What does a new bishop do when he inherits a thriving diocese, one with beautiful, reverent, liturgies, engaged and intentional faithful, with vocations and ordinations booming? If you are Bishop Michael Martin of the Diocese of Charlotte the answer appears to be to “fix” everything that isn’t broken.
Just in the first 18 months since his installation as the fifth Bishop of Charlotte, Martin has repeatedly been in the news for his leadership style, haste in implementing changes, and overall incompatibility with the culture of the diocese.
What is most shocking and unsettling to many is Bishop Martin’s hyper-focus on what has been perceived (both inside and outside of the diocese) as Charlotte’s most noted achievements: reverent parish liturgies and booming vocations.
Earlier this year Martin made headlines for his decision to expel all remaining diocesan Latin Masses from their parishes, segregating all the TLM faithful to a single chapel hours away from their parish homes.
Despite the pleas of the faithful and the personal testimony of pastors as to the success and harmony of the two forms coexisting in their parishes, Bishop Martin refused to seek an additional dispensation from Rome.
To this day Bishop Martin has still not met with the traditional community nor visited the sparse, rural, chapel he exiled them to. In addition, hundreds of letters written by the faithful asking for reconsideration were replied to with a simple form letter response.
Continue reading at The Liturgy Guy