REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – A LaCrosse, Wisconsin, priest who’s taunted his bishop for months has raised $640,000 for a challenge to the bishop under church law. Father James Altman launched an online fund drive in May with a stated goal of $20,000. Altman calls himself a mere “lowly priest” in a blue-collar LaCrosse neighborhood, but his cause has generated unexpected support from right-wingreligious sympathizers. Altman emerged as a firebrand with a YouTube video asserting that Catholics who voted for Democrats in 2020 risked going to hell. He also argued that government Covid vaccination programs were an anti-church conspiracy. Finally his bishop asked him to resign rather than continue his divisive rhetoric. No way, Altman responded. He hired a $250-an-hour canon law attorney to challenge the bishop.
Earlier: Priest’s defense fund swells past $300,000