It’s Time For Bishops To Rethink Racism
By CHRISTOPHER MANION
“If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle” — Sun Tzu, The Art of War.
In 1979, the USCCB, “inspired” by the dissident “Call to Action” platform, declared that only whites could be racists, and most of us are.
In the light of recent and fast-moving events, our bishops should apologize, profoundly and quickly.
On June 28, Fr. Theodore Rothrock, pastor of St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church in Lafayette, Ind., published an article in his parish bulletin. “Reforms must be sweeping and immediate to crush the rising wave of racism,” he wrote. Noting the destruction and violence in the widespread rioting, Rothrock criticized Antifa’s “community organizers” and the Marxist leaders of Black Lives Matter who were manipulating the violence. “Do those black lives really matter to the community organizers promoting their agenda,” he asked.
Rothrock called Marxist agitators “parasites” and “maggots,” asking, “Who are the real racists and the purveyors of hate? ‘You shall know them by their works.’ The only lives that matter are their own and the only power they seek is their own. They are wolves in wolves’ clothing, masked thieves and bandits, seeking only to devour the life of the poor and profit from the fear of others.”
All this was too much for Lafayette Bishop Timothy Doherty. Hounded by the Indianapolis Star, which in classic fashion had turned Rothrock’s criticism into an attack on peaceful black demonstrators, Doherty suspended Fr. Rothrock on July 1.
The following Sunday, he braved two protests, one group advocating Rothrock’s suspension, the other supporting him, to appear at Rothrock’s now former parish. Bishop Doherty was blunt. He first acknowledged that “The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation promotes LGBT ideology and opposes the nuclear family.” In spite of these rather fundamental attacks on the faith, Bishop Doherty was firm. Fr. Rothrock was suspended, “and if anyone asks you, you can tell them that this bishop says Black lives matter.”
Oh, really? Wait a minute. Did Bishop Doherty really do his homework?
Black Lives Matter — Assassins Welcome
The Washington Examiner reports that the Black Lives Matter national organization is funded through a leftist group whose board of directors includes a convicted terrorist who killed two police officers and a Brinks guard.
And she also tried to kill me.
That terrorist, Susan Rosenberg, was a member of the May 19th Communist Organization. The group bombed the U.S. Capitol in 1983, and she was convicted on weapons and explosives charges and sentenced to 58 years in prison, serving 16 years.
Now, that bomb in the Capitol went off just outside the Senate Republican cloakroom two hours after I had left. The Senate had been scheduled to stay in late that night, with senators and staff crowding the cloakroom, but we went out early.
“The blast also punched a hole in a partition that sent a shower of pulverized brick, plaster, and glass into the Republican cloakroom behind the chamber,” the liberal site Politico reports.
So Fr. Rothrock was right. Squalid parasites, miserable maggots.
Bishop Doherty, Susan Rosenberg tried to kill me, OK? Blow me up. And she’s raising money for the Black Lives Matter.
Can you hear me now?
Cowardice And
The Catechism
Hold on — could I possibly be implying that Bishop Doherty supports terrorists?
Not at all. I am pointing out that he exhibits a regrettable lack of intellectual curiosity — that’s all.
Bishop Doherty’s profound ignorance defies the cardinal virtue of prudence. But his knee-jerk suspension of Fr. Rothrock is only a microcosm of the dark corner in which the bishops have cowered for forty years.
Consider: In a March 2019 column, Bishop Doherty wrote that “racism is just as much a systemic problem as it is about individual attitudes. In practice, they cannot be separated.” Like the 1979 pastoral, he accepts that Marxist trope as a given that does not require further definition.
“Perhaps no single individual is to blame,” the 1979 bishops wrote. “The sinfulness is often anonymous but nonetheless real. The sin is social in nature….”
Of course, this violates the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which tells us that a sinful act must constitute a voluntary and deliberate breach of the moral law (CCC, nn. 1849-1874, passim).
“But hey, so what,” as Bill Clinton used to shrug, as he pardoned mass killer Susan Rosenberg on his last day in office.
It Never Ends
Meanwhile, in Spokane, a fellow named Rob McCann, CEO of Catholic Charities of Eastern Washington, unloads. “My Catholic Church, and my Catholic Charities organization, is racist,” he ranted in an official video released on June 19.
Now admittedly, McCann just took the bishops at their word. And naturally, Bishop Thomas Daly had a “candid and frank” conversation with him. But unlike Fr. Rothrock, McCann has powerful friends. He came to Spokane from Catholic Relief Services, where he served under hardline Democrat and Obama ambassador Ken Hackett. McCann is also the vice-chair of Catholic Charities USA.
So Daly dithers.
OK, let’s recap: Fr. Rothrock criticizes Antifa as maggots and he’s suspended. Mr. McCann calls all Catholics racists and he’s not.
Something is very wrong here. And it’s been wrong for a long time.
Consider: Four years ago this week, an assassin open fire on police protecting a Black Lives Matter march in Dallas, Texas. Five policemen were killed and seven more injured in the massacre.
The terrorist told police that he wanted to kill as many whites as possible.
In a statement the next day, Dallas Bishop Kevin Farrell mourned the victims. While he noted “the magnitude of the violence,” he could not bring himself to mention the race of the assassin.
He was black.
This Orwellian indulgence in the Memory Hole syndrome is not unique to our beloved bishops. This week, in an extensive article memorializing the massacre, the Dallas Morning News couldn’t bring itself to mention the racist character of the attack either.
By the way, on a curious note, Bishop Farrell also wrote: “All lives matter: black, white, Muslim, Christian, Hindu. We are all children of God and all human life is precious.” Good for him.
Today, four short years later, that racist line would get him “canceled.” Good thing he’s a Curia cardinal now, quite safely ensconced in Rome. If he were here, they’d get him if they could.
Back To The Drawing Board
Instead of coming to their senses and retracting their 1979 libel, the USCCB reaffirmed it last November. Now, in the midst of the chaos fomented by Bishop Doherty’s favorite slogan, they’re trapped by their own fatuous, flimsy ideology.
Our hierarchy’s deliberate blind spot has played into the hands of Obama, Biden, and, alas, Antifa and the Marxist leaders of Black Lives Matter. Remember, McCann was just repeating what our bishops have been saying for years. And he’s not alone. Just last month, El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz knelt at a rally with his head reverently resting on a large “BLM” placard.
Pope Francis was so impressed that he called Seitz to congratulate him.
It should not surprise us that our bishops are shocked, shocked that Antifa should turn on Catholic heroes — St. Junipero Serra, St. Louis, and of course the man who brought the faith to the New World — Christopher Columbus. In the words of their 1979 pastoral on racism, their cowardice is so imbedded that they don’t even know it’s there.
“Most whites are racists.”
Let’s face it. The bishops have slandered the faithful with this sanctimonious canard for forty-one years. It’s time for them to man up and apologize.
