Posted on 03/09/2007 9:39:24 PM PST by Caravaggio
In the face of modern challenges to the Faith, Catholics who have a high profile in media, culture and government have a very grave responsibility to witness it correctly; otherwise, they will be held accountable in heaven for their anti-witness which affects the faith of millions.
For example, last Friday Sean Hannity took a few moments out of his afternoon radio show to make an apology. When I heard that the rather brash Hannity was actually going to apologize for something I was interested to find out what that would be. At first he sounded very sincere in saying we have to take responsibility for our mistakes. Fine so far. Then he went on to tell his hearers that he had taken two bites of a chicken sandwich that day because he had been traveling and literally forgot it was a Friday of Lent. He stopped eating it when he realized it was a Friday, but he used the opportunity on the show to make a fairly big deal about the "eat meat on Friday and you can go to hell" issue.
Well, even though he claims to be a "good Catholic," Hannity is hardly a credible commentator on Catholic matters. The chicken sandwich scandal was fairly trivial in the overall scheme of his show, but it said much more about the depth of his faith than anything else. I suspect that a great number of Catholics live their faith in the same way—rule-bound and juvenile—but we need something better from a public "Catholic" like Hannity. We need a vibrant witness of someone who knows and embraces his Faith as deeply as he articulates his political passions.
(Excerpt) Read more at hli.org ...
I kind of agree with you. I am not Catholic and offer no opinions on either Sean or the father being the better Catholic.
However, after reading the Fathers piece it appeared to me that he had no real interest in what Sean was going to apologise about. In other words it appeared to me that the Father had just been looking for an excuse to write a hit piece on Sean.
Having said all that-I will admit that I did go to a Catholic High School. Best experience of my life.
See post #41.
You avoid these guys and the likes of Nancy Pelosi but attack Sean Hannity?
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See post #41.
The Priest was correct in stating the teachings of the church regarding birth control. If Sean doesn't agree with those teachings he should explain his point in a civil, respectful tone his position to the Priest. There was no need for his reaction. It made him look bad.
A wimpy letter vs. a public accusation on national TV...yeah, right.
Because most of those illegals are Catholic. With the birth rate among lawful residents on the decline, illegal aliens are needed to ensure that the Catholic Church continues to grow. Also, many Jesuits and other Catholic orders are big on the social justice crap. Unfortunately, they often view social justice on a micro level rather than the effect upon society as a whole.
A wimpy letter vs. a public accusation on national TV...yeah, right.
I have no idea if Father E. has tried to reach out to Ted Kennedy or Nancy Pelosi.....
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See post #41.
See Post 85
Dude, rythmn is like soooooooo 1950. No one thinks that it is an approprite solution for the majority of women, although it will work for some.
It's all about Natural Family Planning. Which, when used correctly, is more effective than the pill. There's a thread about that somewhere around here, in the Religion Forum I believe.
I think there is one reason for his changes in direction and that is -- ratings. I bet when he turned into a big business Republican, his rating suffered
Rush has been Number 1 for the past 19 years, and the ratings for all talk radio programs are cyclical, season dependent and news dependent.
No other host comes close, Sean is # 2 and I think Glenn Beck is 3rd. When you compare talk show host in Rush's time slot, he crushes the competition. He doesn't change his beliefs for ratings, never has, never will, that's why he is #1.
You can believe what you like regarding artificial birth control, but the Church teaches that artificial birth control is evil.
It's good that Sean Hannity is against abortion...but the Catholic Faith is more than simply opposing abortion, and for him to publicly support artificial birth control is scandalous, and I think that is what Fr. was trying to point out.
I don't claim to be a better Catholic than anyone; probably I'm worse...but what we're talking about here is simply factual matters about what the Church teaches.
Do you believe in the tooth fairy? apparently so
Thank you. VERY interesting letter..
Give me a break in the pious nonsense here and you can remove your stain-glassed contact lenses....
The point is that warning the faithful about the "bad example" of the likes of Sean Hannity ought to be so far down the Father's priority list that it should never come up.
We don't need to be warned about Sean Hannity. The big sinners, the sanhedren of paganism....Kennedy, Durbin, Leahy, Chris Matthews, Begala, the state of Massachusetts that is majority catholic but repeatedly elects sodomites like Gary Studds and Barney Frank and abortionist-adulterer-fornicators like Ted Kennedy....THAT is the crowd the padre needs to give public comdemnation to...
But he won't because he's a major COWARD. He would be assaulted and have to take some major persecution and he's obviously too wimpy to risk that.
So, attack polite types, deferential types like Sean Hannity....woooooo Sean is prolife. but here's a flaw !
Also, "artificial" birth control does not have to involve phisycal devices but any SCHEME to INTENTIONALLY REDUCE THE RISK of God granting a blessing of a child is clearly a violation. If Christ says merely looking upon a woman to lust after her (Matt 5:27-30) is ADULTERY, then so is this so-called natural family "planning" nonsense when the clear intention is to avoid children.
It may be your opinion that Natural Family Planning is equivalent to artificial birth control, but that opinion is not shared by anyone in the Magisterium that I'm aware of.
And Fr. Euteneuer has indeed called out Democrats on their support of abortion. See reply #41 for an example.
He also strongly criticized Senate Democrats for their attacks on Samuel Alito's Catholicism.
Well many people believe that the Church did away with eating meat on Friday. The truth is they did not but that they did leave it up to the Bishops of a country to make a decision regarding this. There must be some penance on Friday, this ne er changed. The U.S. Bishops determined one could give up meat or something else or do some other act of penance in lieu of the meat. Most people just started eating meat and ignored the need to give up something else or do penance.
That said, it is Lent. On Ash Wednesday and all Fridays during Lent, Catholics are forbidden to eat meat and the more liberal penance does not apply. If they are under a certain age or over a certain age (sorry don't have the exact ages at hand) and are not otherwise ill, they must also fast on those days during Lent.
One wimpy letter on 2004 is not the same as undressing Hannity on national television....you know that.
Also, Natural Planning is INTENDED to circumvent God's will in granting children...just as the religious leaders of Christ's day were patting themselves on the back because they were non-adulterers (not committing the act), Christ tells them lusting is adultery.
So, the intention is what counts...examined your conscience lately?
To that the priest could have replied, "Yes, but I graduated."
Hannity is OK. But, what kind of audience does he think he's addressing with this, "Three hours a day, that's all I ask."
Three hours a day? That's all? Imagine what you could accomplish if you applied yourself to any given pursuit with the dedication of three hours a day. For instance, a part time job, learning the piano or getting an advanced degree.
He must think very little of his listeners to think they have nothing better to do than to listen to him and the commercials of his sponsors for "just three hours a day".
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