Vance and and the priest who baptized him.
here are thousands of Haitians and Haitian-American Catholics living within the the The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati (covers Springfield Ohio). The shepherd of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati flock is Dennis Schnur. He has said nothing about the special strain of psychic and physical violence Haitians and Haitian Americans living in his archdiocese have been enduring as a direct consequence of bigotry and bile J.D. Vance and Donald Trump have been spewing over the past two weeks. Archbishop Schnur, the shepherd of the Ohio flock where the persecution of Haitians and Haitian Americans is taking place, has said nothing. I suppose he might yet say something. He’ll have to say something, but he won’t say much. And it won’t be enough.
Take a look at the “news” section of his Archdiocesan website:
Nothing about the violence targeting Haitians and Haitian-Americans. While there links to past bulletins can be found on the website for the Springfield, OH parish, today’s bulletin is yet unavailable. Strange, when we consider that today is Sunday.
I found two dispatches from a group called US Catholic priests : One dated on September 13th, addressed, in lukewarm tone, Trump’s vicious anti-Haitian content of the debate.
The other, dated September 14th, concluded with an anti-polarization message (not a good sign) and by pointed to this organization pointed to a “recent letter from the archbishop.” The recent letter is dated March 2024.
A recent “Letter to the Faithful” from Archbishop Dennis Schnur insists that It is important that the Catholic faithful continue to recognize the life and dignity of every human person, avoid objectifying others, and join with those working diligently every day for a better future for the marginalized in our society.
That “recent” letter from the archbishop is dated March 4, 2024. Interested folks might wish to read it. Dennis Schnur’s letter is lilly-livered by design:
There is no doubt we live in polarized times. Virtually every topic seems to be fodder for political division. In such times, our Catholic faith can be tested even more intensely than usual, especially when our faith runs up against public policy…
We experience this dynamic regularly in our advocacy for the unborn and pregnant mothers in need, for example. Now, we are facing vitriolic backlash online and even in some mainstream media for our care for our migrant brothers and sisters who…
As faithful Catholics, we have a responsibility to carefully discern between provocative narratives and the truth of the Church’s work with migrants and refugees in need. The objectification of any human being or set of human beings is not in keeping with the commandment to love one another.
Read the whole thing.
Dennis Schnurr, who is apparently undergoing treatment for cancer, was, in 2014, a zealous, Catholic exceptionalist opponent of Marriage Equality arguing strenuously for imposing Catholic magisterial teaching on non-Catholics.
Schnur is a zealous homophobe. Five years ago he had a 23-year gay Catholic school teacher fired for being married. He publicly protested Biden’s appearance in a program sponsored by Catholic University of America that took place in Cinncinati. In 2019, Schnurr ignored complaints voiced by a mother of three about a serial rapist working in one of his churches, acted only when the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report lit a fire under his ass.
In February of last year, about a year before the Archdiocese of Baltimore started to use the same recipe for its ‘dupe the flock’ plan, “Seek the City to Come” Archbishop Schnur announced his “Beacons of Light” plan to close a large percentage of parishes citing their inability to be self-sustaining ( That usually translates as “poor,” “Black,” or non-white in Roman Catholic prelate-speak.) Read the archbishop’ letter. Note the recurring theme of anti-polarization. Hush little sheeple.
Having spent 25 years attending Mass and ministering in a parish that was one-third Haitian/Haitian-American and having been lucky enough to pray in Creole from time to time, I did a search of Creole Masses in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Although I was unable to find one, on the calendar, I saw that a late afternoon Mass in Creole is listed in the September 8th bulletin, and I was able to find 5 Masses in Latin. Which is a giant clue.
I was able to find one 2023 news item in which a Sunday 3pm Creole Mass was announced. That but parish has since that time been merged with two other parishes, whose calendar today lists no Creole Masses. Reports suggest that there are about 15,000-20,000 Haitians/Haitian-Americans in Springfield.
It’s likely at least half are Christian and thousands of those are Roman Catholic. One might expect their archbishop to reach out in specific, practical and loving ways. Dennis Schnur has said nothing.
This bishop will try to say nothing because Archbishop Dennis Schnur is a Vance man. He can’t say it outright, because he doesn’t want to give up his archdiocese’s tax exemption. But the archbishop of Cincinnati will either say little or nothing no matter how many Haitian-American school children are terrorized, because he is a Vance man, and he is one of the many bishops who thinks bending over for integralist pols is good for the Roman Catholic empire.
J.D. Vance an Ohio senator and an integralist Roman Catholic convert. It is more than reasonable to assume that were Vance out on the stump militating for abortion rights or same-sex marriage, Archbishop Dennis Schnur would say something. Schnur might yet say something, but he won’t say much.
There are a lot of white conservative Catholics in Ohio who they give the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cinncinati and the other Roman Catholic dioceses a lot of money. My guess is the Archbishop of Cincinnati will follow the money.
So far, he has said nothing. Is he looking past the thousands of Roman Catholics in his archdiocese who are afraid to send their children to school tomorrow, so as to gaze at Vance? I think so. He’s for Trump and Vance. I think Dennis Schur belongs to Vance.
And Vance must go.
MMS
September 15, 2024
September 20, 2024: Update, better late than never, perhaps, the Ohio Bishops in JD Vance’s pocket finally said something official.