Fr. James Altman Asked to Resign by Bishop of La Crosse, in Wisconsin, Due to Many Controversies

The bishop of the Catholic diocese of La Crosse in Wisconsin has asked its priest, Father James Altman to resign due to controversies. This was announced by Fr. Altman during his sermon on Sunday, May 23rd, 2021. This video was recorded and posted to YouTube. He stated that his lawyer is challenging Bishop William Callahan's request. 

This is a quote from one of Fr. Altman's videos that began the controversy:

"Here is a memo to clueless baptized Catholics out there, you cannot be Catholic and be a Democrat, period...So just quit pretending that your Catholic and vote Democrat. Repent of your support of that party and its platform or face the fires of hell."

 Rev. James Altman said,  "As the Bishop has stated to me: I am ineffective. So for the record dear family, Bishop Callahan has asked me to resign as pastor as of this past Friday, two days ago, because I am divisive and ineffective."  

"In response my canon lawyer asked for clarification," Altman explained, "asked for the justification and a chance to review what was in my file that suggested I was so divisive and ineffective. And I say all this only because, I'm no expert on canon law, but understand only that while we are contesting Bishop's request and, we are, he could in theory appoint a parish administrator whilst I remain a pastor without duties until the appeal goes through Rome, which could take up to a year or more." 

An online fundraiser was started to help Altman with his legal defense against the Diocese on a crowdfunding site that had raised over $90,000 in donations as of Monday night. 

Edited from the LaCrosse Tribune

(Catholic News World : Please Note that this article is just a statement of occurrence from the Tribune; this article is not meant to judge the acts of any of the parties involved)