute.”
“We can’t help but admire the zeal of Bishop Martino who, in his own estimation, is simply doing the work of a bishop, namely, overseeing his flock,” Fr. Tom Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, recently told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN).
“For every public sinner who some church officials coddle, there are thousands or tens of thousands whose faith languishes at the scandalous example. Bishop Martino is a true shepherd and we fully endorse his pastoral courage and strength – may many others in the episcopal office follow his great example!”
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Pro-Life Leaders Hail Bishop Martino’s Courageous Outspokenness for Pro-Life, Pro-Family Values
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09022713.html
Bishop Martino Again Rebukes Sen. Casey, Instructs Withholding of Communion from Pro-Abort Politicians
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09022705.html
Bishop Martino Slams Misericordia University for Inviting Homosexual Rights Advocate
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09021709.html
Bishop Martino Tells St. Patrick Paraders: Cathedral Off-Limits if Pro-Abortion Politicians Honored
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09021906.html