West Cook News

St. Paul VI Catholic Church Pastor Larry Basbas warned his parishioners last Sunday not to mourn "every so-called leader" and to be wary of those who "lived in hatred."

Basbas made the comments in his weekly homily at St. Mary Church in Riverside, part of St. Paul VI, on Sunday Sept. 21-- the day of the funeral of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the Arlington Heights native assassinated eleven days earier.

“My dear friends, let’s not kid ourselves. Death doesn’t magically baptize a life lived in hatred," Basbas said. "Public influence doesn’t automatically equate to gospel witness. We cannot keep praising wolves and pretending they’re shepherds because they carry a Bible on their arm. That’s not Christianity. That’s pure idolatry with a Jesus bumper sticker slapped on the back."

"Measure every voice or every so-called leader against the standard of Christ himself. Does this person or character preach love, mercy, humility and forgiveness," he said. "Or are they sowing division and anger and superiority. If it’s the latter, then they aren’t pointing you to Christ. They are pulling you away," he said. "Just because someone quotes scripture doesn’t mean they’re living it. The devil himself quoted scripture to Jesus in the desert, ok?"

AM 560 radio host Dan Proft, a Catholic, played Basbas' comments on his morning talk program.

He said that while Basbas didn't mention Kirk's name, it was clear he who he was talking about.

"He didn’t use any names, didn’t use Charlie Kirk’s name. But it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that he was referencing Charlie Kirk, with that homily, don’t you think?," Proft said. 

In the St. Paul VI weekly bulletin, handed out at mass, Basbas reiterated his point.

"It's a strange and troubling phenomenon when those who have sown seeds of hatred, division and distortion of the Gospel are praised as 'heroes' after their death," Basbas wrote. "Scripture nowhere calls us to venerate anyone who twisted God's Word into a weapon, nor odes the Church teach us to honor those who lived as instruments of hatred and division."

"Death does not magically redeem a life of vitrol," he wrote. "If someone lived as a weapon of the enemy, their passing does not erase the damage they caused nor (does it) transform them into a model of faith."

St. Paul VI is the combined parish of St. Mary Church in Riverside, St. Hugh in Lyons and Mater Christi Church in North Riverside. It was formed in 2021.

Basbas was appointed as "Administrator" of St. Paul VI on July 1, replacing Fr. Thomas P. May. He previously served as associate pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH) in Glenview.

A native of Guam who was raised in Manila, Phillippines, Basbas was ordained on June 30, 2020, at age 52.

While a parishoner at St. Pascal parish in Chicago's Portage Park neighborhood, Basbas volunteered for the Exodus World Service, a non-profit dedicated to supporting illegal aliens who have moved into the city.

Basbas "decided in his late 40s to pursue ordination," according to the Chicago Tribune.