Report: Archbishop Chaput Received Hate Mail Over Firing Gay Teacher

Archbishop Charles Chaput. Photo | Jeff Fusco

A friend and ally of Archbishop Charles Chaput reports that the leader of Philadelphia Catholics has received nasty hate mail for his support of a Catholic school that terminated a teacher for living in a gay relationship.

At National Review, a conservative magazine with deep Catholic ties, George Weigel wrote over the weekend that Chaput had received the following missive:

“One ‘correspondent’ advised the mild-mannered Capuchin archbishop (whom he described as a ‘CHILD MOLESTING SACK OF SH*T’) to ‘GO F**K YOURSELF,’ adding the eschatological note that he hoped Chaput would ‘ROT IN HELL.'”

Chaput has long been known to have an “open-door policy” of sorts with emailers — and he’s also been known to offer curt responses of his own to email critics, though mostly those responses have been kept from the public eye: Journalists have generally honored his request to treat such emails as “personal and private.”

Though Chaput has come under fire for his support of Waldron Mercy, Weigel offered a defense of Chaput as “one of the best bishops of his generation” who saved the Philadelphia Archdiocese from “utter financial — and thus evangelical — catastrophe.”

“No other bishop envies him the job he took on then,” Weigel wrote. “More than one American bishop believes that he is the only one of their number who could have pulled it off in Philadelphia, in terms of both the Church’s public credibility and the stabilization of its finances.”

Pope Francis visits Philadelphia at the end of September. It remains to be seen if the spotlight on the Philadelphia church recedes after he leaves town.

Follow @JoelMMathis on Twitter.

Previously: Is Archbishop Chaput Trolling Pope Francis?

Previously: Archbishop of Philadelphia “Very Grateful” that Waldron Mercy Academy Fired Gay Teacher

Previously: Parents Outraged Over Firing of Lesbian Teacher at Waldron Mercy Academy