I’m not Catholic and was still incensed by Sean Hannity’s treatment of a highly respected pro-life leader – who is also a priest – as well as Hannity’s low blows and talking points, which could have just as easily been spouted by a secular liberal.
See video on page 2.
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Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
If I had to make a list of My Favorite Priests Alive Today, Father Tom Euteneuer would be be near the top. He is one of the brightest lights in the priesthood in the United States today.
For two of the past three years, he has led our annual staff retreat, at which his preaching was top-notch.
The man exudes holiness, and inspires those around him to want to be holy too.
Psh.
I’m not such a fan of Hannity, but at least he’s got a realistic head on his shoulders when it comes to things like birth control vs. abortion. It only MAKES SENSE to promote birth control so that abortion would not have to happen, because pregnancy would not occur in the first place.
Good for Hannity for acknowledging we are not all Catholic. (Thank goodness not all of us are!) I think it’s times like these when it further serves to alienate people from the Church, because of positions which simply no longer make sense in the light of reality. You may not like the reality, you may not think it’s pretty or right or virtuous, but it’s THERE, and it must be dealt with for the sake of all of us. And that doesn’t mean closing your ears, stomping and screaming, “LALALA LAAA! I’M NOT LISTENING! MY WAY IS BEST!” As the Church seems to have been doing for many, many years.
When it comes down to it, all Ye Social Conservatives Who Would Change the World, would you rather have sexual promiscuity or abortion? I’d like to hear some answers to that…and “Neither” is NOT a permissible answer. One or the other. Even if both are repugnant to you…which one is worse, overall? Because they both already exist. You’re fighting both. But abortion can only be stopped if women aren’t getting pregnant…not if you simply outlaw abortion. Makes sense? You have to have a pregnancy in the first place to have an abortion. If more and safer birth control were available, fewer pregnancies would have to happen. You know that this is true.
So make your choice, O Ye Conservatives…which is worse?
My problem? Please, every pro-lifer, stop thinking that only unmarried women use birth control or get abortions.
Just because you teach your child not to have sex before marriage does not mean that once they get married, they should have to abstain for any amount of time because they aren’t ready for kids.
Really, what is so wrong with birth control? It’s not an abortifacient. It is self-control, to use the words of the priest.
Marriage and readiness to have children are not always mutually inclusive. And I think that with all of the pressure to only have sex when you are married, the desire is pretty built up around the time of the ceremony and honeymoon. I wouldnt want a kid right after I got married, should I abstain on my wedding night? Give me a break.
Wow. Shame on Hannity!! I am amazed at how incredibly rude and disrespectful he was toward Fr. Tom! He kept talking over and interupting him, and his voice is so much louder in the clip that you can’t hear whatever Fr. Tom is trying to finish saying! Also, he used such faulty logic and kept changing the topic to frame Fr. Tom and twist his words, while meanwhile Fr. Tom was being extremely articulate and respectful. I truly hope that the people who watched that clip caught what was going on and didn’t just go along with whatever Hannity was saying.
As for the birth control issue, I wish that everyone would realize how directly it IS linked to abortion. My goodness, look at the stats. I’ll find some real specific ones if that’s what it’ll take. Fr. Tom said one- he said, I believe it was 67%, of women who get abortions do it because their birth control failed! (Of course it was convenient for Hannity to interupt loudly at that point.) Honestly, what does that tell you?! People who use birth control are one step away from abortion.
“Bleh” posted this comment:
“It only MAKES SENSE to promote birth control so that abortion would not have to happen, because pregnancy would not occur in the first place.”
That’s a very logical statement, but it assumes
a.) that every birth-control user will use her (or his) birth control consistently, and
b.) that it will never, ever fail.
Too bad that people have a hard time being constitent, especially teens, who *need it* the most.
And too bad that it fails. A whole lot.
And…too bad that it has some pretty seriously dangerous side-effects. Which I’ll go find and repeat if someone hasn’t heard the list before. So EVEN excluding religion/belief that contraception is wrong in and of itself from the issue– birth control is an impractical answer.
Bleh also said:
“When it comes down to it, all Ye Social Conservatives Who Would Change the World, would you rather have sexual promiscuity or abortion? I’d like to hear some answers to that… and “Neither” is NOT a permissible answer.”
Well guess what buddy, they go hand in hand. Going back to my first point (and one of Fr. Tom’s points), birth control leads to abortion. Think about it: as birth control has become more widely accepted and available, the number of abortions taking place has risen also! If you look at the number of people who used birth control from the last few decades and the number of abortions committed over that time period, I’m pretty darn sure you’ll be able to see a correlation in that rising number. That’s just the evidence. Anyway, Planned Barrenhood, oops, I mean Planned Parenthood, certainly presents abortion as a form of birth control! Not to mention their condoms were rated the worst of all the brands tested by Consumer Reports (…I think I got that from one of Ms. Stanek’s columns). A coincidence? I think not! As Ms. Stanek pointed out, with them being the single biggest provider of abortions in America, that’s pretty convenient, to distribute kajillions of faulty condoms and then have girls needing their “services” as a result! GREAT business scheme. If Planned Parenthood actually cared about preventing pregnancy, they would have the very best condoms, not the worst.
I’d also like to point out that distributing birth control as a means of “preventing” abortion tries to cure the symptoms, so to speak, and not the disease. Saying to teens,
“Well, it’s in your best interest to remain a virgin until marriage, but since I realize that the vast majority of you won’t be able to control yourselves, here’s a bunch of condoms for you;” is virtually the same as saying,
“It’s really dangerous to drink and drive, but since most of you will probably do it anyway, at least remember to wear your seatbelt while you’re drunk driving, okay?”
Yes. That’s pretty ridiculous. Because whether or not Junior has his seatbelt on while he’s drunk driving, and whether or not it saves his life if he does, that’s not the actual problem!! The problem is he needs to stay away from alcohol.
Jen commented, “Really, what is so wrong with birth control? It’s not an abortifacient.”
Well actually, many types of birth control CAN ACT as abortifacients. If they fail to prevent conception, then they will prevent implantation, and at that point the baby already exists. If someone is 100% pro-life, then he will oppose abortion whether it kills a 9-month-old baby or a 9-minute-old baby. Birth control kills an untold number of tiny human beings, and if someone really believes that abortion is wrong, she won’t take the chance in committing one herself. Oh, and condoms. Well they aren’t going to abort a baby, but I imagine they’re part of that “67%” statistic. As mentioned before, they’re pretty bad at preventing pregnancy, and STD’s as well. Again, these are facts, and I can find and cite my sources if need be.
I love how he never actually answered any questions. Sign me up for these dodging classes that you people take! Jee whiz!
Yeah and do you know that girls who participate in purity balls are more likely to have oral sex and anal sex than girls who don’t.
Self control? So even married couples shouldn’t have sex? I swear the that the church is against everything that’s fun, feels good, and just like to control things. Thank goodness, I got out grew my Jesus phase real quick.
Having been a Catholic for far too long, I can tell you that many of the aspects of that institution don’t make much sense. The Church is extremely resistant to change, and while there are some priests who have progressive views, they generally get squashed by the hierarchy.
“And too bad that it fails. A whole lot.”
It fails a lot less than abstinence-only does.
@college tart:
[i]”Think about it: as birth control has become more widely accepted and available, the number of abortions taking place has risen also! If you look at the number of people who used birth control from the last few decades and the number of abortions committed over that time period, I’m pretty darn sure you’ll be able to see a correlation in that rising number.”[/i]
So that automatically means birth control is getting less effective? Or could it mean–gasp! That there are more people having sex, because there are more people in the world! And birth control use has gone up because more kinds of it have become accessible and more kinds are being created! (What a novel idea!!) Correlation is NOT causality. Get back to class, college girl. You’ll figure that out in your statistics class. There’s also a correlation between ice cream sales in the summer and incidence of violent crime. Does that correlation indicate causality? NOPE. It’s just about as valid as your birth control/abortion link. Birth control WORKS when used consistently and correctly, and thus prevents abortions. There are simply more PEOPLE using MORE birth control as it’s become available, and if I’m not mistaken, the number of abortions per year has leveled out instead of rising. Don’t be disingenuous, girl!
[i]Anyway, Planned Barrenhood, oops, I mean Planned Parenthood[/i]
Aww. But NOT so cute, college kid.
[i]Not to mention their condoms were rated the worst of all the brands tested by Consumer Reports (…I think I got that from one of Ms. Stanek’s columns). A coincidence? I think not! As Ms. Stanek pointed out, with them being the single biggest provider of abortions in America, that’s pretty convenient, to distribute kajillions of faulty condoms and then have girls needing their “services” as a result! GREAT business scheme. If Planned Parenthood actually cared about preventing pregnancy, they would have the very best condoms, not the worst.[/i]
Except how much more expensive are the very best condoms? VERY expensive! And what with PP not being particularly rich, they probably can’t AFFORD the best! Would YOU like to donate some money to them so that they can begin stocking the very best brand of condom? (Oh, and for the reference, what WOULD that elusive brand be? I’m sure there’s many people who’d like to know!)
Planned Parenthood would NEVER knowingly distribute “kajillions” (aw, so 3rd-grade) of faulty condoms just to get a profit for itself. Go read the mission statement,or heck, email the leaders of PP, before making blind pronouncements about its motives and goals. I think you’ll be very surprised.
Oh, and by the way, about birth control not being used consistently? THAT’S WHAT COMPREHENSIVE SEX EDUCATION IS FOR. Too bad you Sex Police won’t stand that, because it might give someone the information they need to be responsible!! OH NO!!
“If they fail to prevent conception, then they will prevent implantation, and at that point the baby already exists. ”
ORLY? Then why don’t we celebrate Conception Days?
“Birth control kills an untold number of tiny human beings,”
Looks like I’m guilty of the slaughter of billions of sperm, rushing to their holy goal of fertilization, only to be stopped by the abominable barrier of the condom.
“but I imagine they’re part of that “67%” statistic. As mentioned before, they’re pretty bad at preventing pregnancy, and STD’s as well. ”
The statistics are between 85 and 95% effectiveness. If the same peple using condoms instead had unprotected sex, how many abortions do you think would be taking place? A hell of a lot more. That 67% stat is taken out of context, and you know it.
EAK and Jen,
Just for one second try to think of yourselves as humans with interests other than sex. Within the last few years Ted Turner awarded 1 billion dollars to fund the earth’s depopulation … Ted’s target is a reduction of 95% … will you be among the 1 in 20 who live or be among the 19 (of 20) who die (is killed). Promoting abortion is just one of Ted’s gifts. Are you in one of his crosshairs: I am!
Have to admit though, Ted’s goal is a might remote. A more reasonable reduction of 5 of 6 people is now in the works.
I have a whole pile of living yet to do … but thanks to Ted (and many other folks) guess it would be just be too much … for me to be happy. Instead they always want me to quiver as the jack-boots come to kill me … are you next … how about your folks, your teachers, your classmates … pursue this stupidly and soon you will be pursued and your vindictive words will not help … in a very few years you’ll find yourself cursing the man who holds a gun to your head …
Here’s a breakdown of the interview…
http://www.domusdei.org/2007/03/10/sean-hannity-the-heretic/
Mike
Here is Fr. Tom’s response of the interview on his web blog…
http://spirit-and-life.blogspot.com/2007/03/hannity-liberal.html
Mike
Here is a terrific letter Fr. Tom Euteneuer had written to Melinda Gates about 6 months ago. It’s a MUST READ!
——-
AN OPEN LETTER TO MELINDA GATES
Dear Mrs. Gates:
For many years the world has paid close attention to the foundation that bears your name. No one faults you or your husband for funding excellent programs to keep kids in school and assisting with the advancement of healthcare for the Third World, but the real concern of people of faith has been how the Gateses will use their money when it comes to fighting AIDS, something your husband has called “Public Enemy #1.” If there had been any doubt about it up to this point, your recent address to the 16 th World Conference on AIDS in Toronto settled that question. You are using your high-profile position and extreme wealth to push condoms as a solution to this deadly disease, and that, quite frankly, is irresponsible.
For the moment, we’ll overlook the fact that your opinion is clearly at odds with the defined teaching of your own Church (see side bar information), and we’ll focus on the latex “solution” to AIDS from a purely pragmatic point of view. If you are so sure of your position then please show us any actual success of the condom as a solution to the AIDS pandemic in the last quarter century — any. The tidal wave of ideological rhetoric delivered at the World AIDS Conference does not constitute real proof that condoms have worked to stop the spread of AIDS. In fact, all the evidence is against you.
More (Must Read: The Letter is Awesome!)
http://www.hli.org/sl_2006-08-25.html
Mike
Father Johnathan Morris wrote an open letter to Sean Hannity basically apologizing for Fr. Euteneuer
I only wish I had a dollar for every so-called Catholic who comes onto a place like this, or any other public forum, and says, “Yeah, wow, I’ve been in this Church for ____ years, and they’re really restrictive. They’re really resistant to change. They need to face reality.”
I’d be rich. It’d be tragic rich, but I’d be rich.
And that’s too bad. Because anyone, Catholic or not, who comes out and says this nonsense…just doesn’t get it.
People, the Church’s job isn’t to adapt to the modern culture.
The Church doesn’t owe you, me, or anyone else an “update.”
The Church doesn’t ERR in “failing to acknowledge reality.” The Church is doing the RIGHT thing in failing to “acknowledge” (read: accommodate and baptize) immoral contemporary reality.
The Church isn’t a thermometer. She’s a thermostat. And if you don’t know the difference between those two things, look it up.
The Church stands for truth that’s two thousand years old. The Church actually stands for the REAL “inconvenient truth”–which is that natural family planning is the ONLY form of birth control that doesn’t kill something in its process.
Period.
End of sentence.
It’s not open for debate. It’s not opinion. It’s fact.
Even the most innocent of the abortifacients, birth control pills, has been sold to all of us as “control.” It’s not control. And I didn’t know this until I had been on the Pill in a former life…
The Pill prevents implantataion; this means that a life already exists, it just doesn’t have a place it can “latch onto” and grow into a child. The Pill acts much the same as putting a living, starving child into a roomful of food…but keeping the child behind an impenetrable barricade. The child starves to death.
Tragedy, yes? Well, failing to “allow implantation” is the same exact thing…just done to an embryo rather than to a visible child.
But as Seuss once told us, a person’s a person, no matter how small. So “preventing” something from living is…killing it. Hence, an abortifacient, disguised as “control.”
Natural Family Planning is the world’s best kept secret. It remains the world’s best kept secret, even within the Catholic Church, which is a shame, a sin, and a scandal. Because it’s NOT “rhythm,” people. It’s not unpredictable, and it’s not haphazard. Used faithfully, intelligently, and properly, it has a WAY better success rate than the best condom or Pill.
Yes, it has to do with “abstinence.” So what? Like people are going to die if they don’t have sex whenever they want it, with whomever they want it, and damn the consequences?
The Church is doing the right thing. As most Protestant churches did, until the dawn of the “enlightened” 20th century (read: loosening of decency, morality, and the lie of the “sexual revolution”). Some folks’ “reality” may dictate that we “can’t expect” people to go without sex even if they’re a) underage, b) not married, or c) in some other dire straits. It’s not “normal.”
What’s not “normal” is failing to remember that God had a good idea when He created us…and that idea hasn’t changed. The idea is obedience. To Him. To moral law. And to his Church. If we don’t like His law, it’s not His job to change it…it’s OURS.
Unfortunately, obedient Catholics don’t make news…because they don’t care about such things. But they’re out there. As are obedient Protestants, and people with no creed whatsoever, who’ve figured out that the contraceptive industry exists for one reason, and that reason ain’t for the health of families.
If the Church is too restrictive for you…if she impugnes your freedom so atrociously…there’s no law saying you have to continue to belong. Go your way. Cut your ties with her. Go worship at the altar of contemporary culture.
But be prepared to answer for that when the time comes…because “reality” also dictates that whatever action you take has consequences.
I’ll stay with the Church, thanks. I like the odds of my consequences with her much better.
JWB
P.S. I apologize for the formatting here…can’t seem to get the text to work correctly.
Really, what is so wrong with birth control? It’s not an abortifacient
Jen,
I don’t know how many times on these threads I had to explain hormonal contraception is “abortifacient in nature”. Once again here is how it works…
The pill, Norplant, Depo-Provera, emergency contraception, the IUD – all of these chemical contraceptives have three basic modes of operation:
1. They can act to suppress ovulation (the release of an egg from the ovary). However, women can and do experience breakthrough ovulation, meaning that an egg is released and available to be fertilized.
2. They can cause the cervical mucus to thicken, making it difficult for the sperm to reach the egg. It is possible, though, for the sperm to break through the mucus and to fertilize the egg.
3. They can alter the lining of the uterus making it difficult, if not impossible, for the 7-9 day old developing baby to attach to the uterine lining, where it would receive the nourishment necessary for further development. The baby would then be expelled from the body during menstruation. This process is known as a chemical abortion and is why the pill is referred to as an abortifacient.
Sources:
1999 Physicians Desk Reference
Planned Parenthood
A Consumer’s Guide to the Pill and other Drugs, by John Wilks, B. Pharm., M.P.S.
http://all.org/article.php?id=10217&PHPSESSID=d6c4aac5ba558445f33333c239f77391
Mike
The 1913 Webster’s dictionary defines conscience in the modern sense as:
* the faculty power, or inward principle which decides as to the character of one’s own actions, purposes,
* the faculty power, or inward principle which decides as to the character of one’s own actions, purposes, and affections, warning against and condemning that which is wrong, and approving and prompting to that which is right;
* the moral faculty passing judgment on one’s self;
The human animal has a set of instincts and drives which enable us to form societies. These drives are a result of natural selection: groups of humans without these drives, or in whom they are insufficiently strong, cannot form cohesive societies and do not reproduce their kind as successfully as those that do. They either cannot survive in nature, or are defeated in conflict with other, more cohesive groups.
A requirement of conscience, then, is the capacity to see ourselves from the point of view of another person. Persons unable to do this (those suffering from narcissism, sociopathy, psychopathy) therefore often act in ways which are “evil”.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
# “To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.” – A Short History of England, Ch.10 G K Chesterton
# “Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.” – ILN, 4/19/30 GK Chesterton
# “Most modern freedom is at root fear. It is not so much that we are too bold to endure rules; it is rather that we are too timid to endure responsibilities.” – What’s Wrong With the World
GK Chesterton
Janet,
Kudos…couldn’t have said it better myself!
MK
HOORAY, GOOD WORK JILL!!!!!!
The teachings of the Catholic church are clear.
If you are going to call yourself Catholic then abide by her teachings. Christ, truth itself, commisioned the Church “Upon this Rock I will build my Church”. The commision was given to Perter 2000 + years ago. His successor sits in the Vatican.
Truth is not subjective, Hannity should know this. Catholics do not “make it up”. To say some teachings “do not make sense” is simply a lack of understanding brought on by a fallen nature trying to grasp an eternal God. The finite can never fully grasp the infinite in time and spce nor eternity.
Contraception is such an excellent example. When it first became avaiable all main line protestant churches called it a sin, but due to cultural pressure withdrew there postion. The Catholic Church did not and will not.
The fruit of contraception is now staring us in the face, woman used as objects, sexulaized culture, negative birth rates in Western cultures, std’s etc… You want to export are sexually saturated culture to third world countries, give em birth control instead of Godly teaching and watch the disaster unfold.
MGK
P.S. God Bless Jill Stanek, my hero. Both of My Children wer born at Christ Hospital. It mazes me the body of people at Christ are such traditional Christians and yet horrors can still happen there. Evil is insidious, kind of like birth control.
Go Marquette… MU 78 MSU 69. Let the madness begin.
“Evil is insidious, kind of like birth control.”
Ya know, some people take birth control for reasons like…to ease the pain that comes with ovarian cysts. It’s pretty clear that a lot of the people who post on this board just make full-coverage, ignorant statements on the blind assumption that their priest or minister knows everything, rather than actually educating themselves a little on the issue at hand. I suppose that we could get into a discussion about the massive problems that the rest of us see with the Catholic church, as well, but for now, let’s just leave it with the statement that it isn’t as wonderful and magnificent as you pretend it to be.