There's good news and bad news.
I'll give you the bad news first.
Anne says the kind things Howie says about the Montrose School is getting lost in all the hoopla from Catholics offended by Carr's "political acumen" against Our Eucharistic Lord, the Holy Spirit, the Catholic Church and Her Sacraments and the suggestion that St. Joseph sodomized animals.
After all, MCFL is 'non-sectarian' and "assiduous" people could make a list of positive things he's said about people at his parish.
MCFL may officially be 'non-sectarian', but its membership and supporters are almost exclusively Catholic. Anyway, how does MCFL being 'non-sectarian' abjure Carr's offensive remarks and make him an acceptable cheerleader for the sanctity of life? As CJ reveals below, Carr has actually referred to children born out of wedlock as 'little bastards'. What kind of a message does that send to single mothers about MCFL? Doesn't it undermine our entire mission in the pro-life community?
It isn't just that his remarks about Our Lord are vulgar, his remarks persuade his audience against the Church which ultimately keeps people away from the Sacraments and unity with Christ. I am baffled that the consequences to the salvation of souls from Carr's smearing of the Catholic Church are given license by calling MCFL 'non-sectarian'.
Fox also is under the impression that Howie Carr is "anti-choice".
I'm not sure what the word "anti-choice" means, but here's why the wordsymthing is coming across as more of the same intellectual dishonesty we've all grown accustomed to from MCFL: If Carr were 'anti-choice' he wouldn't have the history he has promoting proabortion politicians who then go on to make laws that support abortion rights. That's what you call counterproductive.
If Carr said he was against antisemetism but he had a long history of promoting antisemitic politicians, this is an indication that he's not committed enough to the cause to lead the annual Jewish anti-defamation assembly.
Carr doesn't have 'pro-life' credentials and his 'political acumen' about the Catholic religion, our Pope, teachings, priests and Sacraments disqualify him to lead an MCFL-sponsored event.
MCFL is creating further divisions in the pro-life community by holding onto her story and invitation to Howie Carr.
The good news is, the Catholic Action League has issued a spectacular response:
CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE REJECTS MCFL EXCUSES
FOR INVITATION TO HOWIE CARR
The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today rejected excuses offered by Anne Fox, President of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, for that organization's invitation to the anti-Catholic, Hispanic-bashing radio shock jock Howie Carr, to be the featured speaker at MCFL's Annual Assembly for Life on January 16th.
In a late breaking development, the League has learned that the Chairman of the MCFL Board of Directors, long time pro-life activist Henry Luthin, resigned over the weekend.
The following is the reply of Anne Fox to the League's letter of December 17th:
Dear C. J.,
As I prepared to respond to your email, which requested that we withdraw our invitation to Howie Carr to speak at the Massachusetts Citizens for Life Assembly for Life, I realized that you had sent to your entire list what I assumed was a private email. It surprises me greatly that you would do that without contacting me first. If your goal was to have us withdraw our invitation, it would have been prudent to have contacted me...
You cite examples of statements from the last dozen years which are definitely out of order. I had not been aware of them. I have heard Howie praise the people and the school in his parish as well as The Montrose School. If someone as assiduous as you had been monitoring for the same dozen years, I suspect he would also have a dossier of positive statements.
Massachusetts Citizens for Life is nonsectarian. We, of course, join all pro-life people in admiration and gratitude for the leadership of the Catholic Church which has and is working so hard to restore the Culture of Life and would do nothing to embarrass her.
Howie is anti-abortion. He has been very helpful to us in our work over the past year and a half to publicize the anti-life aspects of Obamacare. We have not asked him to speak as an "entertainer". We have asked him to speak, because of his political acumen, about the unacknowledged power of the pro-life vote. The general public, politicians, and our own people need to hear that.
C. J., I trust that you will share this email with the people to whom you sent your original email.
Best,
Anne
The Catholic Action League characterized Fox's remarks as "a bizarre attempt to defend the indefensible."
Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle made the following comment: "Evidently, Anne Fox never heard of the old saying that when you are already in a hole, you should stop digging. She actually makes the insipid argument that blasphemy and sacrilege --- insulting the Body of Christ and making obscene references about the Foster Father of Our Lord --- can be overlooked if there are countervailing considerations. The notion that the vile things Howie Carr has said about the Blessed Sacrament and Saint Joseph are somehow counterbalanced by the financial support he has provided to his daughters' parochial school is manifestly absurd and intellectually dishonest, as is the pathetic attempt to hide behind the non-sectarian status of MCFL. Serious organizations do not invoke their non-sectarian character to excuse bigotry and hate speech."
"As for the preposterous assertion that we have somehow neglected to mention the allegedly good things Howie Carr has said about the Church, here, Anne Fox descends from argument to comedy. The only things which we have omitted are the new revelations about Howie Carr which we are learning of every day as more people contact us with evidence of his Catholic bashing. If anyone believes that they can bring success to their organization by showcasing someone who has mocked the Second Person of the Holy Trinity and defamed the Head of the Holy Family, then their thinking is that of an atheist rather than a Christian."
"For the record, Howie Carr supports sterilization and contraception, and has a long history of promoting pro-abortion candidates for public office. Where the pro-life movement demonstrates compassion for women in difficult circumstances, the caustic Howie Carr demeans the children born out of wedlock to mothers on public assistance as 'little bastards'. Do we really wish to project the surly and mean-spirited countenance of Howie Carr as the image of the Massachusetts pro-life movement? Those who rail against immigrants, minorities, and welfare recipients, far from building a culture of life, usually promote sympathy for population control."
"Liberal Catholics malign the pro-life movement by unjustly accusing it of being a political front for the Republican Party. In this case, Anne Fox seems determined to vindicate that claim, even if it means embracing enemies of the Faith as repulsive as Howie Carr. From tailoring candidate questionnaires to make pro-abortion Republicans look 100% pro-life, to providing a platform to a Republican attack dog, it appears that Anne Fox is seeking to reduce the once proud Massachusetts Citizens for Life to an auxiliary of the Massachusetts Republican Party. For the credibility of their own organization, the officers, directors and members of MCFL ought to restrain her from doing so."
"Meanwhile, the Catholic Action League will begin to call local and national attention to the scandal of having an anti-Catholic, anti-Hispanic, anti-immigrant, anti-life speaker at a pro-life event."
*********
Please add this to your list of prayers in your Christmas worship. It is more than an 'incident'. The trajectory of Mass Citizens for Life has been sucking the oxygen out of the pro-life community for about ten years. This event has the potential to bring on a formal divorce which could get very ugly. We have all been trying to avoid it for the sake of 'peace'. But like everything else the Hound of Heaven does when we are abdicating our duties, He is making it impossible for us to be at peace with it.
n.b. Please also pray for the Walshes who lost their daughter over the last few months, and a sister in Christ who lost her job and is facing eviction.
8 comments:
I just unsuscined from MCFL emails & they have a comment section whoa, they know why I unsubscribed now. May I suggest this to anyone else who gets their emails? You can alwasy access their site for news.
and they're on Facebook too... Unfriend them and let know why and let any friends on there should know too...
A little rough on the workers in the field, aren't ya? MCFL?
A) They are not an extension of the Catholic Church, you know.
B) You'd be hard pressed to find anyone sailing against a stronger current than Prolife orgs in Mass.
And Howie, you know, is only MOSTLY wrong. He is not totally wrong on the issues. Plus his criticism is ALWAYS against Church officials. He is a money loving pagan. So be it...
He has the depth of a teacup. But he has potential. You have to admit he has potential
Sully, I don't get out much into the secular world but I can't say I haven't laughed at a few things Carr has said in a few brief encounters. I've laughed at Dave Letterman a few times in my life too. That doesn't make him a candidate to lead the Assembly for Life.
There are many good people in MCFL but we have a Captain Queeg situation on our hands and the situation is deteriorating. It is time for a mutiny. The list is long.
CM, please allow.
It is not Carr's style to mock the sincere religous. He is constantly mocking church and govt. leaders, but he does NOT pick on little people. If he really mocked St. Joe and the Eucharist, I am 100% certain he would appologize. Again, not his style. Probably his sarcastic schtic got out of hand two times.
He is a pagan and claims nothing more. Would you please compare him to the past THREE RCAB ABs (I include the temp we had).
It was not Carr who NEVER challenged a Kennedy. And in fact, burried Ted with honors!
It was not Carr who was ready to endorse socialized medicine if it were purged of abortion coverage!!!!
It is not Carr who is sexualizing children via mandatory "touching" programs and sabotaged parental opposition to it.
It was not Carr who perverted social justice into social ISM throughout the entire modern presentation of Catholic moral teaching.
Not Carr who whipped up a gender neutral Catachism (which JPII rejected)!!!
CM, I could go on but space prevents. Bottom line: Carr has caused less real damage to our faith and culture than our own Archbishops over the same time period. Carr is "less unqualified" than three of our own ABs.
Sistah, you are being too hard on him and the leadership of MCFL. And shame on CJ Doyle. I read his and Fox's letters. His efforts were both unspiritual and unprofessinal.
Thank you for letting me chime in as the loyal opposition! you're a good kid. And we have only just reconnected!!! ;-)
Happy New Year!
I think Sully has characterized Carr well. I'd like to see if he apologized for his sacrilegious outburst. Further, I'll agree that the Flatley / Doyle letter was a bit overboard. Is Howie's picking on felon Finneran or double-dipper Bulger a problem? Maybe Flatley has a problem due to big-boy connections. But us commoners are grateful to Carr for keeping the heat on our public servants.
On the other hand, MCFL is way off base on this pick. Having Howie speak at a pro-life banquet is like having Scott Brown speak ... no, Howie would be a better choice, even better than Cardinal Sean. But Howie is a bad choice.
Jerry & Sully, Happy New Year!
I think I'm in agreement with both of you that the Boston Bishops have done far more damage to the faithful than Howie Carr but that is where our consensus ends!
Let me explain where I am with this and where I believe others are..
Howie has built a pulpit for the purpose of leading and he has built an audience. That audience is listening to him mock the Sacraments and the Catholic Church which, in effect, leads people away from the Catholic Church and the Sacraments. Neither of you are affected by it because you I am acquainted enough with both of you to know you strive to be in a state of grace, unlike most of Howie's audience who are therefore affected by Carr's mockery of the Catholic Church.
This should be disconcerting to both of you because these are soul matters.
I don't have any objection to Carr as a political personality for anyone who wants to listen, enjoy, laugh at his humor.
But this is a Catholic prolife event and Carr's gig with crisis pregnancies is that they are bastard children. His gig includes characterizing poor women who find themselves pregnant as people who society pressures to be unworthy of raising children. The man has done, literally, zero for prolifers. He has in fact, promoted proabortion politicians above our prolife politicians.
MCFL is gone. The woman leading it has not just terrible judgment, she has imploded the unity and structure of our political machine and she has got to go.
You've got to get down to the nitty gritty of what a prolife Catholic political machine is supposed to be. The fact that Carr blasphemes the Sacraments and works against us when prolife candidates are up for election, has never been seen nor heard of working the prolife vineyard before his invitation to chant about his objection to Obamacare (which is not grounded in life issues btw) at the Assembly for Life should weigh on your conscience.
I know it is a hard thing to do but you've got to face the truth of it.
p.s.
As far as this Catholic mother is concerned (and many others who join me), CJ and Dan have done with many men in Massachusetts have not had the testosterone to do up until this point in time: Stand in the public square and call out the outlandish judgment of Anne Fox which has paralyzed out our prolife political clout.
Our prolife Catholic men, fathers, husbands had sat on the Board, they have served as officers, they have worked in the vineyard and have either been tossed out or have had to walk away because the machine has been co-opted by women who are willing to work to elect proabort politicians - and worst of all, call them pro-life!
They have all talked about it. Emailed about it. There is consensus among everyone active who is porlife that the machine has gone awry but few are willing to stand up and say what needs to be said in the public square. CJ, Dan, John O'Gorman and others are not the people who should actually be ashamed.
We will never get our prolife candidates into the stream until we are at the table of consensus when candidates are recruited by the GOP, where the money and power are put behind the candidates to get them elected. MCFL is not at the table because everyone knows in power at the GOP that they will work to elect proaborts -- and worse, as I said before, actually engage in the intellectual dishonesty of calling them prolife to get proaborts elected.
This is the end of the road. Grab your spine and man up. If you don't, women and mothers are going to put this thing out of its misery because brother, we have had it.
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