In March of 1962, Rummel announced a plan to integrate all Catholic schools in
New Orleans the following school year, but he again met with strong resistance
from segregationist Catholics. Judge Leander Perez, president of the
Plaquemines parish, was one such Catholic. (Louisiana is divided into parishes
rather than counties.)“Perez was like the Richard Daley of Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes,”
said Maestri. “He was an old-style political boss.”At a public rally the day after Rummel’s announcement, Perez told an audience
that no matter what the archbishop said, Catholic schools in Plaquemines would
not integrate. He urged them to pull their children from parochial schools, and
withhold contributions to the archdiocese.After several more public, heated exchanges with Perez, Rummel again sent
letters to dissenting Catholic segregationists, in which he said they “promoted
flagrant disobedience,” and that unless they backed down, they would be
excommunicated. Many again relented, but Perez and two others did not. Rummel
waited two weeks, and when he didn’t hear from the final three, he publicly
excommunicated them for their “flagrant disregard” for his “fatherly council.”….”There are no convincing parallels between today’s situation and the one in New
Orleans more than 40 years ago,” said the Rev. Richard P. McBrien, a liberal
Catholic and professor of theology at Notre Dame University. “None of today’s
pro-choice politicians has openly opposed the Church’s teaching on the morality
of abortion nor defied any of the bishops’ rights to articulate that teaching.”
That has got to be the strangest statement I’ve heard all week. Okay, it’s only Sunday, but still.
You just have to wonder, as I always do when hearing defenses like McBrien’s…why bother? What’s the deal here? Why the need to defend abortion rights advocates? What’s that about?
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