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Beyond Belief: Is Hannity Getting Religion? (Fr. Thomas J. Euteneuer
Spirit and Life ^ | 9/14/2007 | Fr. Thomas J. Euteneuer

Posted on 9/13/2007, 10:32:04 PM by Pyro7480

Has anyone noticed how Sean Hannity’s “tele”vision of America has gotten a bit more, shall we say, “religious” recently? In the past few months Mr. Hannity has aired some very interesting documentaries on religious and pro-life issues that never seem to have gotten coverage on cable TV before. His major weekend show even has a feature called “Beyond Belief” which deals exclusively with religious themes such as the Shroud, exorcism, the stigmata, miraculous cures, etc. After the reaction to the famous “contraception” interview I had with him on March 9th, I suspect that Fox News clued into how many traditional Catholics are viewers of their network and are now playing to that audience. As entertainment, these shows may pull big ratings, but I doubt that real Catholics will be convinced of any real conversion on Mr. Hannity’s part from his cultural Catholicism to authentic Catholicism.

On the plus side, we owe a great debt of gratitude to Sean for last week’s documentary on the perverse deceptions of Planned Parenthood in trying to open their new abortion fortress in Aurora, IL. Apparently the 15 abortion services that advertise or operate in Aurora already were not enough, so the masters of abortion had to step in there to provide more killing services. Sean’s program highlighted not only the legal manipulations but showed the actual documentation and featured interviews with activists like Eric Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League and abortion survivors. The graphic interview with Yvonne Florczak-Seaman was unprecedented in detailing the brutal nature of the abortion industry and its destructive effects on women. Sean couldn’t have done a better job in going after the abortion kingpins!

The irony of exposing Planned Parenthood, however, is that Hannity’s own position on contraception is literally no different than that of the murderous organization. In the March 9th interview, he used the hackneyed argument that if we want to reduce abortion we need contraception. Well, this argument is no less deceptive than the hypocrisy that he condemns in Planned Parenthood. Sarah Stoesz, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Minnesota said something similar last year: “Since half of all pregnancies are unintended and half of those result in abortion, I suggest [pro-lifers] put their money toward family planning services to people who otherwise wouldn't be able to afford it and thereby really make a difference in the rate of abortion.”

What Sarah conveniently neglects to tell us (and what Sean refuses to acknowledge) is that more than half of all abortions in the US are done as back-up for failed contraception. On that same show, former abortionist Beverly McMillan admitted as much when she said that the clinics try to get teenage girls into their clinics for three or more abortions in their lifetimes. The only way this can be done is through contraceptive promotion. Sean Hannity seemed to be unconvinced of that argument when I made it, but it is nonetheless true and, I might add, it is the Catholic Church’s official teaching.

While I am grateful for his exposé of Planned Parenthood, what we still need from Sean Hannity and other “Catholics” in the media is some evidence that they are faithful to the core beliefs of the Church. Anyone can provide religious entertainment for ratings, but Catholics in public life have an extra grave obligation to be faithful to the Church’s vision, not their own “television.”


TOPICS: Catholic; Current Events; Moral Issues; Religion & Politics
KEYWORDS: christianmedia; euteneuer; foxnews; hannity; plannedparenthood; prolife
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Fr. Euteneuer reigniting his conflict with Hannity?
1 posted on 9/13/2007, 10:32:07 PM by Pyro7480
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To: Siobhan; Canticle_of_Deborah; NYer; Salvation; sandyeggo; american colleen; Desdemona; ...

Catholic ping!


2 posted on 9/13/2007, 10:33:14 PM by Pyro7480 ("Jesu, Jesu, Jesu, esto mihi Jesus" -St. Ralph Sherwin's last words at Tyburn)
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To: Pyro7480; Lady In Blue; Salvation; narses; SMEDLEYBUTLER; redhead; Notwithstanding; nickcarraway; ..

Please keep us apprised of any new developments.


3 posted on 9/13/2007, 10:38:04 PM by NYer ("Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church" - Ignatius of Antioch)
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To: Pyro7480; Lady In Blue; Salvation; narses; SMEDLEYBUTLER; redhead; Notwithstanding; nickcarraway; ..

Please keep us apprised of any new developments.


4 posted on 9/13/2007, 10:38:51 PM by NYer ("Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church" - Ignatius of Antioch)
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To: Pyro7480

Now maybe he’ll dump Alan Colmunnist


5 posted on 9/13/2007, 10:39:44 PM by clamper1797 (Tonkin Gulf Yacht club 1972 1973 ... OH and BTW GO Fred GO)
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To: clamper1797

But Alan isn’t Catholic.


6 posted on 9/13/2007, 10:40:40 PM by Pyro7480 ("Jesu, Jesu, Jesu, esto mihi Jesus" -St. Ralph Sherwin's last words at Tyburn)
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To: Pyro7480

What Sarah conveniently neglects to tell us (and what Sean refuses to acknowledge) is that more than half of all abortions in the US are done as back-up for failed contraception.
***That’s the first time I’ve heard this little statistic.


7 posted on 9/13/2007, 10:50:30 PM by Kevmo (We should withdraw from Iraq — via Tehran. And Duncan Hunter is just the man to get that job done.)
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To: Pyro7480

To be honest there are lots more folks that the good Fr. could be unloading on.


8 posted on 9/13/2007, 10:55:11 PM by mware (By all that you hold dear..on this good earth... I bid you stand! Men of the West!)
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To: mware

I agree 100%.


9 posted on 9/13/2007, 11:06:13 PM by utahagen
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To: Pyro7480
More than forty years ago, I more or less bought the argument advanced by John Rock, the inventer of the pill, that its availability would put an end to abortions on a large scale. But Father’s argument is well-taken. A birth control regimen is hard enough for determined, disciplined married couples--as hard as natural family planning. It is very difficult for people whose sex lives, their whole lives, are very irregular: hit and miss, and driven by emotion. Today I was in the dentist chair while “The View” was on, and the “girls” were blathering about how much “fun” sex is. Well, yeah. But, really, one has to be a bit jaded to think of it as something done casually. They were going on about how "puritanical" Americans were. Quite apart from the fact that the real Puritanss were anything but priggish about sex, they understood better than Whoopi and the rest than sex is a seriously matter. Want casual sex? That's what brothels were for. Now adultery, that was another matter entirely.
10 posted on 9/13/2007, 11:14:51 PM by RobbyS ( CHIRHO)
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To: Pyro7480
Click here to see a Youtube version of Hannity's piece on Planned Parenthood.
11 posted on 9/14/2007, 12:01:34 AM by Dajjal
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To: Pyro7480

Have you noticed the new “Unbelievable” segment that he has on Hannity’s America?

First was the stigmate and he featured St. Pio of Pietrelcina. (Padre Pio)

I have seen a couple more, but do not recall the topics.


12 posted on 9/14/2007, 12:05:48 AM by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: Pyro7480; Scotswife
On the plus side, we owe a great debt of gratitude to Sean for last week’s documentary on the perverse deceptions of Planned Parenthood in trying to open their new abortion fortress in Aurora, IL.

Technically what Hannity criticized Planned Parenthood for was not that they kill babies, but that they tell lies to city bureaucrats, withhold criminal information from the police, that half-way through a "surgery" they demand more money from the patient, and that they ignore a patient's "No" when she changes her mind.

13 posted on 9/14/2007, 12:07:41 AM by Dajjal
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To: Pyro7480
Has anyone noticed how Sean Hannity’s “tele”vision of America has gotten a bit more, shall we say, “religious” recently?

I noticed. He had a segment on Padre Pio recently and a few of us couldn't figure out why. He did a segment on the Shroud a couple of weeks ago too.

14 posted on 9/14/2007, 12:43:57 AM by Canticle_of_Deborah (Catholic4Mitt)
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To: Canticle_of_Deborah

**Shroud**

That was one of the other topics I watched. I am almost in disbelief.


15 posted on 9/14/2007, 12:52:57 AM by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: mware
To be honest there are lots more folks that the good Fr. could be unloading on.

Amen. Going after Hannity gets Eutenauer publicity he would not receive otherwise. Hannity - of whom I am not a big fan - is one of the good guys. Eutenaeur goes after him for not being, in Euteneur's opinion, "good enough" and, as usual, this conflation of contraception with abortion does the pro-life movement absolutely no good. Contraception is legal, and will and should remain legal. If you're a Catholic, like me, you're more than welcome not to use it.

16 posted on 9/14/2007, 1:51:04 AM by cammie
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To: Pyro7480
You should have included the postscript.

"P.S. By the way, just for the record, I did indeed write to Mr. Hannity after the March 9th interview and ask to meet with him again. He did not answer my letter, but then again, I didn’t expect him to. What I do expect of him, however, is some deep soul-searching to decide whether his Catholicism is a matter of entertainment or a matter of salvation."

17 posted on 9/14/2007, 2:00:29 AM by A.A. Cunningham
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To: mware
To be honest there are lots more folks that the good Fr. could be unloading on.

Sorry, don't agree. Hannity portrays himself as a good Catholic boy. When he publicly contradicts the Church's teaching on contraception, he shows that he's just another dissident who has no right to pretend to be an upstanding Catholic.

We need about 1000 more priests like Fr. Euteneuer, frankly.
18 posted on 9/14/2007, 2:00:40 AM by Antoninus (Republicans who support Rudy owe Bill Clinton an apology.)
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To: cammie
this conflation of contraception with abortion does the pro-life movement absolutely no good.

You are sadly mistaken. This fusion is designed to educate the masses who don't realize that oral contraceptives are abortifacient in nature. Someone who claims to be a Catholic, like you, should know that.

19 posted on 9/14/2007, 2:03:20 AM by A.A. Cunningham
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To: Pyro7480

Recite the whole Catechism every day or you’re not good enough?


20 posted on 9/14/2007, 2:05:57 AM by hocndoc (http://www.lifeethics.org/www.lifeethics.org/index.html)
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