Pledge your prayers for Bp. Strickland HERE
(LifeSiteNews) — LifeSite has always shown support to canceled priests, being one of the first to offer a platform to Father James Altman after he was “canceled” for denouncing COVID lockdowns and questioning the left. Indeed, these are the men who have given their lives to provide the faithful with sacraments and sound teaching.
On this special episode of The John-Henry Westen Show, I interview Father John Lovell, head of the Coalition for Canceled Priests and others at the Coalition’s second conference, while also reflecting on the event itself.
Speaking with Lovell, he tells me that turnout for the event was “tremendous,” with priests and laity from as far away as Scotland and from across the U.S. He further tells me that the speakers for the event were “excellent,” among whom were Altman, Jesse Romero, Michael Hichborn, Abby Johnson, Kennedy Hall, Liz Yore, and Doug Barry.
He also tells me that bishops support the Coalition, explaining, “I’ve had a lot of bishops come up to me, because we’re not an organization that is directly attacking bishops, and I would even dare say we’re not even indirectly attacking, but we’re shedding light on an injustice that some of the bishops are perpetrating.”
Speaking at the conference, Yore, a co-host on Faith & Reason, said: “With our Rosary as our weapon and our shield, let us each commit to join the resistance, doing our part, guided by the Holy Spirit, protected by angels, imbued with sanctifying grace and the knowledge that in the end [Mary’s] Immaculate Heart will triumph.”
Altman shared a similar message to the conference, saying “the Church is dying because Her pastors are afraid to speak all truth and charity in clarity. We are afraid of the media, we are afraid of public opinion, we’re afraid of our own brethren, we’re afraid of being canceled. The Good Shepherd gives His Life for His sheep.”
“Here’s my last word of hope,” Altman concluded. “In the midst of the collapse that is coming … our hope is in the name of the Lord who actually did make Heaven and Earth. … And God does not need numbers. Never get discouraged by the numbers. God needs faith, of a few. He needs you.”
Speaking to me at the conference, Father David Nix, a diocesan hermit in the Archdiocese of Denver and a priest removed from parish life, told me that he supports the Coalition because “the only way to be a canceled priest is … for being too conservative or traditional.”
“These are the people who were removed from parish ministry because a few people complained about them,” Nix said about canceled priests. “What you find about a lot of these [priests] is a small percentage of the liberals in these parishes will complain about them, and they’ll get ejected because bishops won’t support them.” He also tells me that the issue is not about whether the bishop is conservative or liberal, but that “most of them are just lazy and don’t want any complaints on their desk.”
Nix also encourages Catholics to speak to canceled priests to figure out why they were cancelled, especially in an age of sex scandals within the priesthood. “You have to look behind the scenes to see why was this priest canceled; was it because he was actually divisive or because he actually spoke the truth?”
Later in the episode, Lovell and I discuss the Apostolic Visitation received by Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas. Noting that if Strickland is “canceled,” Lovell tells me that he wants him to know that the Coalition would support him if need be, adding: “I hope this allows people to see that a bishop who is simply standing up for the Catholic faith is now being visited,” despite the evident lack of problems in his diocese.
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Pledge your prayers for Bp. Strickland HERE
