Reverend Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, has picked a fight with Sean Hannity. Apparently, Hannity’s not a good enough Catholic:
—
“If apologies are the order of the day, then the repentance I would like to hear out of Sean Hannity’s mouth is for his shameless—even scandalous—promotion of birth control. Yes, I have heard him personally say, ‘I have no problem with birth control. It’s a good thing.’ (Another bit of profound theological reasoning.) Given the size of his audience and the importance of his status in pop culture, Hannity’s anti-witness to a fundamental tenet of Catholic moral doctrine is just devastating for the faith of others who may be weak or vacillating in this area. His impact is greater, and so his judgment will be stricter. ‘To those who have been given more, more will be required…’
“The moral of the story is that Catholic men and women in the media need to be truly Catholic or at least stop being hypocrites. We have enough pretenders to the title of Catholic in public life without being treated to superficial assessments of profound moral issues. Rules are important, but Lent is not about rule-breaking, it’s about conversion of heart; and on the most important moral issues of our day, public Catholics like Hannity have no right to profess ‘another gospel,’ or the faith of millions—and indeed their own souls—are in serious jeopardy.”
—
I’ve never heard anything from Hannity on birth control, so it would have been interesting to learn just what the problem was. For instance, what exactly is the Reverend citing? Was Sean talking about what couples ought to do, or government authority to regulate birth control? That’s a big distinction—Hannity should be criticized if the former, but the latter is wholly appropriate (that is, if we’re talking about birth control that prevents conception, and not methods that kill already-created babies).
Unfortunately, both men gave pitiful performances on H&C last night; it was one of the sloppiest, most unfocused debates I’ve seen in a while. So I didn’t find out. Let that be a lesson, boys & girls: know what the heck you’re talking about before you pick a fight, and clarity is key to making sure you don’t look like a fool.
Conservative Standards 