On Fox News Fearless HLI Priest Takes on Sean Hannity (may be indebted for saving his soul)

LifeSite ^ | March 13, 2007 | John-Henry Westen

[NYer]

NEW YORK, March 13, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Last Friday, the President of Human Life International, Fr. Tom Euteneuer used his weekly column to point out the hypocrisy of Catholic celebrity Sean Hannity, one of the stars of Fox News' Hannity and Colmes show.

Hannity had, on a show the week before, made a big deal of apologizing for having inadvertently eaten a couple of bites of a meat sandwich on a Friday during Lent.  In his column, Fr. Euteneuer pointed out that the meat incident was not sinful at all, and "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.'"

Explaining the gravity of the situation, Fr. Euteneuer noted, "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."  In his concluding remarks he stated: "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." (see the full column here: http://www.hli.org/sl_2007-03-09.html )

Hannity's dissent from Church teaching on contraception is long-standing and very public.  In fact, in 2004, his public stand in favor of contraception made it into a commentary in the oldest Catholic newspaper in the United States, the Wanderer. 

On a show in 2004, Hannity was explaining his opposition to withholding Communion from Catholic politicians who support legal abortion.  At the time he pointed out that should Communion be withheld from liberals it could also be withheld from conservatives such as he since, he said, he had no problem with contraception.

Hannity's press handlers called the HLI leader the day his column was published to have him address Hannity live on the program.  Fr. Euteneuer obliged and began a reasoned, calm presentation of his case. "One is simply obliged not to be a heretic in public. That's the point," said Fr. Euteneuer in response to an initial question from Colmes. "If (Hannity) doesn't agree with his Church on that matter he should not be pronouncing on the matter as if he was the authority on that matter. He's not."

However rather than argue for his case on contraception or even address the points made in Fr. Euteneuer's article Hannity immediately jumped to the offensive.  "Reverend. Let me, let me just say… You call me a hypocrite. You question the depth of my faith. Do you know anything about me and my religious beliefs? And my background religion? do you know anything about me?"

"I only see the evidence Sean. I see the evidence of a superficial presentation of one aspect of the faith. I see the…," replied Fr. Euteneuer just before he was cut off by Hannity's attack on the Catholic Church via the sex abuse scandals.  "Judge not lest you be judged, Reverend", interrupted Hannity.  "Maybe you ought to spend a little more time that our Church covered up one of the worst sex scandals and I wasn't involved in it. And the fact that public people after that are willing to still be Catholic is something you should be applauding. Considering the levels of corruption at the highest levels of the Church was frankly embarrassing to every person."

Many commenting on Hannity, have said that he 'lost it' with the priest.  "Do you know that I went to a seminary? Do you know that I studied Latin? Do you know that I studied theology?," said Hannity at one point just before repeating charges about corruption and sex scandals in the church.

The only time Hannity seemed especially affected by the priest came right at the end of the segment when Hannity demanded, "Wait, would you deny me communion?"  Fr. Euteneuer replied, "I would."  Hannity, visibly moved, replied, "Wow, wow." (See the segment on vido here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f50fD5elrcg )

Despite his courage and fidelity, Fr. Euteneuer has received criticism for his stand even from some Catholics who, despite decades of persistent, public and very damaging scandal to the faith by prominent individuals, still insist that behind-the-scenes, personal dialogue is the only acceptable response.  It has been suggested that the HLI leader should have approached Hannity privately.  However, in 2004, after Hannity 's scandalous remarks about contraception Fr. Euteneuer did attempt to personally contact Hannity with his concerns but to no avail.

The broadcast is being praised for having raised publicly that contraception leads to abortion and is contrary to the Catholic faith.  It has also shown that the Catholic Church is impartial in its estimation of liberals and conservatives, and must correct equally all those who reject the Church's authoritative teachings on faith and morals.

Probably the saddest chapter of the event was Fox News publishing an open letter to Sean Hannity by Father Jonathan Morris, a regular news contributor for the fox News Channel.  Fr. Morris, vice rector for the Legionnaries of Christ seminary in Rome, wrote that when he saw the program, "I hung my head in shame and sadness."   Fr. Morris continued, "My colleague in religion (whom I've never met) used the public airways and Internet to call you a heretic and hypocrite. Because he chose to do this in a public forum, I want you and your viewers to know, publicly, that as an analyst of this television network, I believe this good priest, who does great work, exercised, on this occasion, shockingly poor judgment. I consider his willingness to give his personal opinion about your status within the Church inappropriate and ill-considered, to say the least."

In an open letter responding to Fr. Morris, Fr. Euteneuer wrote: "Your letter to Sean Hannity indicates that you did not know that I asked to speak to him in private about this matter in 2004 otherwise you may have tempered your remarks about my supposed lack of charity in dealing with a high profile Catholic who dissents from clearly-defined and reiterated Church teachings."

"May I also point out," added Fr. Euteneuer, "that you did not employ with me the same standard of "fraternal correction" that you expected me to employ with Mr. Hannity. I at least made the attempt to speak to him about this issue in private without success; you, in contrast, went immediately to the internet to take me to task."  (See both Fr. Morris' letter and Fr. Euteneuer's response: http://www.hli.org/article_open_letter_to_fr_morris.html )

As a man who has defended the Catholic position on the right to life for the unborn, on traditional marriage, and against the euthanasia of Terri Schiavo, Sean Hannity has come to grips with many of the hard teachings of the faith.  Some observers are suggesting that his encounter with the Church's position on contraception, was an eye-opener and may in fact lead Hannity to a fuller adherence to what he professes to believe.  To this priest, who so perturbed him, Hannity may one day find himself grateful, perhaps eternally so.

[justshutupandtakeit]

OK I am sorry I had to point out that you LIED about me. There are plenty of things you could productively CLOSE.

[davidwendell]

They are not the same, but they are both serious enough to warrant the decision by a priest to withhold communion in certain circumstances.

[davidwendell]

Many forms of "contraception" are actually abortive. IUDs, Norplant, and Birth Control Pills all kill babys AFTER they have been conceived.

[Barney Gumble]

Just heard about this actually. Did you notice how Sean started arguing like a liberal?

He was being accused on promoting contreception but he responded by throwing in the priest molestation scandal. He was essentially saying "you can't accuse of me of doing something wrong because some people in the same organization as you did something bad several years ago."

Talk about a classic red herring.

[OldFriend]

Using that ugly justification that people should be taught about contraception as a way of preventing unwanted pregnancies.

That is, if they're not catholics.

Then he says he teaches his children the church's way. But of course, he discusses sexual behaviour with a 6 and 8 yr. old........

[TaxachusettsMan]

Sean is just not that bright . . .

[reg45]

I may be wrong, but I believe Catholic Church allows natural contraception, e.g., "calendar system."

Sometimes called "Vatican roulette".

[dbz77]

Sheltering homosexual pedophile priests is apparently insufficient grounds for denying communion.

[dbz77]

All hormonal contraceptives have at least the potential to prevent implantation. (That's according to the package inserts that come with the drug; i.e., according to the manufacturer.) If you believe that life begins at conception (as you should), that means they can, sometimes, work by causing an early abortion.

And how does the morality of using these drugs differ if they are taken before intercourse (when there is no possibility of anything inside to implant) versus after intercourse (when there is a possibility that there is something to implant)?

[Pyro7480]

Why are you reviving all these old friends? You’re behaving like an anti-Catholic troll.

[dbz77]

I think this whole issue was created by people who were not getting any and are jealous that everyone else that they knew is getting some.

[Pyro7480]

threads, not friends.

[dbz77]

. (Unless you count abstinence, and the Church has no objection to that one.)

Lesbianism is also 100% effective (although the Church opposes that).

[dbz77]

For the same reason that we don't hear much about denying communion to combat soldiers (many of whom are Catholic), or to folks who have used lethal force in individual self-defense.

So then termination of a pregnancy that is a threat to the mother's life constitutes self-defense.

Does the Church agree?

[Mr. Lucky]

You're behaving like an anti-Catholic troll

"Like" an anti-Catholic troll? He is the very definition of an anti-Catholic troll.

[ArrogantBustard]

???? Good job diggin up a 2 year old thread.

pregnancy that is a threat to the mother's life

Please be specific. Feel free to use actual standard medical terms. I'll know what you're talking about.

[dbz77]

Answer: you stop having sexual relations with your wife.

Sadly, this is all too common in too many marriages.

[dbz77]

You're right - when it all came to light, some incidents happened in the 70's!

It does not change a fact that there was a cover-up.

[ArrogantBustard]

dbz77, are you actually interested in rational discussion, or just bomb-throwing?

Seriously. Your comment about "not getting any" leads me to suspect that you're just attempting to inflict your mental problems on this forum. If so, seek help.

[Yaelle]

I love Sean Hannity. I am going to go out on a wild limb and say that probably he and his wife only wanted two children, which they have, and there has not been a conception since then. Many of my Catholic friends also felt “done” after two children and did something about it. Not everyone relies on natural family planning. They feel guilty but they still do it.

My friend who recently had a vasectomy went to confession about it, and was told to have it undone. He will not. Their family is complete, and one of their children has special needs.

I am not Catholic so I should not even be commenting but I am only standing up for Sean — he is probably deeply religious and faithful, like my friends, but simply feels he has had enough kids.