Politicizing the Eucharist? by Randall Smith

By Randall Smith, The Catholic Thing, Dec. 18, 2019

Randall B. Smith is the Scanlan Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. His most recent book, Reading the Sermons of Thomas Aquinas: A Beginner’s Guide, is now available at Amazon and from Emmaus Academic Press.

Note: The Papal Posse – Raymond Arroyo, Fr. Gerald Murray, and myself – will appear on EWTN’s “The World Over” tomorrow evening (Thursday, December 19) at 8 PM ET. We will be discussing events that occurred during the year now coming to an end, and what are likely to be the most significant developments in 2020 for the Church. – Robert Royal

On April 16, 1962, the Monday before Easter, the Catholic Archbishop of New Orleans, Joseph Francis Rummel, excommunicated three local Catholics for defying the authority of the Church and organizing protests against the archbishop’s order that the Catholic schools in the archdiocese be desegregated. The first of the three was Judge Leander Perez, 70, who called on Catholics to withhold donations to the Archdiocese and to boycott Sunday church collections. The second was Jackson G. Ricau, 44, political commentator, segregationist writer, and director of the “Citizens Council of South Louisiana.” The third, Mrs. B.J. Gaillot, 41, was mother of two, housewife, and president of segregationist “Save Our Nation Inc.”

An April 13, 1962 Time magazine article quoted Mrs. Gaillot as follows:  “God demands segregation.” “She is a Roman Catholic,” the article continued, “and when Archbishop Joseph Francis Rummel, 85, ordered full desegregation of New Orleans parochial schools for next fall, Mrs. Gaillot responded with picketing and loud protest. She was not alone. Leander Perez, influential political boss of Plaquemines Parish and also a Catholic, suggested reprisals against the clergy: ‘Cut off their water. Quit giving them money to feed their fat bellies.’  State Representative Rodney Buras of New Orleans “proclaimed that he would fight Archbishop Rummel’s demand for desegregation ‘even to the extreme of being excommunicated.’”  At first, Rummel merely issued what he called a “fatherly warning” if these Catholics continued promoting “flagrant disobedience to the decision to open our schools to ALL.” ….

Read more here https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2019/12/18/politicizing-the-eucharist/