The Rev. James Altman, a Wisconsin priest who was removed from the ministry after telling Catholics to reject the pro-abortion Democratic Party, just donated $100,000 to help other “canceled” priests.
The Tampa Free Press reports Altman donated the matching funds to the new Coalition for Canceled Priests, which supports faithful priests who want to return to the ministry.
Altman was removed from his church in early July after serving in the Diocese of LaCross, Wisconsin. In May, Altman told his parishioners that Bishop William Callahan accused him of being “divisive and ineffective” and asked him to resign.
At the time, Altman said he obtained a canon lawyer to challenge the bishop’s actions. His supporters raised about $700,000 to help him.
“I said from the beginning that I would share this with other entities, other groups that could help support priests who were similarly persecuted to me,” Altman said this month in a video about the donation, according to the Free Press. “They’re going to help other priests who have been canceled as well. People just need to understand how many priests have been canceled by these little tyrants in miters.”
The Rev. John Lovell, co-founder of the Coalition for Canceled Priests, thanked Altman for his donation and his “unwavering support of canceled and warehoused priests.”
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Here’s more from the report:
“In recent decades, an aberrant, non-Catholic element has manifested within the priesthood and hierarchy. This element is easy to identify thanks to its most striking characteristic — an unwillingness to resist and even a desire to celebrate, secular corruptions that have been condemned by the Church since its founding,” the group says on its website.
As one example, it notes that 61 bishops opposed the idea of discussing whether holy communion should be given to politicians who support abortion …
Altman is prohibited from preaching, baptizing, celebrating the Mass publicly and performing marriages. The Diocese of LaCross also requires him to meet with a clergy member once a month and continue to live in the diocese.
In May, shortly before he was removed from ministry, Altman pushed back against claims about being divisive in a message to his congregation.
“Why is anyone accusing me of being divisive as if that’s a bad thing?” he asked parishioners. “If we know that the truth divides exactly as Jesus says, why is any good Catholic complaining about me being divisive? … As a matter of fact good Catholics from around the world have been very supportive. Unfortunately in our cancel culture, if the left whines enough, they want to cancel me.”
Ahead of the presidential election last year, Altman made some strong, controversial statements about Catholics’ role in politics in America.
In a video that drew national attention, the priest insisted that Catholics cannot vote for Democrats because of the party’s radical pro-abortion stance. He faulted “gutless cowards in the clergy” for failing to teach Catholics the truth about God and the value of every human life.
“There will be 60 million and counting aborted babies standing at the gates of heaven barring your Democrat entrance, and nothing you can say will ever excuse you for your direct or indirect support of that diabolical agenda here in the end,” Altman said.
He also faced criticism for recent comments about the COVID-19 vaccines, racism, women, President Joe Biden and Catholic bishops, according to CNA.
Last year, Altman said “Baloney!” to the people who accuse him of being too political. He said politics fundamentally should be a moral enterprise, and Catholics have a “duty and obligation to speak up” when politicians act immorally.
“The problem in the world today, as it was in Noah’s day … is that there are way too many people who don’t know the first thing about Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” he said at the time. “So truth be told, they do not love Him. And so we can see in the many godless politicians out there … they most definitely are not serving Him. They are not fulfilling their purpose in life to know, to love and to serve God.”
