A Tale of Two Archbishops
Many of the brethren have been prodding bishops to call out self declared "devout" Catholic politicians who routinely and openly defy Church teaching. The actions of said public officials are a scandal to faithful Catholics sincerely trying to live the Faith without compromise in a culture that is often marred by bigotry and open hostility to anyone who challenges the twisted ideologies that savagely rob people of their dignity and unborn children of their lives.
The days of "personally opposed (to abortion) but publicly pro-choice (pro-abortion)" are, at least in the Archdiocese of San Francisco and - given the support shown by bishops to the Archbishop of SF - in the Diocese of Oakland and Archdiocese of Denver, at an end.
By now, avid followers of the Communion wars are well aware of Archbishop Cordileone's letter to Speaker Pelosi. Despite the New York Times' description calling him "an ultraconservative archbishop", His Grace's actions are those of an ordinary Ordinary. In other words, Archbishop Cordileone is a Catholic archbishop. No other hyphenated descriptor is needed for a man who consistently upholds the Catholic Faith and expects his flock to do the same.
The public record confirms that His Grace has bent over backward time and time again to engage Speaker Pelosi, and to persuade her to abandon the brutal contradiction to which she obstinately clings, and to reconfigure her life to the teaching of the Church. Sadly, Speaker Pelosi has, like public figures before her when confronted with their actions that demean and harm the lives of marginalized people, ignored the calls of her bishop to come to her senses.
Like another archbishop who called out wayward Catholics in no uncertain terms, Archbishop Cordileone is acting rightly to persuade Pelosi and others to stop their cruelty that contradicts the Catholic Faith. Archbishop Rummel excommunicated three individuals who defended segregation, who saw people of colour as "less-than" Catholics, "less-than" human beings.
The New York Times has lost much of its credibility by using hyperbole to stereotype and demonize, and by avoiding nuance to dismiss and attack the credibility of anyone or any group that promotes ideas that do not fit a particular NYT narrative. Despite journalistic obstacles of late, let no one doubt that both archbishops have acted well within their calling as shepherds intent on protecting their respective flocks.
New York Times: May 20, 2022
Archbishop Bars Pelosi From Communion Over Abortion Stance
Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone, who has repeatedly confronted the House speaker over her backing of abortion rights, said her stance was a “grave evil.”
WASHINGTON — An ultraconservative archbishop in San Francisco said on Friday that Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California would not be permitted to receive communion in his archdiocese because of her support for abortion rights.
Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone, who has repeatedly confronted Ms. Pelosi over abortion, said in a letter on Friday that until Ms. Pelosi was willing to “publicly repudiate” her position defending the “legitimacy of abortion,” she would be banned from the sacrament, a central element of Catholic worship.
“After numerous attempts to speak with Speaker Pelosi to help her understand the grave evil she is perpetrating, the scandal she is causing” and “the danger to her own soul she is risking, I have determined that she is not to be admitted to Holy Communion,” Archbishop Cordileone said on Twitter on Friday.
A spokesman for Ms. Pelosi, a practicing Catholic who often mentions her faith in advocating for her progressive views, did not respond to a request for comment. In a 2008 interview with C-SPAN, Ms. Pelosi described herself as a “regular communicant” and said that if she were ever denied communion, “that would be a severe blow to me.”
New York Times: November 9, 1964
Archbishop Joseph Rummel Dies; New Orleans Foe of Segregation; Prelate, 88, Excommunicated 3 Who Resisted Command to Integrate Schools
In his 80th year, at an age when someone of his ecclesiastical rank would normally expect no new burdens other than the physical burden of ceremonial, Archbishop Rummel deliberately took a stand that earned him the permanent hostility of many of the most prominent laymen of his archdiocese—he opposed the South's traditional racial segregation.
The resentment of segregationists over the prelate's insistence on integration reached the stage of open rebellion in April, 1962, when the Archbishop ordered that all Roman Catholic schools in his archdiocese be integrated forthwith.
His order was timed to follow the beginning of integration of the public schools in Orleans Parish (county).
Archbishop Rummel's stand was publicly opposed by three prominent church members: Leander H. Perez Sr., president of the Plaquemines Parish Council, Jackson G. Ricau, executive director of the South Louisiana Citizens Councils, and Mrs. B. J. Gaillot Jr., head of Save Our Nation. Inc.
The three were excommunicated by the Archbishop after they failed to accept letters of “paternal admonition.”
Archbishop Rummel, a large, slow‐moving man with a thick shock of dark hair, had let his views on the anti‐Christian character of segregation be known as early as 1949. At that time, he canceled an outdoor celebration when city officials decreed that Negro worshipers could not participate with whites.
The next year, he had the “White” and “Colored” signs removed from churches. In 1953, he strengthened this measure with an order that Negroes no longer should be made to take communion last and that they should be admitted to parish organizations. These moves were not wholly effective, thanks to the resistance of laymen and many of the clergy.
It was in late 1955 and early 1958, after his 79th birthday. that the Archbishop, half‐blind with glaucoma, took two steps that won him national attention and made his last years his stormiest.
When parishioners of a mission church near New Orleans turned away a Negro priest sent to minister to them, Archbishop Rummel closed the church, and denounced “an act of injustice, uncharitableness and irreverence.”
A few months later, he proclaimed segregation “morally wrong and sinful” and announced his intention to integrate New Orleans's parochial schools. At the same time, he approved an editorial in the archdiocese's official newspaper that warned Catholic legislators of possible excommunication if they worked for laws perpetuating segregation.
A cross was burned on the Archbishop's lawn. The White Citizens' Council denounced him. A group of Catholic parents administered their own form of excommunication by branding him a “Yankee.” With more serious effect, a laymen's group that included many Catholics prominent in the state's political and business life, was formed to oppose his plans.
The group appealed to the Vatican to halt the Archbishop's activities. They were sharply rebuffed.
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