Cultural Gadfly

Hannity has done it again. He’s gone and embarrassed us all (H/T HotAir):

It’s sad when something this stupid happens. Ed Morrissey comments:

The irony of this is that Fox didn’t need to do anything of the sort. Whether one accepts the Washington Post’s estimates of crowd size (10,000 people) or those of the organizers (25,000-40,000), the weekday rally drew an impressive number of people. Many people had to miss a few days of work to attend it. Here in Minnesota, people paid their own travel costs to go by bus to DC and back, which ate up three days of travel. And the rally did its job in attracting media attention and focus on the ire of Americans opposed to another massive expansion of government.

Fox didn’t do us any favors in using rather easily-exposed editing tricks to make the already-impressive showing look better. It did a disservice to Rep. Bachmann in this instance. Let’s stick to the facts — they speak well enough as they are, and besides, that’s what a news organization should do.

I don’t know if any of you have been following the altercation between Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) and his bishop, Thomas J. Tobin. Essentially, it began as a rather public debate about health care, which necessarily included abortion and contraception. In an October 29th letter, Kennedy wrote

The fact that I disagree with the hierarchy on some issues does not make me any less of a Catholic.

This prompted Tobin to address this sentiment in his latest letter (H/T First Thoughts). The whole thing is well worth the read and hopefully will prompt other bishops to address similar situations with similarly public figures in a similar manner. I’ll just give you some of the more juicy bits here.

But let’s get down to a more practical question; let’s approach it this way: What does it mean, really, to be a Catholic? After all, being a Catholic has to mean something, right?

… Congressman, I’m not sure whether or not you fulfill the basic requirements of being a Catholic, so let me ask: Do you accept the teachings of the Church on essential matters of faith and morals, including our stance on abortion? Do you belong to a local Catholic community, a parish? Do you attend Mass on Sundays and receive the sacraments regularly? Do you support the Church, personally, publicly, spiritually and financially?

In your letter you say that you “embrace your faith.” Terrific. But if you don’t fulfill the basic requirements of membership, what is it exactly that makes you a Catholic? Your baptism as an infant? Your family ties? Your cultural heritage?

Your letter also says that your faith “acknowledges the existence of an imperfect humanity.” Absolutely true. But in confronting your rejection of the Church’s teaching, we’re not dealing just with “an imperfect humanity” – as we do when we wrestle with sins such as anger, pride, greed, impurity or dishonesty. We all struggle with those things, and often fail.

Your rejection of the Church’s teaching on abortion falls into a different category – it’s a deliberate and obstinate act of the will; a conscious decision that you’ve re-affirmed on many occasions. Sorry, you can’t chalk it up to an “imperfect humanity.” Your position is unacceptable to the Church and scandalous to many of our members. It absolutely diminishes your communion with the Church.

Categories: Culture, Culture of Life, Health Care, Politics \\ Tags: Bishop Tobin, Doctrine, Ecclesiastic Smackdown, Patrick Kennedy