Transcript: Fathers McBrien and Pavone

foxnews.com ^ | Sunday, May 17, 2009

[GonzoII]

The following is a rush transcript of the May 17, 2009, edition of "FOX News Sunday With Chris Wallace." This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

CHRIS WALLACE, HOST: Joining us now, two members of the church with sharply different views. Father Richard McBrien, a professor of theology at Notre Dame, supports the decision to honor the president. Father Frank Pavone, director of Priests for Life, has been leading protests against Mr. Obama.

Gentlemen, as we said, Notre Dame has a long history of inviting presidents to speak there. Back in 2001, George W. Bush, the new president, spoke. And of course, as governor of Texas, that state had conducted 152 executions, which the church condemns.

Father Pavone, can't Notre Dame invite a president of the United States to speak without signing on to all of his policies?

FATHER FRANK PAVONE: We're not here disagreeing with the president because he contradicts Catholic teaching or what it means to be Catholic. The problem is he contradicts what it means to be president.

This is about abortion. And in 2008 there were 37 executions. Just today there will be 37 babies at 21 weeks of gestation or more — the size of a large banana — dismembered, crushed, thrown in the garbage. And the president is not raising his voice, recognizing their right to be protected. That's the problem.

[GonzoII]

[GonzoII]

Ping.

[GonzoII]

Here’s the link:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,520464,00.html

[bdeaner]

Excellent! Fr. Pavone did a fantastic job. God bless you, Father!

[don-o]

bump & mark

[ex-snook]

The way to end abortions is to preach to women not to have one rather than to preach to Caesar to pass laws.

[Marysecretary]

Yes, he did. The other one was pretty liberal IMHO. I had a not so good feeling about him.

[bdeaner]

The way to end abortions is to preach to women not to have one rather than to preach to Caesar to pass laws.

You're very wrong. Abortion cannot be tolerated anymore than slavery or genocide can be tolerated on the legal front. The issue is about fundamental human rights. When those are placed in doubt, the entire Republic is on shaky ground. Read "Healing the Culture" by Fr. Robert J. Spitzer.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Yeah. And the way to end the sexual abuse of children is to preach to adult men not to mess around sexually with kids, rather than to preach to Caesar to pass laws.

That about cover it?

[bdeaner]

The other one was pretty liberal IMHO.

The other priest was a shameful disgrace to the Church.

[SuziQ]

Good grief! McBrien is still alive? I hadn't seen him around in quite a while. I thought maybe he'd passed into the great beyond, along with his fellow dissenter, Robert Drinan.

He's always a reliable anti-Catholic priest to have in the Rolodex.

[ex-snook]

By making abortion a political issue, it becomes a matter of voting. Voting requires a majority opinion. Abortion is wrong even without a majority opinion. Preach to women.

[Marysecretary]

Yes, he was. Unfortunately there are probably too many of them in the priesthood these days. Sad.

[kidd]

Obama holds an opinion on abortion that is so radical that even NARAL doesn’t support. Obama’s position is that if there was intent to abort the baby, then the baby should die.

If this was the opinion of a common yokel, we could easily ignore that opinion as that of an extremist. But Obama is not a common yokel, he is the President of the United States. When the President of the United States legitimizes such an extremist position, simply because he is President, it opens the door for truly horrible actions.

For example, Obama’s position on an intent to kill a baby doesn’t have a time limit. Just exactly when does Obama thinks that care must be provided to a child? And can care be withdrawn if it is later “revealed” that the “intention” was to have an abortion? Can a mother have a “wait-and-see” option...have the baby but if its retarded then withhold care?

[gorilla_warrior]

To hear people like Fr. McBrien equivocating, temporizing, and double-talking on the murder of innocents must be very disheartening to genuine Catholics. Notre Dame has committed a gravely evil act in honoring America’s most strident baby butcher. How can those who honor life allow themselves to be ruled by a political elite that hates life in so many different ways?

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

Yes, Pavone was great but that McBrien was a disgrace. He’s a typical Catholic liberal who looks for any excuse possible to vote for a Democrat. He thinks coveting, stealing and killing unborn babies are virtues. He’s wrong about everything.

[bdeaner]

To hear people like Fr. McBrien equivocating, temporizing, and double-talking on the murder of innocents must be very disheartening to genuine Catholics.

It's beyond disheartening. I feel an absolute and total disgust for this man.

[BlackElk]

Ex-snook: There certainly seems to be a major league disconnect between your self-description on your home page and your #6 here.

Disagreeing with #6, I would suggest that execution of each and every abortionist (preferably in a wide variety of splashy and colorful and memorable ways) is a near guarantee of eliminating nearly all abortions.

[ArrogantBustard]

By making slavery a political issue, it becomes a matter of voting. Voting requires a majority opinion. Slavery is wrong even without a majority opinion. Preach to landowners.

Hey ... if you don't like slavery, don't own one.

[ArrogantBustard]

Splashy is always good ... or at least a solid “splat!”