Bill Maher is at it again. Unwarranted attacks against the Catholic Church are not new to Mr. Maher. On the eve of Pope Benedict’s trip to the United States, Mr. Maher seems to have made the decision that it was another good time to attack the church and the Pope.
The lies that he made are despicable and hateful. Mr. Maher stated that the Pope was formerly a Nazi. Mr. Maher also said that Pope Benedict XVI, while he was adviser to John Paul II, issued orders to keep the sex abuse allegations a secret until the statute of limitations ran out. Both are clearly lies. I find it coincidental that these attacks come at the time that the Pope is visiting the United States. Could Mr. Maher be doing this to garner ratings? Mr. Maher owes the Pope and Catholics an apology. This is not the first time Mr. Maher has attacked the Church and sadly it will probably not be the last.
To read more on this attack against the Pope,visit the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights website.
Update 4-20-08: Sources had indicated the Mr. Maher was going to apologize for his comments about the Pope on his show. Evidently Mr. Maher did not apologize adequately and made more accusations against the Pope. It seems that it was a non-apology apology. Read these articles.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/article/maher-refuses-apologize_569871_1.html
Maher is even still alive? I thought his bloated booze soaked self was already enjoying eternal reward.
Who knew?
You too, must be over 24. Younger than that and you would be asking “Bill who?”
Who cares…? He is looking to get some TV face time again.
Hey, “Freedom of Speech”, where does the POPE MAN get his little red slippers, did Christ have a pair on when he was lugging the cross. Can we purchase a similar pair, or are they heavenly made for the POPE MAN?
Asimplesinner,
Yes he is still alive and has a show on HBO. I am over 24 and do know who he is, but I don’t really pay too much attention to him because he is out there and not relevant to me. I do think that he needs to be called out when he makes false accusactions like he does. Thanks for posting.
Re: nearlynormalized,
I do think that “nearlynormalized” has a problem with the Pope and his fashionable shoes. Without being too negative, I wonder if Jesus wore a cool black beanie on his head ,like the one in nearlynormalized’s picture, while he was lugging the cross? It really isn’t relevant.
Freedom does come with responsibility and making up lies to promote your own agenda is not responsible. Also, as an american, I have the freedom not to have to listen to people like Mr. Maher who really is not funny. I also have the right to object to what he says.
Not all speech is covered as free speech in the constitution. Hate speech and fighting words are not covered. Anyone who has taken a civil liberties law class would know that.
I am rather confident that Christ had sweet sunglasses and an avatar of Himself He used for when He posted on blogs using his PC just like nearlynormalized.
I do suspect that Christ followers took care of Him and saw to it that He was given good things which showed their love, even though Christ could have turned the stones to palaces. As we love Christ, we see to it that the Church we believe He established is well appointed and those who serve Him have some comforts. It is biblical to support priests.
Just curious if nearlynormalized is aware that the Pope donates his shoes to the homeless and that those shoes are in turn donated to him to begin with. Were it not for the fact that he accepted them – his one opportunity for some stylistic flourish to go with the traditional garb – those folks who know have shoes he donated would not have them. Does nearlynormalized know about that? When someone donates fine things like that to nearlynormalized, does he give them away to the poor and the homeless like the Pope?
I Think what I saw this weekend on HBO was more full of hate that what we see in the Middle east. Maher thinks he is clever but hate is still hate. I may be a 2 time a year Catholic but this kind of speach is just sick. I wonder If the same speach was given about Jews Would Mr. Maher still have a Job No I don’t think so.
asimplesinner,
Lol. Thanks for the clarification on the shoes. I do think we all forget how blessed we are with all the things we have in our society. I suspect that nearlynormalized will not be commenting again.
Joe,
Thanks for the post. Mr. Maher would not have his job if he attacked other groups. In many ways it is true that the last acceptable prejudice is anti catholicism. I have seen it in my personal life as well as in the media and entertainment industry. The devil trys to attack the Church in many ways both from inside and out.
Bill Maher is an idiot. He’s proven that time and again. We need to pray for him, for Christ is his only hope. Maybe this time, Bill will learn his lesson.
Peace in Christ,
Tim
Bill Maher is supposedly going to apologize for calling the Pope a Nazi. I personally, do not think that is enough. He should apologize for all the remarks he has made. I doubt he will do it. Many others have lost their jobs for comments that were as offensive and in many cases less offensive than the ones by Bill Maher. Mr. Maher may have the freedom to say what he wants but he also must live with the consequences of his actions.
Here is a link to a petition to fire Mr. Maher.
http://firebillmaher.com/
Bill Maher can be summed up in seven words.
Wally George, Morton Downey Junior, Bill Maher.
If you say to the first two “Who?” you actually dramatize my point.
As a former Catholic and the survivor of clergy sexual abuse, I found Bill Maher’s commentary a bright spot in a week of nauseating pope worship. He applies humor to the horrible truths: that due to its size and wealth, the RCC gets away with sex crimes that land the leaders of lesser cults hard time in prison.
Janet,
As a Catholic convert, I would like to offer my sincerest apology for what you went through. I will pray that you receive healing and that you will be able to forgive those who abused you. There is no excuse for their conduct, and they will be judged for their actions.
May the peace of Christ bring healing and forgiveness to your life.
Tim
Janet,
timglass basically said what I was going to say. There is no excuse for the behavior of the priests towards all of those affected by the abuse scandal. The Priests and some of the Bishops should be ashamed of themselves. I believe that all Catholics like Pope Benedict are ashamed about this. I too offer my apologies to you.
Bill Maher is no friend of Christianity in general. I have read some of your website and see that you still consider yourself Christian. Those of us who are offended by Bill Maher are not so because of the abuse scandal, we are because of the outright lies and hate that he is spewing. I do sincerely hope that through time Christ will heal the wounds that those who were supposed to guide and protect you created.
Peace
Chris
cd and tim,
Thank you for the kind thoughts. CD, I must disagree with this: “Mr. Maher also said that Pope Benedict XVI, while he was adviser to John Paul II, issued orders to keep the sex abuse allegations a secret until the statute of limitations ran out.” I know, through research I did for my book, that Cardinal Ratzinger DID issue ordert to keep allegations quiet- I don’t know that it was so much to keep it quiet until the SOL ran out, as it was just to preserve the church’s image. But he did do that. It is a document called Criminel Solicitations, and it refers to sexual abuse that originates in the confessional, as well as other sexual abuse. The document states that the victim, witnesses and perpetrator must not tell anyone, under penalty of excommunication.
This was originally released in 1962, and it codified the church’s long tradition of secrecy in these matters.
This was a factor in my own abuse. The priest who assaulted me, Patrick McElliott, had assaulted a 13-year-old girl whose family told the archbishop. They were told to keep quiet and threatened with excommunication if they didn’t. So this was a direct factor in my being assaulted.
So Maher may or may not be correct on the SOL part, but he is correct about the secrecy- and I do know of cases where the church officials strung victims along until the SOL ran out. Monsignor Placa, Guillani’s buddy, even bragged about it.
Father Tom Doyle has written alot of good information about this issue, if you’re interested.
” I know, through research I did for my book, that Cardinal Ratzinger DID issue ordert to keep allegations quiet- I don’t know that it was so much to keep it quiet until the SOL ran out, as it was just to preserve the church’s image.”
Do you per chance have a link to this actual document? I see a lot of references to articles that talk about it, I have gone looking and not actually found the document itself as yet.
Thank you in advance.
Janet,
Like a simple sinner I do ask if you have sources for the this document and where to find it. I do wonder how could Pope Bendict release this document in 1962 when he was not even a Bishop, let alone the Pope? Could you elaborate on that? Mr. Maher made direct accusations against the Pope in this regard.
God Bless,
Chris
Hi- I’m just about heading out the door- I’ll be back on Monday and provide the links. I think Maher claimed that the pope released the document in 2001, when he was Cardinal Ratzinger. It was a re- release of a document that had previously been sent out in 1962. I’m glad we can have this dialogue.
Have a good weekend!
Janet
Here is some information on the document Janet is referring to. It appears that this was merely a document on how to handle these types of allegations in the Church. At first it was allegations regarding priest or bishops who used the sacrament of penance to make sexual advances on the penitents.
Some try to say this is proof of an intentional coverup while in reality it was used to protect all those involved in these types of allegations. I am sure there are those who mishandled it and for that we all as Catholics are sorry and ashamed, but to say what Mr. Maher said was going too far.
I do believe that society as a whole has been over sexualized to the point where this behavior is prevelent in all sectors of society. The public school systems are notorious for the amount of sexual abuse that goes on in them.
The Church has made many changes when it comes to protecting children. I volunteered to help with the National Catholic Youth Conference just last year and had to go through hoops before I could participate. Figerprints were required. Background checks were done. Everyone had to take a class or classes on the subject of abuse. Progress has been made.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimen_sollicitationis
God Bless,
Chris
I believe this is the document Janet is talking about that was released in 2001. The document is on the Vatican website. Evidiently this has been available for years.
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20010518_epistula_graviora%20delicta_lt.html
Here is a link to an article by Jimmy Akin on the subject.
http://jimmyakin.typepad.com/defensor_fidei/2005/04/observe_this.html
Hello,
Here is a link to the BBC television show, which includes links to the doctrine:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/5389684.stm
It always harms victims to tell them they must keep silent about sexual assault. Please remember that Cardinal Ratzinger released this in 2001: by that time, it was well known that victims need to be free to talk about the abuse in order to heal. But that is not the church’s main concern. They have always been more interested in protecting their image than in protecting their members.
We will have to agree to disagree. I am still grateful to Bill Maher for pointing out the grave injustice when, in the same week when one religious group was held responsible for sexual abuse, the head of another religious group where many more have been abused was exalted.
Janet
testing
Hello,
Here are the links.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/5389684.stm
Janet
I tried to give you the links, and it will not accept them.
The moderator needs to go back and fish them out of the anti-spam filter…
Adding links to a combox can get them caught there… There they are saved until the moderator approves them…
Janet,
asimplesinner was right. The posts were in the spam queue. I just got back from work and released them. Thanks for providing the links.
I will look at them when I get a chance. I do think that we can agree that it was shameful that priests, who were supposed to shepherd and protect their flock, engaged in these reprehensible activities. It was sinful and dispcable behavior. It was also tragic and misguided what some of the bishops did. Some were given poor advice and some made bad decision. I just don’t believe that there was some sinister program by the church to initiate a cover up of such epic proportions. I do appreciate other peoples opinions on the matter and it does educate us all to hear them.
The one major difference that I can see between the abuse crisis in the Catholic Church and the problems that occured at the compound of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints(FLDS) is that the behaviour of the priests is not morally acceptable by the Catholic Church. It is considered sinful behavior by the Church. In the FLDS, the behavior stems from doctrinal beliefs in plural marriage and arranged marriage. It seems that many of the adherants did not consider what was going on to be problematic. It was doctrinally acceptable behavior. It was part of the religion. This is just my opinion.
God Bless
My first time at this site. I am a Catholic convert. In my Lithuanian ancestory, I was not exposed to the church. As my mother married out of the church, and was excommunicated in 1930, I had my own prejudices about a church that excluded people. I know I am to be a part of the church, and I am to be a part of the change that I want to see. Christ said let there be no divisions amongst you, and that is my calling to help unify Christians, not to divide them. I take part in interdenominational bible studies. ‘We’ is so much more powerful than me alone. Are we united in Christ, or divided by doctrinal differences???
Vicki B,
Thanks for commenting. I am a Catholic revert. I too personally wish for Christian Unity, however, I do think we may have some differences on what true unity is. I do believe that we as Christians should strive for unity with one another and that it is shameful the lack of unity within the Church. Many “Christians” do not consider Catholics to be Christians. Many try as hard as they can to take Catholics out of the Church. I have seen the ugly face of anti Catholicism since I have returned to the Church, both on a personal level and publicly(The topic of this post is an example of secular anti Catholicism. I have seen both secular and sectarian anti Catholicism).
Doctrine is and always has been important to the Church. Jesus is truth and therefore false doctrine cannot and should not be accepted. The Church should not compromise its identity just for the sake of a “superficial” unity. Unity should be a unity in truth as Jesus is the truth. Having said this, I do believe that non catholic Christians are Christian and can be saved, just as the Church teaches.
Pope Benedict XVI’s address to other Christian leaders is a good source on what true ecumenisim should be and how it should be approached.
http://discoverthefaith.com/2008/04/19/pope-benedict-xvis-address-to-christian-leaders-at-st-josephs-church/
Could you please elaborate on the change you want to see in the Church? You can post it here or send it to the email address on the contact us tab if you would like.
God Bless
Chris
Beanie this, it is a French Barret–$.50–Salvation Army Thrift shop–Red slippers $1,500.
nearlynormalized,
Thanks for the timely clarification and the insightful analysis.
Where did you get the sweet sunglasses and how much are they? Some of the readers might want a pair.
Chris,
I don’t think Jesus wore a beanie or sunglasses while “lugging” His cross either.
I think thoes sunglasses are keeping him in the dark.
Fight the good fight, brother!
My grandmother use to say with warm Eastern European accent, “Ve r al Gods childrn, an al r blet is red.” That was a woman who saw and survived the worst; so all religions wake up and stop the hate, it doesn’t work anymore.
Nearlynormalized,
I actually agree with you that religions should not hate but that doesn’t mean that we all have to agree with each other either.
Religion in general doesn’t hate… quite the opposite… it is people who hate.
Some of the most nasty groups out there in the last century have been atheistic/communist regimes.
To call Bill Maher “anti-Catholic” is ridiculous and shameful.
Maher was born to a Catholic father (in a mixed marriage) and raised Catholic.
Certainly a person has a right to criticize what was taught to them as a child without being made out to be a bigot.
Rudy,
With all due respect there are many people who were raised Catholics who are anti-Catholic. They either were not raised with a proper understanding of the Church or have been convinced that it is wrong. If you disagree with what the Church teaches that is fine but if you misrepresent what it teaches and/or attack it with malice then…yes there is a problem with it. Bill Maher is guilty on both accounts.