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Article: Controversial bishop resigns.(NATION)(Joseph F. Martino)
- Article from:
- National Catholic Reporter
- Article date:
- September 18, 2009
- Author:
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When Bishop Joseph F. Martino resigned Aug. 31 after six tumultuous years as bishop of Scranton, Pa., he left behind a diocese badly divided and demoralized, but, ironically, better prepared for the future than it was in 2003.
Sources contacted by NCR said the problem was Martino's remote, uncommunicative and often authoritarian leadership style, not his decisions to close nearly half the Catholic schools and 40 percent of the parishes in the northeastern Pennsylvania diocese.
One longtime pastor said the parish and school closings and mergers "were absolutely needed." He predicted that the basic program of restructuring ...