Silence won't work any longer [Hugh Hewitt on high-stakes moment for Church, Kerry, the unborn]

www.worldnetdaily.com ^ | March 31, 2004 | Hugh Hewitt

[Solson]

Again Hugh hits on strong points otherwise avoided by the MSM (MainStream Media). Bush has a total of what?, 5 ads out, with half being Kerry defining. Yet, the result is a 16 point turnaround? If Bush's ads are THAT GOOD, he and his staff will be known as political geniuses for the ages. However, that's just not the case.

I think folks see the Dems really starting to politicize 9/11. I think folks see Kerry trying to be everything to everybody and it has weakened him. I think folks see Kerry for his post-Vietnam actions and are dismayed.

Bush will win this election barring any last minute attempts to derail.

[thoughtomator]

This the same guy who told all conservatives in California to sit down and STFU when they tried to raise this issue during the election.

[Zack Nguyen]

There is a war in the Catholic Church, just like there is in several Protestant denominations. The problem, as I see it, is that Catholic seminaries have put priests and bishops in place who care nothing for the Biblical ideals of life or marriage.

At the same time, many bishops and priests are in place who do. Does the Vatican have the muscle to start making life difficult for priests who deny the Bible? Do the faithful priests have the guts and clout to start making life difficult for pro-abortion, pro-homoexual marriage politicians?

[Solson]

The Pope, through his installed Bishops is starting to win this fight. Seminaries fall under Diocesan control, I believe. Thus, installing the right Bishops will do wonders in getting things back under strong Catholic teaching.

[ninenot]

Not to put too fine a point on it, but Hewitt is not a Catholic. His "advice" to the Church is actually setting Her up.

Perhaps Hewitt can advise the leadership of his own church (whatever that may be) and get an audience from them.

And, as observed above, Hewitt is rather selective in his indignation: Ahhhhhhnnnnnnold GOOD, Kerry BAD. But they advocate identical morality positions.

Hugh, baby!! Ever hear of consistency?

[RonDog]

A yellow flower zipper pull says a lot. Especially to our enemies.

This image really needs ITS OWN thread:

CAPTION THIS:
John Kerry as "Alpha Weenie" - with yellow flower-power zipper pull
www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1108645/posts

[RonDog]

Not to put too fine a point on it, but Hewitt is not a Catholic.
His "advice" to the Church is actually setting Her up.

Perhaps Hewitt can advise the leadership of his own church (whatever that may be) and get an audience from them.

See also, from www.crisismagazine.com:

Denominational Sabbatical

Conservative radio talk-show host Hugh Hewitt, who is author of The Embarrassed Believer: Reviving Christian Witness in an Age of Unbelief, says he’s "on leave" from the Catholic Church. He argues, "The American Church...needs a reformation." But, he despairs, "none is even remotely close to occurring." Hewitt points to the new cathedral in Los Angeles as "the perfect expression of the American Church today—so sterile it could be an air conditioning plant and designed to please non-Catholics with the taste of the leadership."

Hewitt describes his move from Roman Catholicism to Presbyterianism as partly positive and partly negative. He considers himself an "ex-pat, obliged to move to a Protestant expression of faith because I experience God’s presence more easily and more conclusively as a Presbyterian and began to do so over a dozen years ago." Presbyterianism works for him in ways Catholicism no longer did. "The Presbyterian confessions and order of worship are very left-brain and made me into a much better Christian," he says.

But some of the reasons for Hewitt’s move were direct reactions to problems he saw in the Catholic Church. Hewitt says, "The American bishops literally drove me out. I could not read the paper without muttering about their inanities. James Malone, the bishop of Youngstown, my bishop, who confirmed me, sputtering about nuclear weapons and poverty"—all this while Hewitt worked in the Reagan White House.

"These silly men," Hewitt complains, "issued reams of nonsense and met and met and met even as the liturgy collapsed into incoherence and the preaching dissolved into eight-minute homilies on the need for love. There was also the problem of the Responsorial Antiphon. It would almost always cause me to either laugh or grind my teeth. Is there a worse collection of ‘music’ anywhere? And the Christian Rite of Initiation, and the revamped Sacrament of Reconciliation—all of it just another set of committee reports from priests and nuns bored with the old Church. I could go on, but my guess is that you have heard it all before."

Hewitt concludes, "There is enormous energy and talent within the American Church which might over the years genuinely renew it and rebuild it. But I need God on a much more immediate basis."

Hewitt’s complaints will not surprise many practicing Catholics. If the average American Catholic based his faith formation and spiritual growth on statements issued by subcommittees of the bishops’ conference—or limp parish homilies—people would be dropping out at a much greater rate. Happily, the average American Catholic looks beyond these things...

CLICK HERE for the rest of that article

[MeekOneGOP]

Ping!

"When Kerry campaigned in Missouri in February," Time also reported, "St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke publicly warned him 'not to present himself for Communion' – an ostracism that Canon Law 915 reserves for 'those who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin.'"

[onyx]

Hugh nails him,
and I am very pleased with
Archbishop Raymond Burke.
O'Malley of Boston had better be on the same page.

[onyx]

You're slipping Meek. Thought for sure, you'd post this:

[ought-six]

Hewitt is once again spot-on with this article.

[ought-six]

"I agree. It ain't hurt Teddy enough among so called Catholics to keep him out of the senate."

Not the same thing, and the reason is that Massachusetts, for some sick reason, is pathologically enthralled with the Kennedys; not so the rest of the country. Massacusetts knows it is despised by virtually the rest of the country, so its citizens have a seige mentality, and will vote for anyone whom the rest of the country rejects (George McGovern, in 1972, ONLY carried Massachusetts), almost out of spite. Massacusetts' Catholics will, by and large, give Kerry a pass, just as they've given the Kennedy clan a lifetime pass, renewable for each succeeding generation. Catholics in flyover country, however, tend to take their faith seriously, and I don't think Kerry will enjoy much support from that element.

[ought-six]

Annnnnold is not a Catholic, I don't believe, so the comparison isn't valid. If Ahhhhnold is a Catholic, and he supports broad abortion as Kerry does, AND he receives communion, then Ahhhhnold should be vilified just as much as Kerry.

[Valin]

But many Catholics are, like Kerry, struggling with contradictions between the church's teachings and what they practice."


Leave...next question.

[jwalsh07]

Bumper sticker I saw on a fellows RI car yesterday along with his IWO JIMA VET sticker:

YOU CAN'T BE A CHIRSTIAN AND PRO CHOICE!

[CA Conservative]

Not to put too fine a point on it, but Hewitt is not a Catholic. His "advice" to the Church is actually setting Her up.

I'm not a Catholic either, but how is this setting the church up? Encouraging them to stay true to their teachings?

With regard to Arnold, Hugh has always said that he will support the most conservative candidate that could win. In the recall, that was Arnold. As much as I liked Tom McClintock, he never had a shot at winning that race. So he is being consistent.

[Travis McGee]

ping

[MeekOneGOP]

haha ! Oh, yeah ... that pic is PERFECT for this thread alright ! ...

[Lady In Blue]

I agree with Hewitt's sentiments but I would have more respect for him if he would at the same time call to task those Protestant churches who remain silent about their own pro-abortian politicians.Jimmy Carter is one example.

[Lady In Blue]

I think it's beyond arrogance for Hewitt to say squat about the Catholic Church. He needs to help clean up his own house before lecturing the Catholic Church.