Concerned Christians and Catholics plan to host a rally later this month in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, for Fr. James Altman, a Wisconsin priest who was asked to resign for making “divisive” comments.
Altman will be in attendance at the June 22 rally and plans to deliver a talk to the 175 attendees, according to a promo for the event. Alpha News will be providing an exclusive livestream of the talk on YouTube, which will be simulcast on Facebook, Twitter, and the Alpha News website.
Altman is best known for a homily he filmed with Alpha News last summer in which he declared that “you cannot be Catholic and a Democrat.”
Since then, he has become a popular name in the Catholic world and a frequent guest on conservative shows and podcasts.
But Bishop William Callahan of the Diocese of La Crosse asked Altman to resign from his parish last month after a far-left, non-denominational group launched a petition calling for Altman’s termination.
The group is now viciously claiming credit for this “victory” and “great news,” describing Altman as a “partisan bully and anti-vaccine priest.”
Altman, however, plans to fight the bishop’s request as two fundraisers to help him in his defense have raised a combined $667,491 in two weeks.
The June 22 rally for Altman will be held at the Best Western Plus White Bear Country Inn and will begin around 6:00 p.m. with doors opening at 5:45 p.m.
Altman has continued to criticize Catholic leaders for doing nothing to prevent the mass lockdown of churches during the coronavirus pandemic. In Minnesota, for instance, the state has agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by religious leaders who believe their First Amendment rights were violated by Gov. Tim Walz’s COVID-19 restrictions. None of the state’s Catholic dioceses joined the lawsuit.
“Dear family, I have not failed to feed my sheep the bread of life,” Altman said after he was asked to resign. “I don’t know how any ordained priest, or bishop, or cardinal, could fail to feed his children. I don’t know. I don’t have an answer for you. But I do know this. I am not the divisive one. I am not the ineffective one. I am not the one disrespecting my office.
“They have done a great job being divisive. They have done a great job of being ineffective and they have done a great job of disrespecting their office all by themselves, without any help from me, and that is why they despise me, because that is the truth, and the truth hurts.”
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
