(LifeSiteNews) — The culture of death is manifest in the world today, and attacks against the Catholic Church are seen all over, with anti-Catholicism being one of the only remaining biases that are considered socially acceptable.
On this special episode of The John-Henry Westen Show, I am joined by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco to discuss the latest on the October 2020 attack on a statue of St. Junipero Serra, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ decision to honor an anti-Catholic hate group, and his reflections on denying Nancy Pelosi access to Holy Communion for her public support of abortion.
We began the show by discussing the latest updates on the desecration of a statue of St. Junipero Serra by a group of vandals in October 2020. While the group was initially charged with felony vandalism, and asked for reconciliation, the mediator between the Archdiocese and the accused began treating the perpetrators as the victims of the crime, a matter made worse by a parishioner at the mission where the statue was desecrated. Eventually, the district attorney downgraded the charges to misdemeanor charges.
Warning that damage to property historically leads to attacking people, Cordileone tells me, “This is very disturbing because we see it’s part of this whole movement of attacks on Catholic Church property and desecration of our sacred symbols going on all around the country.”
“There have been over 200 of these in the last couple of years, and they just keep getting worse,” he continues.
We then treat upon the Dodgers’ decision to honor the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an anti-Catholic hate group composed of gender-confused men dressed as nuns.
Commenting on the decision, His Excellency states that “this is a blatant attack on all true Christian believers. They’re mocking and blaspheming what we hold sacred. And that’s now celebrated in our culture.”
“I hope the alarm bells are going off in the minds of our peoples,” he adds. “They see how serious the situation is. We cannot afford to be complacent anymore.”
Cordileone opines on the matter further, noting that neither an appeal to conscience nor to decency works in such a context anymore, and that “Aal that matters is the bottom line,” agreeing with former auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles Robert Barron that “we need to vote with our feet and not give business to those who are mocking us and desecrating what we hold sacred.”
He also offers me reflections on his decision to bar former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from Holy Communion for her public support of abortion, saying that he has “no regrets” about his decision, but that he regrets the lack of opportunities to discuss the issue with her.
“I had absolutely no doubt whatsoever when the moment came that I had to do it,” he tells me. “So I’m at peace. I don’t care about attacks in the media and all that, because I know there are also a lot of people who support this. And I know there are a lot of people who continue to pray for her conversion.”
We close our conversation with a brief discussion on cancel culture.
“Secularism is its own form of religion,” Cordileone tells me. “It’s a fundamentalist religion. They don’t they won’t allow conversation about topics when people disagree.” However, he tells me that we cannot abandon faith and reason, especially in a culture where “reason is going by the wayside.”
“We need to keep both alive because we know from our Catholic tradition, we know that we cannot comprehend the truth without faith and reason both,” he explains. “And they have to work together. Each have to make its own unique contribution and serve as a check on the other, because when one is removed, the other goes off in a direction that gets away from the truth.”
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