Catholic website demands Chris Matthews be fired for his interview of Bishop Tobin

[sorrowspath]

http://www.catholic.org/politics/story.php?id=34908

Opinion: Chris Matthews should be fired for his Offensive Interview of Bishop Tobin
By Deacon Keith Fournier

Matthews showed how inept he is as an interviewer, how misinformed he is as a Catholic, how rude he is as a person and how threatened he is by the Moral truth.

Chris Matthews should be fired for his offensive and impolite Interview of Bishop Thomas Tobin. Then, he should sign up for the Right of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) and learn the Catholic faith all over again.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Catholic Online) – When I discovered that Chris Matthews of the program Hardball was going to interview Bishop Thomas Tobin on the continuing saga of Congressman Patrick Kennedy, I knew I had to watch. Bishop Tobin has courageously - and with a Pastor’s heart - tried to help Congressman Patrick Kennedy to see the dangerous error of his failure to defend the fundamental Right to Life. The Congressman is one of far too many unfaithful Catholics in public life who do not demonstrate moral coherence in their exercise of public office.

After sitting through several segments, I should have known from the “tease” to the segment which I was awaiting where this arrogant, self centered commentator intended to take this alleged “interview”. He repeatedly “teased” to the segment by incessantly repeating the term “Abortion rights” and indicating that he was going to interview Bishop Tobin who was "punishing" Congressman Kennedy for supporting “abortion rights”. There are no “abortion rights”, only human rights. I cannot listen to that phrase “abortion rights” without instantly responding.

The claim of a so called “right” to abort an innocent child is heinous. It is also a fallacy to couch this evil in the language of a woman’s “Right to Choose.” Some choices are always and everywhere wrong. Yet, that is the current state of the positive law in America since the horrendous decisions in Roe and Doe. Women can “choose” to take the life of our first neighbors, the ones who live where we all once lived, in the womb. That “choice” - which is always and everywhere wrong because it is the taking of innocent human life - is also currently protected by the Police Power of the State.

Abortion is the only example of taking innocent human life which is so protected by the Police Power of the State. It has a special status as some sort of "super right" in the American libertine culture and the dictatorship of relativism. Imagine if the positive law created a so called “right” to kill three week old babies because the Supreme Court said it was OK. There is no moral difference. Abortion is feticide in a new language intended to make what is evil sound acceptable.

In an Orwellian effort to change the debate and assuage their consciences its’ advocates have fashioned a “rights language” to make it somehow sound enlightened. It does not work. Science has confirmed what our conscience long ago told all of us, the child in the womb is one of us. She is our neighbor. It is always wrong to kill an innocent neighbor. This truth is written on our hearts by the Natural Law which all just positive laws should participate in and not abrogate. Intentional abortion is wrong and should be illegal in a just society.

The notion that the act of intentionally killing of an entire class of human beings should be called an “abortion right” is despicable. Only human persons can have “rights.” Governments do not create them, they can only recognize them. The act of abortion is a heinous crime. It has no "rights.”

The shorthand phrase “abortion rights” is a linguistic tool used by some journalists like Matthews to further the abortion deception. Even if the positive law of the United States has placed the Police Power behind protecting the evil “choice” to take innocent human life in the womb, one simply cannot have a “right” to do what is always wrong.

Matthews finally did have the good Bishop on his show. It quickly became clear that he intended to pummel him, browbeat him and try to persuade him to abandon the truth and excuse the error which Matthews has embraced. In his grandiosity and arrogance Matthews proceeded to talk over the Bishop, interrupt him, cut him off, and try to lecture him in a condescending manner on “the law”. He repeatedly tried to force him to answer loaded questions. He finally had the audacity to suggest that the Bishop needed to rethink his position.

MSNBC should publicly apologize to the Bishop and Matthews should be fired for his lack of professionalism. To not give this good and intelligent man, this Bishop of the Catholic Church, an opportunity to speak, after inviting him on this show, was inexcusable.

I hope Chris Matthews is reading this article. If you are Chris, here is my heartfelt personal message to you, “You should be ashamed of yourself. You need to get right with God and with your Church”.

Matthews feigned respect by repeatedly calling the Bishop “Your Excellency”, but his manner of proceeding revealed he has no respect for the Office. Matthews, a professing Catholic, also does not understand his own faith. He does not understand that his own Church’s unwavering opposition to the taking of all innocent human life at every age and stage is the ground of every social justice issue.

At several points in this frustrating interview, as the Bishop was trying to help Matthews see that the defense of the Right to Life is a "Natural Law" position and not simply "religious", Matthews simply cut him off and continued his ill mannered browbeating.

Yet, in spite of Matthews asinine effort to claim that morality has nothing to do with the law, the Bishop at least succeeded in showing that morality is the foundation of much of the positive law. He used a few salient examples such as our prohibiting in the law the killing of our neighbor, stealing his property or beating him up. Matthews would hear none of it.

Chris Matthews was not interested in interviewing Bishop Thomas Tobin. In this embarrassing excuse for a program he showed how inept he is as an interviewer, how misinformed he is as a Catholic, how rude he is as a person and how threatened he is by the Moral truth as taught with conviction and courage by his own Church.

Chris Matthews should be fired for his offensive and impolite Interview of Bishop Thomas Tobin. Then, he should sign up for the Right of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) and learn the Catholic faith all over again.

[saltpoint]

1. I urge Matthews' superiors at the network to give him a raise

for that interview.

He did a fine job.

[CreekDog]

2. I can't find a damned thing in this column about what was actually said in the interview

what a stupid column.

[babylonsister]

5. Here are some links for you...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=7078529

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=7074969

And here's the video:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=385&topic_id=406078

[DainBramaged]

3. Jesus would laugh at these assholes..........

[MineralMan]

16. 'Cept Jesus is dead...around 2000 years ago.

I've never heard a corpse laugh.

[MineralMan]

4. Hey! You, there! Deacon Fournier!

Read the Constitution of The United States, you moron! It ain't the United States of The Church. It's the freaking United States of America. We don't do the church dictating policy thing. That crap's been dead for a long time.

Get with the program!

Or, just eat crap!

[Kalyke]

6. You're correct, Deacon. There are no abortion rights... only human rights.

And, by virtue of both the rights endowed on me by my Creator and by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, as a woman, I have the human right NOT to allow my body to be coerced into the service and labor (literally) necessary to develop, birth and raise a potential child against my will.

My body cannot be compelled to work against my will by a climate of fear evoked by the use of force, the treat of force or the threat of legal coercion.

I still don't get why pro-choice people do not file to protect a woman's human right to abortion under the involuntary servitude laws of this country. If pro-birther's suceed in determining that a collection of non-viable cells are, indeed, a human, then forcing a woman to use her body to work to house, feed, birth and potentially raise said human is involuntary servitude.

[proReality]

12. And a form of rape.

Seriously. They need to control and this is one way of doing it.

[niyad]

14. the involuntary servitude is a most excellent point and thank you for making it.

[HughMoran]

7. Catholics - do yourselves a favor and denounce your leadership

They are fools.

[Kalyke]

9. Most of us have, to no avail.

Therefore, many of us refer to ourselves as "backsliding Catholics."

While we believe the tenants of our religion, we also can separate Church from State and realize that not everyone in this country believes the same things we do and that laws should be written to reflect everyone, not just Catholics (or Southern Baptists or Presbyterians or Jews or Muslims, or atheists, etc.)

[MineralMan]

18. Look into the ELCA, if you value your faith.

I think you'll find them to be compatible with your beliefs, while holding more progressive political views. If you pick a traditional ELCA church, you may actually find that the liturgy is more Catholic than most contemporary Catholic churches.

[KharmaTrain]

8. Reading Between The Lines...

The question this deacon conveniently seems to have missed was the first one Tweety started with...and where the Bishop answered that a "good" Catholic should "serve god" and put church ahead of state...that the so-called "positive" law supercedes the Constitution. The Bishop showed a disdain for the separation of church and state that was Tweety's real focus here. It showed a raw side of the Catholic church one rarely sees on the teevee...not the kindly old Archbishop smiling and waving, but the underlings who are more radical and less tolerant.

The line in this article that gets me is..."I hope Chris Matthews is reading this article. If you are Chris, here is my heartfelt personal message to you, “You should be ashamed of yourself. You need to get right with God and with your Church”."...sounds more like a threat than "advice".

[MineralMan]

10. Hey, threats are all they have. Do what we tell you

or die and burn in Hell forever. That's it. The whole message.

[HughMoran]

11. Catholicism could not survive without the "threat"

It's about all they've had for many years - why would they stop using it now?

[sunnybrook]

13. so they want control over all media as well

as the political sphere? The sun never sets over the Vatican Empire!

[niyad]

15. to the cretins running the rcc-- shut up, or start paying taxes. this is NOT (yet, anyway) a

theocracy, and you are NOT in charge.

[UTUSN]

17. The irony is that Tweety's core, if any, is his Irish-Catholic indoctrination

Most of us have railed against Tweety's blowing this way and that way for years, and have failed to note that what he's really about is just like HANNITY and O'LOOFAH and the rest: His Catholic indoctrination from the nuns.

His parents were, in his words, "cloth coat (Rethugs)." His biggest motivation was the ethnic pride of JFK. Under that glow, he gravitated toward thinking he was a Dem. He joined the Peace Corps, by his own admission, JUST to get out of going to Vietnam, NOT idealism. He then was a rent-a-cop Capitol policeman for 3 months and broke into the Irish Catholic Dem political machine and got JOBS. As a flunky he derived his own status and power from whether (or not) his political bosses themselves were successful and powerful (or not). So when RAYGUN trounced his bosses (O'NEILL and CARTER), he began his true self-discovery through worship of RAYGUN's success and began his bashing of Dems, up to and including pushing his face into Shrub's crotch.

Back when, during the FAKE impeachment, I said he should have been fired for "triggering" a gun incident by naming, falsely, a Dem as the killer of Kathleen WILLEY's cat. And most of us have continually been irritated by the wingnuts' calling him a Lib while he has carried their water for them.

So, here we have his own Catholic core calling for his head. HAH!1

[MineralMan]

21. Lots of that Catholic background around the media.

Morning Joke is also populated with Catholics. Catholics hold prominent positions in much of the television media. It's interesting.

For me, Tweety's endless repetition of the salutation, "Excellency," really grated on my mind. Call him Bishop Tobin, please. Call him Mr. Tobin. Don't amplify his position with a term more appropriate for monarchs and other royalty.

He's a Bishop. He's a minister. He's nothing else. He is most certainly not "Excellent" in terms of his understanding and allegiance to the Constitution of The United States.

[UTUSN]

28. Yip, lots. Have thought about making a comprehensive list. Then the CONVERTS!1

The BUCHANANs. The dead G.E.RUSSERT.

But the converts: INGRAHAM. GINGRICH, can you believe it?!1 The dead NOVAKula.

[bridgit]

19. Clearly, the pope of Rome and his handmaidens feel a good offense to be the best defense

[Bluenorthwest]

20. Hey is this the same Catholic Church that is constantly

being found to be involved in child abuse and the covering up and expediting of that abuse, in many countries, over decades of time? Or is this another organization?

[MineralMan]

23. Same organization.

"Suffer, little children!" seems to be part of its dogma.

"Sit up straight, you little heathen!" is the nun's admonition, just before she smacks the kid with the ruler.

"Come sit right here, next to me, child," says the predatory priest.

"Do what I tell you or you'll burn in Hell. And your little dog, too!"

[dembotoz]

22. spent most of my 56 years getting over my distrust and dislike for the catholic church

I am a prot, has always been a prot

raised in a rather catholic area
Put up with a lot.

as i grew up the feelings for all things catholic grew.

Took a long time to work on and get over these feelings

all for naught.

the feeling are back.

[Subdivisions]

24. Quick! Someone call the Wahhhhh-mbulance! n/t

[southernyankeebelle]

25. As a catholic say to Matthews You did a great job putting the issue

right where it should be placed. The Bishop was wrong and Matthews was right on the point and a good catholic.

[fascisthunter]

26. and I urge the Catholic Church to STFU!

[Odin2005]

27. Wow, what a disgusting pile of hysterical, misogynistic crap.

[hayu_lol]

29. The government should send a letter to the Bishop stating that he...

should be immediately fired for again attempting to circumvent the separation firewall in our Constitution. Dabbling in politics again huh!

Either that or exile him to the Vatican.

[ecstatic]

30. Why doesn't he ask the church to excommunicate him?

It is not Matthews' job to represent a church on msnbc.

[Peace Patriot]

31. "Abortion is the only example of taking innocent human life." A million innocent Iraqis,

wantonly slaughtered to steal their oil, would disagree with that, if they were still alive to say so.

Where were Bishop Tobin and his defender, Deacon Keith Fournier, when Cindy Sheehan was out trying to stop that genocidal war all by herself? What did they do about it then, or today? It's still going on--in addition to the demonic USAF "drones" that are blowing dozens of Afghanis to smithereens every week. Where are Tobin's and Fournier's fiery sermons and EXCOMMUNICATIONS of all Catholic politicians who vote for these atrocities?

I cannot even grant their sincerity--due to their obsessive focus on what they consider women's sins--in this melodramatic fashion, without equal passionate opposition to these wars.

I know some Catholic Workers, and their position is consistent. They oppose all war, the mere possession of nuclear weapons, capital punishment and abortion. They also live intimately with the poorest of the poor, house the poor and feed thousands of poverty-stricken people, every day. I have profound respect for the Catholic Workers, and no respect for bishops who meddle in this way against SECULAR democracy, ONLY on women's rights.

And "excommunication" is so not-Jesus! Just about everything spoken by Jesus in the New Testament says "DON'T EXCLUDE **ANYONE**!" There was no such as thing as banning the wicked and the kind of powermongering that that mentality represents. If we're talking about sins, THAT is the sin of the Roman Catholic Church: powermongering.

And their display of this sin--in their obsessive, male egocentric assault on women's rights--is a scandal to the world.

[dem629]

32. Why is anyone surprised by this, after so many other efforts to yank people off the air?

I thought the interview was good and Matthews had that guy boxed into a corner, and THAT's why these people are pissed off.

But why is anyone surprised/angry at the church for demanding someone's firing? That goes on all the time on this website. Anyone who participates in some movement to have someone removed from the air is only fueling more of this bullshit.

It's a sign of weakness. If your aim is to silence, rather than rebut, then you're admitting you have no coherent rebuttal.