Monday, September 19, 2011

Today on Kresta - September 19, 2011

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Sept. 19

4:00 – Kresta Comments: Pat Robertson says Alzheimer's makes divorce OK
Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson told his "700 Club" viewers that divorcing a spouse with Alzheimer's is justifiable because the disease is "a kind of death."During the portion of the show where Robertson takes questions from viewers, he was asked what advice a man should give to a friend who began seeing another woman after his wife started suffering from the incurable neurological disorder. "I know it sounds cruel, but if he's going to do something, he should divorce her and start all over again, but make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her," Robertson said. Al comments.

4:20 – Stewardship of Creation vs Environmentalism as a Religion
“It is imperative that mankind renew and strengthen that covenant between human beings and the environment, which should mirror the creative love of God, from whom we come and toward whom we are journeying.” – Pope Benedict XVI
When reading that quote, many would jump to the conclusion that it was spoken by an environmentalist lefty, not the Pope. Meanwhile, we find that some activists, the environmental ideology amounts to a quasi religion, one whose central doctrine declares a moral equivalency between the value of the environment and the value of human lives. We look at stewardship of the environment vs environmentalism as a religion. Kevin Murphy is our guest.

4:40 – Kresta Comments: Comment Boxes - Anonymous Misinformation, Vitriol, and Reactionism
If you spend any significant time reading news and blogs in the internet, you know that comment boxes can be a world of anonymous misinformation, vitriol, and reactionism – not to mention things being written that would never be said face-to-face. Al has a commentary on the world of online comment boxes.

5:00 – My Perspective: Fr. Frank Pavone Speaks Out in His First Broadcast Interview Since Being Recalled to His Home Diocese of Amarillo, TX
Fr. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life and one of the country's most visible and vocal opponents of abortion, has been recalled to his home diocese of Amarillo, TX and suspended from active ministry outside the Diocese of Amarillo. He remains a priest in good standing in the Diocese of Amarillo. Bishop Patrick Zurek in a decree issued Sept. 6 ordered the 52-year-old New York-born priest to return to Amarillo and announced it in a Sept. 9 letter to his fellow bishops. He pointed to "persistent questions and concerns" from clergy and laity about how the millions of dollars donated to Priests for Life are used as the reason for suspending Father Pavone's ministry. Fr. Pavone has said he is “confident that we will be able to resolve this difficulty soon, without any harm to either my own reputation and without any slowdown of the valuable pro-life work we do at Priests for Life.” Fr. Frank Pavone joins us and takes your calls.

5 comments:

  1. Al,

    Glad you are back covering the things that matter most. With the Fr. Pavone thing heating up, I really wanted to hear from you but wasn’t expecting him to be on your show. Bravo. This is similar and not similar to Fr. Corapi. What I see not similar is that I was hearing things and seeing things from Corapi that bothered me starting several years ago, which is why I stopped listening to him. His speech in Cincinnati put me over the edge and that was the final straw. His series in the 1990s on the CCC was out of this world. I have the audio and video and have listened to it many times and has helped clean up a few things for me. Fr. Corapi rode a $25,000 Harley which I always thought was odd. I don’t know if you know this but Fr. Mitch also had a motorcycle and was told by his superior it had to go and guess what, it went. Bravo to Fr. Mitch. That moved him up on my list. Obedience is a lost art these days but one we need more then ever. Now, onto Fr. Pavone. I was watching him and anticipating his homilies on EWTN. He was on fire. I loved them all, especially his Monday last week sermon. Download it and watch it on youtube or iTunes, etc. Worth the listen. Sunday-Tuesday were all great as they usually are. He did what he should have done, dropped it all and went. What I don’t like, and I mean no disrespect to the Bishop, is that this was done when the bishop is not even there. If there is a problem with someone like Fr. Frank who runs a tough schedule, then why could the bishop not do the following. A – personally contact him and have him come down and address the issues private to avoid any public/non-church scandal – IE schedule an appointment with the bishop. B – tell Fr. Frank the laundry list of concerns and let him respond via phone, etc. If this is not satisfactory, resort to A. C – stay in close contact with the priest (Fr. Frank) so things never get to this point. Fr. Frank doesn’t live in community, which sets off alarm bells for me, but he can’t and when looking at his schedule, he is very public. Fr. Corapi was not public. 80% of the time no one knew what Fr. Corapi was doing living in his Montana home. Fr. Frank was hardly ever at his New York appt. and when he was, he appeared to be at the Priest for Life office. It really bugs me that the bishop recalled him when he knew he would not be around. So Fr. Frank sits in Amarillo while his many good works and appointments, are all cancelled. It seems like an arrogant move on the bishops part. As a manager, if I see issues with someone, I’m going to keep an eye on them, meet with them, talk to them while the issues are small, and try and redirect things. This seems like something more. What? I don’t know, but I missed the fruits of Fr. Frank and although I felt Corapi’s situation was warranted and I was never on Fr. C’s side, I believe I might be on the Fr. Frank’s side on this one as it seems to me the bishop has done things here that don’t make sense. Why would you recall a high profile priest when you are not even available, and send a letter to all fellow bishops, then run for another country? Again, I can’t possibly know what’s going on. In this case though, I think Fr. Pavone is likely above board. Your show, Teresa’s, EWTN, the many events he does, he’s way too busy to get into trouble it would seem and that’s a good place to be. All that said, if he’s done something inappropriate, we correct our brother and put him back on the path to fight for life!. I would welcome an apology and different path from Fr. Corapi in a heartbeat, but we need to be on the right path and in positions like these men are in, they have to be there all the time. One small chink in the armor and the dark one will flood them. God bless Fr. Pavone, Fr. Corapi and all our priests. Without them, we have no reconciliation and no Eucharist.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wasn't Fr. Pavone supposed to relocate the Priests for Life offices to Amarillo in the agreement he had with Bishop Yanta that brought him in to the diocese? Weren't donations made for "Missionaries of the Gospel of Life" to build a seminary in Amarillo that would be on the campus of a $100M+ PFL training facility, for which there was a groundbreaking back in 2006? What happened to cause Bishop Yanta to decide to suppress the Missionaries of Life, which had been a Society of Apostolic Life in which Fr. Pavone was incardinated and the Moderator General, was it simply that their funding became part of PFL? Is there any reason why the HQ of PFL are not simply moved to Amarillo as was originally planned?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Is Anthony DeStefano still a director of PFL? Did PFL purchase several copies of his books to give away in fundraising?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Re: Stewardship of Creation

    Is it OK for a Catholic to lament urban sprawl? Or must he cheer it on because it means we've been fruitful and multiplied?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Fr. Pavone story is so obvious that we are all missing it. Politics. No, not Church Politics, National Politics. In 2008, Fr. Pavone was outspokenly anti-Obama. In 2011, Fr. Pavone paticipated in the protest against Obama speaking at Notre Dame University. The Presidential election is next year. Right now, Obama's poll numbers keep sinking. Obama needs every vote he can get to get re-elected. So how does this look to Obama and his people? Fr. Pavone needs to be taken out. This is National Politics, Chicago-Style. Where does Bidhop Zurek come in? According to Huffington Post columnist Father Alberto Cutie (Episcopalian), Sept. 19: "His bishop in Amarillo is certainly much more progressive than he is, so there could be some ideological clashes there..." Okay, do these "ideological clashes" translate into the Bishop's Democratic associations? Those associations include a relationship with former Mayor of San Antonio, Ed Garza. Garza appointed Bishop Zurek to serve on his Committee on Integrity ad Trust in Local Government for the city of San Antonio. Ed Garza, sharing the Democratic leanings of other Hispanics in Texas, endorsed Obama in 2008, saying: "Senator Obama's unique ability to bring people together and bridge partisan divides make him the best candidate to bring change we can believe in."

    ReplyDelete