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More from Fr. Euteneuer: "the “Hannitization” of the Church will not prevail!"
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Al_Masetti
Guest
This is the result of NO comments from the pulpit on contraception in 40 years.
Instead of making an example out of Hannity, I’d rather see the Catholic Church embark on a program of education of the laity. Hannity is merely an instrument on the dashboard of the American Catholic Church. The instrument shows that there is abysmal ignorance of Church teachings, doctrine and dogma.
Instead of angrily destroying the instrument panel, which would accomplish nothing, it would be far far more efficacious to fix what is broken under the hood of the car …
It isn’t Hannity’s fault that nobody knows anything.
Hannity is merely reflecting the status of the Catholic laity.
In my opinion, the reason why Catholic Answers was needed was the lack of any kind of education for Catholics. Had the Catholic Church maintained its program of educating and teaching, there would be no need for Catholic Answers.
Think of all the programs at the parish level that used to be widespread and that are long gone and have been gone for decades and decades.
Legion of Mary, Holy Name Society, monthly Communion Breakfasts, daily religious education in the Catholic schools (which are for the most part gone).
You can name many more programs. I’m just typing a stream of consciousness list.
We do have some social groups, but few devotional and educational groups.
Hannity did not cause the problems that currently reside within the Catholic Church.
If the Church wants to see what caused the problems, it should look in the mirror; these are self-inflicted wounds.
Instead of making an example out of Hannity, I’d rather see the Catholic Church embark on a program of education of the laity. Hannity is merely an instrument on the dashboard of the American Catholic Church. The instrument shows that there is abysmal ignorance of Church teachings, doctrine and dogma.
Instead of angrily destroying the instrument panel, which would accomplish nothing, it would be far far more efficacious to fix what is broken under the hood of the car …
It isn’t Hannity’s fault that nobody knows anything.
Hannity is merely reflecting the status of the Catholic laity.
In my opinion, the reason why Catholic Answers was needed was the lack of any kind of education for Catholics. Had the Catholic Church maintained its program of educating and teaching, there would be no need for Catholic Answers.
Think of all the programs at the parish level that used to be widespread and that are long gone and have been gone for decades and decades.
Legion of Mary, Holy Name Society, monthly Communion Breakfasts, daily religious education in the Catholic schools (which are for the most part gone).
You can name many more programs. I’m just typing a stream of consciousness list.
We do have some social groups, but few devotional and educational groups.
Hannity did not cause the problems that currently reside within the Catholic Church.
If the Church wants to see what caused the problems, it should look in the mirror; these are self-inflicted wounds.
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jam070406
Guest
soooo… Hannity should just be allowed to continue misrepresenting the faith, disrespecting men of the cloth and slandering the Church to millions of tv viewers because it’s the Church’s fault anyway?
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Kristen
Guest
Jam, I don’t think that was Al’s point at all. It’s a question of what the best use of our limited energy is. Wouldn’t it be more effective to teach the many, many “guys in the pews” the richness of the faith than to uselessly fight the hardened heart of Hannity? We have done what we can for him (save prayer!); let’s move on to learn the useful lessons from this sad episode. Great comment, Al! 
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jam070406
Guest
but of course!Jam, I don’t think that was Al’s point at all. It’s a question of what the best use of our limited energy is. Wouldn’t it be more effective to teach the many, many “guys in the pews” the richness of the faith than to uselessly fight the hardened heart of Hannity? We have done what we can for him (save prayer!); let’s move on to learn the useful lessons from this sad episode. Great comment, Al!
i see your point. but i also commend Fr. E. for making it well known that Hannity’s view is NOT that of the church. and he shouldn’t let up because the masses need to hear the truth.
and hopefully such actions by the good Father will help Hannity to stop and think before he opens his mouth about the Church again.
so, yes… on better education. no… on letting up on Hannity.
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Tom317
Guest
Hannity knows the Church’s teachings, he rejects those teachings. Many other Catholics know the teachings too, yet they reject those teachings.
It is not an easy fix.
It is not an easy fix.
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Al_Masetti
Guest
Hannity is not a heretic … no more than any of the hundred million American Catholics in the pews who use contraception.soooo… Hannity should just be allowed to continue misrepresenting the faith, disrespecting men of the cloth and slandering the Church to millions of tv viewers because it’s the Church’s fault anyway?
Hannity doesn’t TEACH a false faith. He is uneducated. He is unformed. And when confronted, he gets defensive. Same as the rest.
Hannity is a symptom of the problem.
Hannity is no more the cause of a fever than the thermometer is.
If someone is sick, we don’t curse and call the thermometer names. We don’t throw the thermometer in the garbage.
Instead we address the disease. And the disease is ignorance … caused by the failure of the Church to teach.
There IS a problem. But Hannity didn’t cause it.
Hannity does reflect it.
Instead of coming down on Hannity, why not embark on a program of education … and I’m talking about not only doctrinal education, but also spiritual education.
For example, an embarrassingly high percentage of “Catholics” “don’t believe in the Real Presence”. How can that be???
If they don’t believe in the Real Presence, then how can we teach them about the Holy Spirit?
About Satan?
About spiritual warfare?
About praying to Mary and the saints on a regular basis?
We, the American Catholic Church, have allowed education to drift down to nothing.
I, personally, have asked priests to TEACH from the pulpit. And they have said they are NOT PERMITTED to teach; they are under orders to preach, but not teach.
So, what are busy, working, commuting, house-cleaning, meal preparing, parenting, tax-paying, adult Catholics supposed to do???
It’s a miracle that any Catholics go to Mass on Sunday. And it’s not surprising that so few Catholics go to Mass on Holy Days of Obligation.
The laity need leadership … and that is sadly lacking.
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Tom317
Guest
Wrong. Hannity went to seminary, studied theology and latin and states that he knows the Church’s teachings. He is a heretic because he knows better and yet still rejects the faith and yes he does teach that heresy through the use of his wife audience.
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Dandelion_Wine
Guest
<waiting for Al to call Hannity a “victim”…> 
It’d be interesting to go back through your posts and see if you blamed the Church where Ted Kennedy et al. where involved.
It’d be interesting to go back through your posts and see if you blamed the Church where Ted Kennedy et al. where involved.
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Michael038
Guest
Hannity needs to represent his faith 100% accurately as are the rest of us. His attack of the good father was not necessary.
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Nordar
Guest
What about personal responsibility? You cannot put the blame on everybody and everything else for your lack of faith and your disrespect for The Church. I’m sorry I am so sick and tired of listening to this kind of nonsense and everyone getting a free pass to do as they please.
There are Catholics who are very very devout, there are people who have converted to The Catholic faith from other religions who grew up listening to nothing but negative about Catholics.
Yet you have Catholics whining that they were not properly educated and that gives them a free pass to continue blaming The Church for everything.
The Catholic Church has been saying for years and years that they are against Abortion and artificial birth control and EVERY single Catholic knows that. If they say they don’t they are only choosing to deny it and do it their way. The Church has been very clear on that issue, the problem is the ones who do not want to abide by it chose not to listen.
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Al_Masetti
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… Hannity a victim? No.<waiting for Al to call Hannity a “victim”…>
It’d be interesting to go back through your posts and see if you blamed the Church where Ted Kennedy et al. where involved.
I don’t much care for the “victim” label.
But the Church does have an obligation to teach the Faith. And throwing the Baltimore Catechism out the window is not good teaching technique.
Learning the Faith by “osmosis” is not good technique either.
Unless… some posters DO believe that ditching the Baltimore Catechism without a replacement text or that osmosis is an effective teaching and/ or learning technique.
In any event, Fr. Benedict Groeschel has publicly stated that the BIG scandal of the second half of the 20th Century was the abandonment of teaching by the Church.
In my opinion, the Church has not so much FAILED to teach as it has abdicated its responsibility.
When the Baltimore Catechism was dumped, there was joy in some Church circles, because they deplored “rote memorization”. But they offered nothing substantive to replace it.
Would some posters suggest that it is the individual person’s fault because they do not understand the concept of The Real Presence?
Or that skipping Mass on Holy Days is ok?
The Church USED to teach. Now it does not. Would some posters say that there is no great loss from the cessation of teaching?
I would suggest that readers here get and read a copy of Karl Keating’s “Catholicism and Fundamentalism”. When I first encountered that book … (serialized in “The Wanderer”) I had never heard of “The Wanderer” and just by “coincidence” stopped off at a Catholic church after a business meeting. There were a bundle of "The Wanderer"s laying on top of a table. I took one and read it and there was Karl’s article/book.]… I was surprised by what I read and by Karl’s depth of knowledge. I even thought he was a priest. How else would someone get that much knowledge.
Although I am a cradle Catholic and a product of 12 years of Catholic education, I had never heard of much of what he wrote. So I wrote Karl a letter and he responded with a book list; the books were unavailable. Out of print. Used book stores didn’t have them.
One thing led to another. A newsletter. Then the magazine (This Rock). Seminars. And then republishing books that were out of print.
If Catholic education was where it needed to be, there would be no need for Catholic Answers.
There used to be groups that did “evangelization” to Catholics and non-Catholics, but they seem to have gone away.
I asked Cardinal Dulles, personally, about the state of Catholic evangelization [there were eight of us sitting around a table] and he said the Church had spent a huge amount of money on it and had nothing to show for it.
Subsequently, he got together with Karl and they have done occasional joint projects.
There is a need for Catholic education and the Church isn’t doing it.
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blessedtoo
Guest
Al, you seem to be somewhat preoccupied with the Baltimore Catechism approach to Catholic teaching. I am a pre VatII Catholic, schooled for 12 years by nuns. I learned the Baltimore Cat by heart. I had Catholic teaching beaten into me by nuns, priests and my parents. And I ran, like a cheetah, from the Church at 17. Gone for 27 years. When I returned, I realized that with all that “good” Catholic education, and the blessed Baltimore Cat, I still knew almost nothing about my faith. Oh, I knew the “rules”. But I had no idea the reasons or the theology. My two older sisters, also schooled by nuns, are still in the dark about the faith into which they were baptised. So while I understand your theory about the way things used to be, I think you may be romanticizing the past just a bit.
When we are children, we learn the rules. If our faith remains as a child’s, we will eventually abandon it. I had to grow my faith into adulthood and I did this by educating myself. I also knew that, while the priest might not have been “teaching” from the pulpit on Sunday, I could always seek his counsel outside of Mass or in the Confessional. People who want to learn will go to whatever lengths possible and I do believe it is their responsibility to do so.
When we are children, we learn the rules. If our faith remains as a child’s, we will eventually abandon it. I had to grow my faith into adulthood and I did this by educating myself. I also knew that, while the priest might not have been “teaching” from the pulpit on Sunday, I could always seek his counsel outside of Mass or in the Confessional. People who want to learn will go to whatever lengths possible and I do believe it is their responsibility to do so.
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Wisdom
Guest
I agree the good ol days are way overrated. The current universal cathechism. the US cathechism and the copendium and the many fine apologetic works available at catholic answers and St Joseph’s etc blow away the only thing people used before the Baltimore Cathechism (great asses but limited in its scope if you really read it) we have far more weapons at our disposal and fingerprints but to few choose to use it most are content sleepwaling though CCD and their cathechism classes also protestant go far beyond their once a week bible study they really biblically literate study on thier own every day and that’s waht catholic need to do stuy our theology everyday and we will then know the faith and stop relying on father in the 15 minutes he has at mass to explain the entire faith to us in soundbites.
Also Fr Euteneuer tactics leave a lot to be desired Jesus counciled sinners in private not in the public it was the Pharisees who did their stoning in public. Jesus told them he does not condemn them and then explained the fiath to them and sent them to not sin anymore. Father did a hit and run blog and did some more public crititisizing such as namecalling of heretic and threatening witholding the communion cup whic is ridiculous when his own bishop doesn’t do that for pro=abort politicians. Sean Hannity is out of line but frankly despite his own prideful proclamations he doesn’t know the finer points of catholic teaching and Father is the one who said this and he was right but ironically that was the very reason to not go gangbusters in a public forum. He could have attmpted to communicate to him the finer points without the name calling and heretic hunting. These are not the tactis that John Paul II and Pope Benedict have practiced but the stuff of the Pharisees and the Inquisitions. We need to preach the truth in a way that turn off people and frankly Fr’s tactics would have tunred off any non-catholic to the faith and many nominal catholics who don’t any better. Heck he turned me off and I agree with him on the issues just not the way he went about it.
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Mijoy2
Guest
This is just the point. To “know” the teachings of the Catholic Church is to know the dogma on Faith and Morals are infallible. Therefore to diagree with this dogma is to contradict oneself which is of course non-sensical.
Thererfore it follows Hannity does not know the Churches teachings. He is under the impression he can disagree with the infallible teachings of the Chuch and remain in communiom with the Church. Which of course, he cannot.
It’s obvious he is uneducated. As is the vast amjority of the Catholic laity.
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Al_Masetti
Guest
Excellent post.
Keep in mind that the current Catechism of the Catholic Church was intended for bishops to use as a teaching and writing document. It was not primarily intended for the laity to use, although they can find it helpful if they have the time to read through it.
It is true that the Baltimore Catechism was not adequate in and of itself. But throwing it overboard created a vast empty area for several decades.
At the time it was discarded, there just wasn’t anything else until Karl Keating began to assemble a collection of reference books that were out of print.
Also, those various books that Karl found HAD BEEN available during the time period of the Baltimore Catechism, although interested and motivated individuals would have had to hunt for them. (No internet in those days.) And you had to know what questions to ask, which was not easy.
Keep in mind that the current Catechism of the Catholic Church was intended for bishops to use as a teaching and writing document. It was not primarily intended for the laity to use, although they can find it helpful if they have the time to read through it.
It is true that the Baltimore Catechism was not adequate in and of itself. But throwing it overboard created a vast empty area for several decades.
At the time it was discarded, there just wasn’t anything else until Karl Keating began to assemble a collection of reference books that were out of print.
Also, those various books that Karl found HAD BEEN available during the time period of the Baltimore Catechism, although interested and motivated individuals would have had to hunt for them. (No internet in those days.) And you had to know what questions to ask, which was not easy.
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Tom317
Guest
I disagree. You are basically saying that a person is not educated unless he/she agrees with the Church teachings and that they cannot reject those teachings of they are educated. That takes away free will.
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cathgal
Guest
If Jesus didn’t condemn sinners in public, it’s because the sinners weren’t rebellious in public. Was Hannity anything like it.
On the other hand, take for example the harsh condemnation in the temple to the Pharisees.
Are you implying that bishops who withold communion from pro-abort politicans is right?
If Fr. commented more in his blog, it’s to let Catholics beware of what kind of Catholic Hannity is since Hannity is such a known figure in the media and what he says can mislead many ignorant Catholics from the faith and we surely don’t need THAT! The Church got enough damage as is!
And we ask why many Catholics are not taught about the faith. It is people like Hannity who contributes to the damage.
If we have more priests like Fr., the Church would be in a better state than now!
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setter
Guest
Exactly what “tactics” are you referring to that Fr. Euteneuer employed that so turned you off? I saw a priest (not afraid to wear his collar in the public) talking rationally, calmly and simply prsenting the truth of the Church’s teaching in a methodical manner. When rudely interrupted, talked over in a blaming and accusing tone, he retained a respectful tone and kept focus on the topic at hand.
The real problem that I see is that folks/society in general, and Sean Hannity specifically, are not really interested in knowing the truth. To do so requires a more in depth discussion, or at least an openness that not all sources are equally valid.
Jesus pointed out the same hardness of heart of those sinners in his day who refused to hear the Good News by finding reason to reject the person proclaining the truth. So Jesus likewise today warns sinners that unless one receives the Good News and repents, they too will perish.
"He who has ears to hear, let him hear.“But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places and calling to their playmates,
We piped to you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.' For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He has a demon’; the Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, `Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.Then he began to upbraid the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. ‘Woe to you, Chora’zin! woe to you, Beth-sa’ida! for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.’”" Matthew 11: 15-22
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childofmary1143
Guest
I am so sick of Lay People who think they know more about the faith than Father Euteneuer that they arrogantly lecture him about his tactics regarding Sean Hannity.
The arguments that they use about how meek Jesus was sounds like a fundamentalist protestant which fly in the face of what Jesus actually did.
People need to have a little humility in my opinion.
The arguments that they use about how meek Jesus was sounds like a fundamentalist protestant which fly in the face of what Jesus actually did.
People need to have a little humility in my opinion.
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