This is a hard saying, who can listen to it?

As it was in the time of our Lord, so it is today. Many are there who refuse to listen to the successors of Apostles proclaim the teachings of Jesus and His Church. A prime example can be seen in the Diocese of Madison Wisconsin.

As a prerecorded message from Bishop Robert Morlino began playing during Saturday's Mass at Our Lady Queen of Peace in Madison, [Frank] McMahon, 70, a lifelong Catholic, quietly but purposefully strode to an exit.
. . .
A handful of other parishioners also walked out, unwilling to hear Morlino's opposition to three controversial issues - same-sex marriage, the death penalty and embryonic stem-cell research.
. . .
At Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Madison, which seats more than 250 parishioners, 27 people filed out of the 9 a.m. Sunday service as Morlino's message began. Eleven more stood in silence for the duration of Morlino's comments, their backs turned to the altar.
. . .
In an open letter to Morlino printed Thursday in the Wisconsin State Journal and The Capital Times, 50 Catholic families in the Madison diocese said his opposition to civil unions for gay couples "is dangerous and wrong."

It's unfortunate that the death penalty issue (which is not intrinsically evil) was tied into the same message with same-sex "unions" and embryonic stem-cell "research" which are evil in and of themselves.

[Jesus said], "...there are some of you that do not believe." For Jesus knew from the first who those were that did not believe, and who it was that should betray Him. (John 6:64)
. . .
After this many of the disciples drew back and no longer went with Him. (John 6:66)

These passages are what immediately came to my mind when I read of those who walked away from the message of Bishop Morlino. It's a sad commentary anytime we witness an open rejection of the Church's teachings concerning such things as homosexuality, abortion, embryonic stem cell research, cloning, or euthanasia.