Archbishop Chaput Talks Important Louisiana Catholic and Political History in His New Book - Archbishop Rummel Revisited

I discuss the back ground to this book here at Fantastic Interview with Archbishop Chaput's on his Book "Render Unto Caesar, about faith and politics."

Good Stuff

In that same interview I link to there is some important Louisiana Catholic and Louisiana Political History he talks about:


HH: do you see the bishops becoming better organized and bolder on these issues?

CC: Well, I think every year that I’ve been a bishop, we’ve discussed these kinds of issues. And the formal statement that we come up with every four years about political responsibility, I think has been getting better and better as time goes on. I still think it tends to be a bit long, and it could be clearer in some ways, but I think we’re going a better job.
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HH: Archbishop, I want to begin with Chapter 4 here in hour number two, A Tale of Two Bishops. Explain for our audience who Archbishop Rummel is, and the example he set for the leadership of the Church in difficult political situations.

CC: Archbishop Rummel was the archbishop of New Orleans, Louisiana at the time when our country was dealing with the very serious issue of segregation. And during his service as a bishop, he desegregated the Catholic schools in Louisiana, and really was a hero in terms of civil rights issues. And some of the Catholic out leaders in his community, political leaders, decided to oppose him, especially when it came to the issue of desegregating Catholic schools. And eventually, because of their public opposition to this basic teaching of our Church about the dignity of all individuals, regardless of racial differences, he eventually excommunicated three of them. And at that time, he was considered a hero in many sections of our country. Of course, he was disliked very much by others. But the New York Times, for example, ran an editorial praise of this man’s courage for dealing with this moral issue in such a public way.

HH: I mean, he actually excommunicated them.

CC: He actually did.

HH: Now explain for our audience what that means, you know, if they’re not Catholic, and they’ve never even been inside of the Church. What’s excommunicate mean? Is it a fine? What’s it mean?

CC: Well, to excommunicate somebody means that you tell them that they should no longer receive Communion. Ex means out, and communication means communion. And so if you don’t, if you aren’t in communion, in agreement in your mind and heart with what the Church teaches, the Church can, through its leaders, formally state that you’re no longer in communion with the Church. It’s not saying someone’s going to hell, that they’re damned. It’s just that they’re living a lie for their taking positions that have led them outside of the communion of the Church. And that’s what we was saying about those folks. If they favored racial segregation, if they were discriminatory in what they thought and what they did, then they couldn’t claim to be in communion with the Catholic Church, because we don’t believe that.

HH: You know, I did not know this story, and it’s really kind of shocking to me that that happened, and that I didn’t know about it. Have you ever excommunicated someone?

Sadly many Catholics in Louisiana and New Orleans folks don't recall that story because so many of that generation are dying off.

When Louisiana folks hear Archbishop Rummel they think of the School and its powerhouse highschool football team

One of those people that got excommunicated was of course was Leander Perez. He was not only one huge racist but ruled Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes with a IRON Fist. In fact his influence was state wide.This Wilki page is good on him and goes into the controversy. For instance at the Wilki page:

Archbishop Joseph Rummel excommunicated Perez on April 16, 1962. Perez responded by saying the Catholic Church was "being used as a front for clever Jews" and announced that he would form his own church, the "Perezbyterians."
He eventually reconciled with the church before his death and received a requiem mass at Holy Name of Jesus Christ Church at Loyola University in New Orleans. He is interred at his home in Plaquemines Parish. [1]

I am glad that a person like Perez reconciled with the Church. I was privileged to be part of a Funeral Mass to see someone that held similar views repent of his racist views and came back to the Catholic Church before his death in my small town. His name would be known to many people that can recall White Citizens league folks in Louisiana. He was not excommunicated because he had left the faith over another issue. But his reconciliation no doubt had to deal with that history of his. Seeing parts of his final days showed me it was genuine

That leaves a interesting question for those that condemn the Bishop of Kansas for denying communion to the pro-abortion Governor. Who in the end might be better off. Are Bishops and the Catholic Leadership doing any favors for people that hold views that can result in eternal consequences and not saying anything. I suspect my repent Lawyer Friend and Perez perhaps just perhaps are now very glad that these bishops got involved!!