Bishops in Kentucky are sending conflicting messages about the Covington Catholic High School boys who were falsely accused of taunting and surrounding an American Indian banging a drum at the Lincoln Memorial after the March for Life on January 18.
Bishop Roger Joseph Foys (shown) of the Diocese of Covington denounced the boys after the first short video showing student Nick Sandmann standing almost toe-to-toe with “Native American elder” Nathan Phillips, a faux “Vietnam veteran” with a record of criminal violence who lied about his encounter with the Catholic boys.
But at least Foys apologized after the put-upon media narrative collapsed.
Not pro-homosexual bishop of the Diocese of Lexington, Kentucky, John Stowe. Even after the truth surfaced, which revealed that Phillips is a prevaricating phony, Stowe denounced the boys.
A fast friend of the Lavender Lobby that has penetrated the Catholic Church, from local parishesto the Vatican, Stowe wrote a statement that was published as an op-ed in his local newspaper that did everything but call the boys racists.
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Denouncement, Then Apology
When the video showing Sandmann face-to-face with Phillips went viral, the radical Left pounced with the usual narrative — evil whites are at it again, this time ridiculing a “Native American elder” and “Vietnam veteran.”
Even worse, perhaps, they were Catholic, they were pro-life, and they (at least the ones wearing the MAGA hats) were pro-Trump! Just think of the unforgivable crimes the Catholic Church has been accused of committing against the red man. According to the leftist narrative, he was peacefully living in harmony with nature before the evil black robes arrived!
And here they were again — surrounding an American Indian beating his war drum.
The leftist narrative initially swayed Bishop Foys (along with many others) in a mad rush to judgment.
Foys put on his war bonnet and rode to the sound of the war whoops. “We condemn the actions of the Covington Catholic High School students towards Nathan Phillips specifically,” the diocese firmly said. “The matter is being investigated and we will take appropriate action, up to and including expulsion.”
Then the narrative collapsed. The school and the boys received threats, and the diocese announced a “third-party” probe. And now, the truth about the incident having emerged, Bishop Foys wrote this in a letter of apology:
We are sorry that this situation has caused such disruption in the lives of so many. We apologize to anyone who has been offended in any way by either of our statements which were made with good will based on the information we had. We should not have allowed ourselves to be bullied and pressured into making a statement prematurely, and we take full responsibility for it. I especially apologize to Nicholas Sandmann and his family as well as to all CovCath families who have felt abandoned during this ordeal. Nicholas unfortunately has become the face of these allegations based on video clips. This is not fair. It is not just.
We now await the results of the investigation and it is my hope and expectation that the results will exonerate our students so that they can move forward with their lives.
Stowe Doubles Down
On the other hand, Bishop Stowe is thus far still stubbornly clinging to the collapsed leftist narrative. And he is hanging his hat on … well … the supposedly racist “Make America Great Again” hats some of the boys were wearing. Seriously. In the mind of Bishop Stowe, the display of this political slogan by the hat wearers provides sufficient reason to malign them.
As Bishop Stowe put it in his ludicrous op-ed:
It astonishes me that any students participating in a pro-life activity on behalf of their school and their Catholic faith could be wearing apparel sporting the slogans of a president who denigrates the lives of immigrants, refugees and people from countries that he describes with indecent words and haphazardly endangers with life-threatening policies.
Forgetting that Trump is the most pro-life president since the movement began, Stowe connected the murder of the unborn with racism and “migrants.” “The association of our young people with racist acts and a politics of hate must also become unthinkable,” the virtue-signaling prelate wrote.
Stowe is pro-homosexual, as one might suspect. As LifeSite News reported, the “gay-friendly” churchman endorsed the pro-homosexual Fr. James Martin, S.J.’s book, Building a Bridge, and spoke at a conference of the homosexual New Ways Ministry entitled “Justice and Mercy Shall Kiss: LGBT Catholics in the Age of Pope Francis.”
As well, a radical pro-homosexual parish operates right under his nose.
Photo of Bishop Foys: jcs778/wikimedia. CC BY-SA 3.0
