Those words are long overdue from those of our bishops who recognize that their God-given teaching authority has long been usurped by a collective body with no authority of its own.

They are the words of Bishop Martino of Scranton Pennsylvania, who took matters into his own hands when he visited a parish forum on the upcoming elections, where documents like "Faithful Citizenship"  were used by some to justify voting for Barack Obama.

Martino arrived unannounced in the midst of a panel discussion on faith issues and the presidential campaign at St. John’s Catholic Church on Sunday. According to people who attended the event, the bishop chastised the group for holding the forum and particularly took issue with the discussion and distribution of excerpts from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ position on voting issues. The document defines abortion and euthanasia, as well as racism, torture and genocide, as among the most important issues for Catholic voters to consider.

“No USCCB document is relevant in this diocese,” he was quoted as saying in the Wayne County Independent, a Honesdale-based newspaper. “The USCCB doesn’t speak for me.”

Thomas Shepstone, a local businessman and Catholic who spoke about his opposition to abortion rights during the event, recalled Tuesday that Martino also told the audience that he voted against the U.S. Bishops’ statement and described it as a consensus document “written to mean all things to all people.”

According to participants, Martino expressed dismay that the panelists did not discuss the pastoral letter he directed all priests in the Diocese to read in place of their homilies on Oct. 4 and 5. In that letter, he called on Catholic voters to consider abortion above all other issues, except those he defined as having equal moral weight, like euthanasia and embryonic stem-cell research.

“The only relevant document ... is my letter,” he said at the forum, according to the Independent. “There is one teacher in this diocese, and these points are not debatable.”

 When one reads the history of the Church, it becomes evident that the individual Bishops were often the bulwark against error, heresy and persecution: St. Ignatius of Antioch. St. Polycarp of Smyrna. St.Ireneus of Lyon. Hosius of Cordova. St. Athanasius of Alexandria. St. Augustine of Hippo. St. Ambrose of Milan.

You could form a list that would run off the page of bishops who stood for the truth, even at the cost of their lives. They confronted emperors and heretics - not through letters, but in person. Hosius did his best to keep Constantine on the straight path, and was a formative influence at the Council of Nicaea. Ambrose famously made the emperor Theodosius do public penance for the massacre of the Thessalonicans. Polycarp, when asked by the heretic Marcion if he recognized him, responded, "I do. You are the first-born of Satan." Our bishops have a history of being defenders of the faith, even if it means confrontation or a bit of social awkwardness. 

(Barbaric, I know.)

But I can only imagine the disdain we will soon read about for Bishop Martino's actions, despite being entirely within his legitimate authority as a successor to the apostles.  In his pastoral letter on Respect Life Sunday, the bishop said:

  While the Church assists the State in the promotion of a just society, its primary concern is to assist men and women in achieving salvation. For this reason, it is incumbent upon bishops to correct Catholics who are in error regarding these matters. Furthermore, public officials who are Catholic and who persist in public support for abortion and other intrinsic evils should not partake in or be admitted to the sacrament of Holy Communion. As I have said before, I will be vigilant on this subject.

It is the Church’s role now to be a prophet in our own country, reminding all citizens of what our founders meant when they said that “. . . all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” The Church’s teaching that all life from conception to natural death should be protected by law is founded on religious belief to be sure, but it is also a profoundly American principle founded on reason. Whenever a society asks its citizens to violate its own foundational principles – as well as their moral consciences – citizens have a right, indeed an obligation, to refuse. 

 He is being a man of his word. He is living the gospel. He is fulfilling his obligation before God and the people of his diocese. As Bishop Martino himself wrote:

My dear friends, I beg you not to be misled by confusion and lies. Our Lord, Jesus Christ, does not ask us to follow him to Calvary only for us to be afraid of contradicting a few bystanders along the way. He does not ask us to take up his Cross only to have us leave it at the voting booth door. Recently, Pope Benedict XVI said that “God is so humble that he uses us to spread his Word.” The gospel of life, which we have the privilege of proclaiming, resonates in the heart of every person – believer and non-believer – because it fulfills the heart’s most profound desire. Let us with one voice continue to speak the language of love and affirm the right of every human being to have the value of his or her life, from conception to natural death, respected to the highest degree.

I have a lot of respect for Bishop Martino for taking a personal interest in his teaching authority. To the contrary of those who will no doubt scornfully dismiss his actions, and the enthusiasm of those of us who see them as heroic, I have little to say. Our faith has a history of courage in the face of evil, and I'm proud to see that courage resurgent in a time of great darkness.