[A.A. Cunningham]

HH: Archbishop, I want to begin with Chapter 4 here in hour number two, A Tale of Two Bishops. Explain for our audience who Archbishop Rummel is, and the example he set for the leadership of the Church in difficult political situations.

CC: Archbishop Rummel was the archbishop of New Orleans, Louisiana at the time when our country was dealing with the very serious issue of segregation. And during his service as a bishop, he desegregated the Catholic schools in Louisiana, and really was a hero in terms of civil rights issues. And some of the Catholic leaders in his community, political leaders, decided to oppose him, especially when it came to the issue of desegregating Catholic schools. And eventually, because of their public opposition to this basic teaching of our Church about the dignity of all individuals, regardless of racial differences, he eventually excommunicated three of them. And at that time, he was considered a hero in many sections of our country. Of course, he was disliked very much by others. But the New York Times, for example, ran an editorial praise of this man’s courage for dealing with this moral issue in such a public way.

HH: I mean, he actually excommunicated them.

CC: He actually did.

HH: Now explain for our audience what that means, you know, if they’re not Catholic, and they’ve never even been inside of the Church. What’s excommunicate mean? Is it a fine? What’s it mean?

CC: Well, to excommunicate somebody means that you tell them that they should no longer receive Communion. Ex means out, and communication means communion. And so if you don’t, if you aren’t in communion, in agreement in your mind and heart with what the Church teaches, the Church can, through its leaders, formally state that you’re no longer in communion with the Church. It’s not saying someone’s going to hell, that they’re damned. It’s just that they’re living a lie for their taking positions that have led them outside of the communion of the Church. And that’s what we was saying about those folks. If they favored racial segregation, if they were discriminatory in what they thought and what they did, then they couldn’t claim to be in communion with the Catholic Church, because we don’t believe that.

HH: You know, I did not know this story, and it’s really kind of shocking to me that that happened, and that I didn’t know about it. Have you ever excommunicated someone?

CC: No, I haven’t.

[Salvation]

The Democrats' Univited Guest

The Democrats' uninvited guest Posted Aug. 19, 2008 11:53 AM || by Phil Lawler || category Commentary

When the leaders of the Democratic Party gather in Denver for their nominating convention, they'll hear from a number of prominent religious leaders. They'll hear from several prominent Catholics, too. But they won't hear from the Archbishop of Denver, points out Julia Duin of theWashington Times.

Archbishop Charles Chaput would be a very, very interesting convention speaker. He's intelligent, witty, modest, and thoughtful. He has taken a special interest in the relationship between religion and politics, as demonstrated by his new book, Render Unto Caesar.

But if you were a Democratic leader… if you were a supporter of Senator Obama… would you want to hand Archbishop Chaput the microphone? Nope. His message would not be congenial to the "pro-choice" crowd.

Ray Flynn, former Boston mayor and later US ambassador to the Vatican, tells the Washington Times that the failure to include Archbishop Chaput is "a serious oversight" on the part of Democratic Party leaders. Serious, yes. Oversight, no.