Word: scrantons
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...suddenly departing politicians and CEOs, the standard line is to "spend time with family." Now the Catholic Church may have its own version of this unconvincing, stock answer. On Aug. 31, Joseph Martino, the controversial bishop from Scranton, Pa., stunned longtime church watchers by announcing that he was resigning his post because of problems with insomnia and fatigue...
...were failing to properly represent Catholic values. He could be abrasive, blasting Misericordia University in Dallas, Pa., for inviting an openly gay writer and former Clinton Administration aide to speak. The university, declared Martino, was "seriously failing in maintaining its Catholic identity." Earlier this year, Martino threatened to shutter Scranton's cathedral on St. Patrick's Day if any local Irish-American organizations included pro-choice politicians in their celebrations...
...During the 2008 campaign, Martino focused particular attention on vice-presidential nominee Joseph Biden, a Scranton native and Catholic Democrat. The bishop declared that Biden would be denied communion if he tried to receive it at any church in the diocese, which covers the northeast quarter of the state - "I will be truly vigilant on this point," said Martino. And he warned his parishioners that there would be dire consequences for supporting Biden and the Democratic ticket. In October, Martino directed that a letter be read at all Sunday masses, charging that a vote for a pro-choice politician...
...primaries, gazing at red and blue maps, sitting through every debate and convention speech, and worshipping Nate Silver. Since freshman fall I have been engaging in dinner table discussions with all my American friends, talking about the working-class white vote in Pennsylvania as though I grew up in Scranton...
Nevertheless, 54% of U.S. Catholic voters supported Obama, who is Protestant. That may give him the cover to move ahead with his pledges. An added twist to the Obama Administration will be its pro-choice Catholic Vice President, Joe Biden. Bishop Joseph Martino of Scranton, Pa., hometown of Biden, told his fellow bishops last week, "I cannot have a Vice President-elect coming to Scranton to say he's learned his values there when those values are utterly against the teachings of the Catholic Church." Another pro-choice Catholic, Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius, may be on the short list...