Breaking Bread

It was the large platters and bowls of food I most recall. The food was quintessential middle American comfort--turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans and of course corn. The meal was held annually on the weekend following Labor Day. This meal was just one important part, perhaps second to the beer tent, of the Sacred Hearts Parish Fall Festival in Sun Prairie, WI. As a festival it may not have been as big as the Sun Prairie Corn Festival, but I found something unique about this festival--in the meal, breaking of the bread together at long, beer hall like, communal tables is not unlike the Eucharist at mass. The festival encompassed most of the whole parish community. It served more as a builder of the church community, than as a fund raiser. If you counted the amount of volunteer labor, it was likely a money loser, but I felt the point was to bring the parish together. The relationship of the festival to the spiritual community at mass, is an intertwined relationship, almost symbiotic as they worked off each other. Breaking of bread is important to community.

Sacred Hearts Parish Hall, gym above, cafeteria below
Google Street View

Sacred Hearts was somewhat unique in its founding. Germans and Irish came together and formed one parish, not two as happened in other parts of the now Madison diocese where each ethnic group started its own parish. With Sacred Hearts being founded in what was an agricultural community, celebration of the fall harvest was appropriate and important. Over time, however, the sense of community in Catholic Churches has been lost, and the movement toward pastorates, or combinations of parishes, I believe, is helping to lead the disintegration of parish as a community, and as a large part of civic community or, for urban parishes, as part of the neighborhood.

If one were to listen to the bishop, all is hunky dory and community is being built, and mass attendance is up (compared to 2022). He does not talk much about the churches engagement with the wider community. He does not count those that have left in comparison to those that have joined. He has to give a sanitized view of his initiative. In Magnificat Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV (parag 27) mentions that when "politics fails to address the tragedies of humanity, when the economy turns against the person or when science oversteps the limits of its competencies" the church must make her voice known in order to promote communion. Hence, the relation of the church to the larger community is important, to play the role suggested by Leo, there must first be a relationship. This relationship is at the wayside.

Back when I was growing up in Sun Prairie, there was, I suggest, a complementary relationship between the parish and the overall civic community. Heavily settled by many German and a lesser amount of Irish immigrants, the Sun Prairie area contained many Catholics. Sacred Hearts was a large presence in the community. Its current dark brown brick church was built in the early 1920's. One of my second great grandmothers, Rosalie Duscheck, died in Sun Prairie, at the age of 92 in October 1921. Faith was important to Grandma Duscheck, as can be seen in this statement from her obituary: "A few months before her death, her desire to see the new church was so great that her sons carried her out and took her to the church in a wheel chair, where she found a great joy in praying at the altar."

1941 Wedding at Sacred Hearts
Courtesy: WI State Historical Society Digital Library

The parish hall is also a brown brick building. Attached is a newer mid-century modern school, of grades one to eight. From outside one enters this classic mid-century modern antiseptic like structure, built to withstand many little hands and feet, and yet long lasting with ceramic tile predominating on hallway floors and at least to four or five feet above floor. For centuries the church knew how to build things right. If you went one direction you were on the first floor of the school (grades 1-4); the other direction took you to a half story down to the parish hall, or a half story up from the first floor took you to the school gym-auditorium. A further half story up from the gym took you to the second floor of the school, grades 5-8. Many of these schools, with large windows, built at a time when energy was cheap, was a common design for a number of Catholic Churches which built new schools during the mid 1950's to early or mid-1960's to accommodate the increase in attendance from the baby boom. Indoor tile pattern/color and exterior brick color being the main differences. 

1912 Sanborn Map of Sacred Hearts property
Courtesy of WI State Historical Society

The festival dinner was held in the parish hall, with the rummage sale in the gym. Outside, there were several booths, of redwood stained wood, and dark green canvas of games for the children. I think for some years they were stored in the small shed, now long gone, that housed Fr Waldkirch's (a longtime pastor) beagles. Men gravitated to the beer tent, perhaps the big money maker, sometimes set at the corner of the church building. The dinner was made and served primarily by women of the parish. These ladies often seemed to be 80 years old, to a young boy, but they were likely in the 50's and 60's. But, maybe younger.  Depending upon the first letter of your last name, families would donate rolls, butter, or pies. As I sit here writing this, it makes me think how much I miss that family style all you can eat meal, where I would fill my plate with turkey, gravy and stuffing, with some corn, but seldom green beans and never cranberry sauce. Meals are one method of gathering particularly family style at long tables set end to end almost the length of the room. I suspect if someone was from town, they did not want to be seated across from the Hovel family particularly the boys with the voracious appetites. On the other hand, they were treated to a feast and likely wondered how people could eat so much. It was a community meal, cheap, plentiful and comfort food. The meal and the festival served a purpose of bringing people together. The church and school, were clearly, at the time, a robust institution.

That institution has seen better days, mass attendance is way down, Sacred Hearts, now teamed with other churches to form Epiphany of the Lord Parish runs an annual deficit. The bishop failed to make any comments on the financial suitability of parishes, perhaps because it is not good. Many have left and few join. Much of this has occurred since Monsignor Duane Moellenberndt retired. One I was growing up the parish had three priests, and for many years, until realignment a few years ago had two. Today, it has three to four priests serving four churches, from St Albert in the west to St Joseph in Waterloo to the east. As an interesting aside, Waterloo was once heavily Catholic, settled in part by Landskron Czechs, and today there is one weekend mass. The fourth priest is in Hispanic ministry and serves here and I think some other area churches.

Undated image of part of Sun Prairie.
Sacred Hearts Steeple sits to left of the water tower
Courtesy of WI State Historical Society

Decline of parishes has implications to the wider neighborhood and community.  Writing in 2008 in the journal City Mayors Society, Tony Favo talks about the important role Catholic Churches played in the mid 1800's to the mid 1900's--their importance with community building, neighborhood ministries, providing food and clothing to the poor and unemployed, hospice services for the terminally ill, and urban parishes had health clinics for the uninsured. Not uncommon were Catholic Hospitals. Perhaps, there was no better illustration of the importance of the Catholic Church to a neighborhood than the movie Cinderella Man. In the movie, James Braddock a down-on-his-luck Irishman during the Great Depression (1935) fights the reigning heavy weight boxing champion, Max Baer. In the movie, many in the neighborhood, gathered in the parish Catholic church to listen to a radio broadcast of the fight. Braddock won. The 1930 census had a question if the household had a radio. My grandparents answered no. 

The Church is/was an important pillar of the neighborhood. Although to many policy makers today the Christian Church is but a nuisance. Yet, Favo took a different view: 

Catholic churches, schools and institutions, in other words, became important anchors of urban neighborhoods. While public schools began crumbling in the 1960s and 1970s as a result of the flight of white, middle-class families to the suburbs, Catholic schools have remained strong. The National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) reports a 99 per cent graduation rate at Catholic secondary schools in 2007 versus a 50 per cent graduation rate for urban public high schools.

Favo then goes on to talk about the decline of the Catholic Church in neighborhoods. That decline has only become more rampant. Fewer Catholics, coupled with changing neighborhood demographics all contributed to the decline. If one were to point to the poster child for decline of the Catholic Church in the United States today it may very well be Pope Leo XIV's childhood parish church, a mid-century modern facility completed in 1957 to serve the growing Catholic population of the area. The church is in Chicago, but just outside of Leo's hometown of Dolton, IL. Closed in 2011, the church did not last even three generations. 

Interior of Pope Leo's Childhood Parish Church
With Robert Prevost being elected as Pope in May 2025, 
this building has since been added to the list of Chicago's 
most endangered list. If not for Leo, the building would
go into the dust bin of the southside, although it still may.
Google map image

Favo continues his work on the institutional loss, but concludes with the following:

The loss of viable Catholic parishes is shattering to many American urban communities. City governments, inevitably, are left to pick up the pieces. 

As Richard Garnett, professor of law at the University of Notre Dame writes of Catholic church and school closings, “As these institutions fold, the burdens on and challenges to public ones will increase.”

I wonder what, nine years later, Favo would have to say about the church in the city? The decrease in services is one thing, but more important is what the loss of institutions does to the very critical fabric of our society. Much as been written about the importance of institutions to the nation. 190 years ago Alexis de Tocqueville traveled throughout the United States to attempt to discover what made democracy work in this fledgling nation, while it failed in other places (most notably at the time, France, his native land). In his book, Democracy in America he noted that Americans exhibited remarkably robust institutions and instincts for civil society—strong neighborhoods, communities, churches, clubs, etc.—and that this strength provided vital support for the health of the democratic polity. Hence, engagement has been, according to de Tocqueville, key to a strong American society.  I see this as similar to Pope Leo's further comment in Magnificat Humanitas: "...Social Doctrine becomes a theology of communion in history, a history in which the word made flesh continues to be present through dialogue, memory and prophecy." The condition of our humanity depends on social interaction.

In a blog post in Sept 2014, I wrote about the importance of the built environment to our civic engagement. I commented on how a small part of Chicago was more neighborly than Sun Prairie. At least at the time of that visit when I was in school. From suburban Sun Prairie, to New Jersey (Braddock), and to the cornfields of Iowa in Winneshiek County where I visited two years ago and was able to see the importance the German communities and their Catholic Churches and schools once meant to those rural communities. The Catholic Church was important to the community, built on strong faith, and backs of its members.

Yet, this disassociation has been going on in most all aspects of society. Robert Putnam, a prominent sociologist, wrote Bowling Alone, in which he described the decline in participation in American society. The clubs and organizations which de Tocqueville famously described, like the Catholic Church, are generally not as strong as they once were. Putnam puts much of the blame on television, perhaps now social media. The civic glue which holds the nation together is eroding. This affects the connectedness and communities of our nation and the desire to engage in civil discourse. Decline has continued and cynicism and indifference now play a major part in society. Part due to institutions themselves, part to a simply more cynical nation where division is promoted.

Book Cover

Many dioceses are restructuring. The common plan is to consolidate, as occurred in the Madison diocese a three years ago, with three to five parishes into a pastorate and into one parish, with the three to five churches. Two to three priests at the combined parish is common. The priest will often rotate their mass celebrations, but how each new parish handles it is up to that parish pastor. What occurs, is at a time when community should be encouraged, the combined churches into one parish structure helps undermine community as the priests become transient by service to many churches. The large pastorate that serves Fort Atkinson area (six churches), the assigned pastor said he would have to travel over 100 miles to visit all the churches in one day. They lack strong attraction to many of the communities or neighborhoods served simply because they are no longer living nearby, they cut out their hotline for after hours or they lack the time to be involved in their community. A priest, could be a leader in building community. Fr Art Koth, who served Christ the King in McFarland for many years, was once named person of the year in the Norwegian Lutheran dominated village; this was due to his involvement in the community. The rad trads, would not think to be involved with anything other than lace and funny hats. It is often said that such consolidation of churches leads to a twenty percent drop in membership of the restructured parish. At a time when the church can ill afford to lose members, strategies that result in that are pursued. The only winners are the consultants that recommend such foolery. It is a classic sign of folly, pursuing strategy counter to your goals.

This lack of community connection, I think, is in large part is due to the church having prioritized the single all-male priesthood, over all else, whether be the Gospel, the Eucharist (one only needs to look at the combined parishes) church or community. The connections once so strong to building a relationship between church and city are going by the wayside at least for the Catholic Church. Other churches, mainly Evangelical, fill the void as the decline in the Catholic Church continues. The Brazilian soccer team, was almost all evangelicals, which has led some Brazilians to comment, when they were knocked out that "If you pray like a Gringo, you play like a Gringo." Catholics used to make up over 80% of the country, but is now at 52%. When you lack boots on the ground this is the result. It seems as if the mission of the church is to empty the pews to align with the fewer priests. Hierarchy then complains about lack of giving, mass attendance (nationally at 18%) but drive people away by sermons, traditionalist services, and lack of masses. They really have no right for such complaints given the failing model of clergy to which they adhere. In terms of giving the Stella Maris combined parish of St Patrick (Cottage Grove), Christ the King (McFarland), and Immaculate Heart of Mary (Monona) raised about 50% of its intended operating goal for the past fiscal year. 

I romanticized a bit about the parish dinner at the Sacred Hearts Fall Festival. But, from about 30 to over 100 years ago such occurrences were common in the church. It was a parish community, more than simply a place that mass was said. Community was present in the culture, in the activities, and spiritually in the mass. They are all integrated. Dynamics of society, think Bowling Alone, and those within the church compound the problem of lack of engagement and involvement in civic or religious organizations. At a time when the church should be helping to address the problem of engagement it seems to be going in the opposite direction, it is said by those in charge, due to church priorities, declining priests and laity. The church in the community is a loss not to just to the church but to the city and our democratic society. 

Japanese Beetles

I think most of us who garden are familiar with the invasive pest known as the Japanese beetle. While they were introduced into Wisconsin in the 1950's, they exploded in the southern part of the state in later 1990's into the 2000's. They are a pest that likes to destroy certain plants.

The first time I noticed a Japanese beetle was quite some time ago, but within that explosion time frame. That year I had planted Blue Lake pole beans, in lieu of my standard Blue Lake bush bean. The bean plant was nice and healthy until one day in early July I was in the garden checking my plants and noticed that the leaves were all skeletonized, and that is where I noticed the beetle. I did not know what it was at the time, but the internet, even before AI, quickly informed me of the pest. 

Three Japanese Beetles partying on a raspberry plant leaf

Currently, they mostly attack our raspberries and roses, but have been seen on other plants, such as Hollyhock. They burrow into the rose bud such that when it opens you find them feasting on the rose petals. We pull them off the plants as we come across them. I used to simply hold it and take my thumb nail and puncture through the bug, but that got messy, and would take me away from raspberry picking as my hands smelled like Japanese Beetle. It is not a pleasant odor. Now, I pick them off and place them in a container of water and some Dawn dish soap. I am not concerned about killing an invasive specie. A couple years ago camping at Mirror Lake Gypsy moths, now called Sponge moths were literally falling out of trees, and I asked a ranger what to do and she said smash them. That made sense to me. We got one container filled with the beetles, and did not know what quite to do with them, so I dug a hole and dumped them in. 

When I look at the raspberry plants and see them on the foliage or on a berry, it is not uncommon for two to be hooked up, likely fertilizing eggs to continue the spread of this pest. I have to say, they are not usually too shy and I have even come across a fivesome. I am quickly becoming an expert on the sexual habits of Japanese Beetles. While they like the tops of the leaves to mate, some, in this recent hot weather, hook up on the underside of a leaf. I take it they are not monogamous.

Pulling them off can be a challenge, particularly if you already have some in a closed hand. In the closed hand, the sharp little legs like to stick to you hand, or even worse they are trying to wiggle out between the fingers or the palm and finger tips. Perhaps the spot most vulnerable is the between the little finger and the palm . They vibrate the hand which provides an odd sensation. With several in the hand you try to keep them in before they can escape and dump them all in the water-soap mix. This is not always successful.  

Cucumber leaves eaten off plant, likely be deer

If you have not tried to pick a Japanese beetles off a plant and hold them in your closed hand I suggest you do so. It becomes more difficult as you add the beetle to the hand with several already vying to get out.  I do have to say, picking the fivesome off was rather difficult to make sure I got all. I think I put my handover the group and pulled on the leaf. Sometimes I am fortunate to get them all, other times not so much. 

The beetles do three things, eat, have sex, and party. At some point the beetles will lay the eggs, which have a 10 to 12 day period to hatch. The females burrow into the ground lay the eggs and depart to eat, party and have sex some more. As much as they destroy my garden plants, the majority of their 10-12 month cycle is spent underground eating roots of grass. I get the feeling that we will forever be fighting the Japanese beetle. It is too bad the deer don't go for them instead of my cucumber and other plants. Or, that the Canadian wildfire smoke does not hamper them.

If it is not one pest, Japanese Beetles as an example, it is other pests, deer eating plants, squirrels stealing out bean seeds, rabbits nibbling on lower leaves, chipmunks destroying plants. And other creatures I am not aware, perhaps racoons, groundhogs or whatever. 

Priorities

This past winter, about a month apart, I saw death notices for two religious sisters, one a Dominican from the Sinsinawa convent, and the other a Benedictine based at Holy Wisdom Monastery. Besides that both were near the same age and committed themselves to religious life, I quickly noticed they had one other thing in common. Both funerals were at Holy Wisdom Monastery which is slightly north of Madison, WI. Each of the funeral services were led by a female, and with communion using gluten free hosts. Needless to say they did not have a Catholic funeral mass. At least for the Benedictine it is not like a priest was not available, as one priest played the music, and another gave the homily. Instead they went with a female who preaches at Holy Wisdom which was started by the Benedictine sisters. At one point Holy Wisdom was under a different name until then Bishop Robert Morlino helped encourage the split and asked them to give up the tabernacle that had been housed at the location, at that point they changed the name. I bring this up  as it shows the priority for the Catholic Church and its affect on even religious sisters.

1 July 2026 SSPX recently consecrated bishops (white)
Google images

Unfortunately, as many in the Amazon can attest, the chief priority of the church is not the resurrection and saving grace of Jesus, or service to the faithful, but rather a single all-male clergy. Persons in the Amazon can go over a year without a priest showing up. So much for the church serving those at the margins. At the same time, in the United States, we see many foreign priests such that we have become a mission area. The priests from India or Africa or wherever, are favored by some of their home territories because the American diocese pays their diocese for their services, a rent-a-priest program. The problem is many of the foreign priests are hard to understand, so it further drives away people. Why attend mass when you cannot understand the celebrant, whether it highly accented English, Latin, or Bengali. According to EWTN in the 1990's over 80% of Brazilians were Catholic, and it is now down to 52%...and falling. It does not take a genius to figure out why. In the meantime, Evangelicals are the recipients of the Catholic loss. Given the move to Evangelicals, it is not that the church is not sufficiently traditional, as many rad-trads say, but it is failing to have boots on the ground, and clergy rooted in the community. 

Diocese of Detroit, symbolic of decline in the Catholic Church
Ryan Burge is a professor at Washington University
L to R: Baptisms, First Communion, Confirmation, Marriages Funerals

People are voting with their feet and leaving, and the church lets its institutional sclerosis and its conservative nature keep it down. Even the firmest trads, SSPX, recently split with tradition by not getting papal approval for consecration of new bishops. Recently, some news outlets, pointed to recent high number of converts, but the incoming does not offset those who leave, and the number is actually lower than pre-Covid years. Yet, the church will take it as a win. Mass attendance is at 28%, much less than most other faiths. One wonders if Benedict's change to the mass also led to disaffection. If it is the one true church, in trad minds, why is it loosing so many people? Over the centuries this idea of one true church has led to a significant arrogance that has become embodied in the institution. When my grandfather used to say "The walls of hell are lined with the souls of priests!" it was not the abuse crisis, but the arrogance priests exhibited, clericalism. Here is a link to an article on the disconnect in the Church. While the data is almost ten years old, it shows the clear disconnect between the rad trads who demand purity and compliance, compared to the parishioners. This is part of the reason, I believe, so many have left or are leaving. Yet, even the rad trads, as pointed out in a prior post lose themselves, lace only goes so far in binding rad trad clerics to the faith. When Pope Francis proclaimed Todos, todos, todos, he was recognizing that people can disagree with church teaching and still be Catholic, to him it was a matter of accompaniment and not putting people down. This is different from John Paul II and Benedict XVI who both seemed to demand strict obedience. Even Poland is starting to go the way of Ireland. The bible may say, regarding Christ's church, that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it," but that does not say anything about the folly and sins of men.

Sadly, the increasing number of young rad-trad priests think their main activity is to wear funny hats and dress in long black cassocks, rather than provide service to their parishioners. I know of one rad-trad, who no longer identifies as a priest, but when pastor of a parish got rid of its 24 hour hotline for its congregants. If you needed anointing of the sick, or confession, you may be dead by the time you get it. Unfortunately, this is becoming more the rule than the exception with the Morlino priests. In less than two decades we will only have Morlino priests and the church will increasingly be smaller and more doctrinaire focused on Latin, funny hats and long cassocks rather than people and God. The "gift" of Robert Morlino keeps on giving. Hence, rather than accompanying congregants on a spiritual journey, they think of themselves. 

The problem is the priests then complain about how few attend mass, but yet many clergy fail to accompany parishioners. They complain even more about the lack of giving, but yet they preach exclusion and have a mass more like SSPX than Vatican II. They do not like the effects of their preaching and actions, yet they still do it. The actions of the local bishop has also driven congregants away. The Church is in a perfect storm when you add in its clericalism, and what that has led to in the church. It is now getting worse as many diocese close churches, consolidate, and cut back on masses because of the priest shortage. Figures show when this occurs 20% of the congregations are lost. Yet, they keep doing it. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, and that is where the church finds itself.

So much focus of the church over the past few decades has been on trying to keep the conservative, Holocaust denying SSPX in the fold. So much so that leaders have been blind to the other end. It is a true misreading by the church when two religious sisters do not have a Catholic funeral mass. The church not only cannot preach to a choir which has dispersed, as at St Maria Goretti, and Christ the King, but it has failed to keep its own religious properly in communion. It is not like these two religious sisters up and got married, they still lived within their respective religious communities. The conservative nature of the church, in trying to patch things up for so long with SSPX, failed to recognize the crumbling foundation, leaky roof, and all that entails on the other end of the divide.

Ryan Burge

The injustice is even greater for the persons in the Amazon and other regions at the periphery who desire to better practice their faith, but lack clerics to attend to their needs. It is not like the issue is not known, the Synod on the Amazon brought the issue of lack of clergy for many communities to the forefront. It seems to me the Church made a pact with people when it baptized them, and now it throws them to the side and fails to live up to its end of the bargain because of the single, all-male priesthood. Poor John Paul NO, in his rush to maintain male clericalism, he used historic arguments that make little sense. After all, the first person to encounter the risen Christ was not male, but Mary Magdalene (John 20:11-18).

Yet, even John Paul apparently did not say no to female deacons, which existed in the early church, but no longer exist due to patriarchy and clericalism. Pope Francis got some things right, but choose not to go too far, perhaps a concern with what Cardinals Burke and Mueller would say. When the US bishops visited the Vatican on their ad limina visits a few months after the Amazon synod, it was not the issue of declining priests or drop in attendance that they wanted to broach with the Vatican, but to make sure the Pope (Francis) would not think of allowing ordination of married men, or allow female deacons, two issues that synod document touched on. The final no action was a win for clericalism and patriarchy. One would think the rad-trads would embrace female deacons, since they were active in the early church, but they do not. Rather, they look to Pius X and the 19th century as the "highwater" mark, not the first centuries of Christianity. Even with this, the church still studies the matter and the recent study committee document (2025) was laughable for its incomplete and poor treatment of the issue.

To help with the lack of clergy one would think deacons could become more common. However, Bishop Morlino forbad any new deacons. I have a man in my book club who had wished to become a deacon  when Morlino was a bishop, but Morlino said no. Fast forward to present time, and another member of my book club noted he had received a letter from the diocese asking him to consider becoming a deacon. Apparently the letter was sent to a certain demographic of males, as the one who earlier had desired and is retiring this year, did not get a letter. So, we go from the short-sighted Morlino to present time when they are now wanting more deacons. Do they finally realize the negative effects of the lack of clergy? They realize the clergy shortage is real, and perhaps they realize that the Morlino priests really do not wish to work all that hard. Why do Morlino priests dislike work? It could be thta they are too busy tidying up their lace, and dusting their beanies. 

Hence, the Catholic Church is left with people having been praying for the past 50 or more years for more priests and the situation has not improved. It reminds me of the joke...

A devout person refuses evacuation during a flood. They stubbornly decline a rowboat and a motorboat, insisting God will save them. Even when a helicopter arrives, when they are perched on the roof of the house, they refuse the rope. Eventually, the person drowns. They meet God, and ask why He didn't intervene, to which God replies, "I sent you two boats and a helicopter, what more did you expect?

Clearly, in the above joke, the Catholic Church is the devout person. Maybe God is telling the Church that it has failed to properly use all its human resources, In that sense, in holding to a single, all-male clergy the church shows that its priority is not attending to the Gospel or the bringing people to encounter Jesus, but rather its priority is the single all-male priesthood to which all else in the church is subservient. 

Those two religious sisters continued to live with their religious communities, showing the diversity of thought in the church. But, community, long a standard of the faith is being lost and its decline is increasing as parishes are closed, or consolidated. It may be an urban legend, that Pope Benedict XVI desired a smaller more doctrinaire church, but that is coming true. The church will look much different in a couple generations, as more churches close due to declining attendance, and fewer priests. The priority of the church for a single all-male clergy feeds on itself and this priority is what has led to realignment, closures and consolidations. The church is reducing its population to align with its decreasing number of clergy. It is a matter of priorities, and the message of Gospel is second to the single all-male clergy. 

Gone Garden

I first noticed a kale plant, started by my brother-in-law, who gave it to my sister who gave it to me at Easter. Due to the heavy rains in mid to late April, I did not get the garden soil worked up as early as desired for cool season crops, hence this kale, an my own plants were not in the soil until late April. It was a less than a week later, that it was chewed to the ground. My other plants went missing, like they were pulled out, even with row covers. I put a wire basket around it, and since it has struggled to once again take off. My other kale plants have seen the same fate. I am not sure what it is this year, but critter damage to my garden started early and has continued. I have plants or vegetables being eaten that have never before been eaten. It began and April and has continued unabated. This has meant that much of my garden is gone.

Critters eating Kale

I am not sure why an animal would like kale, but for its supposed benefits of varied minerals. Yet, it is not just the kale. Leaves have been chopped off Brussel sprouts, the fruit and/or leaves of kohlrabi have been eaten. The collards have been left untouched, by a critter who seemingly prefers kale over collard greens, but now have the usual holes in the leaves eaten by some type of caterpillar or worm. Yet, even before all this my self-started kale, collards, broccoli, and cabbage plants were fully eaten to the ground. It was so bad, I had to go buy plants of kale and collards and broccoli plants. The critters got them too, and have little left. I am not sure what squirrels may do, but one time as I entered the garden I saw a squirrel with a plant in its mouth moving quickly out of the fenced in garden. 

My second planting of beans was all destroyed, likely by squirrels, but maybe chipmunks, digging up the seeds I had planted. I even covered the next planting with screen weighed down by stones, and some where still dug out.

Kohlrabi leavaess eaten 

My pea plants were eaten off at the ground in May, just as they were about to produce. Some of my bean plants had the same, but the bean plants in the raised bed were looking good until we got back from a camping trip on July 2, and noticed they were all eaten down.

While the garden is on a hill in the backyard, my eggplant seem to need more sun so I planted three on the southside of the house in our flower bed. A couple weeks ago I noticed the lower leaves had been eaten, but the critter left the small fruits starting to be produced on the plants. for two of the plants, I have placed a large tomato cage over the plants, and used old screening or chicken wire to wrap around the cage. The critter apparently did not like the fruit of the eggplant. Of course, the critter ate more than vegetables. I had a nice snapdragon from last year that survived and had flowered, and I dead-headed to get it to flower again, only to find a couple days later it had been eaten to the ground level as some cosmos.

Brussel Sprout leaves eaten

Fortunately, my tomato plants have been left unharmed, although earlier in the year deer seemed to have eaten them as they did my rose bushes which delayed roses on most of my rose shrubs.  Adding insult to injury, the impatiens I planted in a homemade planter, that sits about 7" above the concrete floor of the porch, were cut down to a couple inches high, destroying all the nice flowers. Our neighbor plants impatiens in the ground and they never have damage, perhaps because they have a dog, and while an inside dog, they do let it out in the backyard on occasion. I am not sure if the critters smell the dog even though it is not in the backyard too often, or what happens that they know to attack my plants. It all makes me wonder if the critters have trail cams to find out what we are up to and when we are away from the house. 

I do know that I have seen a rabbit in the garden, and not sure how it got in, perhaps through the door. I wonder, with all the damage it lives in there and hides under the rhubarb leaves. I want to know why the critters can not eat things, like the volunteer Kentucky Coffee trees that pop up, or the creeping Charlie, or the burdock, or the grapevines growing up back in my somewhat wild area? But, no, they have to eat something I put time and effort into growing and had to replace (some replaced twice, i.e.  three plantings). I know, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result. 

Kale

I have tried row covers over seedings and as another fence, but those techniques failed. I am now trying another fence, to have the kale and Brussel Sprouts fenced within the fenced in garden. I keep wondering if I have to put a netting over the top, supported by some type of structure. I am attempting to reinvigorate the remaining plants, but not sure if that will work to which I will have a mostly gone garden.

Demographic Mortality

A few months ago there was an outbreak of the Hantavirus on a cruise ship, possibly due to some bird watchers who became infected while visiting a rat infested dump in Argentina. As I was reading the article I mentioned to the wife that an outbreak of the Hantavirus was on a cruise ship. As I was reading, she asked if anyone died. I then replied some old man died, his wife and at least one other. When saying "old man" was aged 68, it did not occur to me that I was the same age. Unwittingly, I labeled myself an old man. I did not know this man, but, things hit home with two other deaths over the past several months. One was a college friend who lived next door in the dorms, and another a former classmate from high school.

While I am a seasoned citizen, although not as seasoned as the wife, women live longer than men, on average about 4.9 years, say five years. Given that, perhaps I am a more seasoned citizen than my wife. Currently, in the US, men are expected to live on average 76.5 years, although if you get to 65, you have, on average 18.4  more years to live. At my current age, the wife may have to put up with me for an additional 15 years. Although the math does not always work since other sources identify lesser years on earth if you live to 65. 

It was midweek when I read a Facebook post about the high school classmate who died. He lived in Minnesota, but his funeral will be in Sun Prairie. We were both part of the 1976 bicentennial class. There have been others that have passed on, one of which I was acquainted with since grade school died about 14 months ago. There are also college classmates. Several years ago the wife of one of my college roommates, who was in the same 1980 college class, passed away. Last November, a former friend from college, who lived in the dorm next to me passed away. He was from Madison, and while spent much of his time in Colorado, was back in the area with his funeral and burial in the Madison area.  

Population Pyramid, US, 2025
populationpyramids.org

This increasing level of departing the bonds of earth is starting to become more common for my demographic. The mortality level increases as we age just as travel insurance, and other insurance rates increase for the seasoned citizen set. The wife got her driver license renewal notice recently, and saw that there were options to renew on line, but she did not qualify due to her being a senior citizen.

 According to the 2025 US population pyramid, it is at the 60-64 age cohort where females begin to outnumber males. This of course does not bode well for widows, or single women in the age group looking for a similarly aged man. Does this lead to cougars?  Women live longer than men, and often it was that the man is older than the spouse he marries. Kind of a double whammy. My wife is smart--she is a cougar, marrying a bit younger than her demographic. She has always denied being a cougar, but a former coworker of mine, also a cougar by about the same age difference with her spouse (but a millennial), is proud to be one and suggested that my wife embrace being a cougar.  

The mortality rate for men tends to increase dramatically in my age group. At 68 (65-74), the rate is 2,000 to 4,500 males per 100,000 males, and for the next ten year group (75-84) it increases to 4,700 per 100,000. At 84 it is 14,000-17,000 per 100,000. I am not sure why they have such a large range, it seems as if it is an easy statistic to maintain. Genetics, lifestyle and other factors all play a roll in determining life expectancy. 

As an unwittingly self-described old man, the demographic mortality is starting to hit home.

Have a safe and enjoyable Independence Day!

Khobar Towers, edited for 30th anniversary

 

Khobar Towers--a Reluctant Hero

It was twenty five years ago, on 25 June 1996, that Islamic extremists set off a truck bomb at the US Air Force housing complex in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. My wife’s brother, then USAF Captain* Steven Goff, MD was present at the complex, known as Khobar Towers, and was injured in the bombing. What began for Steve Goff as a typical routine day in the sweltering heat, with temperatures over 100 degrees (F), on that early summer day in the Arabian desert near Dhahran, would end as a nightmare. The US Air Force was based in Dhahran, with an assigned mission, with other nations, of supervising the no-fly zone over much of Iraq.  In a sense they were protecting the minority Kurd population. My brother-in-law, Captain Steven Goff, MD was as a flight surgeon, or one of four doctors, to handle the care of the men and women who made up the contingent of over 2,300 Air Force personnel at Khobar Towers, near the Dhahran air base. The number of persons at the complex would rival that of mid-sized Wisconsin villages. His reluctant claim to fame was his having treated patients while he himself was seriously injured.

Steve Goff, MD, USA
Source: Family archives

The Khobar Towers bombing of 1996, in which 19 US military personnel died, is often not thought of today. When it is viewed, it is viewed in light of the other terrorist attacks that took place before and after. When we think of terrorist attacks today perhaps the first to mind are the four hijacked planes on 11 September 2001, and the horror that resulted. That bloody day, however, was presaged by other attacks, the Khobar Towers attack being one. On the date of the Khobar Towers bombing the US blamed Iran and Hezbollah, both in the news today, in 2026. Thirty years later not much has changed, but the US now having attacked Iran. Louis Freeh, then FBI Director under President Clinton would, after investigation, place blame on Iran. In June 2001 the evidence of the involvement of Iran seemed incontrovertible, to the point that news outlets, such as CBS, were wondering why the US was not bombing Iran. Years later, others, such as Clinton's Defense Secretary William Perry would come to believe (in 2007) that Al Qaeda was behind the attack. However, in 2006 a US court found Iran and Hezbollah guilty of orchestrating the bombing, which confirmed the first reports of the US government on  responsibility for the attack.  Recently, Bruce Riedel, then an Assistant Secretary of Defense, wrote that Iran, Hezbollah and one other group planned the bombing two years earlier.  He also notes that Saudi Arabia kept information from the US to avoid US retaliation against Iran.  For those injured in the attack, family and friends that lost a loved one or had a loved one injured in this terrorist attack, the main effect was that the attack occurred and would change the trajectory of lives. Lt Col Steven Goff would leave the bonds of this earth in September of 2006. Even after his last breath his body bore glass fragments of that summer day in the Saudi desert. Every limited shoulder movement, and chest pain, would remind him of that Tuesday evening in Dhahran. The events of that night and early the next day would be ingrained in his body and mind.

Goff Receiving Airman's Medal from 
Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen Fogelman, 3 July 1996
Source:  US Air Force

Dr Steve Goff was born in October 1957, the second of three children to Jerry and Shirley (Schleis) Goff. A gifted child who played the French Horn, and cared for their dog when she severely injured her  leg, presaged a career in medicine.  He graduated from high school a semester early and joined the US Marine Corps where he served four years, and was discharged in March 1980. After his service in the Marine Corps he would attend college at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire where he graduated with a degree in environmental and public health. He then attended medical school at the University of Wisconsin from which he was graduated in 1990. He served his residency in family practice medicine in Wausau, and while there, living in Schofield, WI, he signed up to join the Air Force, where he would become a flight surgeon. Odd how life is. Shortly after his signing up for the Air Force, Jerry, his dad, and I were golfing at Yahara Hills golf course and were teamed up with another pair to have a foursome; the pair with which were teamed were Air Force recruiters one of whom worked with Steve in his joining the USAF.

Purple Heart Certificate
Source: Family archives

 
Captain Goff, MD was part of the medical attachment accompanying the 4404th Provisional Fighter Wing which had responsibility for keeping watch on varied no-fly zones established in the Middle East. The no-fly zones were established to protect vulnerable minority populations, such as the Kurds, from attack. According to Perry Jamieson, “The 4404th Wing had more than 5,000 personnel assigned, at eleven locations in four countries.(p. 2l) The largest concentration of them were the 2,300 airmen stationed in the American sector of the KhobarTowers compound, just east of Dhahran Air Base.” (p. 19) No relatives of these active-duty members of the US or any other service members were allowed to accompany the Air Force service member to Saudi Arabia. For the Dhahran airman, the tours of duty were 90 days.

 

Airman's Medal Certificate
Source: Family archives

Perhaps a contributing factor to the bombing was the quick transition of personnel at the varied air bases. Jamieson goes on to say that “The Air Force manned the 4404th Provisional Wing largely by rotating officers and airmen through southwest Asia on temporary-duty assignments. Although units for some aircraft-including "HC-130s, C-130s, A-10s, and tankers served in the theater of operations for 365 days.” (pp 18-19) At Dhahran it was different. All but 19 of the 2300 individuals who served at Dhahran served on a 90 day rotational basis. This policy led to about a 10% turnover of personnel each week, as more than 200 airmen and officers turned over every week. Army personnel in the same theater rotated personnel every six months. (Jamieson, pp 18-20) This fairly quick turnover may have led to lack of operational and tactical awareness. However, the US had concerns, and required groups of armed forces personnel being in groups of 3, but no more than 5 persons, to avoid kidnapping, or other potential terrorist attacks (Sherbo). The Saudi government liked the idea of the quick turnover due to the sensitivity of foreign bases on its soil. As usual, political considerations won out.

Airman's Medal Citation
Source: Family archives

Political considerations of short term deployments may have helped influence the bombers. The bombers knew what they were doing. A group of bombers drove up and parked a truck laden with 5,000 lbs of explosives (equivalent to over 23,000 lbs of TNT). The drivers of the truck had other vehicles which drove up to meet them where the truck was parked (not far from the US Air Force housing complex, to pick up the drivers and then speed off. About 9:50 pm a lookout noticed a truck and cars starting to move toward the complex, and he started notification and evacuation procedures. About 10:00 pm, or shortly thereafter, the truck bomb exploded. The lookout's action saved many lives and he would be awarded the Airman’s Medal for his actions that evening. The explosion could be heard over 20 miles away, and left a crater 85 feet wide and over 35 feet deep. The whole side of the building near where the truck was parked was essentially blown off, and is now an iconic symbol of the terrorist blast. 

Building near blast site
Source: Family archives

As the blast occurred Steve Goff was in his dwelling unit. He had just gotten back from a work out at the gym, and was awaiting the arrival of a friend to go rollerblading. It was not unusual, given the hot days and blaring sun, for the military personnel to work out at night after the sun had set and the temperatures started to drop. After all, it was over 100 degrees for a high that day, as it was for several days before. Steve was rolling up some rugs he had just bought in an excursion to town that day, when the blast went off.

Steve’s dwelling unit was about 200 yards from the blast site and the blast effect literally threw him across the room onto the sofa. Shards of glass spewed into the air, across the floor and into his body. To give an idea of what the glass did, Sherbo (p. 50) quotes airman Larry Oliver as he went into the corridor, in a building probably a similar distance away as was the building in which Goff was in: "I thoroughly expected to see the elevator doors split and damaged.  What I saw was glass impaled into the metal elevator doors and concrete walls." If glass is impaled in metal and concrete imagine where, and what, it can do in the human body. Goff said that he could tell right away he was wounded and says “I had glass in me. I had some trouble breathing.” (Dominguez, p. 1) Add to his wounds, that there was no power, meaning no lights, it was not a simple task. Stepping on glass with his bare feet, he treated himself as best he could, found some shoes, and then made his way to the medical area, through the darkened corridors of a building which had sustained significant blast damage. At the medical area, he started to work on patients, and after about 45 minutes, others treated Goff's wounds, as he worked on patients himself. As Dr. Robb, head of the 4404th medical unit at the Dhahran base said, “One flight surgeon was being bandaged for a serious chest wound while sewing up other patients” (Airman, p 10) This of course was Capt Steve Goff. Steve was generally limited to using his right arm since his left shoulder and arm were embedded with shards of glass, not to mention his chest wound. He would say that “Before I knew it, the patients were arriving fast and furious. (Dominguez, p 1) His Airman’s medal citation notes that he suffered a serious chest wound and “numerous lacerations to his hands and face.” He would later be transferred to a local hospital for treatment.

Photo of 4404 Provisional Medical Group
Steve Goff behind sign near center of photo
Photo Courtesy of Benjamin Scott Coleman

Meanwhile at the home front I spent part of my lunch hour attempting to call our US House Representative’s and Senator offices to see if they could find out Steve’s status. No luck. No one in the family had heard from him. My Dad, however, saw a news broadcast with him treating patients, and later when we talked to him he let us know about the broadcast. The thing is he found out about Steve being alive, due to a news broadcast.  The bombing was on Tuesday and we found out after the following Wednesday. Jamieson (p 83) indicates that Steve treated many patients. Then Lt Col (now Lt General) Douglas Robb, who was then interim commander of the 4404th Medical Group indicates that 519 persons were treated in the hours after the bombing, and of that number 317 were treated at the Khobar Towers complex. The last patients were being sewed up at about 5:00 am. Let me quote from Jamieson’s work:

Dr. Steve Goff a Schofield, Wisconsin, resident who had deployed to Saudi 
Arabia from Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, had declined Dr. Robb's invitation 
to make the dinner and shopping trip to downtown Dhahran earlier that 
evening. He had remained at Khobar and suffered glass lacerations in the bombing. 
Dr. Goff helped the patients at the clinic, undeterred by a shard in his chest. Later, 
even while his own wound was being bandaged, he continued sewing up injured airmen.
Like those around him, Goff worked tirelessly, eventually helping more than 
200 patients. In view of his own injury, he was taken to King Fahd University 
Hospital; and on July 3, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ronald R. Fogleman presented 
him the Airman's Medal. (p. 83)

As one can see, Steve Goff did not even have to be at the base, as he declined a dinner (and shopping) invitation from Dr Robb and other senior officers. He declined, in part, because he already had purchased carpets (rugs) in town on an earlier trip. Robb was actually entering a carpet shop, about ¾ miles from the explosion, when he heard, felt and saw the glass break the store front windows. Given his experience, Robb thought the blast was in town and not at the base housing complex. Only by the fate of a simple daily life choice, having bought some rugs, was Steve Goff present at the complex at 10:00 pm that hot summer night. He sustained an injury which would affect the course of his life. If Goff had taken up Dr Robb's invitation, which would have been likely had he not already purchased some rugs, he would not have been at the Towers at the time of the blast.

Glass shards, and window coverings blown across room
Source: Family archives

In his prevalent self-effacing style, Goff would provide much of the credit of medical care to the full staff. As Dominguez reports (p 2): “Major Goff attributes much of the medical success not only to the clinic staff, but to all those who embarked on the first aid, buddy care system to help those injured.” She goes on to quote Steve “If it weren’t for people taking the initiative to utilize what they were trained to do, the situation could have been much worse. Fortunately the response on everyone’s part was a contributing factor.” The air force personnel are trained to respond to a variety of events, and as Michael Willis, said, (Sherbo, p. 69) "An announcement came over the Giant Voice asking for people to help care for the wounded." The buddy system was being enacted.  More than that, anyone who could provide aid was providing aid, and if you had any training, or even watched a human being stitched, chances are you may have been called on to help stitch a fellow airman. It is fortunate, that the doctors pushed the medics, as Benjamin Scott Coleman said (Sarbo, p 25), "One thing I'll say for our flight docs at the Khobar Clinic: they kept us involved and were constantly training us to improve our skills."

Steve Goff being recognized
Source: Family archives

Steve would help push the medics. Yet, Goff's self-less endeavors of helping others before himself endeared himself to the American public, who, like my Dad, saw him in. a newscast in which he was interviewed. Dominguez puts it this way, “the major caught the heartstrings of many people around America as he stood before national camera crews telling the events that took place that night. Since then, the public has regarded him as a hero.” It was just such action which earned him the Airman’s medal which was presented by Air Force Chief of Staff General Ronald Fogelman on 3 July, 1996. However, Steve never really thought himself a hero. He would say: “I never felt myself a hero through all of this. There were a lot of people who went above and beyond that night and a lot of people who did a lot more than I did. Receiving this medal is embarrassing in a way, but I can accept it as a tribute to all the medical people who were heroes that night.” (Dominguez, p 2). I have read more about his efforts that night than what he was willing to share with us. Just as my Dad did not like to talk about much of his experiences in WWII, Steve probably did not wish to discuss the events of that night which so shook and would affect his later, and short years, on this planet earth. The Airman’s medal would say otherwise, for it is the highest air force award for heroism in a non-combat situation. With all due respect to my brother-in-law, the Airman Medal was awarded by direction of the President of the United States. In that sense, the President of the United States, William J Clinton, the secretary of the US Air Force, the Air Force Chief of Staff, and the many in the American public all say he was a hero for his actions on the night of June 25, 1996.

Room with glass shards and rugs he had purchased
Source: Family archives

 
Through it all Steve kept his sense of humor. After receiving the Airman’s medal from General Fogelman, Steve was asked if had anything to do over again, what would he do, and his simple answer was: “duck”.  As we can see, training was important, and as Steve would say they had trained for such events, although none with an anticipated 400 casualties. Yet, he could also make fun of the military way of life. Here is one example: Dr Paul Nelson, who served under Steve at Spangdahlem (Germany)  air base in 1999, wrote that he had not known for the first year he served with Steve that Steve was one of the heroes of the Khobar Towers bombing.  He would hear about Steve’s heroic actions after that bombing from a friend of his whom Steve had treated that night. When he inquired of Steve about the event, Nelson noted that “Steve’s short answer was standard act,” Steve simply said “When some of the guys got shocky we would take the big stacks of crap in binders we had spent so much time working on and put it under their feet….That was the one time I’d actually seen paperwork save lives in my career….”

Steve Goff was a reluctant hero feeling he did his duty as did many others in the medical trenches and on the base that fateful night in the midst of the Saudi desert. He really did not want the award, but felt that in not accepting the award, it would show disservice to his medical colleagues at Khobar Towers. His recognition was their recognition. Daniel James Brown in his 2016 work on the 1894 Hinckley firestorm perhaps sums it up best:   

Research suggests that that people who act heroically in a disaster often carry a special burden later--foisted upon them by an admiring public that holds them to a higher standard.  It seems that we expect our heroes to be larger than life even after their exploits are completed.  And, because we expect them to be stronger and braver than the ordinary cut of humanity, our heroes often suffer their own demons in tortured silence.

It is a sad commentary on life that these reluctant heroes often suffer in silence. That was the case with Steve Goff, who liked his work as a flight surgeon. He also liked his work being helicoptered in to remote areas in the United States to treat and stabilize persons hurt in the wilderness. He gave our sons some t-shirts with his unit number and a donkey being pulled up in a sling to a helicopter with the writing just above the image saying "We'll save yours"  and just below "too".

Steve Goff (hidden) receiving Airman's Medal
from Air Force Chief of Staff Gen Ronald Fogelman
Source: Family archives

June 25th is the 30th anniversary of the Khobar Towers bombing, a few persons in the nation will still remember and recall this terrorist attack. Every terrorist attack is consequential to those affected. On that night, and the next morning, Captain Goff, MD did what he was trained to do in a mass casualty event. Even while suffering a severe injury himself, he worked tirelessly to assist others. While he did not see his actions as heroic, many others did. 

*Shortly after the bombing Steve was promoted to Major, hence many documents about the Khobar Towers bombing will refer to him as Major Goff.

Sources:

1. Jamieson, Perry D. Khobar Towers, Tragedy and Response, 2008, US Government Printing Office.
2. https://www.britannica.com/event/Khobar-Towers-bombing-of-1996
3. Dominguez, Debra “Malmstrom doctor returns from Dhahran a Hero” in “High Plains Warrior'',            Malmstrom AFB, Montana, 9 Aug 1996, v. 8 no. 29
4. Nelson, Paul,“In Memorium, Dr Steve Goff” in “Flightlines”, p 35
5. Bailey, Capt Timothy, Dec 1996, “Buddies Cared” in “Airman” Magazine
6. Citation to Accompany the Award of the Airman’s Medal

7. Brown, Daniel James. 2016. Under a Flaming Sky: The Great Hinckley Firestorm of 1894, Roman and Littlefield

8. Sherbo, Paul, 2021. Through the Perilous Night: Khobar Bombing Survivors Remember, Patriot Media Inc.

9.  Purple Heart award

10.  https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2021/06/21/remembering-the-khobar-towers-bombing/. (Bruce Reidel)

Author's note: For an account of Steve Goff, by a fellow airman and friend, see: https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/former-medic-remembers-heroes-victims-of-bombing-of-khobar-towers/

Note: photos at Khobar Housing facility from Family archives taken by Steve Goff, or a friend

Edited from a post on June 25, 2021, the 25th anniversary.

The Two Priests

Sometimes the changes occur gradually and other times they are dramatic. Personal experience with the change in culture of a parish affected me and my wife, and many others who had attended Christ the King Church in McFarland, WI. The shift came after the sudden retirement of Fr Steve Smith in November several years ago. In our case the change was not gradual when Fr Smith's replacement came in and shifted the whole culture of the parish. After a homily in which the priest said, "If you don't like what I have to say, you can leave!" After mass, I told Ernie S (then director of St Vincent DePaul in Madison) that we would not be back. We have kept that promise and now attend St Ann's in  Stoughton or St Dennis in Madison. Many others have departed as the parish shifted to a traditional and doctrinaire church highlighted by the Morlino Priests. This post is not about Fr Smith's replacement, however, but about two other Morlino priests, who have left a wake of apparent disaster in the parishes they once represented. These purveyors and judges of orthodoxy and doctrine, mainly preached of sin over mercy, of damnation over redemption, of ritual over service. 

The Morlino priests have made a dramatic change in the parishes of the Madison diocese. A few parishioners may welcome, but many find their 18th and 19th century actions off putting and contrary to Vatican II (which they often criticize). I am not sure there exists a higher level of arrogance than a priest who questions Vatican II, maybe there is, when a bishop does it. These priests instituted practices and preaching that are divisive and destructive. A young radical traditional priest, a Morlino man, was assigned to St Maria Goretti Parish. As recounted in widely disseminated news article by AP writer Tim Sullivan (2024) it was the change from contemporary to medieval music that first made parishioners realize what was now happening. The decline may have begun when Bishop Morlino kicked out long time St Maria Goretti priest, Fr Mike Burke, and took over his rectory to have a place to hold his many parties. But this priest, Scott Emerson, was assigned by Morlino's replacement, Bishop Donald Hying. Emerson, ordained in 2015, had little experience with a large church and then well-run school. First assigned in 2019, he was promoted to pastor in 2021. He has done long-standing damage to the church and school, as have the follow up rad trads who are at the parish. SOme of Emerson's moves, involved seeing school attendance plummet as he moved the principal out, leading to teacher resignations and other long-time staff move on. The choir director was fired, and the choir generally quit, meaning he could no longer even preach to the choir. In place, radical traditional (rad trad) Catholics and their pre-Vatican II ethos were brought in. 

Scott Emerson

Emerson seemed to relish in the subculture and clericalism the priesthood offered: from funny birettas, long-flowing cassocks and fancy gilded vestments and related clerical wear that sets them apart. It as if God and Christ care more about their clothes than about the message of the Gospel. All that seemingly was missing was the cappa magna. Such grandiose wear and actions make it more about the priest than about Jesus. This all caused parishioners to leave, and like Christ the King many left the Catholic Church, this being the final straw. A few moved to other parishes like Our Lady Queen of Peace, so far not as affected by the radical traditional movement promoted by Morlino and favored by Hying, but Hying does it in a less bombastic and direct manner than his predecessor. 

School attendance at SMG has plummeted, although losses may have been minimized by the diocese closing of St Peter's Catholic School in Ashton. Financial contributions well lag what is required, even after the realignment of parishes into pastorates. The pastorates now have priests serving three or more churches. Statistics seem to show that this move, which is becoming more prominent nationally, a parish lose 20% of their members. Fewer masses are held. At some pastorates they decide who will say a funeral mass, not the family. Is it a wonder why fewer Catholics are having a funeral mass? The move, to accommodate the lower number of priests, disenfranchises an important aspect of a parish, its sense of community. 

What Emerson seemed to posses is a large amount of hubris, or arrogance. This is from the AP article by Tim Sullivan:

Emerson’s sermons are not all fire-and-brimstone. He speaks often about forgiveness and compassion. But his tone shocked many longtime parishioners.

Protection is needed, he said in a 2023 service, from “the spiritual corruption of worldly vices.” He has warned against critics – “the atheists, journalists, politicians, the fallen-away Catholics” – he said were undermining the church.

But those critics, he says, will be proven wrong.

“How many have laughed at the church, announcing that she was passe, that her days were over and that they would bury her?” he said in a 2021 Mass.

“The church,” he said, “has buried every one of her undertakers.”

Sounds like the sermon Fr Steve Smith's replacement gave, making me wonder if the rad trads get together to devise divisive talking points. Given this statement one would think Fr Emerson was in it for the long haul. Yet, in a situation of reality being more bizarre than fiction, Scott Emerson, the purveyor and decider of Catholic orthodoxy and what is right and good for the Church over a year ago took a sabbatical followed by a leave of absence. He is no longer identified in the roster for priests of the diocese. He works for Exact Sciences and I am told no longer identifies as a Catholic priest. Whether he has joined the fallen-away Catholics, I do not know. Emerson, as I see it, came in and destroyed a parish and school and then does not have the guts or wherewithal to stick around to see his actions through. His commitment was fleeting. 

Roster of Priests Madison Diocese 
accessed 06/24/2026.
Scott Emerson is no longer listed

So too, goes the story of Fr Drew Olson, who this past May asked for a leave of absence, with rather impeccable timing after all the 2026 priest assignments had been made and announced. This trait of where they think only of themselves, is becoming, it seems, common among many Morlino priests. Fr Olson was with a pastorate and he has overseen the rad trad manifestation of the parishes in that pastorate. This pastorate serves three inner city of Madison churches, Holy Redeemer, St James, and St  Patrick, and an outlier in St Joseph's on the Beltline. St James has a school and Fr Olson has followed a similar pattern to Emerson. It has not helped that pastorate that charges for solicitation of a child have been brought in Waupaca Co against another priest previously assigned to that pastorate. Yet, the same subculture of Emerson was strong in Olson, too. Here again, a self-proclaimed purveyor of what is right and good for the Church is now on personal leave, and I wonder if he is likely to go the way of Emerson.

Men leaving the priesthood is not new. But, here we have rad trad priests who destroyed the parishes and their schools to which they are assigned and then left. One would think they would be the last to leave. The church has experience with rad trads. The most famous being Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionnaires of Christ and a favorite of John Paul II. Marciel was worse in terms of corruption and immorality than even Pope Alexander VI, due to his lengthy sordid history; but relevant here is that he refused, showing his true makeup, the sacrament of anointing of the sick while on his death bed. Hence, rad trads are people too, much as they make themselves seem omnipotent, as they put on the airs of clericalism. The hubris that emanates from many Morlino priests is a hard thing to live up to, and the two priests may well show that to be the case.

It would be speculative to wonder why the departures have occurred. Many US bishops and rad trad priests were waiting out the Francis pontificate, hoping for the next to be more in their ilk. Perhaps in Leo XIV they got a pontiff more like Francis and less like their joy of the 19th century Pius IX. Being so into clericalism they probably wished to ride high like their mentor Morlino, and become a bishop. Hying sure has to wonder, after having got passed by for Milwaukee, or even New York, with those appointments going to clerics who had worked under Cardinal Cupich in Chicago. Did Morlino poison Madison? One of Morlino's last public statements before his Nov 2018 death was in August when he vehemently vouched for the character, integrity and writing of Archbishop Vigano in Vigano's criticism of Pope Francis in the McCarrick situation. Archbishop Vigano was found guilty of schism and has been excommunicated. Vigano's comments were found to be essentially baseless against Francis, who followed the course of action set by the pope before him. Of course, in the (particularly then) ardent conservative hierarchy of the US, Morlino was not the only bishop quickly jump on the Vigano bandwagon. Overall, the US hierarchy argument was that Francis did not understand the US. I think Francis understood the US quite well. The hierarchy can no longer say that about Leo. The McCarrick situation shows what occurs when a church has rampant run amuck clericalism that is favored by the rad trads. (Google Vatican report on McCarrick and click on a  pdf under The Holy See heading which should show up to get the full report.) 

Back to the two priests. With so few priests available, two priests leaving today has a  much greater impact than two priests who left the priesthood in the 1970's. The diocese, like many in the US, import priests mainly from India and some arch conservatives from Spain. While much was written this past Easter about the number of converts the articles failed to mention that this years number is much lower than pre-Covid entrants, and that the number leaving still far out paces those joining. Hying likes to compare attendance to 2020 numbers, which is the main Covid year. With his clericalistic mind he must think the laity is stupid and uneducated, much like Pius IX thought. News flash to Hying, the time for "Rome has spoken the matter is settled" is over. People rightly will voice their concerns and if need be opposition. Many have left with their feet. And, with Francis and now Leo the cafeteria Catholics in a large sense are not the moderates but the conservatives and trads.

With a decline in parishioners, the church is getting what Benedict XVI is said to have desired (although it may be an urban legend), a smaller more doctrinaire church. The Morlino priests prize being judgmental and exclusionary, a church for the few, rather than Pope Francis' church for all. Yet, the doctrinaire church seems to only have applied to those in the pews not the priests who have had sexual, and other, sins covered up by the institutional church. The church as an institution has responsibility to the priests and parishioners, and unfortunately, it has put institution over people, and as a result now suffers from sclerosis. I will likely examine this in a future post. 

The situation in the church, such as with the two priests, proves the maxim that "great institutions are undone as much by their presumable guardians as by their enemies."