Brooklyn priest shares meme suggesting Trump critics should kill themselves: ‘It was funny’—UPDATED

Last updated on: January 31, 2017 at 11:59 am by Deacon Greg Kandra

Brooklyn priest shares meme suggesting Trump critics should kill themselves: ‘It was funny’—UPDATED 2017-01-31T11:59:27-05:00 Deacon Greg Kandra

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This first broke in the New York Post, and has now even appeared in the U.K.

From The Independent:

A Catholic Priest has suggested anyone who disagrees with US President Donald Trump should kill themselves by jumping off a tall building.

Father Philip J. Pizzo shared a post on Facebook which appeared to encourage suicide, just hours after he led Sunday Mass at Saint Benedict Joseph Labre Church in New York, .

“Show your hate for Trump. Do it for social justice. #JumpAgainstTrump,” said a meme he posted to his personal account, accompanied by an illustration of a man falling from a skyscraper.

The 67-year-old cleric deleted the post shortly after sharing it with his friends and followers, but not before several members of his congregation had seen his offensive comment and some users had taken pictures of the post.

The priest said he shared the post because that he thought the meme was “funny”.

“I do not promote suicide,’’ Mr Pizzo told The New York Post. “I’ve helped many people over the years, and it does not promote suicide. It was funny.”

UPDATE: This afternoon, Father Pizzo posted this on his Facebook page:

I apologize for the hurt that I have caused over a Facebook post. I never intended it to get this kind of reaction and I regret posting it. I have been a priest for 40 years and my goal has always been to bring Christ to the people. I am pro-life and any reference to suicide is contrary to my beliefs, therefore, making my post completely inappropriate. Again, please accept my sincerest apology.

Full disclosure: I’ve known Phil Pizzo for years. He’s passionate, funny, outspoken, conservative, hard-working and devoted. Those who know him know he’s a good priest.

That doesn’t mean he alway uses good judgment. (I think he gets that. Check his Facebook page today and you will see he’s shifting his focus; it’s mostly got items about Farmville.)

Meantime, anyone who has posted something awful and hurtful online, raise your hand! (Yeah, I’m raising my hand. I’m raising both of them, in fact.)

A couple years ago, I posted an Examination of Conscience for the Internet, which still offers some prudent questions for consideration regarding our online deportment. (I wish I would I remember to ask those questions myself more often).

More recently, Sister Theresa Aletheia Noble offered this advice:

Like it or not, when we have conversations amongst ourselves online, it is out there for the whole world to see. The Internet has pretty much obliterated the notion of private conversations. But while this is true, it seems that some of us still speak to one another as if we were around the family Thanksgiving table, rather than out in public—with others watching.

As one of my sisters recently said: “I wish Catholics would learn to use their ‘inside’ voices!”

We are being watched. And some of these people are trying to find Christ in our behavior. Even atheists understand that we believe our conduct is a visible sign that Jesus is present in the Church. Unfortunately, when we are not acting like Jesus, we are not playing our part in the salvation of souls.

While being true to ourselves and to the Church, we can acknowledge and respect the reality that others are listening in.

She offers 10 tips for online behavior. Check it out. We can all do better. All of us.

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