A conservative Madison priest and blogger has left the Diocese of Madison after performing livestreamed exorcisms aimed at rooting out what he, former President Donald Trump and other Trump supporters have falsely claimed was widespread fraud in the Nov. 3 presidential election.
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Rev. John Zuhlsdorf also claimed he had permission to conduct the exorcisms from Madison Catholic Bishop Donald Hying — an assertion Hying has said is false as well. The exorcisms have since been removed from YouTube. The National Catholic Reporter earlier reported on Zuhlsdorf’s departure.
Zuhlsdorf
In a statement on Jan. 14, the diocese said it and Zuhlsdorf had reached “a mutual decision” for Zuhlsdorf to leave.
“The Reverend Zuhlsdorf, who is in good canonical standing, will relocate from the Diocese of Madison to pursue other opportunities,” the statement said. “The Bishop of Madison is grateful to the Reverend Zuhlsdorf for his faithful support of the diocese’s seminarians and priests, thanks him for his many years of steadfast ministry serving the diocese, and wishes him the best in his future endeavors.”
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Hying has said that he did not give Zuhlsdorf permission to conduct exorcisms related to “partisan political activity,” but rather several months ago approved an exorcism “for the intention of alleviation from the scourge of the coronavirus pandemic.”
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops defines an exorcism as “a specific form of prayer that the Church uses against the power of the devil.” Hying’s permission allowed for the exorcism of a place, locality or things, but not of a person, according to the diocese.
As reported Jan. 8 by The Tablet, a United Kingdom-based Catholic news weekly, Zuhlsdorf said he was carrying out the exorcisms because it appeared some had committed “well-organized fraud.”
Zuhlsdorf did not respond to emails for comment. He announced his decision to leave Madison on Jan. 15 on his popular “Fr. Z’s Blog,” where he did not mention the exorcisms or Hying by name but said he has been thinking about his lack of a 10-year plan and how to get his “mo jo” back.
“That — by the way — should be interesting in this present atmosphere of ‘cancel culture’ now infecting the Church, as well as the media and streets,” he wrote, adding that “there is a catholic Antifa now.”
Zuhlsdorf, a proponent of the traditional Latin Mass, was not a parish priest but served as the leader of the Diocese-sanctioned Tridentine Mass Society of Madison, which sought to preserve Latin Mass.
He was not an employee of the diocese or a parish, diocese spokesman Brent King said, adding that the best nonsectarian analogy for his role was “freelancer.”
Photo gallery: Bishop Robert Morlino
Photo gallery: Bishop Robert Morlino
The Most Rev. Robert Morlino, bishop of the Diocese of Madison, gives his homily during an ordination Mass at St. Maria Goretti Catholic Parish in Madison, Wis., Friday, June 26, 2015.
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, the new leader of the Diocese of Madison, greets the press and well-wishers at a news conference in 2003.
Bishop Robert Morlino, left, and Bishop William H. Bullock enter St. Raphael's Cathedral on July 31, 2003, during a Solemn Vespers ceremony as part of Morlino's installation as the bishop for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Madison.
Catholic Bishop Robert Morlino reaches out to embrace the faithful at his installation at St. Raphael Cathedral on Aug. 1, 2003.
Peace activists sing a hymn on Nov. 17, 2005 at a vigil at Edgewood College. After the service, members of the group boarded buses for a journey to Fort Benning in Georgia, where they will protest the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly known as the School of the Americas. Bishop Robert Morlino of the Madison Diocese is on the institute's board of visitors.
St. Raphael's Cathedral as it appeared on March 15, 2005, after being gutted by fire. In 2008, William Connell, 42, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for setting fire to the church.
Bishop Robert Morlino, center, greets firefighters in the aftermath of the St. Raphael Cathedral fire on March 14, 2005. Monsignor Paul Swain is at right.
Bishop Robert Morlino, right, leads prayer service outside Saint Raphael Cathedral on March 14, 2006, one year after the cathedral was gutted by fire. In the background is monsignor Paul Swain.
Bishop Robert Morlino, near center, walks off staging area after speaking at rally on immigration rights at Capitol on April 10, 2006.
Demonstrators assembled for a religious freedom gathering outside the Kastenmeier Federal Courthouse in Madison listen as Catholic Bishop Robert Morlino addresses the crowd. Demonstrations were held nationwide against a United States Department of Health and Human Services mandate regarding contraception coverage.
Bishop Robert Morlino accepts Eucharistic gifts from Gracie Winter, a sixth-grader from St. Clement Catholic School in Lancaster, during a Mass for about 3,000 students from 44 Madison Catholic Diocese schools at the Alliant Energy Center on Sept. 20, 2012.
Bishop Robert Morlino buys flowers from a vendor July 13, 2013, at the Dane County Farmers' Market in Downtown Madison.
An only child, Bishop Robert Morlino has no surviving members of his immediate family. His living room at the rectory at St. Patrick's Catholic Church is filled with photos of family and friends, including these of his deceased mother and father on the top shelf.
Madison Catholic Bishop Robert Morlino, right, meets Pope Francis for the first time Oct. 9, 2013, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. "I was overwhelmed by the genuine human warmth that he exuded -- a warmth which was at the same time deeply spiritual," Morlino said.
Bishop Robert Morlino at the Bishop O'Connor Pastoral Center in Madison in July 2013.
The Most Rev. Robert Morlino, bishop of the Diocese of Madison, uses incense before Communion during an ordination Mass for six new priests, background, at St. Maria Goretti Catholic Parish in Madison, Wis., Friday, June 26, 2015. M.P. KING -- State Journal
The Most Rev. Robert Morlino, bishop of the Diocese of Madison, center, prays as six men prostrate themselves during their ordination at St. Maria Goretti Catholic Parish in Madison, Wis., Friday, June 26, 2015. M.P. KING -- State Journal
Bishop Robert C. Morlino of the Diocese of Madison leads community members through the halls of St. Clare Hospital Monday. The bishop visited the hospital in honor of the Catholic feast day of its patron saint.
