Mr. Sean Hannity: “I have no problem with birth control. It’s a good thing.”
It was this statement and attitude that was to result in a sad spectacle of dissent on Church teaching and disrespect to a Catholic priest. It should be noted that Mr. Hannity claims to be pro-life, although he makes exceptions for abortions in cases or rape, incest, or for the life of the mother. A rule is only as strong as its exceptions, and thus this really reflects a moderated pro-abortion stance. A child conceived through rape is still innocent and cannot be understood as an unjust aggressor. A child of incest or sexual abuse is still a human being entitled to the right to life. A child’s life and that of the mother cannot be measured on a scale as to which one is more deserving to survive. All human life is incommensurate.
Mr. Sean Hannity invited Fr. Thomas Euteneuer of Human Life International to the television show, supposedly to discuss the matter of dissent on contraception by high profile Catholics, particularly in the media. It turned out to be a setup forum for Hannity to enact revenge against the priest for questioning his Catholicism and judging his dissent.
Regarding the recent public clash between Mr. Sean Hannity of FOX News and Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, I must come down on the side of the good priest. Compounding the matter, the “sometimes” FOX News analyst Fr. Jonathan Morris scolded Fr. Euteneuer and inadvertently aided dissenters on birth control. He said that Fr. Euteneuer “exercised, on this occasion, shockingly poor judgment,” and was mistakenly “brandishing law without palpable love.” However, the truth be said, Fr. Euteneuer hardly got a word in edgewise. I do not think undermining Church teaching was Fr. Morris’ intent, but it has been the result. As one purported Regnum Christi member said, “If a Legionary of Christ supports Hannity, then he must be in the right!” Personally, I think a general clarification from the Legionaries is required and Fr. Morris should be directed to terminate his formal association with FOX News. He was ordained to be a priest for Christ and the Catholic Church, not for Murdock’s neoconservative news propaganda machine. He has compromised himself.
Fr. Euteneuer reveals that he sought a private meeting about the subject with Hannity back in 2004. Nothing came of it.
Even a number of people who disagree about artificial contraception admitted to me that the priest was treated pretty shabbily after being invited upon the television show. There was no real discussion of the matter at hand. The priest was kept on the defensive and given no opportunity for a proper response. Mr. Hannity contended that the priest had no right to judge him and that he should worry about the outrageous cover-up of pedophile priests before coming after him. Of course, Mr. Hannity makes such judgments on his television and radio shows regularly. This was not the real problem, just that he disliked being under the gun, himself. Further, a priest is not any Christian. He is appointed by Christ as a minister of reconciliation. This role requires that he be a judge of souls and that he speak clearly about what is right and wrong.
Mr. Hannity argued falsely that Fr. Euteneuer had not spoken out forcibly about sexual abuse and the scandal of bishops who did not take it seriously. What Mr. Hannity did was to take the attention off him and to move it elsewhere, insinuating that Fr. Euteneuer was being hypocritical. Mr. Hannity also quickly appealed to the fact that not everyone is Catholic, as if that is an excuse for a Catholic in the public forum to renounce an important element of our moral teaching. Such an appeal to relativism is tragic from a figure who purports to be a political conservative. He had apologized for eating meat on a Friday of Lent. Fr. Euteneuer rightly observed that there is a big difference between the inadvertent violation of a Church discipline and the repudiation of a doctrinal or moral teaching, as here touching upon the Theology of the Body and the openness to human life that must be present in every instance of the marital act.
Mr. Hannity asked again and again, more in a rhetorical fashion than in actuality, “Do you know me?” He said he had been in seminary and had studied Latin. When I heard this I began to scratch my head, so what? The news anchor was becoming incoherent in his tirade against the priest. Were we suppose to give him a gold star for being an altar boy? Fr. Charles Curran, the great dissenter on contraception, abortion, homosexuality, etc. also went to seminary and studied Latin…such things did not make him right or insure that he had the mind of the Church about all matters.
Let us cut to the quick, Mr. Hannity is a neo-conservative in the political arena who leans toward liberalism in the area of Catholicism. It is fine and good that he has urged his children to be chaste and celibate until marriage. He might be anti-abortion, and about this we should all be pleased, but he is not consistent given his stance in favor of certain exceptions and artificial contraception. He even went so far as to mock the priest with what he saw as an inconsistency on Catholicism’s part, a so-called Church-approved birth control, i.e. contraception, Natural Family Planning. But, of course, NFP is not true contraception, it is simply periodic abstinence based upon a knowledge of the body and how it works. It is a way to regulate or space births. Further, unlike the pill or condom, NFP can be used to help couples get pregnant, since they know the times of maximum fertility. If one were to use NFP in a selfish way then it could also be turned into a sinful practice. One may space births but not turn against the meaning of the marital act.
The priest was able to squeeze in the truth, under the mantra of Hannity’s unending assault, that a majority of those who have abortions do so because of contraceptive failure. Artificial contraception is indeed the handmaid to abortion. This is what the priest knows and what Mr. Hannity refuses to admit. It creates a contraceptive mentality which fuels the holocaust of abortion. Nothing was said about the fact that certain forms of contraception are also abortifacient. But, as I said, the interview was not a civil exchange of ideas, but an opportunity to malign a priest who wanted to help Mr. Hannity to be consistent and to insure that Catholics know that contraception is a grievous matter not to be flippantly handled.
In writing to Fr. Jonathan Morris, who chastised a fellow priest and gave solace to Hannity, Fr. Euteneuer writes:
The question that comes to mind is an obvious one: if you are a Fox analyst on Catholic matters, wouldn’t you have been the one to have had those “private conversations” on birth control with Mr. Hannity? How about discussions on his abortion exceptions? When you told Sean “in person” that you “disagreed with him,” was it on the issue of birth control? If you had done that, I applaud you, but your powers of persuasion may need a little honing—Sean has only gotten more vocal on this issue over time. If you did not speak to him about his public dissent, then I ask you, “Why?” While we are on the subject, have you also analyzed and disagreed with Bill O’Reilly’s perfectly horrible disdain for the Holy Father and the Church that you represent?
The church sex abuse scandal was not just about homosexual and predatory priests. It was about clerical negligence and silence on issues that not only affect people’s souls but also ruin people’s lives. It is highly unusual that you or anyone else would want a priest to be silent on issues that affect the salvation of souls. We used to recognize “admonishing the sinner” as one of the Spiritual Works of Mercy, and I consider my admonishment of Mr. Hannity to have been done in that spirit. I might also add that in doing so I have fulfilled my duty as a priest which is a requirement for my salvation.
Further evidence that Mr. Hannity suffers from a poor faith formation as a Catholic is the following notation at the HLI site:
Mr. Hannity is not backing down, saying on Monday’s radio program that if he were excommunicated he would call the Rev. Jerry Falwell and ask to join his Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va.
No one, of course, is talking about excommunication; that is just his continuing hysterics about this matter. But note that he would join a Baptist Church, no doubt because of their “political” conservatism, but one that is silent on a weighty moral matter like artificial contraception. Doctrinal differences between them and Catholics are enormous. He would reject the Pope, much of the deposit of faith, and the sacramental life, particularly the Eucharist, to maintain his dissent. He would embrace a Protestant sect and forever turn his back on the sacrifice of the Mass and the real presence of Jesus’ body and blood in the Blessed Sacrament in exchange for grape juice and loaf bread. Even a knowledgeable Catholic excommunicant, if his faith be real, would want to come home to the sacraments and to the true Church established by Jesus Christ.
ADDENDUM
Fr. Jonathan Morris
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,258291,00.html
As I watched a fellow Catholic priest spar with you on the March 9 edition of Hannity and Colmes, I hung my head in shame and sadness. My colleague in religion (whom I’ve never met) used the public airways and Internet to call you a heretic and hypocrite. Because he chose to do this in a public forum, I want you and your viewers to know, publicly, that as an analyst of this television network, I believe this good priest, who does great work, exercised, on this occasion, shockingly poor judgment. I consider his willingness to give his personal opinion about your status within the Church inappropriate and ill-considered, to say the least.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,258501,00.html
While Fr. Thomas Euteneuer and I may disagree on how best to attain this lofty goal in certain venues, like on a secular television network, we are of one heart and mind on substance.
It’s a Society who is ignorant in the faith. I forget who said it but I remember it was a Bishop – “many people call themselves catholics but they disagree with Church Teaching nor do they goto mass regularly” The Pope is like a General without Troops. We need more St.Francis, St.Pio, St.Anthony of Padua, St.John of the Cross, St.Justin’s.
Just last night my family was eating dinner, my brother was telling my parents what he say on a National Geographic Channel about the Heresy’s\Gnosticism stories. of course he didn’t know what he was saying so I had to jump in and say “You don’t know what you are talking about and you tell them this crap”.
I think Heresys and Gnosticism is more harmful to people who are faithfull but don’t know the history of the Church nor The Enemy she has.
How can someone enter Seminary without having a vocation and why just Latin?
Would I prefer abortions or contraception? That’s a false dichotomy if I ever saw one. Not to mention that Sean’s being a good Utilitarian and a bad Catholic by opting for evil means to produce a supposedly good end. Three cheers for the church of the Republican party!
It’s funny how Sean was so ticked off at the priest for “judging” him when Sean was perfectly willing to proclaim himself a good Catholic (or at least implying it). I really don’t care how good his Latin is, how long he has been in the seminary, or any of that other nonsense. If he’s so willing to throw around misinterpreted verses about judging, he ought not judge his own soul, either.
Not to mention that ‘judging’ in the context Sean quoted refers to the end times. If we used his broad definition of ‘judging’, then we wouldn’t be able to call abortions wrong, either.
This is why I don’t watch Hannity’s show anymore. Instead of watching sophistry and listening high-pitched squealing, I prefer observing its downfall while reading a harmonious Platonic dialogue.
Hannity rightly washed the floor with this closed-minded and fanatical priest. It is time for other Catholics to wake up to the hypocrisy of their church and how it seeks to control everyone in the United States and world. They would inflict their values upon us and rob us of our freedoms. These sick men who pretend to be pure are obsessed about the bedroom. They tell you that you cannot use a rubber or the pill. Nevertheless, if you get pregnant they oppose abortion as well. They want a Catholic population to overwhelm the rest of us and take over. They have sex on the brain. Gays are told that they cannot have relations and civil unions. Hey, I might not like it, but as long as they do not do it in my front yard, I will leave them alone. Unmarried couples are called fornicators and condemned with the gays to hell. Married couples are told that you can have vaginal sex (yet don’t like it too much), but try anal or oral and God will become angry with you. Even teenagers are told that they must not masturbate, and yet, like contraception, everyone does. Every seed is sacred? Pleeease! I think not. No one is listening to these angry men so why not leave a church that no longer makes sense? If they are crazy about sex might they just be nuts about all the rest, too?
Given all the children they have molested, this priest has some nerve trying to tell us how to live our lives. Hannity is right and Euteneuer is wrong, case closed!
Hannity is still somewhat enslaved to the beast because he thinks biting into a hotdog on a Friday is a sin, but the chains are breaking. The fact that he speaks about joining a good bible-believing community is evidence that he might yet become a true Christian.
Terri you sound like a regular ignorant lemmy. The Catholic Church is the only true faith on this earth.
Arguments for Contraceptives\Pill fail before it gets started. Sex was made for procreation so whats the point of stopping it?
Abortion – Even Justice Scalia said “No where in the constitution do I find that woman have the right to a abortion, The court has made up a right out of thin air”.
You do not have the right to Kill a child, either born or unborn, frankly I don’t see the difference, its only Human’s technicality and intellectual limitless do we get into idiotic problems of “1st trimester or 2nd trimester”.
everyone knows that Abortion will get overturned when\if it gets up to the Supreme Court. Legal Experts say how Roe v. Wade was argued was a abomination to the legal profession.
14th Amendment : “nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
See, The Country doesnt have to establish a abortion amendment or anything like that. It could grant Rights to Children and the unborn or Call the Unborn child a human and the abortion argument will be ended.
John 8:50 “But I do not seek My glory; there is One who seeks and judges.”
Terri you sound like a regular ignorant lemmy. The Catholic Church is the only true faith on this earth.
Arguments for Contraceptives\Pill fail before it gets started. Sex was made for procreation so whats the point of stopping it?
Abortion – Even Justice Scalia said “No where in the constitution do I find that woman have the right to a abortion, The court has made up a right out of thin air”.
You do not have the right to Kill a child, either born or unborn, frankly I don’t see the difference, its only Human’s technicality and intellectual limitless do we get into idiotic problems of “1st trimester or 2nd trimester”.
everyone knows that Abortion will get overturned when\if it gets up to the Supreme Court. Legal Experts say how Roe v. Wade was argued was a abomination to the legal profession.
14th Amendment : “nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
See, The Country doesnt have to establish a abortion amendment or anything like that. It could grant Rights to Children and the unborn or Call the Unborn child a human and the abortion argument will be ended.
John 8:50 “But I do not seek My glory; there is One who seeks and judges.”
Quote from Kingdom of Heaven : Christian Soldier :”Who says I lie?” Knight Templer : “Me, King of Jerusaleum , HOLY GOD”
Father Joe:
A friend of mine who is a practicing Catholic and obedient to the Church in it’s ban on contraception has posed the question of “infalability”? He states that prior to H. Vitae, there was a Vatican committee to look at the question of contraception. He goes-on to inquire that if the Church’s ban is infalable, then how could they have a committee to examine the issue? We both agree with the Church’s teaching, we just would like a clarification.
When challenged by Fr. Euteneuer, Hannity made a big deal out of being a former altar boy and “seminarian” who studied latin. Actually, his “seminary” training consisted of attending a boys’ Catholic High School called St. Pius the X Preparatory Seminary in Uniondale, NY. Most of its graduates, like Hannity, were not headed for the priesthood. He was a college drop-out and his “theology” courses were nothing more than high-school and grammar school catechism.
Hi fr. Joe,
As a dissenter I thought that Fr. E did a good job and that Sean Hannity made us dissenters look bad. Really, by invoking the scandal in front of a good priest, I felt awful. The whole discussion had zero effect in my mind on nonbelievers, dissenters, or orthodox. Everyone left such a fuss fest with the same opinion they had going in. The whole discussion made catholics look bad, though I think it made dissenters slightly worse than orthodox to the audience that I think mattered in this case; namely Catholics. Mr. Hannity failed to discuss licit dissent in any meaningful way that a serious dissenter, like your despised Fr. Curran would approve of.
While I happen to agree with him about our shared culpability as catholics for abortions due to a lack of birth control, I also feel us lay people have shared guilt as catholics for the abuse scandals. Not because lay people or good priests did anything wrong, but just because we are part of the church and it happened on our collective watch. Mr. Hannity invoked collective accountability from a dissenter position for abortions amongst single people in the spirit of nullifying the evil of fornication with the good of protecting the unborn in the face of biological imperative that dissenters think is sadly irrepressible for some, and certainly for non-believers.
Now I grant the orthodox their right to disagree with that, and so should Hannity. So what was the true issue here was licit dissent for a public figure and how that ought to be handled. So I think Fr. Euteneuer squashed him in the court of those of us who are ‘serious’ about such things.
I would also agree that there was no serious discussion of the contraceptive mentality view vs the abortion culpability view I discuss above. Fr. E barely had time to mention something about 60% of abortions being committed in the case of failed birth control, which I did not know. As a dissenter, I really would have liked ot have heard what Fr. E had to say, as opposed to Hannity’s ranting.
Finally, it is not right that our good priests are seen as guilty by association but the sad reality is that the priesthood has lost the moral high ground in the public arean with regard to sexual issues. Its not right, but it is the reality. Orthodox married laypeople will be sorely needed as teachers if the orthodox wish to maximize their success in teaching the Theology of the Body from the orthodox perspective.
All the Best,
-B
I suppose I have to point out that he was a bit provocative calling Hannity a heretic, seemingly early in the conversation. The heresy charge is arguable from what I read in the catechism. But there again neither Hannity nor Fr. E. argued that point, which is part of what made the exchange useless for anything but making catholics look silly.
I am sorry to say that I am a couple years late in coming onto the issue. I therefore wish to limit my comments to the use of the term orthodox. Are you referring to the Orthodox church? If so you need to tak a look at yourself.
We of the Orthodox church stem back further than the Roman (western church). We are four of the original five Sees of the church. It was Rome that broke away from the church (the first protestants?).
I am a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and took the theology classes as taught by the western church.
I do not see them so different than the eastern church with a few ideas of the “Imaculate Conception”
If the Theotokos had been born without sin she would be a god. The original sin was instantly removed upon her conception. Are we not talking about the same kind of hair-spliting in the discussions I just read? Did I miss something?
May God bless you and keep you one and all.
Fr. David
Terry Mitcham’s suggested on 4/8/07, that those who do not agree with the Catholic Church’s doctrine should just leave. I do not agree with 99.9% of his message, but I certainly agree with that statement. The problem is that they don’t leave. They are like the customers of a cafeteria who go down the line picking and choosing what they want.
The fact is, you are either a Catholic of you are not. Denying just one defined doctrine puts you outside the Catholic Church. They have left the Church, but just don’t know it. Some may even go to Sunday Mass and sacreligiously receive the body and blood of Jesus Christ, to their everlasting detriment according to the Bible.
As I said, the problem is that they do not formally leave and join the Baptists, or some other religion, but they stay and appear to be Catholics and mislead others who want to live accorcing to their faith. We have two, or more, generations who were not taught the truths of the Church that was established by Jesus Christ over two thousand years ago.
God help us.
I am a long time watcher and listener to hanity.
he is wrong to call himself a catholic because of his belief in abortion.
If you wanted to joing the elks lodge, you have to believe in god and the american flag if you dont want to belong you are not a member. its just that simple. As my grandkids say go figure
i am also tired of hanity calling our president the anointed one. I am not by and stretch of the imadgination an obama fan. i just think he should show more respect to the office
Hannity attacked Fr. Eutener as if the priest was a congressman with his hands in the til. Hannity took very storng measures to shut the good priest down. It wasn’t because Hannity had any good arguments, it was because he couldn’t debate the priest on the teachings or our Church. Hannity has exposed himself to be a very poor and uneducated Catholic. His silly arguments do not express the validity of his waywardness.
FATHER JOE:
http://bloggerpriest.wordpress.com/2010/11/22/the-pope-condoms-stupid-people/
Sometimes the profane (not profanity) is profound. I once heard this answer to someone who would allow abortion in the case of rape: “You’re killing the wrong b—–d.”
All churches of size pay insurance that will cover liability in cases of sexual abuse. The Catholic Church pays the same amount as other large churches.
This is evidence that all churches of size have this problem. (If the Catholic Church experiences this problem more than other churches, they would be paying higher premiums.) This is not to say that sexual abuse is right, accepted or to be tolerated under any circumstances.
To Mr. Hannity:
Your views are your views. Don’t try to inflict them on others. If you do, are you not like the church (that you criticize). You are free to start a church or attend any church who will have you. I am a Catholic because I believe in its teachings. Most of us are not saints. We just do the best that we can. And when we fall we have the confessional.