As Twitchy reported, pro-lifer Obianuju Ekeocha called national scold and ABC News chief political analyst Matthew Dowd a practitioner of “cafeteria Catholicism” after he tweeted that a strong social safety net is his answer to abortion:
I am a Catholic who wants to continue to decrease abortions in this country. Best way isn’t a ban or telling women what to do, but to give greater access to contraception services and providing a stronger safety net on finances and healthcare.
— Matthew Dowd (@matthewjdowd) November 26, 2017
Ekeocha certainly wasn’t the only one to have called Dowd a cafeteria Catholic, as he let followers know.
After i posted this, i have realized many conservative catholics have no real desire to solve this issue, they just seek to call names like “heretic/cafeteria catholic” and exclude people from their concept of faith. Sad. https://t.co/WeTw1W9SIo
— Matthew Dowd (@matthewjdowd) November 27, 2017
Could Dowd out-preach a priest on the topic?
I’m sorry, my son, but the Faith is what the Church teaches. If you choose to believe otherwise, then you choose to abandon the Faith. Which is why the etymological root of “heresy” is “choice.” That one really activates the ol’ almonds, I’m sure. ? https://t.co/T0Zu9po1Fq
— Thankful for Gesù bambino Fr. Brendon Laroche (@padrebrendon) November 27, 2017
I will also mention that moral hazard is real. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been told abortion is “necessary” because no contraceptive is ? effective. So giving everyone contraceptives so as to end abortion is a silly idea. Not to mention mortally sinful.
— Thankful for Gesù bambino Fr. Brendon Laroche (@padrebrendon) November 27, 2017
Ummm, father i would suggest you deal with the child predators in your midst before you lecture anyone on morals or faith.
— Matthew Dowd (@matthewjdowd) November 27, 2017
Nice deflection there, but Father Brendon was talking about abortion. (And we’re pretty sure the news business hasn’t cleared out all of its sexual harassers yet; get on that before tweeting again, OK?)
Three things:
1. It’s part of my vocation to “lecture” people on faith & morals.
2. That’s not an argument.
3. I entered seminary during the height of the fallout from the scandal in PA in part to do just that.— Thankful for Gesù bambino Fr. Brendon Laroche (@padrebrendon) November 27, 2017
https://twitter.com/mcmcauliffe55/status/935314258656677888
We second that. And as to that cheap shot from Dowd (which was done out of love, certainly) …
Really appreciate being lectured on how my 6 years of rigorous philosophical & theological formation, not to mention my ordination to the sacred priesthood, don’t make me any kind of authority by people who probably stopped learning about the Faith in 8th grade.
— Thankful for Gesù bambino Fr. Brendon Laroche (@padrebrendon) November 28, 2017
Sure, pull out another silly proof text. It’s not like I’ve studied Hebrew, Greek & Latin or earned 2 Master’s degrees. ?
— Thankful for Gesù bambino Fr. Brendon Laroche (@padrebrendon) November 28, 2017
But again, modernism, faith as a feeling, etc. The idea that theology is 1) a matter of deep prayer & asceticism & 2) an objective discipline with its own method & sources never crosses anyone’s mind.
— Thankful for Gesù bambino Fr. Brendon Laroche (@padrebrendon) November 28, 2017
Well, I think I have said all that can be or needs to be said. I’m signing off for the night before I become mad online, which does no one any good.
(I dread my menchies tomorrow, but que será, será.)
— Thankful for Gesù bambino Fr. Brendon Laroche (@padrebrendon) November 28, 2017
Father, you already won Twitter for the day, but … excuse us … DAMN this is good stuff:
Popped back in to reply to a DM & realized this whole thing blew up because I was responding to a former political consultant who apparently now does political analysis for ABC. I did not know that. ?♂️
— Thankful for Gesù bambino Fr. Brendon Laroche (@padrebrendon) November 28, 2017
He’s a current political analyst for ABC News who also likes to act as the nation’s moral conscious on Twitter.
(This is, perhaps, my biggest p0wn of the night TBQH.)
— Thankful for Gesù bambino Fr. Brendon Laroche (@padrebrendon) November 28, 2017
OWNED.
Is Father Brendon already righteously blocked by Matthew Dowd? We’re guessing yes, but again, he’d only block a priest out of the pursuit of pure truth, which leads to love above all.
The great thing about speaking truth on twitter and advocating that faith must put love before anything else is that it surfaces the haters and close-minded ideologues and helps one identify easily who to block.
— Matthew Dowd (@matthewjdowd) November 28, 2017
#WWJB?
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Related:
Bless his HEART: Obianuju Ekeocha SCHOOLS Matthew Dowd and his convenient Catholicism
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