Dear Bishop Callahan & The Church of Nice

OMM reposts from last year, blasting Callahan and the Church of Nice to which he obviously belongs. Unfortunately, it's not the Church of Christ!

From One Mad Mom

Update 5/24/2021: I don’t think I’ve ever re-blogged my own post but I’m going to save my self some time because it still stands true with the actions Bishop Callahan took last Friday. So here is a reprint of my September 10, 2020 post.

La Crosse bishop to correct ‘Catholics can’t be Democrats’ priest

CNA Staff, Sep 9, 2020 / 03:32 pm MT (CNA).- After a Wisconsin priest said in a viral video that no Catholic can be a Democrat, the priest’s bishop said he will attempt fraternal correction and acknowledged that the priest had inflicted a “wound” upon the Church. A Texas bishop, however, doubled down Wednesday on his support for the priest.

First, it’s not surprising. As a matter of fact, I’m relatively sure there was a pool going somewhere about how long this would take. So Fr. Altman has inflicted a “wound” upon the Church? Really, Bishop Callahan? You know what’s really a “wound” upon the Church? How about the million plus babies killed each year, many of whose mothers sit in your pews? The same babies the Democrat party platform says are just fine to kill up until partially delivered? Even worse, some are saying it’s fine to kill them if they make it through delivery as long as nobody deems them worthy to save.

“I am applying Gospel principles to the correction of Fr. Altman. ‘If your brother does something wrong to you, go to him. Talk alone to him and tell him what he has done. If he listens to you, you have kept your brother as a friend. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two others with you to talk to him.’ (Mt 18:15-16).”

Is anyone going to see Bishop Callahan now??? I mean, biblical principals and all. I’d happily go along and tell them my experiences dealing with the found baby parts in dumpster, the broken mothers who end up on drugs and in jail to numb the pain of their abortions, the siblings who grieve the loss of their brother or sister, etc.

“I have begun this process, not in the bright light of the public arena, but as the Gospel dictates, in private,” Bishop William Callahan of La Crosse said in a Sept. 9 statement.

Umm, you’ve made it very public with your statement, so this is over the top. The very public private correction? Please.

Canon law indicates that before penalties are imposed, we need to ensure that fraternal correction, rebuke or other means of pastoral solicitude will not be sufficient to repair the scandal,” the bishop added, in reference to canon 1341 of the Church’s Code of Canon Law.

The only scandal here is bishops who are not front and center to fraternally correct Joe Biden for, oh, a million things.  How about breaking up his wife’s marriage before he married her? How about for publicly pushing the killing of children in the womb? How about for “marrying” a same-sex couple? How about for backing the persecution of the Little Sisters of the Poor? The list could go on for miles! Where’s his fraternal correction? Oh, let me guess. That’s someone else’s job. It’s out of your jurisdiction, right? So tired of this. Clearly, Fr. Altman cares more for the souls of these people than you.

Fr. James Altmann, a priest of La Crosse, gained attention after an Aug. 30 video was published on YouTube, in which the priest said that “You can not be Catholic and be a Democrat. Period.”

In the ten-minute video, which has been viewed on YouTube more than 400,000 times, the priest said that he had “crunched the numbers,” and “I came up with a pretty close approximation of how many Catholics voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012. Zero.”

OK, there are technical issues with that statement, but he did later clarify it as “faithful” Catholics, which is an important distinction. As I’ve said, a faithful Catholic will be careful to form their conscience around the Church’s doctrine.

“There will be 60 million aborted babies standing at the gates of heaven barring your Democrat entrance,” Altman added, while criticizing the Democratic platform’s commitment to legal protection for abortion.

Yeah, once that was enshrined in the platform and they literally told pro-lifers they weren’t welcome, I’m not really sure how faithful Catholics could still be there.

The priest also decried the “climate change hoax,” and lamented “DACA- which means criminal illegal aliens,” he said.

He also criticized Archbishop Wilton Gregory, and praised President Donald Trump as “one of the best pro-life presidents.

While the Catholic Church condemns support for the legal protection of abortion, it does not prohibit membership in the Democratic Party, and in recent months, some bishops have recognized the voices of pro-life Democrats advocating for changes to their party’s platform on the issue of abortion.”

I think there are 5 of them (at most) between the House and Senate. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/08/03/democrats-abortion-pro-choice-life-219154  I know some Democrats in the pro-life world but guess what? None of them are Catholics, and that’s what we’re talking about here. They’d be just fine with same-sex marriage, the transitioning of children, “gay adoption”, etc, etc., etc. So, let’s be more specific. We’re talking CATHOLIC Democrats for life who are faithful to all of the Church teachings. Does anyone know where to find that unicorn? I’m sure somebody is going to say Joe Manchin, but he voted to keep Planned Parenthood funding and those of us who know a darn thing understand fungible money. There was Dan Lipinski, but he was unseated. Face it, this is no longer the Democrat Party of old. They have become the extreme death party. I love the idea of fighting to change it, but I think that can only come with a crushing defeat by the Republicans. Can we really say we shouldn’t vehemently oppose the killing of children because there might be a handful of moral people in the Democratic Party? Those people will at least live.

And you know what? I don’t even care about Godwin’s Law anymore. This is totally and utterly comparable. Fr. Altman’s video is his “Mit Brennender Sorge” and should be read in every church! Why? Oh, yeah, because people are literally being torn apart with the blessing of the Democrat Party. Don’t give me this “We can’t sow division” when not sowing it causes more children to be killed. We tried to get the Democrat Party to amend their murderous and immoral platform to no avail.  Sound familiar?

“3. When, in 1933, We consented, Venerable Brethren, to open negotiations for a concordat, which the Reich Government proposed on the basis of a scheme of several years’ standing; and when, to your unanimous satisfaction, We concluded the negotiations by a solemn treaty, We were prompted by the desire, as it behooved Us, to secure for Germany the freedom of the Church’s beneficent mission and the salvation of the souls in her care, as well as by the sincere wish to render the German people a service essential for its peaceful development and prosperity. Hence, despite many and grave misgivings, We then decided not to withhold Our consent for We wished to spare the Faithful of Germany, as far as it was humanly possible, the trials and difficulties they would have had to face, given the circumstances, had the negotiations fallen through. It was by acts that We wished to make it plain, Christ’s interests being Our sole object, that the pacific and maternal hand of the Church would be extended to anyone who did not actually refuse it.

 

4. If, then, the tree of peace, which we planted on German soil with the purest intention, has not brought forth the fruit, which in the interest of your people, We had fondly hoped, no one in the world who has eyes to see and ears to hear will be able to lay the blame on the Church and on her Head. The experiences of these last years have fixed responsibilities and laid bare intrigues, which from the outset only aimed at a war of extermination. In the furrows, where We tried to sow the seed of a sincere peace, other men – the “enemy” of Holy Scripture – oversowed the cockle of distrust, unrest, hatred, defamation, of a determined hostility overt or veiled, fed from many sources and wielding many tools, against Christ and His Church. They, and they alone with their accomplices, silent or vociferous, are today responsible, should the storm of religious war, instead of the rainbow of peace, blacken the German skies.”

   And then there was the letter from the Dutch Archbishop which led to the death of many Catholics, but it had to be said. They had been warning about the Nazi party for years. I don’t remember them worrying about division because everlasting life is a wee bit more important. Any other pussy-footing about it was just to keep more people from being slaughtered by the Nazis. It had nothing to do with “not sowing division.”

   So, yeah, people are being slaughtered and the Democratic Party has promised to allow it.

The priest’s video gained even more attention after Tyler, Texas Bishop Joseph Strickland “endorsed” it over the weekend.

“As the Bishop of Tyler I endorse Fr Altman’s statement in this video. My shame is that it has taken me so long.  Thank you Fr Altman for your COURAGE. If you love Jesus & His Church & this nation…pleases HEED THIS MESSAGE,” Strickland tweeted Sept. 5.

Strickland did not respond to questions regarding the video from CNA, but did email a statement Wednesday afternoon, in which the bishop reiterated on his support for Altman’s video.

“I support Fr. James Altman’s video because I believe, not only Catholic Christians, but ALL God’s people must ask themselves some tough questions each time they prepare to cast their vote in any local, state, or national election.

Voting is not an easy task nor one to be taken lightly. On the contrary; it requires research, prayer, and discernment. We must ask ourselves- Do we believe in God. Do we as a nation believe in God?” Strickland wrote, adding that Catholics must also ask themselves if they believe in God’s commandment’s and in Catholic Tradition.

“Are we willing to acknowledge our sins and seek repentance and reparation as individuals and as a nation? Are we casting our vote through the lens of Jesus Christ and his Teachings?”

“If my support of Father Altman can prompt meaningful conversations and prayerful discernment about these questions, then I am at least beginning to fulfill my role as a pastor of souls and a disciple of Jesus Christ,” Strickland added.

Hah! Pretty much quoted Pope Francis from 2016, but that explained it well.

For his part, Callahan noted that Altman has become a symbolic figure in a fractured conversation about Catholicism and partisanship in America.

Fr. Altman is part of a fractured conversation?! There is only one Truth. He’s saying it! Anyone else saying differently would be part of the attempted fracture of truth.

Callahan emphasized that he understands “the undeniable truth that motivates his message. When we approach issues that are contradictory to the Faith and teachings of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church, particularly on abortion and other life issues, we should invite dialogue and heart-felt conversion to the truth. Our approach must never seek to divide, isolate and condemn.”

“That being said it is not only the underlying truth that needs to be evaluated but also the manner of delivery and the tone of his message. Unfortunately, the tone Fr. Altman offers comes off as angry and judgmental, lacking any charity and in a way that causes scandal both in the Church and in society. His generalization and condemnation of entire groups of people is completely inappropriate and not in keeping with our values or the life of virtue,” the bishop insisted.

No, his tone comes off as “abortion is the murder of a child, and children are dying.” Maybe if we acted like it, that wouldn’t happen. This isn’t simply a dialogue. It’s a life and death issue. Sterilizing it is precisely why we haven’t ended it yet.

Altman is the pastor of St. James the Less Parish in La Crosse. He was ordained a priest in 2008, and had worked as an attorney before entering seminary. At a previous parish, St. Peter and Paul, the priest was criticized after a cemetery care fund was reportedly drained, and upkeep at the cemetery declined. The La Crosse diocese did not respond to questions from CNA about the cemetery fund.

Callahan’s statement recognized that many Catholics are looking to him for clarity.

“The amount of calls and emails we are receiving at the Diocesan offices show how divisive he is. I am being pressured by both sides for a comment; one side holds him up as a hero or a prophet, the other side condemns him and vilifies him and demands I silence him,” the bishop wrote.

He is divisive? How about Joe Biden? How about Fr. James Martin, SJ? It doesn’t matter who called or why. What matters is that the platform of the Democratic party is evil. It should be condemned with all one can muster.

“Most people expect a decisive move from me, one way or another. Many suggest immediate penalties that will utterly silence him; others call for complete and unwavering support of his views. Canonical penalties are not far away if my attempts at fraternal correction do not work.”

“I pray that Fr. Altman’s heart and eyes might be open to the error of his ways and that he might take steps to correct his behavior and heal the wound he has inflicted on the Body of Christ.”

Ed. note: This report was updated shortly after publication, when Strickland emailed comments to CNA.”

Did you ever stop to think that maybe you are going to be the one with the souls of the unborn who die from abortion? I’d worry more about that. Christ never said this was going to be the “Church of Nice” nor did he say that there would be no division. In fact, he promised it.