Hannity reverberations

It’s been over a week and a half since Sean Hannity confronted Fr. Thomas Euteneuer on Fox News over Hannity’s public rejection of a Church teaching. It was unfortunate, but since it continues to blaze trails across the internet, it makes for a good teaching moment. Over at CWNews, Phil Lawler put it in the Forum.

Hannity styles himself as a conservative– in political terms, at least. But his attitude toward Church authority is indistinguishable from that of the prominent liberal Catholics he so often upbraids. If Sean Hannity can dissent from Church teaching on contraception, why can’t Ted Kennedy dissent on abortion? The principle is the same.

Unfortunately Sean Hannity is not alone. Many otherwise intelligent Catholics have adopted the indefensible position that since they are loyal to the Church, no further demands should be made of them– that since they agree in theory to accept the authority of Catholic teaching, no one should question them when they interpret or adapt Church teaching however they see fit.

Logically this is an absurd position. Imagine a competitive athlete who agreed to play the game by the rules, but claimed the right to interpret those rules for himself, dismissing the judgment of referees or umpires when they did not agree with him!

Professing the Catholic faith means accepting Catholic teaching. Accepting Catholic teaching implies, in turn, that there is a distinct body of teaching, with which one’s own thoughts may or may not be in accord. There is an objective question at issue here, to which there should be an objective answer.

That’s some needed clarity.

Which is the good fruit of this whole encounter, because every discussion about it provides an opportunity to clarify Church teaching and the guidance it provides. It’s not just a set of rules, but a moral compass. I discussed that with John Morales on Catholic Exchange. And I hope this settles down now, with all the attention serving to bring light to the heat it generated.