Bishop Stika Unimpressed… Fr. James Martin Connects Catholic Leaders To Capitol Riots

(CNA) — Bishop Richard Stika of Nashville voiced skepticism of Fr. James Martin’s recent essay claiming that Catholic leaders’ criticism of President-elect Joe Biden’s stance on abortion helped contribute to the conditions for the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Martin’s essay, “How Catholic Leaders Helped Give Rise to Violence at the U.S. Capitol,” ran January 12 at the website of the U.S. Jesuits’ America magazine, where Martin is editor-at-large.
Martin collected various bishops’ and priests’ comments critical of Biden’s stand on abortion and questioning whether a Catholic could vote for him. Though these criticisms ranged from respectful to inflammatory, Martin argued that their criticism “does not adequately reflect church teaching” and sent the message that the election was “an almost apocalyptic battle between good and evil.”
The priest suggested that “perhaps these comments were contributing to the unrest in the nation.”
Stika responded to Martin’s criticism of his comments about Biden.
“I don’t apologize for the tweet as I agree with the (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops) that abortion is the preeminent issue in this day and age,” Stika said on Twitter January 13. “Mr. Biden likes to speak about his Catholic faith. Perhaps he should realize that abortion is a human rights issue as well as the ultimate child abuse. Perhaps I missed something in the article concerning abortion as the preeminent issue.”
In a lengthy essay, Martin sought to connect the unrest to vocal critics of abortion. He alleged there was “widespread personal vilification of candidates from Catholic leaders” in the run-up to the violence at the U.S. Capitol. He named various figures before quoting from two August 21 Twitter comments from Bishop Stika.
“(I) don’t understand how Mr. Biden can claim to be a good and faithful Catholic as he denies so much of Church teaching especially on the absolute child abuse and human rights violations of the most innocent, the not yet born,” Stika said in one tweet.
“And he also praises his sidekick who has shown time and time again in Senate hearings that she is an anti-Catholic bigot,” the bishop also said on Twitter, in a possible reference to incoming Vice President Kamala Harris’ controversial questioning of Catholic judicial nominees who were members of the Knights of Columbus.
The remainder of Stika’s Twitter comment, which was not quoted by Martin, concluded: “So sad for this team. But also, I never thought the current President was all that pro-life but he is anti-abortion as well as helpful in religious liberty.”
After citing Stika, Martin immediately cited a deleted, inflammatory tweet from Fr. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life and a former member of the Trump campaign’s Catholics for Trump group.
“Why is it that the supporters of this (expletive deleted) loser Biden and his morally corrupt, America-hating, God hating Democrat party can’t say a (expletive deleted) thing in support of their loser candidate without using the word Trump?” Pavone had said.
Pavone drew significant controversy for his campaign efforts on behalf of Donald Trump. He used the preserved remains of an unborn baby in a video attempting to rally support for Trump before the 2016 election.
Martin argued “personal vilification from members of the clergy inevitably gives rise to a lack of respect from the faithful, making it easier for those in the pews to revile government and civic leaders.” He alleged “an alarming number of Catholic clergy contributed to an environment that led to the fatal riots at the U.S. Capitol. Ironically, priests and bishops who count themselves as pro-life helped spawn a hate-filled environment that led to mayhem, violence and, ultimately, death.”
Although President-elect Biden was a longtime supporter of some abortion restrictions, he changed his views to support for permissive abortion laws and federal funding for abortion during the 2020 Democratic primaries. He boasted of his 100 percent rating from the pro-abortion group NARAL Pro-Choice America. His 2020 campaign platform called for the codification of Roe v. Wade as federal law.
Martin’s essay criticized priests who had enjoyed some Internet popularity like Fr. James Altman of the Diocese of La Crosse, Wis. Altman’s viral YouTube video “You Cannot Be a Catholic and a Democrat” drew some 1.2 million views before the election. The video drew some criticism from the priest’s local bishop, the Most Rev. William Patrick Callahan, but was recommended by Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas.
Other objects of Martin’s criticism included Raymond Cardinal Burke’s comment that Biden was involved in “grave, immoral evil that is the source of scandal.” Martin also cited Bishop Thomas Daly of Spokane’s question asking how a Catholic can vote for “a candidate like Biden” if “abortion is an intrinsic evil.”
The priest also cited the claims of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the former apostolic nuncio to the U.S., who has called Biden “a puppet manipulated by the elite, a puppet in the hands of people thirsty for power and willing to do anything to expand it.”
Martin said such examples led to violence and merited correction.
“Bishops and priests need to understand the real-life effects of such contemptuous and even dehumanizing language. Catholic bishops and priests are meant to teach morality, but they are not meant to judge others (as Jesus said clearly) or to treat people with such bitter contempt. The real-world effect of this kind of language was revealed at the Capitol on January 6,” said Martin.
“The mistake for which Catholic leaders should be corrected, the mistake for which the church now needs to repent, is not simply casting this election in terms of good and evil; it is pretending that real questions of good and evil could be simplified to the point where violent responses, even acts of domestic terrorism, become thinkable and then are carried out,” he said.
The January 6 protests drew a large number of Trump supporters, who began at the White House and moved to the Capitol.
It is still unclear to what extent the incursion into the Capitol was planned, and debate continues over whether law enforcement and security personnel were adequately prepared.
“Can anyone doubt that the moral calculus proposed by some Christian leaders, including Catholic priests and bishops, framed in the language of pure good versus pure evil, contributed to the presence of so many rioters brandishing overtly Christian symbols as they carried out their violence?” Martin asked in his essay.
[Wanderer Editor’s Note: Our columnist Fr. Kevin M. Cusick points out that Fr. Martin included this comment in his article: “The Rev. Kevin Cusick, the pastor of St. Francis de Sales Parish in Benedict, Md., wrote: ‘Joe Biden is not a practicing Catholic. And practicing Catholics cannot vote for Biden for president in good conscience’.”]
The year 2020 saw a significant amount of civil unrest, including sometimes-violent protests.
There was also a wave of vandalism against Catholic churches and Catholic figures including St. Junipero Serra.