Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on an Episcopalian priest who is interfering in Catholic Church matters:
Religious leaders abide by an unspoken rule not to stick their noses into the affairs of another religion. This has been violated by Episcopalian priest Rev. Nathan Empsall. He is lecturing Catholics on the Church’s teachings on Holy Communion.
Empsall is an embarrassment. He heads an entity, Faithful America, that has a record of attacking religious liberty and free speech. It also seeks to create discord in the Catholic Church.
When a South Carolina priest, Fr. Robert Morey, recently denied Joe Biden Holy Communion because of his rabid advocacy of abortion rights, some Catholics disagreed with the priest’s decision. John Carr, director of Georgetown’s Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, failed to support the priest. That is hardly surprising—he is a man of the left. But at least he has a place at the table.
Unlike Carr, Empsall is not Catholic and should therefore mind his own business. Empsall is now launching a petition drive asking the priest’s bishop to direct Morey to apologize to Biden.
Empsall’s campaign is laughable. We will not respond with a counter-petition drive—as we did earlier in response to Empsall’s attempt to silence Attorney General Bill Barr—because it is not our mission to instruct bishops on what to say. But we will let Empsall, a tool of the left, know that he has crossed the line.
Faithful America has been asleep for years. If its fat-cat donors think they can jump start it by bullying Catholics, they are sadly mistaken. We will checkmate them any day of the week. Bet on it.
Contact Empsall: nathan@faithfulamerica.org
