Translate

Friday, November 27, 2020

THERE IS REASON FOR THE CLERGY AND THERE IS A REASON FOR THE LAITY AND THAT REASON IS VERY CLEAR IN THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL’S LUMEN GENTIUM

Archbishop Joseph Francis Rummell of New Orleans



3 Racists Excommunicated By Louisiana Archbishop; Perez, Mrs. Gaillot and Ricau Ousted for Opposition to School Integration --The Vatican Supports Ruling New Orleans Archbishop Excommunicates 3 Segregationists RACISTS OPPOSED SCHOOL DECISION Perez, Mrs. Gaillot, Ricau Vow Fight for Views-- Vatican Backs Ruling Picketed the Chancery Vatican Supports Move

My comments on the Church’s current malaise that would scandalize Archbishop Joseph F. Rummell of New Orleans:

The Church certainly goes beyond its institutional confines. Wherever the laity are, they represent Catholicism to the extent that they live it. A well lived Catholicism of the clergy and laity is the way for the “new evangelization.” Poorly lived Catholicism is like hiding a lamp under a blanket. It happens both within the clergy and laity. 

For the most part, the role of bishops and priests is spiritual and moral and specifically saving souls from the fires of hell. Their (our) role isn’t necessarily political although the political realm can show or hide the spiritual and moral aspects of the Church.

The Catholic laity are to represent the Church in the social sphere or the public square. They can either shine or hide the Light of Christ by their actions and political choices if these are consistent with what the Head of the Church (Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord) teaches or inconsistent with our Savior. 

Let’s talk about Catholic politicians (not non Catholic ones as they are a different category and are not under the authority of the pope or bishops in union with the pope). 

Bishops and priests should be mostly concerned with the eternal salvation of the souls under their care. The worldly aspect of the Church is left to deacons, those in consecrated life and the laity who are well formed in the Deposit of Faith and the Church’s moral teachings which they are called to live and proclaim. 

When any Catholic, clergy, those in consecrated life or laity, diverges from the Teachings of the Risen Lord and in a public way, they are a “puss” or corruption on the Body of Christ. That carbuncle needs lancing which can be painful and disgustingly messy but ultimately therapeutic leading to healing. 

President Elect Biden by his mortal sin of promising to enshrine the right to choose an abortion through the 9th month and murdering a child following a botched abortion, to enshrine euthanasia and enshrine gender ideology is also leading others into perdition. 

If President Elect’s bishop in Delaware and eventually Washington and any geographical diocese the President Elect visits, the role of the bishop is to call him to repentance in the areas where he hides the light of Christ and jeopardizes the eternal salvation of his soul which could land him and others in hell. 

Yes, his bishops have a political game to play with him, but that is secondary and if that political game fails because President Elect Joe Biden ignores his bishops who call him to repentance, and deny him the sign of Full Communion with the Risen Lord and His Church, the reception of the Sacred Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, then so be it. 

Let’s take abortion off the table for a theoretical example. Let’s say a future Catholic politician is elected president. He advocates for racist policies such as segregation under the guise of “separate but equal” and he calls upon the nation to be pro-choice in this re-segregation of America by placing “whites only” or “blacks only” signs on their places of business, restrooms, restaurant tables and water fountains. He also calls for same race schools and institutions and men only in political office.

Would that deserve a rebuke to this theoretical president from their local bishops and shouldn’t the local bishops tell this theoretical president and the world that on race relations, this theoretical Catholic in name only president has broken communion with the Church and thus cannot receive Holy Communion although they want to work with him on other areas of common ground? 

After all, bishops need to save their souls too, as well as priests. 

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

And now so many conservative Catholics, including clergy, support Trump. Disgusting.

Anonymous said...

Why does the Church ignore racism in 2020? We need more courageous men like Archbishop Rummel and fewer craven Trump sniffers.

Anonymous said...

Last night, for the first time in a few years, my bride slipped “Gone With The Wind” Into the DVD player and I was reminded that the movie depicts the O’Haras as both slave owners and rosary-praying devout Catholics — even though the Church had denounced slavery centuries before. The movie gives a very poor account of conservative Catholics and yet I’ve never seen it discussed among Catholics on that historical context. Racism is an intrinsic evil!

Anonymous said...

I voted for Biden, but would have no problem with him being called to repentance or denied communion for his open support of abortion. I didn't vote for him because of his stance, though I recognize the bizarre and objective fact that the party that openly supports abortion access reduces abortions faster than the party that halfheartedly claims to oppose it. Biden was, as far as I'm concerned, the only real choice for a faithful Catholic this time around.

I would only ask that a consistent nonpartisan application of Church teaching be the rule. So Catholic politicians (and priests) who endorse openly racist non-Catholics who incite violence and reassure voters that Roe v Wade isn't going anywhere should also be reprimanded. If your candidate can't go on national television and renounce the concept of white supremacy or stand up for the unborn, then don't tell me my soul is in danger if I don't vote for him. That's sick.

Oh, and I'm not Anonymous K.

Anonymous said...

Can you find an analogy other than segregation. Segregation does not work for your purpose because it is not a violation of the natural law, unlike voluntary abortion.

Or the failed experiment which is the 19th amendment.

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

A28:24; do you also want to cancel culture Jesus Christ who often used slavery terms and servants as a metaphor to serving God. Slaves and master figure prominently in Jesus teachings/parable. He does not condemn the institution. What say you about that and the Catholics in Gone With the Wind who author was a practicing Catholic in Atlanta?

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

A @ 9:13, I have consistently stated that Catholics could vote for Biden for his other political positions consistent with Catholic teaching. It would be immoral to vote for him because he is rabidly pro choice in the most heinous ways.
The same is true of Trump, a Catholic who voted for him because of his denigration of others, his narcissistic personality, and those issues repugnant to Catholic teaching would be committing a mortal sin.
Is Trump truly a racists or is it Trump-like name calling of Democrats? Do you support that kind of name calling, if so you are the kettle calling the pot black.
But here’s the difference, Trump does not receive Holy Communion or claim he is a practicing Catholic. Biden does. And that is where I am condemning bishops for not excommunicating him over his abortion stance and other moral issues or at least placing a restriction on him receiving Holy Communion to remind him to repent and to let others know that his position is anathema to Church teachings and unacceptable for a Catholic who claims he is morally in full communion with the Church. It ain’t so!

Anonymous said...

Fr McDonald, I seem to recall you on several occasions stating that the Church needs to forbid Catholics from being Democrats, just as they are forbidden to be Mason's or KKK. I don't recall you saying otherwise until after the election.

And yes, Trump is racist in a way different from the usual name calling engaged in by BOTH parties. He has happily inspired an increase in hate crimes.

Also, I was quite clear in stating that Catholic politicians should be reprimanded for supporting Trump, as I realize he isn't Catholic.

Coach K said...

At the time of Jesus, no religious institution had banned or condemned slavery. By the mid-19th century, the Catholic Church had. That makes the O’Haras, ipso facto, bad Catholics who should have been excommunicated, along with all the others who supported that “peculiar institution.”

Anonymous said...

Father, I have never seen you write that Catholics may vote for Biden. Certainly not before the election. Are you playing catch-up now that the election is (finally) settles?

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

I gues the fictional O’Hara’s had bishops who wish to dialogue with them on other equally important matters. I am sure you support that. Yes, it would have been well for bishops to excommunicate Catholics who held slaves and to condemn the union prior to the Civil War for having made it legal in the first place, but alas.

In terms of the hate crimes you say Trump inspired, fair enough. Now for your blind spot on. The millions of babies killed since its legalization and now enshrined in the Democrat party, hate crimes toward the most vulnerable and unable to defend themselves population. On that level, yes, the days are coming that the Democrat Party should be condemned as a hate group similar to the KKK and no Catholic should joined unless you want current bishops to be like the bishops during slavery time who did not excommunicate those who held slaves.

Anonymous said...

Yes, the clergy do have an obligation to denounce segregation and racism. The current narrative is that the Republicans are the racists, and the Democrat’s are the anti-racists. That narrative is being promoted by the Democrat’s and amplified by a hostile press. Class and race are complex issues and both parties do address these issues in their own ways. Falsely labeling individuals or groups as racist is a sin in itself. I don’t understand how bishops and cardinals and popes don’t rebuke Catholic politicians who actively promote abortion to their flock. I can understand those clergy not rebuking an elected official on divorce or infidelity. The first,abortion, is a public issue. The second is a private matter.

Anonymous said...

The Catholic Church of the 1950s in America was still the church of immigrants and immigrants’ children, working people, union members. The Church was more likely to stand up for minorities because so many members (and clergy) had suffered prejudice themselves. Now, at least since the Reagan years, the church tilts toward the CEOs and big-donor types and their politics. The average Catholic, who is not rich, feels less loyalty to a church that is less loyal to them. That’s one reason for people drifting away that’s not talked about much here.

Anonymous said...

Fr. McDonald, I won't address your first paragraph since it isn't in response to my post.

However, regarding my supposed blind spot, it seems you are operating under the assumption that abortion isn't legal when Republicans are in power. A woman can kill her baby right now under Trump, just as she will be able to under Biden. She might be statistically less likely to kill her baby under Biden, though, since abortion rates go down faster under Democrats.

Mark Thomas said...

The puzzling thing (to me) about Joe Biden is that the True Faith, in one way after another, has impacted in positive fashion Joe Biden's heart and mind.

That is why it's a tremendous shame that Joe Biden has sold himself to the homosexual lobby (condemned by Pope Francis), as well as abortion racketeers (condemned by Pope Francis).

Pax.

Mark Thomas

Thor said...

Segregation IS a violation of natural law since it is a violation of human dignity.

See ARCHIVE Appealing to natural law Charles Rice | Sunday, April 25, 2004 "The Observer"

https://ndsmcobserver.com/2004/04/appealing-to-natural-law/

Anonymous said...

If segregation were such an evil warranting excommunication in 1962, then why wasn't it an evil in decades before when Catholic bishops in the South went along with segregated Catholic schools? Catholic schools in Georgia remained segregated for years even after the 1954 Supreme Court decision. What was the position of the state's diocesan bishop, Gerald O'Hara, at that time? (I was not around.) Perhaps some southern Catholics viewed the new policy (excommunication) as "development of doctrine" as opposed to abortion, which was condemned by the Church from the earliest of times.

Anonymous said...

Racism is an intrinsic evil. Period. No “buts.” Why is it so hard for conservatives to admit that?

Coach K said...

Anonymous 10:54: At some point last month, probably in the 101st comment of one of those 110-comment discussions, Father McDonald tepidly acknowledged the Church's teaching that Catholics may legitimately vote for a pro-choice (or allegedly pro-choice) candidate to avoid some greater evil
In Catholic theological circles, this is known as the "Hitler exception"; in the future, it may be called the "Trump exception."
Of course, the headline for that story was likely something like "Don't Vote for the Baby Killer Biden."

Anonymous said...

Racism is evil, no question. The problem is there are those on the left who have re-defined it in such a way as to go beyond its historically understood definition. And this is the kind of thing they are pandering in our high schools and institutions of higher learning.
So now, according to this re-definition, if you are of white European heritage then you are part of the systemic institutional and societal racism. That's a little different than how it was understood to mean in say, the 1950's

Anonymous said...

"Father McDonald tepidly acknowledged the Church's teaching that Catholics may legitimately vote for a pro-choice (or allegedly pro-choice) candidate to avoid some greater evil"

Pop Francis has done everything but come out with a halberd from one of the Swiss guards in saying what he has said in one way or another countless times, and that is that there is no greater evil than abortion.

Sophia said...

Sophia here: And for the record I am a so-called black person-that is for the ones of you who have decided that unless a person has the same trivial melanin content, the same genitalia, the same mental disease, the same addiction, the same level of criminality etc. that person is not allowed to speak about any fallacies connected to members of those groups. I actually self-identify only as a decent (ethnicity), human being (race), practicing Roman Catholic, American Citizen who has been gifted with a keen logical mind, which I refuse to violate by subscribing to political correctness. So here I go.
Question one: What hate crimes has President Trump inspired? The hate crimes escalating in every Democrat run city is an explosion of violent black crimes including murders which have long since surpassed last year's totals! The constant barrage of hatred spewed out against President Trump, his family, his supporters, his cabinet (including Dr. Ben Carson who was beloved until he came out as a Republican in the previous Presidential race then worse yet accepted a position in President Trump's Administration) has been unprecedented. Some of these persons have even been physically attacked!
Question two: when did President Trump become a racist? was it before/after Oprah Winfrey was hanging out with him eg. at Mar-a Lago? Before or after he was praised by Jesse Jackson for supporting his Rainbow Push Coalition?
The Democrats along with their propaganda arm have perfected the ugly technique of vilifying and destroying the reputation of people they hate by calling them names like the dreaded R word.
The crime rate is a much bigger problem than any racism that's out there. And I don't know of any systemic or structural racism that still exists. There are white and black racists of course, and most of the white ones are Democrats. Observe how Democrats continue to insist that blacks (are so inferior in ability and self-efficacy) that even after approx. 50 years of Racial Quotas/Affirmative Action/ Diversity/preferential treatment, still need even more. Notice how they excuse disproportionally high rates of violence, out of wedlock births and abortions among some blacks as if disproportional numbers of blacks are incapable of obeying laws or of responsible behavior. Was Jesse Jackson a "racist" when he said if he was walking down a dark street, heard footsteps behind him, turned around and saw that it was a white person, he was relieved? No, of course not, he was just telling the truth. However, if a white person were to say the same thing, he would be a "racist"!

Sophia said...

Sophia here:
There was definitely institutional racism in the past-the Democrats gave us Segregation and Jim Crow Laws. But not now! Nonetheless that claim continues to be made and the term continues to be used precisely for one reason- to extract more concessions from society, to demonize whites and to make excuses for choices members of some minority groups make! Notice how Ivy League schools discriminate against Asians in favor of other minorities even though numerically Asians are even more of a minority than blacks are.
Some Democrats are even declaring that the characteristics which have been proven to lead to the most success, regardless of which group embraces them, is a sign of white supremacy/white privilege, and should be eschewed by blacks lest they be seen as "acting white"!
The terrible reality is that Democrats have mischaracterized the actual problems and are pushing a false narrative in order to maintain and increase their power by establishing "victim classes"! Unless problems (diagnoses so to speak) are accurate, the solutions (treatments) will inevitably fail! Worst yet, these erroneous solutions have been extremely costly in terms of tax dollars, wasted human capital, crime, misery, and misdirected hatred of others who don't deserve it...
It is absolutely astonishing that something as superficial as skin color is being used as a basis to persecute perfectly innocent people! It is even more astonishing that the actual victims of this miscarriage of justice have allowed themselves to be guilted and bullied into silence!

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

All of the comments above have merit but have gotten away from the point of this post. In New Orleans and yes, prior to Vatican II, Catholic politicians and many of their Catholic followers fought Archbishop Rommel as he tried to desegregate the Catholic school system. He warned three of them they faced excommunication if they did not stop fighting him.. They did not and he excommunicated them for the good f their immortal souls. Eventually there was a public reconciliation for the three or at least the ring leader. That’s the point of excommunication, to save the soul of the one excommunicated but also to let the Catholic populace know they can’t get away with murder (in this case, racism) in the Catholic Church. That was a powerful public act in that regard.

Cardinal Gregory appeases Joe Biden as he tries to find common ground. His ass should be excommunicated for his abortion, euthanasia and gender ideology stances. His excommunication is for the good of his soul and to assist him from leaving the grip of the devil and a possible condemnation to hell. Excommunication would tell the Catholic populace and others that the Catholic Church will not tolerate abortion, euthanasia and gender ideology as it harms people in this life and the next.

Fr. Michael J. Kavanaugh said...

"His ass should be excommunicated for his abortion, euthanasia and gender ideology stances."

Really, Allan? Is that what you want out there for the world to see?

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

Alright, maybe I am too harsh, censured instead of excommunicated?

Anonymous said...

Yet Father Kavanaugh voted for the guy with "his abortion, euthanasia, and gender ideology stances." You sound like a priest that should be ignored and shunned

Quercus said...

Actually, you should have written "...who should be ignored and shunned."

Be that as it may, Fr. Kavanaugh is neither ignored nor shunned.

But, by all means, keep posting your opinions here for the regular 8 readers to see again and again.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of excommunication, in the secular world, I wonder how many Georgia Republicans would like Trump to be excommunicated from the Republican party? I know fellow Republicans in this state who are getting fed up with Trump. antics, labeling our governor (who signed pro-life legislation in 2019 ) a "disaster" and regretting he ever supported his election. Trump has called the Georgia secretary of state "an enemy of the people." He claimed he would win Georgia "big", even though anyone with at least minimal knowledge of Georgia should know it is a purple state, not a red one. This ain't Alabama or Tennessee. If Trump keeps that up, he may help deliver Georgia's 2 Senate seats to liberal Democrats.