EWTN & Immigration

[rug]

by Michael Sean Winters | May. 29, 2013

I was stunned the other night to see a replay of EWTN’s “The World Over” that featured Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana talking about immigration reform. For a network that pledges itself to defending the Church’s teaching, the choice of Vitter seemed more than a little curious.

Of course, one never knows for sure what a guest will say on television, but in this case, the producers might have done a simple Goggle search to find out if Mr. Vitter’s views agreed with the repeated statements of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, recent popes, or the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The producers would have found that Vitter is one of the staunchest opponents of the Church’s explicit teaching on immigration they could have found.

Vitter considers the Gang of 8 proposal “amnesty” and he is opposed to amnesty. He spoke on the Senate floor to articulate, maybe articulate is not the right word, his objections. He did not address the plight of families separated by divergent legal status and the consequent need to unite more families. He did not speak to the human rights of immigrants. He spoke a lot about the need for increased border security, as if that alone would solve the problems created by illegal immigration.

Vitter has voted against allowing undocumented workers to participate in Social Security, even though they most often pay into the system. He has voted against a guest worker program. He has supported building a fence along the southern border. He opposed a pathway to citizenship in the past and continues to oppose it, even for those who have a Green Card.

http://ncronline.org/blogs/distinctly-catholic/ewtn-immigration

Meanwhile,

http://www.religionnews.com/2013/05/29/nuns-on-the-bus-kick-off-immigration-tour/

[hrmjustin]

1. The host of the show only want s to portray RW catholics as true Catholics.

That guy is a phony 3 dollar bill IMO.

[meow2u3]

2. EWTN is a right-wing organization

masquerading as a Catholic television network. The World Over is not the only EWTN show that's blatantly rightist biased. They conflate Catholicism with right-wing politics, something that will soon put them at odds with Pope Francis.

[IrishAyes]

9. Aren't we blessed to have such a pope as Francis?

[No Vested Interest]

3. I saw a bit of that Vitter interview the other night, too.

Didn't stick around long because not only do I dislike Vitter, but Raymond Arroyo gives me the creeps.
He has an unfortunate smug look, - perhaps he can't help the looks he was born with, - but he is, as stated above, decidedly right wing.
A majority of the guests are conservatives as well - Bill Donahue, Laura Ingraham, etc.
They use the term "liberal" as a dirty word.

There are a a few of the programs I enjoy - the Journey Home, hosted by Marcus Grodi is one.
Sometimes Johnette Benkovic has interesting guests, as in a recent woman wrote on "Embracing Dementia".
I've considered writing an OP for this group on what DUers like and dislike about EWTN, - perhaps it's been done before I arrived.

[rug]

4. Arroyo reminds me of Pee Wee Herman.

[No Vested Interest]

5. And the picture here of Arroyo is

a flattering one!
I see the resemblance. LOL

[IrishAyes]

10. Terrifying

I'm going to hide under the bed tonight.

[Kingofalldems]

6. Arroyo, as far as I know, has never had a Democrat

on his show. He is a republican mole placed there for propaganda purposes.

[hrmjustin]

7. He had a democrat that was the head of a democrtic catholic group. I am sorry I do not

remember the name of the group or the man. I remember that they were friends and seemed to get along. But he did scold him for voting dem. Your right that he is a RW hack.

[IrishAyes]

11. Was the group Catholics for Obama?

It's a good one.

[hrmjustin]

12. I think so but I am not sure.

[IrishAyes]

13. We get lots of flack but I tend to feel it means we're doing our job right.

[hrmjustin]

14. The Host was very rude and demeaning.

He was also like that to a nun that help pass the health care bill. If you don't obey the rules he thinks your evil.

[IrishAyes]

15. So then

Perhaps he'd disapprove of Jesus' holy work on the Sabbath as well? Jesus was (still is, I'm sure) quite a radical, and that always means breaking someone's rules. He even spoke directly to the Samaritan woman at the well, verboten in that culture, and also gave her a divine revelation. Man's rules are not always the same as God's. Sometimes the latter requires us to violate the former.

[hrmjustin]

16. Amen my friend! I detest those who think they are the keepers of righteousness.

[IrishAyes]

8. Vitter and others like him,

for instance Arpaio, don't think immigrants have any human rights. Arpaio has been known to send officers out to scoop up unattended little brown kids with no ID on their way to school and then dump them in Mexico w/o so much as notifying the parents. Imagine the terror! I mean, how many little kids should have to carry around proof of citizenship? I never heard of Arpaio doing that to caucasian kids - just brown ones.