Love is what makes this priest willing to call out unfaithful bishops, even the Pope
Summary
In this episode of the John Henry Weston Show, Father Francis Laudeman, a priest in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, shares his thoughts on Bishop Alberto Rojas, who recently made an error in a homily.
Transcript
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Welcome, everyone, to this episode of the John Henry Weston Show, where I'm very pleased to bring you someone who is, well, very rare.
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There is a priest who has spoken out. His name is Father Francis Laudeman.
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Now, he's spoken out the truth of the Catholic faith, but he's done so in a way that is really unafraid.
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And whereas many, perhaps, priests who have bishops who, well, might be doing things that are at odds with the faith, are very reticent to speak out,
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Father Francis has spoken out, spoken out strongly in a homily, with much charity and grace, but nevertheless, spoken the truth.
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We're going to speak to him now, so you better stay tuned.
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Let's begin, as we always do, with the sign of the cross.
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Father Laudeman, would you mind leading us in the sign of the cross, please?
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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.
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Amen. Thank you, Father. Thank you for being with us on this episode of the John Henry Weston Show.
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And Father, if I could start off, you gave a homily that was stunning.
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We're going to play a few clips of it here during this show, just to show people what we're talking about.
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Our bishop, Alberto Rojas, is one of the 14 bishops who made a big error, right?
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He was one of the 14 that signed a document saying LGBT is healthy, it's normal.
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It goes against the Old Testament, against what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah.
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It goes with St. Paul says in the New Testament.
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It's a sin, a mortal sin, a sin that leads to hell, to condemnation.
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In so far as one loves the sin, that person hates the sinner.
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Now, you spoke openly in your homily, criticizing your own bishop, even.
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And let me ask first, are you not afraid of reprisals for doing that?
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But more and more, I'm doing this out of love, and perfect love casts out fear.
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And so there's more of a desire, more of a joy in proclaiming the truth.
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I think a lot of people, when they think about love, they think about, oh, never, never, ever
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talking badly about a person, or never pointing out to them, even when they do something wrong.
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Um, it's, it's basically go along to get along and just sort of hide everything bad that ever
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Um, yet you are expressing your motivation as one of being love.
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Well, our generation makes a virtue out of nice, but I go with Jesus.
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Jesus spoke the truth, even when it was hard, even when he knew he was going to suffer and
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He spoke the truth and he's called us to speak the truth, to be like him, to be Christ-like.
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And so I have a duty as a priest to be like Christ and to love as he loved.
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Let's, let's have another look at, uh, one of the other things you said.
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A Jesuit education confused him and he spreads this confusion like a virus.
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So as we've seen there, uh, you're speaking out then with regard to, uh, the truth and,
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uh, including about your Bishop, uh, extends even to the Pope.
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Is there, you know, uh, a sort of, uh, perhaps some people would think I've been told many
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times that, uh, you know, when it comes to the errors of the Pope or when the Pope makes
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a mistake like that, we should just hush about it, not say a word, um, and just sort of cover
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it over as best we can and try and move the discussion on.
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Well, it's causing confusion among the people who need clarity and they're not getting it.
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And, um, the truth includes charity, uh, clarity, not confusion.
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He came to shake things up, but it would help if he would listen to someone like Cardinal
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Ratzinger, who is clear, who does have the truth and to allow himself to be shaken up.
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One of the other things you addressed, um, was with regard to communion.
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Saying if you're uncomfortable with communion in the hand, just sit where you're at.
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No one can deprive you of receiving the Eucharist on the tongue.
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Priests who are more concerned with their physical health than the spiritual health of their sheep.
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The courage that the apostles had on this day 2,000 years ago, Pentecost.
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Does that sound like our American bishops for the past few decades?
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Protestant leaders are helping to save our country.
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So, Father, there is a lot of this going on today.
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In fact, I think much of the world might be deprived.
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All those who used to receive communion, kneeling it on the tongue.
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Many of those, perhaps a majority of those, are deprived Holy Communion in the way that they feel is proper.
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And yet you've said that this can never be done.
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How does that work when there's so many faithful right now deprived of it?
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What should priests do when their bishops are telling them, as many have, even those celebrating the Latin Mass,
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that they can't give out Holy Communion on the tongue, must do so on the hand?
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And last week we had a feast, an optional memorial of St. Pope Gregory VII.
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And he started the Gregorian Reform a thousand years ago.
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It was a terrible time when there was lay investiture, there was concubinage, there was simony.
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And he told those priests, bishops, abbots, religious who were guilty of this to stop.
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And he appealed to the laity to stay away from disobedient shepherds,
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from shepherds who were not shepherding the sheep.
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To tell them why, because they're disobedient, they're not shepherding.
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And for these lay people to go to those priests, those bishops who were obedient, support them,
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So this was a way of helping to reform the clergy, the religious,
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when the Pope single-handedly was not able to do that.
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This is a Pope who not only said this a thousand years ago, but his voice still goes on.
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However, we should reject those who are disobedient shepherds,
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those who refuse to give the sacraments to the dying,
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those who refuse to give the Eucharist to those who have the right to receive it on the tongue,
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Go to those priests, those bishops who are being obedient, who are following Jesus.
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It's very consoling words, I think, that we really need to hear.
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One of the other things you mentioned in your homily that was,
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it was a question that many, many faithful Catholics have,
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particularly Catholics who have an evangelical spirit, who want to spread the faith.
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It was about Protestant pastors, many of whom are in the news right now,
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Whereas there's so many, especially the bishops that we see publicly,
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and sometimes priests, who are just locking their doors,
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are just sort of going along with the government-ordered shutdowns,
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What do you make of it, and what can we do about it,
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Yes, it is sad that our Catholic hierarchy is not speaking out.
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Maybe one reason is that many have accepted money from the government,
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you're less likely to go against the government.
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The government has you more in the grip of their hand.
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But that doesn't seem to be a problem with these Protestant ministers
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Patriotism is a virtue to have this proper love for one's country.
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The extreme would be too much love for one's country,
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The other extreme would be to damage one's country,
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But these Protestant ministers seem courageous.
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along with their Protestant brothers and sisters.
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This is one of the good things about Vatican II
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as a seminarian being involved with Operation Rescue,
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Because all these people are motivated by the truth