What comes next is the important thing

The news of Bishop Martino’s retirement is the beginning of the end of a dark era for Catholicism in the Scranton Diocese.

Make no mistake about it; Bishop Joseph Martino did a tremendous amount of damage in very many ways to the Catholic Church as a whole in the Diocese. But nowhere was greater damage done than to our once proud system of Catholic education, which has been thoroughly devastated.

We challenge any teacher, parent, administrator or student to stand up and say that they believe that Catholic education is better off today than it was before the devastation wrought by Bishop Martino and his willing and eager minions in the Catholic Schools Office.

The reason the school system is in such a horrible state is that teachers, who are the key to success in any school system, have been rendered voiceless by being deprived of a union. Without such a voice, their ideas and opinions these last two years counted for naught. Because of that, a once effective curriculum was destroyed, and teacher morale devastated by ridiculous work rules, a senseless seniority system, and a total lack of job security. All of this has led to a public perception (rightly so) that the school system is unstable and no longer the standard of excellence that it once was in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Whoever the next bishop is, let's hope when he makes his plans to undo the damage done by Bishop Martino, he is intelligent enough to trace the history of what Martino did to get the Diocese in the mess it's in. If he does that, he will find that Bishop Martino never had any problems until he decided to bust our union. In doing so, he seriously underestimated the community's reaction, especially the tens of thousands of Catholics who make up the labor community. In effect, his actions desecrated "holy ground." The modern labor movement was born in northeastern Pennsylvania. The Catholic Church in Scranton was mid-wife to this birth. To see the Church turn its back on labor rights is never something that will be acceptable in this part of the world. Whoever the next bishop is going to be will never be able to be successful until he undoes this harm.

As we did immediately upon the arrival of Bishop Martino, the Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers will extend a hand to the new bishop and ask that we work together to rebuild Catholic education in the Diocese of Scranton. Let's all pray that the new bishop has the wisdom and courage to accept our offer.