Bishop William Callahan of La Crosse, Wisconsin, along with most other American Bishops, are like middle management in corporate America. They may have had some or little experience in the trenches, but not much. They have spent most of their lives doing chores and favors for people in powerful positions and reaped some type of personal reward for it. To be successful at their middle management job, they must be lukewarm in order to be successful—in other words, a guy that doesn’t rock the boat, serve as a capable fundraiser, has no problem being a “yes” man for those above him, and willing to do the “big man’s dirty work”.
While this may reap rewards for middle management types in corporate America, perhaps earn some decent bonuses and solidify a retirement 401K while operating at a mediocre level without any sense of urgency, it doesn’t really work well in the Catholic Church, if you happen to believe in Christ’s Kingship and Apostolic Succession. You see, Christ’s apostles and their successors were tasked with much more important and admittedly difficult jobs than a corporate middle manager.
When you are a Bishop, eternal souls are on the line and under your care. Not only do you answer to your superiors in the Vatican, but you also must answer to Jesus Christ Himself on judgment day. This is why heeding his warnings about lukewarmness, I believe, is really important—especially if you are Bishop. Admittedly, I am not sure if I would hold up under the pressure of what is asked of a Bishop by Christ.
This background leads us to the Father James Altman debacle. I call it a debacle because that is what it is. Bishop Callahan drew the unfortunate straw to have to deal with Fr. Altman for the Big Man—Bergoglio and almost certainly the other bosses in upper management such as Cardinals Cupich and Dolan, whose history is hopelessly entangled in the State of Wisconsin Catholicism.
And now we can see how post-Vatican II, mediocre middle management Bishops deal with “problem” priests, whose only sin is preaching what the Catholic Church believes and ticking off whacko, pro-abortion activists. Of course, the bigger problem for Fr. Altman is that he ticked off one of the USCCB’s biggest clients and sources of funding as well: the Democrat Party.
So, here we are. Fr. Altman’s faculties are suspended while James Martin, S.J. runs souls into hell faster than an American Olympic champion on steroids because the Democrat Party likes Fr. Martin and not so much Fr. Altman. One simple thing we can do as lay people is express our thoughts and concerns out of charity, not anger. I wrote to Bishop Callahan the email below. I have not received a response, but I doubt I will. To be fair, I am sure his inbox is flooded with all types of opinions. Nevertheless, this one is mine. Please free to copy or share with others or Bishop Callahan himself again.
“But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth.” Apocalypse (Revelation) 3:16
A Letter to Bishop Callahan
Dear Bishop Callahan:
I am writing in response to your recent decision to suspend Father James Altman. As you probably know, Fr. Altman first gained public notoriety when he publicly proclaimed the evil of abortion and made a video declaring that Catholics cannot vote for Democrats. This simple restatement of obvious reality upset many Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
While we can expect the secular humanists in society to block, censor and shame Fr. Altman for defending Christ and His social kingship, we should not expect this from Catholics or any Bishop who claims to believe and teach what the Church does. However, now it appears you have jumped on that bandwagon, which is sad and warrants strong feedback from the faithful.
Let me explain to you what Fr. Altman means to me as a faithful Catholic. While I have never met Fr. Altman, he represents exactly what Christ is asking of all of us in the face of an overwhelming, demonic fueled onslaught designed to bury and, if necessary, persecute faithful Christians. Standing up in a courageous way to the forces of evil in this society—i.e. those who want to cut up and slaughter little babies in the womb or shut down the sacraments over a chest cold—without fear of repercussion or counter-attacks is exactly what our culture and the Church needs at this very time. Fr. Altman should not only be commended for this effort, but he should be given a special place of honor and protection within the Diocese so that he can continue his mission while still serving his flock.
And yet, does he get the support, backing and aid from you and the Diocese? No, he did not. Instead, he was thrown under the bus and treated like a psychopath, much to the pleasure and amusement of the secular forces of evil in your Diocese I have no doubt. Whether you intended to or not, it appears you have openly sided with the forces of abortion, sin and evil to the detriment of a good, faithful and holy priest just trying to defend babies, the sacraments and the Kingship of Christ in the public square. There can be no doubt the anti-Catholic media in your diocese were happy and pleased with your decision.
By removing Fr. Altman from active ministry for an undetermined amount of time, this cowardly act of surrender to the culture does not hurt Fr. Altman so much as it hurts the rest of us and the faithful in the Church who are desperately battling the forces of evil in society.
When we see our own shepherds cut a faithful priest off at the knees for simply speaking Catholic Truth in a public way, this demoralizes and insults the rest of us who also seek to defend Christ and His Kingship in this spiritual warzone known as American culture.
I know it is easy to get caught up in administrative squabbles, answering to secular media types and probably worst of all having to deal with those other gutless and faithless Bishops who may make your life difficult because you have an outspoken priest under your authority. But tough times call for tough men, and so I hope you will reconsider your efforts to silence the Truth and speak up instead in defense of Christ, the authentic teaching of the Church and those (like Fr. Altman) who are doing their best to defend the Gospel during these dark times.
Thank you for your time and consideration, MARCUS VERITAS.