Because poor rural Anglo-American white Southerners of her generation are considered an "un-Catholic race" and don't belong in the "universal church" with all real human beings.
nonsense. And where do you get the idea that poor people aren’t allowed in Catholic Church? They don’t ask for your tax returns in order to join.
I’d also like to add that I have shared pews with poor immigrants at Catholic Church. People who work as day laborers.
In fact, poor immigrants made the Catholic Church in the US. Irish, Italians, Poles..etc, when being a WASP was a sign of social status.
And there are Catholic Churches all over the south.
Poor people and white southerners can go to Catholic Church. Perhaps you were at a bad parish, perhaps something went wrong. I know that I shake hands at the sign of peace with people of virtually every imaginable race and social status at my Catholic Church.
Whoever told you that ought to have been reported to the Bishop, Archbishop, Cardinal, as high as you had to go.
I can understand how such an offensive statement would sour anyone, but if you're judging the entire Catholic Church based on that/those incident(s), you're not being fair.