“The kind of community we are seems to indicate a high comfort level with virtually no public morality.” These are the words of Madison Bishop Robert Morlino, which appeared in his weekly article in The Catholic Herald newspaper. Morlino was transferred to Madison last summer and has been, until recently, a mildly irritating presence within the community.

On March 17, Morlino dismissed Ruth Kolpack from a position she had held at St. Thomas the Apostle church since 1995. Morlino dismissed her because she refused to denounce a scholarly thesis she had written demanding more rights for women within the church.

This unacceptable display of outright sexism and bigotry is only the first on Morlino’s recent list of similarly disconcerting decisions. The most disgusting of these actions by Morlino is his consistent use of the Catholic Church to further his own political agenda.

Before the election in November, Morlino condemned both Joseph Biden and Nancy Pelosi for not upholding the Church’s teachings on abortion. His reasoning was that he was not accusing them for their political opinions, but because they morally failed as Catholics. Morlino has also been known to openly voice these political opinions both in and out of the church, which, in addition to abortion, include gay marriage and rights, stem cell research and capital punishment.

Now, it may seem irrelevant that another incompetent and ill-informed religious official is attempting to wield political power, but Morlino’s actions hold much deeper consequences.

First of all, regardless of your religious views, Morlino is representing the community of Madison. Everything that he says and does reflects on the community here. He may not realize it, but he is truly threatening the public morality of Madison.

Also, the political power that a religious official has at his disposal should never be disregarded. Morlino is furthering the broken ideals of the church that has made separation of “church and state” so necessary; he is using Madison as his very own political pulpit.

Beyond this, it is always reassuring to see another corrupt religious official connected to scandals. Morlino is the chairman of the Board of Visitors for the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, a military school in Columbus, Ga. Over 61,000 Latin American soldiers, many whom are notorious for grave human rights violations and murders, have been trained at Morlino’s beloved school.

Of course, it seems only logical that the “pro-life” Catholic Church would support a school that teaches people how to kill.

Yet, it is sickening to realize that the man who serves as the driving voice behind Madison‘s Catholic community is nothing more than a modern crusader. However, it would make sense a community with no public morality wouldn’t be too concerned about the actions of a corrupt, murdering bishop.

Madison, Robert Morlino both represents and judges you. He plays a part in your community politics and cannot be ignored. Moreover, there has been talk of considering Morlino to take the place of Archbishop Timothy Dolan when he moves to New York.

Were this to happen, Morlino would definitely wield more political power, and his decisions would certainly go beyond his recent attempts to stop the opening of a casino near Madison.

Sadly, Morlino is most likely an extreme example of the overall direction the Catholic Church has been taking recently. With women everywhere within the Church being more and more excluded and the Pope’s recent talk of moving to a pre-John Paul II policy, Morlino’s policies could quite possibly become the norm within the Church.

In the face of these events, the most obvious solution is to exercise caution. As citizens of a country that has continuously persecuted other countries for their political and religious connections, it essential that we don’t allow religion to define our choices. Faith doesn’t have to be blind. In fact, it seems some intelligent thought would be highly therapeutic in the face of the currently glaring hypocrisies.

As a community, we can reject Morlino and his policies without sinking to his level of hatred and prove we have public morality.

Finally, remember that Jesus told us to “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” unless of course your neighbor is gay, a woman, a scientist, pro-choice or religiously different. In that case, follow the Morlino’s example and love them just a little bit less.

Dan Rose ([email protected]) is a freshman majoring in journalism in pre-med.