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Sean Hannity's Problem with Catholicism [Mike Potemra]
On Friday night, Fox News host Sean Hannity had a dramatic confrontation with Fr. Tom Euteneuer. (The video is at www.foxnews.com; it's the one titled "Judgment Day for Sean.") Euteneuer had written a column denouncing Hannity for endorsing contraception; on the Friday Fox broadcast, Euteneuer said the host was being "a heretic in public." Hannity responded with "judge not lest you be judged," and an attack on "the corruption in the Church" and "the sex scandal." There's much to be said about this. Hannity's attacks on the Catholic Church are a cheap shot and not relevant to the issue of his dissent from a particular Catholic teaching. Amy Welborn is right to suggest that the Catholic League, which is hypersensitive to slights to Catholicism emanating from the left, shouldin the interests of consistency and credibilityknock Hannity when he does the same thing from the right.
But it would be a shame if this turned into a mere bash-Hannity festival. Because Hannity was on to something in his contention about judgmentalism, and this could be an important teaching moment on the issue. It's a right-wing shibboleth that Jesus' phrase "judge not lest ye be judged" should be ignored, because after all it's only an excuse people use for not doing what we (the good people, the religious in-group) know to be the right thing. But Jesus was addressing a genuine religious problem, one that existed in first-century Judea just as it exists today. There is such a thing as pharisaism: the desire to substitute man-made righteousness for God's righteousness, and to demean anyone who is outside the man-made in-group. Whether Fr. Euteneuer is pharisaical is something on which Sean Hannity and I might disagreeI think that, in general, Euteneuer is a good guy and that, in this particular confrontation, he transgressed the bounds of charity substantially less than Hannity did. But the good news is, the final determination on this will not rest with me or Sean, but with someone more merciful than either of us.
Who Knew.... [Jonah Goldberg]
So many Catholic Priests read the Corner on a Sunday, no less? Anyway, several have written, and I'm tickled to say they all side with .... Goldberg! Here's one:
Dear Jonah,
In responding to Mike Potemra, you've hit the nail on the head. Sean Hannity can't have it both ways. Either the priest has a duty to instruct the flock and to correct error among the faithful, using the teachings of the Church and the Scriptures, or it's all up for grabs and it's merely this priest's opinion vs. Hannity's. I run into this fairly frequently I am a Catholic priest, pastor in a small town in the Midwest. The priest is doing his job would that more priests would step up to the plate..
Hannity is participating in a famous Catholic pasttime, smorgasbord Catholicism, in which one picks and chooses those tenets of the faith one finds to one's taste, and eschews the other, less palatable tenets. So, in a certain sense, Hannity is more a member of the Swedish Catholic Church than the Roman Catholic Church. On the other hand, he is a child of the age, the "Burger King dictum" applied to the moral and spiritual life: have it your way. I give the priest credit for taking on Sean Hannity on Hannity's own turf. He's flying the flag, and Sean ain't salutin'. 'Tis a pity.
Keep up the good work: NRO rocks!
But Jesus was addressing a genuine religious problem, one that existed in first-century Judea just as it exists today. There is such a thing as pharisaism: the desire to substitute man-made righteousness for God's righteousness, and to demean anyone who is outside the man-made in-group.
I tend to agree with this:
So do most Catholics in US, which is why they use contraception at the same rate as Americans as a whole. That is not church teaching however.Basically contraception is stopping the sperm from meeting-up with the egg.
So is the issue with the Catholic church that you shouldn't hinder the Sperm, and should let it go its natural way?
I see a casm of difference between contraception, and once it's an embryo, or Sperm and Egg have met and started a human life and then a drug is introduced that caused a miscarriage.
So is the church saying that scripturally, you can't or shouldn't stop the Sperm from meeting the egg under any circumstances or it's sin? I just am wondering scripturally where they support this? Is it the "be fruitfull or plentiful" admoniton to Adam and Even once they were ousted from the Garden?
Is a Sperm cell considered a viable, human life before it joins with the female egg, cause there's literally millions of sperm cells that don't survive and die or go down the toilet or shower drain?
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Interested in substantive comments either way folks.
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As someone raised Catholic (and, since one cannot self-excommunicate themselves, I guess I still am!) I've always been appalled at Sean's lack of either catechism or knowledge regarding the church. Seems Hannity wants to have it both ways... he wants to be able to call for John Kerry to be excommunicated for not agreeing with the Church's stance on abortion, yet wants to be able to pick and choose what he himself follows when it comes to birth control.
Lots of Catholics have this problem... running to the Pope one day for validation of their beliefs and then hiding from him when their views dissent the next. Since I've distance myself from them, I don't have that problem so much anymore... but, if you grow up with it, you surely know what I'm talking about.
