Bishops' Schedules: Bishop Robert C. Morlino Sunday, Nov. 19, 2006 9:00 a.m. -- Preside and Preach at Eucharist and Sacrament of Confirmation, St. Ignatius Parish, Mt. Horeb, and St. Mary Parish, Pine Bluff, at St. Ignatius Parish, Mt. Horeb 3:00 p.m. -- Concelebrate Mass of Thanksgiving with Bishop Paul J. Swain, Bishop O'Connor Catholic Pastoral Center, Madison Bishop William H. Bullock Saturday, Nov. 18, 2006 9:00 a.m. -- Celebrant of Penance Service, Our Lady Queen of Peace, Madison Sunday, Nov. 19, 2006 11:15 a.m. -- Preside and Preach at Eucharist and Sacrament of Confirmation, Our Lady Queen of Peace, Madison 3:00 p.m. -- Concelebrate Mass of Thanksgiving with Bishop Paul J. Swain, Bishop O'Connor Catholic Pastoral Center, Madison Monday, Nov. 20, 2006 12:00 noon -- Preside and Preach at Celebration of the Eucharist, Bishop O'Connor Catholic Pastoral Center, Madison Bishop George O. Wirz Sunday, Nov. 19, 2006 3:00 p.m. -- Concelebrate Mass of Thanksgiving with Bishop Paul J. Swain, Bishop O'Connor Catholic Pastoral Center, Madison Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2006 12:00 noon -- Preside and Preach at Celebration of the Eucharist, Bishop O'Connor Catholic Pastoral Center, Madison

Under the Gospel Book + Bishop Robert C. Morlino There is no column by Bishop Robert C. Morlino this week.

WHINSEC: Bishop Morlino talks about school in podcast

By Kathleen Bushman
CATHOLIC HERALD STAFF

MADISON -- Every year, thousands descend upon Fort Benning, Ga., to gather outside the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) to protest alleged human rights abuses they say have occurred by people trained at the former School of the Americas.

	Related article: November 16, 2006 edition: • Prayer vigil: To remember victims of violence

As part of their coverage of the event, National Catholic Reporter (NCR) talked with Bishop Robert C. Morlino about WHINSEC. Bishop Morlino was appointed last year to the Board of Visitors for WHINSEC, an external review board that reports to Congress. He made his annual visit to the school October 30 to November 3.

The podcast of Bishop Morlino's interview with Tom Fox of NCR, recorded before the visit, is available at ncrcafe.org/node/613 along with their other coverage of the event.

The following are some of the excerpts of the interview:

Response to protesters

"I think I understand their perceptions," Bishop Morlino said of the protesters. "I give them the benefit of the doubt. I am certain they believe what they claim on those videos and I'm sure that they have some reasons for that.

"But from my vantage point I don't really understand it. I understand their perceptions but I don't understand the particular focus and intensity on this situation.

"To be quite honest about it, I have only very marginal awareness about the claims that were made about the School of the Americas until I was passed to serve on the Board of Visitors," he said. "But I had no idea of the intensity of the people's concerns about this particular issue and I got quite a good education on that once the word got out that I had accepted being on the Board of Visitors.

"I guess I don't want to make it sound as though I accepted the position naively; I mean I knew there were protests out there and I was told by several people quite directly that if I accepted this, I could expect to become a target of criticism," he said. "And I was well briefed on that before I did it so I did not accept the invitation to be on the Board of Visitors in the dark in any sense.

"I don't call their Catholic conviction into question in any shape or form. But I guess where I have question is in their reading of evidence," Bishop Morlino said of the protesters. "Despite what people say, I do know there have been some real concrete changes since the main transformation from the School of the Americas to the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation."

Supporting WHINSEC

Asked whether he supported WHINSEC, Bishop Morlino responded: "Insofar as the goal of the school is to give training in military science, discipline, and human rights to those who would be soldiers or officers in the armies of Latin American countries and insofar as the goal is to build a certain rapport between those individuals and the roles they will fulfill and the U.S. military, yes I do.

"I don't support any alleged atrocity that might have been committed by anyone ever associated with the school," Bishop Morlino said.

"What has happened in the past is some of the graduates of the school used their training to go back and commit atrocities; that's a fact and I don't deny that," he said. "But I have no reason to believe that was the intent of the training.

"I have seen no evidence whatsoever," he said, "that the training of the School of the Americas caused the atrocities. However, people can take skills that are oriented toward discipline, proper military science and human rights. They can take those skills and use them in a bad way if they're already bad apples.

"Even now, one of the more recent developments is that the candidates that come into WHINSEC are screened through the State Department . . . precisely to make sure we're not getting a bad apple to begin with," he said.

Setting standards

"The main reason I was asked to be on this board was because I have a background in moral theology; there has been a Catholic concern about morals and justice with this school, and what was basically said to me was, 'Here, you have your say,'" Bishop Morlino said. "And that's why I accepted membership on the board - so that I could have my say if I thought that anything was defective in terms of morals or justice at the school."

He said that the board reports to Congress and then Congress assures that standards are met. But, he said, "if I couldn't see that steps were being taken to correct what I find truly objectionable, I would resign and I would do it with a fuss; I wouldn't do it quietly."

Asked whether military standards should be held to the same level of accountability as Catholic standards, Bishop Morlino said, "Yes, insofar as Catholic Christian standards are the reflection of the natural law. In other words, we can't impose distinctive Catholic beliefs or distinctive Catholic practices on the military."

Purpose of school

One instance in which there was a discrepancy was a simulator where trainees are taught the threshold for the use of lethal force. "I would have to say that the threshold that they are trained in for the use of lethal force is higher than the threshold that ordinary Catholic moral sensitivity would require in terms of self-defense," he said.

"The purpose is defense of their own country," the bishop said. "The threshold for lethal force in that instance is a very high threshold, and really calls upon the young women and men to be heroic when their lives are at risk."

He has not seen sufficient evidence to justify claims of atrocities, Bishop Morlino said. "If people want to take very fine training and use it to commit atrocities, they can," he said. "They learn many skills there that would help them to be a better terrorists, if they want to. But I don't see anything in the school itself that develops that attitude in a person."