This Bishop was not so good. He closed the only Catholic High School in the area. Now our children have to travel on a bus 25 miles each way to attend school.
I agree that closing schools and parishes is not good, but sometimes there are financial reasons that simply make it essential. Cdl Egan came into New York and closed a number of them; now I think Dolan will actually be able to not close a couple that had been scheduled for closing because the finances of the diocese are so much better.
My feeling is that Martino probably got fire on two fronts: from people at the parish level for his unpopular decisions about closing schools, etc.; and from the USCCB and his brother bishops for his outspoken orthodoxy and calls to discipline “Catholic” pro-abortion politicians.
The senior USCCB is practically an office of the Democratic party, along with the leaders of most religious orders. Martino was very critical of the decision to invite Obama to ND and Georgetown (I don’t think he even bothered to say anything about the scandal in Massachusetts because he clearly has no influence now). Personally, I think this is not a good sign for the Church or for orthodox bishops in general.
Frankly, there are a lot of people -- I know we have a lot in my parish,. and we're in the Archdiocese of Phila -- who complain about school closings, etc, but also do not tithe -- or even give money to collections on Sunday, which help fund the schools. Then they crab when schools have to be consolidated or closed. Couple that with Fat Ed Rendell's cutting of the education budget, and...