I put off commenting about the whole Hannity/priest/contraception thing for awhile and by now it's totally old news. But I finally realized why it reminded me of the first Star Wars, and by the first I mean the first one that guy made and now says is the fourth one, not the fourth one he made and now claims is the first. I saw it when it first came out, so there. Please don't interrupt my mid-life crisis, OK?
In short, Hannity was wrong on contraception, the church is right. Television being probably the wrong place to have an argument about it is beside the point. It's too bad because Hannity is a popular figure in the media and in the culture and as a Catholic, he should at least be quiet and more respectful if he dissents from this important teaching. So I want to make sure I'm clear on this point; this is Lesson 1, if you will, to take away from the interchange. I don't want to be accused of defending Hannity, he's not my fave radio talker (although not my least favorite either); I think that whole "you're a great American" thing chafes me at the taste level.
Remember the robots... OK, droids.... the droids are playing some kind of chess-variant game where the pieces are monsters which beat the crap out of each other when the players move them. Ostensibly, R2D2 and Chewbacca -- probably the two most famous non-verbal film characters since Harpo Marx -- are engaged in playing the game and Chewbacca is whining because he's not winning. Han Solo, the only person who understands the wookiee, and C3PO, the only robot who understands R2D2...
...I meant droid. According to the experts, C3PO is a droid. You have to admit though, C3PO looks like a gold-plated robot. R2D2, OTOH, looked like a tank vacuum cleaner to me the first time I saw him. (Uh.... ShopVac is a brand name, doofus. That's why I wrote tank vacuum cleaner, FYI.) Now kids think tank vacuums look like R2D2. Life is funny.
Some of you are no doubt thinking "man, this post is getting long. Where is this going? I don't even like Star Wars and jaws was never my scene either, come to think of it." You ought to hang in there because this might be as close as I get to bashing the Catholic clergy on this blog.
Anyway, Solo and C3PO have a conversation which everyone remembers:
3P0: He made a fair move. Screaming about it won't help you.
Solo: Let him have it. It's not wise to upset a Wookiee.
3PO: But sir, nobody worries about upsetting a droid.
Solo: That's 'cause droids don't pull people's arms out of their sockets when they lose. Wookiees are known to do that.
3PO: I see your point, sir. I suggest a new strategy, Artoo. Let the Wookiee win.
Hannity is the droid in this case; nothing really is going to happen to a priest or bishop who goes after him. He may be a bit egotistical and annoying, but I don't think he poses any threat. I'd be willing to bet that a good portion of Hannity's Catholic fans even agree with the priest, even if they think his tone and manner might have been more pastoral.
But has that priest gone after Nancy Pelosi or other major public officials who support abortion in the same way? Good for him if he has. Father said that he was concerned about Hannity being a public heretic. I think this statement from NP might tip the needle on the heresy meter into the red zone:
"I believe that my position on choice [i.e., abortion] is one that is consistent with my Catholic upbringing, which said that every person has a free will and has the responsibility to live their own lives in a way that they would have to account for in the end." (
source Matt Abbott)
I know that the "concern about sanctions against Catholic public officials" House Speaker Pelosi mentions doesn't necessarily lead to "pulling people's arms out of their sockets". Further to the point, I don't even think the pro-abortion politicians would even show up for this kind of candid discussion. So is it possible that the clergy in the Catholic Church do go after these high value political targets all the time and I just miss it because I don't watch much TV?
No!
Are you kidding? Sean Hannity argues for 6 minutes with a priest and it's news for a week! Can you imagine what would happen if a priest did stand up to a major abortion supporter on the left and go head-to-head with him/her on national television? John McG
rightly points out that this kind of thing is the dream of many Catholics. I get stuff all the time (not in comments here, but in email lists I'm on) asking me to help pressure the Vatican to call for dismissal of Bishops (which
by the way has been proven to be counterproductive) who won't challenge pro-abort Catholic politicians. What I do agree with those well-meaning folks on is that this is a matter which needs
more clarity and attention regardless of general statements issued in the past.
Therefore I conclude with Lesson 2: The calling out of Hannity in regards to a heterodox position establishes a fortiori the case for calling out elected political leaders, of all political parties, who do not follow the Catholic Church's teaching on Abortion.
Maybe it will console members of the Catholic clergy that Chewbacca turned out to be an all around good fellow, despite the hairiness and poor sportsmanship. In fact, in the second movie... yes,
episode 5, whatever... he reassembles C3PO after some other nasties rip him apart. He doesn't do a perfect job, granted; probably about as good a performance as Pelosi or
Kucinich might deliver if asked to recite the Ten Commandments or maybe
this prayer.