Roman Catholic Diocese of Madison Bishop Robert Morlino
Just in time for Día de los Muertos, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Madison issued a memo, approved by its bishop, Robert Morlino, advising priests to essentially avoid performing funeral rites for LGBTQ persons in a “Homosexual Civil or Notorious Union” lest they create “scandal or confusion.”
Understandably, the shocking statement that seemingly contradicts compliance with Christ’s instruction for compassion (as in “what you do unto the least of mine, you do unto Me,” Matthew 25:40, and other such citations) quickly reverberated around the world and has since inspired an online call for Pope Francis to remove the bishop. Good luck with that. Otherwise, for me the consternation over this latest of affronts to human dignity by religious extremists is hardly a surprise. I get those who hang onto their church affiliations for whatever reason—Stockholm Syndrome or some other manifestation of self-hate.
But, most people I know are beyond that and would reject having a hypocritical Catholic priest perform a rite for a loved one anyway. (At this point I can hear Hamlet’s King Claudius saying, “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. Words without thoughts never to heaven go.”) Anyway, there are plenty of affirming alternatives. Here in Milwaukee we have the Metropolitan Community Church, Plymouth Church and the Village Church, among many other Christian congregations; and there are several of other faiths as well.
But for all the uproar over this blatantly cruel repudiation of Christ’s teaching, the most galling part is its application only to LGBTQs. There’s no mention of refusing rites to remarried divorcees, cohabitating straight couples using birth control, murderers or, for that matter, active gay priests. It’s easy to figure out why: market share. About 25% of American Catholics are divorced. Cohabitating couples make up another batch of sinners, and it’s argued that of Catholic women, 98% have used birth control at some time. Were the Catholic Church really to pursue the matter, it would run out of people to bury.
Market share becomes a raison d’etre when one considers the competition for congregants. In the past, the Church could take for granted certain inherently Catholic demographics to fill collection baskets. But recently there’s been a major hemorrhaging of Hispanics, a once reliable revenue stream. So, to remain competitive, if you can’t beat them, join them in their war against LGBTQs.
Another factor may also be inspiring Catholic conservatives to assert their anti-LGBTQ agenda, namely Pope Francis I himself. An outsider as both an Argentine “foreigner” and, perhaps even worse, a Jesuit, he has moved in a progressive direction on many of the Church’s most sensitive beliefs. Since his 2013 election he has shaken up the Vatican aristocracy by addressing corruption, rejecting its excesses of ceremony (think our Wisconsin brother Cardinal Raymond “Capa Magna” Burke and Madison’s Bishop Morlino, et al.), turned teaching away from dogma and toward policies implementing Christ’s mercy and serving the poor and furthered Church engagement with world issues like climate change, women’s rights and immigration to name just a few. As a result, there has even been talk of schism.
Either way, assaulting the dignity of dead gays is easy. The solace I suppose is contemplating what circle of Dante’s Inferno will be their reward.
