Posted on 05/13/2008 8:59:43 AM PDT by JRochelle
The Texas megachurch pastor whose past comments about the Catholic Church have caused headaches for John McCain for over two months will issue an apology to Catholics later today, according a top Christian conservative.
John Hagee, pastor of San Antonio's Cornerstone Church, will send a letter to Catholic League President William Donahue expressing "deep regret for any comments that Catholics have found hurtful."
"After engaging in constructive dialouge with Catholic friends and leaders, I now have an improved understanding of the Catholic Church, its relation to the Jewish faith, and the history of anti-Catholicism," Hagee wrote in a letter running just over two pages.
In a carefully-coordinated plan, Donahue is to accept the apology with a statement of his own.
The conservative leader who shared the letter said McCain's campaign was not involved at all in encouraging Hagee to apologize.
Donahue has been among Hagee's most outspoken critics and called on McCain to repudiate the pastor soon after Hagee endorsed the Republican in March.
Hagee has drawn fire for describing Catholicism as "a Godless theology of Hate" and, what some have interpreted as, "the Great Whore."
Hoping to knock Mike Huckabee out of the race, McCain secured Hagee's public endorsement in the days before the March 4th Texas primary. But since then, the GOP candidate has been dogged by questions over why he would accept support from somebody who not only has criticized Catholics but also asserted that Hurricane Katrina was part of God's punishment for the decadence of New Orleanians.
McCain has not disavowed Hagee's endorsement, but has said that it was probably a mistake to pursue. A spokesperson for the candidate declined to comment on Hagee's apology
As Ron White would say. “Yeah, I’m listenin’”.
But why would McCain come to Texas for 20 years to see Hagee, have him give the wedding vows, and title his book after one of Hagee’s sermons. < /sarcasm >
LOL.
Oopsie, I got the date wrong!
I don’t know if he means it, but Mr. Hagee sure could lose a lot of weight. When sits around the house, he sits around the house!
Republicans have to keep their eyes on the ball. This is a smokescreen.
John Hagee is not, nor was he ever, John McCain’s pastor or close friend.
This guy is a total nut case!
Whatever happened with that whole Bill Maher thing?
Come on weegee, no one’s dumb enough to do that. :-)
I doubt he means it, but it’s interesting that he’s doing it anyway. Cui bono? McCain, obviously, but I’m not seeing where it helps Hagee at all. It sure isn’t going to boost book sales, and I’m guessing some parishioners are saying, “WTF?!” right about now. Hmmm...
Well, good for him.
+ God bless you Mr Hagee, and may the Holy Spirit dwell in you. +
That was my first thought as well.
Who is a total nut case? Bill Donahue?
How does a dope like Hagee who is that reckless ever get to be the leader of anything?
“I’m sorry if you misinterpreted my words, and were then offended, when I called your church the Great whore. But my words were taken out of context. If you had listened to the WHOLE sermon you would have heard my references to your theology of hate and it all would have made sense.”
Politicians should avoid wacky preachers of ALL stripes.
Yeah. That would be political suicide... in a sane country.
How sad that this once great site has sunk to such levels.
Hagee’s views on Israel are enough for me.
Hagee, keep your apologies, you fat little rodent. We Catholics are not that sensitive to even care what you say.
I imagine he does. If you go back fifty or sixty years, protestants and catholics were each pretty sure the other was in league with the devil.
Most of that has gone over the years as we've found ourselves increasingly on the same side in the battles that matter. Not all protestants, not all catholics, but the ones who take God and principle seriously find themselves with more in common with one another than they do with their more liberal brethren.
Or, to put a finer point on it, a believing catholic and a believing evangelical have begun to realize that they are brothers in the faith; while their left-oriented nominal co-religionists really are not.
This change in attitude, which has come on both sides, did not come over night. But its about time. We're never going to agree on everything. But its important we recognize one another as the brothers we are.
I hope he means it, and have to give him some slack, for crying out loud it’s a huge thing to do. If he doesn’t really mean it, in time I think he will. At least a deep feeling enough of a man to admit he was wrong, and has Catholic “friends” who obviously, if they do indeed exsist, have been lovingly patient in pointing out that he knows not what he speaks.
Listening. Wow. What a concept. How many do? It’s something I have to work on every day, every minute. I love to talk, and that doesn’t take any skill. Listening? That’s not only a virtue, it’s an aquired skill.
This is such a non-issue, except to the looney left and the MSM, who are trying to cover for Buraq Hussein
Seriously, has this been an issue past the day it came out?
Exactly, I’m not a RCC, but I do share their principles, Hagee does as well, and that is where the line between Religion and Politics should be drawn.
This is sad ...
Congrats on being able to discern.
This truly displays the Chesed (lovingkindness) of Yah'shua (Jesus) /sarc
Who cares?
I’m Catholic and could care less what he says or does. It doesn’t affect who I am, what my religious belief is or how I live my life. He doesn’t have to apologize to me. He is irrelevant in the every day happenings of mine and the lives of my family. Plain and Simple.
Thank you for avoiding ad hominem attacks and stereotypes while discussing this issue. Your comment has added greatly to the discussion.
who? Oh, you mean that very small, istsy, bitsy excuse for a comedian??? Don’t know. Perhaps he is finished. Could care less about him too. I’m confident in my faith. Must be HIM who is not.
That’s OK. I didn’t mean to dis fat little rodents.
The question I have is :Why don't you display the attributes of a follower of the Christ?
It makes sense....it’s exactly what McCain would do.
Because it is water off a duck to me. Catholics have been subjected to such malignancy since long before my time, and it will continue long after I’m gone. I don’t want or expect such apologies. The apology game is not my cup of tea.
And he looks like a fat little rodent to boot.
Donning Flame retardant under wear !.................
Weasel words. Just like "I'm sorry IF I hurt your feelings".
It sounds like a real apology to me. I’ll take it, unless and until he later proves he didn’t mean it.
As I’ve often said before, there are matters on which Catholics and Evangelicals can agree to disagree. But there are many things on which we can agree, and it’s important to work together where we can. We can agree on family, the right to life, and basic Christian values, and those are all things that need support against the tidal wave of the Countercultural Revolution that the Dems have been eagerly pushing.
You might not like it, but there’s only one true Church founded by Jesus Christ. Hagee and his ilk just woke up one morning signed a lease on a storefront and said “I’m a man of God.”
Of course Hagee hates the Catholics, they are the only ones who can expose him for the fraud he is.
Hagee worked hard to build bridges with Jews, but in the process, got full of himself and began to say quite hideous things against his Catholic brethren.
Many years ago, a young woman asked me if I were a Catholic. It was her faith and she cherished it. She was paying me a compliment, telling me that I measured up, and appeared to be a practitioner of her type of spiritual approach. It was a beautiful thing to say. People have forgotten the basics. We get so full of ourselves, that we forget humility, and Pastor John has certainly done that. His wounds are self inflicted.
Hagee is a student of Revelation. Revelation is quite figurative. He's gotten in to this “Whore of Babylon” stuff. That's an offense and Hagee has gone of out of his way to agitate a faith that was causing him no harm.
“Well Donahue worships in the only church founded by Jesus Christ, while Hagee is some two bit heretic selling snake oil to the slack jawed inbreds.”
You are no better than what you criticize.
Ever hear of Nancy Pelosie? There is and endless list like that, Cynthia McKinney, Joslyn Elders.
“Hoping to knock Mike Huckabee out of the race, McCain secured Hagee’s public endorsement in the days before the March 4th Texas primary. But since then, the GOP candidate has been dogged by questions over why he would accept support from somebody who not only has criticized Catholics but also asserted that Hurricane Katrina was part of God’s punishment for the decadence of New Orleanians.”
Well, Hagee may be wrong about Catholics, but he’s absolutely right about New Orleans.
As a fan of Mr. Hagee, why on earth would he endorse a quack like McQueeg? I just lost some respect for him now.
It’s not good enough. McCain needs to make him apologize to atheists!
Good enough for me...I regard myself "catholic" but I'm not a member of the Church of Rome; nevertheless, I don't appreciate the Mother Church of Christianity being called a whore!
I’m Catholic and could care less what he says or does. It doesn’t affect who I am, what my religious belief is or how I live my life. He doesn’t have to apologize to me. He is irrelevant in the every day happenings of mine and the lives of my family. Plain and Simple.
I'm with you. I'm not Catholic, but I don't agree with Hagee on anything from a Protestant standpoint, and am not concerned with what he says. It's like that supposedly controversial prayer in which Catholics pray that the Jews will accept Christ. I do not see why Jews should be offended by such a prayer. It seems to me that if one believes in a religion, and believes one's religion is the only way to salvation, that one is doing well to pray that others accept it. You can think such people deluded or crazy, but why waste time getting all offended? I only worry when I am confronted with a "convert or die!" ultimatum.
If some Mormon is praying for me to accept Mormonism, or some Hindu is praying that I become a Hindu, then good for them. It's not like I'm going to be unable to sleep because I can feel that somewhere, some pagan is praying for me.
Besides, he didn't really apologize. He used the standard "for anything I may have said" as if the listeners misconstued something.
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