Anti Mask Partisan Catholic Priest Asked to Resign

[47of74]

Some good news out of La Crosse, Wisconsin. 

Quote

The leader of the Diocese of La Crosse has asked Catholic priest Father James Altman to resign amid continued controversial rhetoric over politics and the pandemic, Altman says.

Altman announced the news during his sermon Sunday, which was recorded and posted to YouTube later in the day, stating that his lawyer is challenging Bishop William Callahan's request.

"As the Bishop has stated to me: I am ineffective. So for the record dear family, Bishop Callahan has asked me to resign as pastor as of this past Friday, two days ago, because I am divisive and ineffective," Altman said.

Yeah pretty much.  Of course if Burke was still in charge in La Crosse Altman would likely be promoted and acting as his right hand man.  Hell Burke would probably be trying to get the dude promoted to Bishop. 

[bea]

Love how priests are all about hierarchy and respecting authority until someone tells them THEY need to do that.

Also!
Canon law isn’t a thing in this case. The priest is assigned to the church through the bishop of the diocese, and the bishop ABSOLUTELY CAN REMOVE HIM. A canon lawyer interprets ecclesiastical law. There’s nothing to interpret here. A priest is under the authority of his superiors.

[47of74]

20 minutes ago, bea said:

Love how priests are all about hierarchy and respecting authority until someone tells them THEY need to do that.

Also!
Canon law isn’t a thing in this case. The priest is assigned to the church through the bishop of the diocese, and the bishop ABSOLUTELY CAN REMOVE HIM. A canon lawyer interprets ecclesiastical law. There’s nothing to interpret here. A priest is under the authority of his superiors.

I think there actually may be an appeal process in place for disputes like this but generally once a Bishop wants a priest removed from a parish that's pretty much it.  If Benedict was still in office and Lord High Ray was still Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura such an appeal might have some traction but I think now that appeal isn't going to go anywhere.  Even back when Benedict and JP II were running the show the Vatican was reluctant to get in the middle of disputes unless they absolutely had to.

I'm like dude, face reality and accept it.  You're just delaying the inevitable.  Maybe go to a monastery and take a vow of silence for 20 or 30 years.

[Jasmar]

57 minutes ago, bea said:

Love how priests are all about hierarchy and respecting authority until someone tells them THEY need to do that

That pretty much describes all the conservatives, fundies, and evangelicals I know

[47of74]

31 minutes ago, Jasmar said:

That pretty much describes all the conservatives, fundies, and evangelicals I know

One thing I really like about the Episcopal Church that I jumped ship to after the Roman Church decided to be a wing of the GOP is that the congregations chose their own priests and Bishops and they're generally not imposed on us from above.  Of course the Bishop still has to give final approval but at least in Iowa he approves unless there's a good reason not to.  The clergy still take a vow of obedience to their local Bishop.  And Iowa is going to elect a new Bishop as our current one is retiring (and unless there was a last minute nomination I haven't heard of our next Bishop will be a woman as the slate was all female this time).   Canterbury has no say in the matter.  The majority of the standing committees and Bishops of all the dioceses in the Episcopal Church have to approve the election but they generally go along with who a diocese chooses as Bishop.

I think this gives us a better quality of clergy.  We don't get as many ideologues who are so full of themselves that they neglect their duties.  In the early church that's what was done was that Bishops were often elected.  Even some early Popes were elected in this manner early on.

[Bluebirdbluebell]

I had previously posted this article in the fundie scandals thread. It's about a different priest in Wisconsin. I wasn't sure if they were asking him to resign or moving him around. 

His blog is still up.

 

[47of74]

Wisconsin always had a fundie streak when it comes to religion that stretches across denominations. 

Unfortunately guys like Cardinal Burke and the late Bishop Morlino added to it by drawing these people to Wisconsin like flies to manure.  Even up in Platteville where Morlino invited some reich wing priests to take over the local parish.

These reich wing priests up in Wisconsin do more to create ex-Catholics than the other churches do.

[NachosFlandersStyle]

28 minutes ago, 47of74 said:

These reich wing priests up in Wisconsin do more to create ex-Catholics than the other churches do.

Happening all over the place, unfortunately. I have several relatives who have stopped attending or gone to other denominations because of bad experiences with hard-line priests. 

A good recent article: https://uscatholic.org/articles/202105/parish-differences-show-division-in-church/

[Hane]

1 hour ago, NachosFlandersStyle said:

Happening all over the place, unfortunately. I have several relatives who have stopped attending or gone to other denominations because of bad experiences with hard-line priests. 

A good recent article: https://uscatholic.org/articles/202105/parish-differences-show-division-in-church/

@NachosFlandersStyle, the trends in the article you linked had a great deal to do with why I’m a former Catholic.

[MamaJunebug]

Replying to follow

[maple802]

11 hours ago, NachosFlandersStyle said:

Happening all over the place, unfortunately. I have several relatives who have stopped attending or gone to other denominations because of bad experiences with hard-line priests. 

I live in the DC metro area. One of the many reasons my husband and I will never live in Northern VA is because the Rad Trads have completely taken over the Diocese of Arlington. We barely made it through our godson's baptism in one of its parishes without having a stroke (I almost lost it when the priest celebrated the Eucharist ad orientem.) 

We loved both of our parishes when we lived in the Archdiocese of Washington, but we're now over the line in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and haven't attended Mass in person since the pandemic started. Now that we're vaccinated, we'll see how it goes. At least we have the ability to shop around a bit if the new parish doesn't quite fit. Sigh. Don't want to be anything else, but as my mother says, these bastards don't make it easy.

[Marmion]

This priest has had a prior history of expressing an extreme political bias , as this article illustrates .  https://www.patheos.com/blogs/onthecatholicbeat/2021/04/back-in-the-headlines-father-james-altman/  Fr. James Altman is most notorious for his sermon in which he declared that those whom vote for Democrats will go to hell , as this article from America Magazine illustrates , and critiques.  https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/09/15/can-catholics-vote-for-democrats-republicans  

[eport]

My parish priest is also being suspended/priest time out for reasons the diocese is not telling  (at least yet). The trads  in my parish are all up in arms and comparing him to Fr. Altman, saying that priests  who speak the truth are suspended and it's because the bishops are too secular.

All we know is  when the priests are moving around in June, he will no longer be our pastor and he has no assignment afterwards (weird). Rumor is he has to find his own  housing and it cannot be at any parish in the diocese.

Some facebook comments for reference:

Yes...our good and holy priests are under attack by the bishops!! We need to put on the armour of God and fight for our Shepherds. What they are doing to these priests is heartbreaking. Shame on them.

: "Don’t let Satan have the victory of more souls here!"

He preached the truth, didn't cave into "woke" culture, and spoke out boldly against heresy and sin. This is happening to faithful priests- and even bishops - all over the country and world. Look up Fr. Altman!

When I told my 13 year old son the news, he said, "I am NOT going back to Holy Cross! He's the reason I learned to love being Catholic." . . . I think I am going to be sick.

Hopefully this is not too big,  this ran in December in the bulletin after Biden accepted his victory and something I reported to the diocese. I don't think this caused the above but  may be a part of it.

[Hane]

@eport, how appalling! That a priest is being so blatantly partisan, thinks that NewsMaxx and OANN are reliable sources of journalism, and is in direct violation of the Pope (whom he is supposed to obey). The “pro-life” and anti-gay-marriage activities of my former parish pale in comparison.

He sounds like one of those Catholics who is advocating for a “smaller, purer Church.”

Edited May 27, 2021 by Hane

[NachosFlandersStyle]

5 hours ago, eport said:

My parish priest is also being suspended/priest time out for reasons the diocese is not telling  (at least yet). The trads  in my parish are all up in arms and comparing him to Fr. Altman, saying that priests  who speak the truth are suspended and it's because the bishops are too secular.

This blows my mind. If I heard that my priest was suspended for ~undisclosed reasons~ I would have some VERY different suspicions. Maybe that's why I'm no longer practicing.

[47of74]

4 hours ago, Hane said:

@eport, how appalling! That a priest is being so blatantly partisan, thinks that NewsMaxx and OANN are reliable sources of journalism, and is in direct violation of the Pope (whom he is supposed to obey). The “pro-life” and anti-gay-marriage activities of my former parish pale in comparison.

He sounds like one of those Catholics who is advocating for a “smaller, purer Church.”

If an Episcopal priest had said they got their news from Newsmax or OAN in a parish bulletin it’d be a race between the vestry and the Bishop to make the first move to get that clergy removed from their post.  Even most of the more conservative parts of the church would say get out.  A lot of that partisan stuff Catholic clergy does would not fly and most have the good sense to not turn services into political rallies. 

Edited May 27, 2021 by 47of74
Fucking autocorrect

[mango_fandango]

All this discussion of the Rad Trad Catholics just makes me think of that guy we discussed on here once, Chris Whittle, who was obsessed with finding a wife called Jillian who would be the perfect Rad Trad wife. He stopped blogging a while ago and I kind of wonder what happened to him. 

[PennySycamore]

@NachosFlandersStyle, the pastor of the church of our former parish was removed from ministry when it came out that he'd been been accused of molesting a kid years earlier.  I gave up being Catholic more than 20 years ago and I no longer consider myself Christian.  My husband never found a church that was quite what he wanted.  He became an Anglican, but in one of the offshoot churches that is not recognized by the Anglican Communion.  He really needed to heed the wise words of Mick Jagger "You don't always get what you want, but you get what you need."

[Hane]

I can’t help remembering Father Perfect, assistant pastor of my sister’s church, who was found in a motel room with a 14-year-old boy. It devastated the pastor and congregation.

It was later discovered that he had a FB page under a fake name to communicate with “the youth” because “the mothers in the parish wouldn’t understand.”

[Bluebirdbluebell]

Thanks to Jill R and @KWLand for pointing out the website LifePetitions. Among all their other vile petitions, they have a petition to bring back Fr. Altman. 

[47of74]

Fr. Altman just got pulled from his parish assignment by the Bishop of LaCrosse

Quote

James Altman, the Wisconsin priest who declared Catholics cannot be Democrats in a YouTube video, was removed from his posting in a decree by a bishop.

Bishop William Patrick Callahan removed Altman from serving as a pastor for St. James the Less parish in the city of La Crosse, the city's diocese said in a statement Friday. The decree of Altman's removal will remain in effect unless it is determined otherwise. Altman's controversial YouTube video was posted before the 2020 presidential election where he said Democrat supporters will burn in hell.

"(The bishop) and his diocesan representatives have spent over a year, prayerfully and fraternally, working toward a resolution related to ongoing public and ecclesial concerns of the ministry of Fr. James Altman," the Diocese of La Crosse's statement said.

"Unfortunately for the corrupt hierarchy, I will not be silenced by any arbitrary Decree, nor will I be cowed by any action against my priestly faculties," Altman told conservative news publication LifeSiteNews.com

Hey Altman, if the reich wing USCCB is too liberal for you there's always the SSPX or other breakaway bodies. 

[47of74]

On 5/27/2021 at 4:45 PM, PennySycamore said:

@NachosFlandersStyle, the pastor of the church of our former parish was removed from ministry when it came out that he'd been been accused of molesting a kid years earlier.  I gave up being Catholic more than 20 years ago and I no longer consider myself Christian.  My husband never found a church that was quite what he wanted.  He became an Anglican, but in one of the offshoot churches that is not recognized by the Anglican Communion.  He really needed to heed the wise words of Mick Jagger "You don't always get what you want, but you get what you need."

It was later found that the priest who assigned to handle my grandparent's marriage had been accused of multiple instances of abuse years later after the SOB died.  And I think there was some accusations floating around at the time they were married too.  It wasn't my grandparents fault that the bastard was the one who handled the ceremony but it pisses me off that he did the ceremony while obviously being unworthy to do so.  By the time the church decided to actually do something this guy was long dead.

And a Msgr. who had served at the parish I grew up in was also later found to have been abusing teenagers back in the early 60s.  He was only there a couple years before he died in an automobile accident (I think but I'm not sure if he was under the influence at the time).  It came out about ten years later that he had abused children.  

[gracegrace]

I am so glad Altman is FINALLY facing consequences. 

[47of74]

1 hour ago, gracegrace said:

I am so glad Altman is FINALLY facing consequences. 

I’m kind of curious how long it’ll be until Lord High Ray offers him a position in Malta since they’re corrupt clergy of a feather.