Love is what makes this priest willing to call out unfaithful bishops, even the Pope
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
122.50275
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