text: You pose an interesting question.  Mr. Perez was a man of his time, a time that was rapidly changing under his feet, as it were.  If someone were to call him wicked, I probably would not disagree.  The Archbishop of New Orleans formally excommunicated him, not for his vile segregationist ideals alone, but for his direct attacks on the consciences of workers and the wilful destruction of a desegregated school belonging the the archdiocese.  Mr. Perez had broken communion with the Church entirely on his own dime, the excommunication just made that a bit of public knowledge.  He was later reconciled to the faith, retracted his misguided statements, and funded a house of studies, where I, as a child, chanted Morning and Evening prayer each day while I was a theological student.
  
  In his case, I would suppose that the blessed sacrament did function as an engine of reconciliation and mercy.