To the editor, 

At the start, I’m a Catholic. A traditional Catholic. A Catholic old enough to remember propaganda about the dangers of Catholics in government. Back then, the fear was of Catholic presidents and governors owing allegiance first to the Vatican and then to the American people. That fear was stoked by socialists, communists, and progressives. The Ku Klux Klan even came to Wisconsin in the 1920s to stir up anti-Catholic hatred. 

All that fear magically evaporated when Democrats elected Catholic John F. Kennedy to the country’s highest office and the gentle Pope John XXIII stayed in Rome, caring only about the salvation of Catholic souls. With liberal and Catholic admiration, JFK nearly became the martyred St. John of Washington. Who could have predicted that we’d be back to the beginning 60 years later?  

Americans are being told that Catholic Justices of the Supreme Court will interpret laws according to their biased religious faith rather than legal legislative intent in accordance with the written U.S. Constitution. Catholics in government can only pass the smell test if they’re progressives who fiddle with Canon Law and ignore Church Doctrine.  

But the world is a dangerous place and those who are ascending to secular perfection need to watch out for American Catholics who want to retain worship at Latin Masses. We might be meeting in dark wooded groves to hatch terrorist plots. Our groups must be infiltrated by government investigators to expose our evil intent. So alludes the Southern Poverty Law Center.

 This absurdity is nothing more than government deflection, pointing citizens away from its own authoritarian actions and toward friends, neighbors and relatives who might harbor seditious thoughts – just like those people who suspected and now know that pandemic masking of school children is a waste, that schoolteachers are not substitute parents, that some extremely wealthy godless people do want to run the world, and that taking God out of societal norms and personal morality creates an environment nurturing chaos, corruption and destruction.   

Without belief in a moral but judging Higher Power, the oath of public office, swearing accountability to constituents, and upholding the U.S. Constitution and its individual freedoms become a massive charade. But what do I know? I’m a traditional Catholic.  

Donna OKeefe

River Falls Township