Ask the Bishop, Live

PLEASE READ

After many callers from Pittston called to ask Bishop Joseph F. Martino hard questions about his apparently unjustified decision to close St. Mary's School in Avoca and St. John the Baptist School in Pittston, and Bishop Martino responded to one caller with a reference to "liars" and certain pastors in the same sentence, the show went on "hiatus" for June. Not even rebroadcasts were shown, as is normall done throughtout the month after the live telecast.

We recommend calling the number listed in the official Diocese of Scranton announcement (media page) below if you would like to know when the NEXT "Ask the Bishop" will be telecast LIVE (probably in July):

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*Please Note*
ASK THE BISHOP, LIVE, with Most Rev. Joseph F. Martino, Bishop of Scranton, will NOT be broadcast on Thursday, June 10 at 3:00 pm, as had been scheduled, the program is now on hiatus. CTV will return to the previously scheduled regular programming at this time.

Encores of this program scheduled for June 13 at 5:00 pm, June 15 at 9:00 pm, June 16 at 4:00 pm, and June 18 at 10:00 am, will be replaced by the “Be Not Afraid Holy Hour: The Living Eucharist”.

ASK THE BISHOP, LIVE, is a one-hour, live, call-in program produced monthly by CTV, and hosted by Maria Orzel, Executive Director of Communications, and Dan Gallagher, host/reporter for CTV. Bishop Martino answers questions live on-the-air from viewers calling in from throughout the diocese, in the CTV coverage area.

Produced and broadcast by CTV: Catholic Television, "Ask The Bishop" can be seen LIVE on CTV Monthly.

ASK THE BISHOP, LIVE, WITH Bishop Joseph F. Martino (60 min)

CALL LIVE WITH YOUR QUESTIONS: (570) 207-2219 Toll Free: (800) 246-0288

Ask the Bishop Live is listed under "Monthly Specials".

School Closing Discussed - Call 2- 4/21/04 Broadcast

This is Part II of our coverage of Ask the Bishop, Live, which was broadcast live on April 21, 2004, and rebroadcast on April 27, 28, 29.
You can read the first transcript, from a caller named Patsy, by clicking HERE

The second caller about the school closings was a woman from Pittston named Mary. Mary asked about why the bishop keeps calling our children "displaced children", and noted that Bishop Martino has divided the community, and stated that she doesn't think he realizes what he has done to the children.

Portions of Ask the Bishop, Live in which Bishop Joseph F. Martino addresses the Catholic school closings in Region 7, Pittston, of the Catholic Diocese, will be posted here.
This installment was broadcast LIVE April 21, 2004, in Scranton on CTV

Phone Call from Mary from Pittston:
"OK. I wanted to know why the bishop keeps calling our children from Pittston and Avoca displaced children. You know they are not displaced children. They are children of God. And I don't think he realizes this. What he did to the children. He has divided our community. The people are very angry. And I would like to ask him, why does he keep calling our children displaced. He's the one who made them displaced."

Response from Bishop Joseph F. Martino:
"Un, Mary, um, I'm not familiar with ever having used that term. If that term has been associated with me, I don't remember ever having used it. And, um, I'm not quite sure the source of that information.

I must tell you, Mary, one of the, uh, problems I've had is, uh, since I've come here to this diocese is that thee power of the rumor is very powerful here in Northeast Pennsylvania. People will tell you that something is so because they heard it. Simply that way. It is so because I heard it or I was told. So, I don't know, uh, quite the sorce of, uh, that, uh, information but that is not a phrase that, um, I'm familiar with. If you can find it and show it to me I'll be happy to address it. But, um, I don't know how, uh, that's just not the kind of word that I use normally. Displaced usually refers to people who have been moved from one country to another and I haven't talked about emigration lately, so, I don't know why I would use that term.

Again, I'm, I'm sorry for the way this plan was communicated to you and there are people responsible in communicating it is this poor way and I intend to address that. I'm new here and I'm quite capable of making mistakes when I'm new.

However, the plan was necessary because there is a financial blood-letting going on in Region 7. A financial blood-letting that is endangering aspects of the Diocese like insurance plans and pension funds and other things that need to be addressed.

The Church is in the real world. The Church is both divine and human. And in its human aspect it has to pay its bills. We are not looking to making the Church of Scranton into a profit-making organization. God forbid. Because Jesus said "Blessed are the poor in spirit." However, we have to be able to pay our bills if we are going to have insurance to protect against buildings burning down, if we are going to have, uh, the kind of programs and resources that we need to announce the Gospel of Jesus Christ eh, in the world in which we find ourselves.

So, I'm sorry for the division that has occured there. But I'm afraid that much of that division now, um, is the result of poor communication which continues to go on. And I'm doing everything I can to address that.

But I do believe in time, when we see the health of the four schools that are there, and that Catholic education is blossoming anew because of this change, then I think that you will understand the analogy that I made earlier. That, sometimes, there are growth pains in life, but they are pain, but they're growth pains not death pains. And we hope that, eh, I hope that you will forgive me for any pain that I may have caused you. But that was not what I intended to do.

But I, um, cannot make decisions all the time simply on the basis of whether I'm going to, um, hurt people or not. Uh, I've got to make them on the basis of what is best for the majority of the people of this Diocese. And I know that that will hurt some people. That's not my intention. I ask their forgiveness. I ask for their prayers. And I assure you of my prayers that you will understand what it is that I tried to do here.

Thanks, Mary."

No further comment was allowed from Mary.