Late-night hosts all Catholic

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Phil Donohue is married to Marlo Thomas , Danny Thomas’ daughter.

He interviewed his father in law just a few days before his death.
 
My mom was a Phil Donahue fan and I remember him fondly. Wasn’t he Catholic? I’m not sure if he was national or local.
You must be from Dayton.

Though Donahue is very good at what he does, sorry, I’m not a fan. He has been critical of the Church’s teachings time and again, and with the high public profile he has, that can cause great damage to souls.

However, I will have to confess that I, too, have wondered (as Donahue did in his biography) why God the Father required the death of His own Son as an atonement for the sins of the world — couldn’t He have simply forgiven it all unconditionally? When my own son disobeys what I will him to do, I forgive him immediately without requiring anything in return.

There I must end. We must accept these mysteries on faith.
 
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Yes, I’m from Dayton! I don’t ever remember him discussing faith on the show…did he? Or were these remarks elsewhere. It was a long time ago.
 
I remember a good discussion between Donohue and Martin Scorsese about the Faith.

If I remember, Donohue was advocating for change in church teaching, but Scorsese stated he believed church teaching to be correct, he wasn’t capable of following them.
 
Was this on the show?
I mostly remember his ability to make guests relax and his laugh. He seemed a gentleman.
 
Scorsese stated he believed church teaching to be correct, he wasn’t capable of following them.
How refreshing. Honesty about one’s spiritual state.

In the modern age, at least in this country, people want to feel good about themselves, and to feel good about anything they choose to do. So rather than concede something is a sin, if they are Catholic, they say it’s no sin, and that the Church must change to recognize this. This is most common where the behavior in question concerns marriage and/or sexuality. This is what drives dissent about contraception, divorce and remarriage, solitary sexual activity, homosexual acts, and so on.
 
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He was also close friends with Erma Bombeck and I loved her books! She was so funny in her honesty.
I didn’t think saying something negative about Erma Bombeck would be quite the thing to do on Mother’s Day, but I wasn’t a fan of hers either. She publicly called into question the Church’s teaching and practice on birth control, saying “let’s face it, the world cannot afford this kind of Catholicism” (or words to that effect). Funny lady, to be sure, but I much preferred Theresa Bloomingdale in Our Sunday Visitor after that.

Requiescat in pace.
 
Funny lady, to be sure, but I much preferred Theresa Bloomingdale in Our Sunday Visitor after that.
Theresa Bloomingdale wrote several books, but then one I remember is “I Should Have Seen It Coming When the Rabbit Died,” which I read as a teenager, then gave it to my mother.
Theresa Bloomingdale said that someone had called her “the Catholic Erma Bombeck,” but she replied, “No, Erma Bombeck is the Catholic Erma Bombeck”
 
I am torn between feeling like he’s making fun of something ostensibly holy, or whether he’s pointing out that liturgical dance is a bad cultural fit for North America.

Bishop Sheen once said that Africa and Asia would be more suited to the Byzantine Rite. (Sorry, I don’t have a source.) I assume he was referring to its being more visual, more physically animated (though they do not dance), a lot of things going on at once, as opposed to the more cerebral, somber, linear Latin Rite.
 
Why would you think its either?

All I saw was him being goofy. He is a comedian.
 
That video definitely cracks me up.
I think you have posted it before.
 
I used to watch Phil Donohue in high school.

He used to zip around the audience to get to the members who had a question.

When I watched, his show frequently featured controversial topics.

I did watch the Danny Thomas interview. I liked Danny Thomas. I loved “That Girl” as a little girl, though I don’t remember it very well.

I liked Make Room for Daddy, my favorite character was the extra dramatic uncle Tanouse, played by Hans Conried.

There was an episode about a family feud over burial plots, and Uncle Tanoose felt slighted because he wanted the plot closest to a plum tree. His was too far he wouldn’t get any plums, just the discarded pits. I guess he didn’t realize he’d be dead.
 
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