Letter to the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Atlanta concerning the hosting of the Sons of Confederate Veterans

I have not heard back from the Roman Catholic bishop of Charleston so I am sending this letter to the Archbishop of Atlanta whose responsibilities cover the Roman Catholic diocese of Charleston. I am also going to email this letter to the Atlanta archdiocese.

If I don't hear a satisfactory response, I am going to write Pope Francis.

                                                                                                1/14/2014

                                                                                                esebesta@tx.rr.com

The Most Rev. Wilton D. Gregory

Archbishop of Atlanta

2401 Lake Park Dr. S.E.
Smyrna, GA 30080

Dear Most Rev. Gregory:

As you can see from the enclosed bar graph of churches hosting the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) national convention services by denomination the Roman Catholic Church is tied for most frequent from the period of 1990 to 2013. I also enclose a map of churches that hosted national convention services of the SCV and the United Daughters of the Confederacy. You can see that the Roman Catholic Church comes in second in frequency in hosting these services. You can also see this map and bar graphs online at www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm.

The SCV is an extremist and racist organization. Their official literature compares Abraham Lincoln to Hitler, and praises and promotes books that defend slavery and books that laud the Ku Klux Klan. Please find enclosed a dossier on the SCV with detailed footnotes of all quotes and assertions. This dossier is also available online at http://www.blackcommentator.com/526/526_confederacy_sebesta_guest_share.html.

I wrote Bishop Guglielmone asking him not to allow churches in his diocese to host the SCV national convention service on November 20, 2013 since the Roman Catholic Church is one of the more frequent hosting churches of the SCV. I regret I have not heard back. I enclose a copy of my letter to him. Over the years I have noticed that the Roman Catholic Church is not hesitant to speak out about moral issues, it is disappointing that this issue of race is ignored.

Additionally, I enclose a paper on Confederate Christian nationalism which is also online at

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/ConfederateChristianNationalism.pdf. It was published by the Canadian Review of American Studies at the University of Toronto. Even though the article is largely about the neo-Confederate League of the South, the religious ideas promoted by the SCV Chaplains Corps (http://www.scv.org/about/chaplainsChronicle.php) are largely the same or similar.

When a church allows the SCV to use their facilities it gives them credibility that a prominent religious organizations would find the SCV to be an organization to which it would be acceptable to lend their facilities. Additionally they gain some of the prestige of the religious organization and the prestige of an architecturally prominent church building for their religious services and hence organization.

I ask that your church not give support to the Sons of Confederate Veterans organization by allowing them to use your facilities for their activities.

                                                                                                Sincerely Yours,

                                                                                                Edward H. Sebesta