Thursday, March 28, AD 2024 1:06pm

Hilarious: The New York Times Attacks Bannon for Being Too Catholic

Oh this is just too funny.  The New York Times on December 30, ran a story on Trump’s advisor Stephen K. Bannon, in which they attack him for being, gasp, a conservative Catholic:

A week after Stephen K. Bannon helped engineer the populist revolt that led to Donald J. Trump’s election, Buzzfeed unearthed a recording of him speaking to a Vatican conference of conservative Catholics in 2014.

In his presentation, Mr. Bannon, then the head of the hard-right website Breitbart News and now Mr. Trump’s chief strategist, called on the “church militant” to fight a global war against a “new barbarity” of “Islamic fascism” and international financial elites, with 2,500 years of Western civilization at risk.

While most listeners probably overlooked the term “church militant,” knowledgeable Catholics would have recognized it as a concept deeply embedded in the church’s teaching. Moreover, they would have noticed that Mr. Bannon had taken the term out of context, invoking it in a call for cultural and military conflict rather than for spiritual warfare, particularly within one’s soul, its longstanding connotation.

As the Trump administration prepares to take office, the use of Church Militant theology has gone well beyond its religious meaning and has taken on a political resonance. To fully grasp what “church militant” means in this highly politicized atmosphere, it helps to examine the broader movement and the role of a traditionalist Catholic website called — to no surprise — ChurchMilitant.com.

Go here to read the rest.  The writer, Samuel G. Freedman, is obviously deeply ignorant of Catholicism as he attempts to put a “sinister” spin on the term “Church Militant” with the assistance of snippets of quotations from Catholic academics.  It is like watching someone blind from birth attempting to describe the color green.  I would like to think that Stephen K. Bannon is a fervent Catholic, but somehow I doubt that this thrice divorced gentleman fits into that category.  He of course is a conservative, however we already new that.  So what is the purpose of this amusingly ignorant hit piece?  Simple.  The readership of the New York Times, along with the powers that be behind that rag, are almost entirely deeply anti-Catholic.  This gives them new scope with which to hate the incoming Trump administration.  It also allows them to attempt to portray the pro-Israel incoming Trump administration as anti-Semitic, because of course conservative Catholics hate Jews in the Catholic bashing worldview of the New York Times.  Religious bigotry is merely one arrow in the quiver of the opponents of the next administration, but rest assured that it will be used when necessary, and it will frequently found to be necessary.

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Don L
Don L
Monday, January 2, AD 2017 5:30am

Great piece of writing. Of course the NYT has to be fervently anti-Catholic as it is the master of deceit, thus a mere tool in the hands of the diabolical–the “father of lies.”
One side note–it appears that the diabolical left has no problem with their side of spiritual warfare entering and controlling both the cultural and military aspects of human civilization.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Monday, January 2, AD 2017 7:21am

I’m trying to decide which is more blatant: the bigotry, the dishonesty or the stupidity.
.
More examples of the stupidity and why they lost. #Inaccurate #Pathetic #Lyingliberals #FakeNews
.
[ala Twain] If you don’t read the Times you are uninformed. If you read the Times, you are misinformed. The same is true for most of the lying, liberal (redundant) media.
.
The real tragedy is that the despicable, evil people (voted for Obama and Hillary) are too bloody stupid to realize that they are continually gulled.

Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
Monday, January 2, AD 2017 7:42am

Well they invoked Michael Voris, now. All hell is sure to break loose! 😉

Philip
Philip
Monday, January 2, AD 2017 8:46am

Keeping the eye on the prize.

http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jan/1/obama-could-still-force-merrick-garland-onto-supre/?

While the non-news, Russians interfere with/ election and the above blow hard story, continues on, the lil’ king might try a last second placement.

The libs are devious.
Add that to your list T. Shaw.

Greg Mockeridge
Greg Mockeridge
Monday, January 2, AD 2017 9:19am

Now, if the Times had written an article attacking Bannon for being an unkempt scrounge, that would have been beyond dispute.

Tom
Tom
Monday, January 2, AD 2017 10:42am

Bannon comes from a Catholic background. He went to Benedictine High School here in Richmond, as did his brothers. And although he is deeply conservative in the best sense of the word, it is true that he is not on close personal terms with the Church, having been, as noted, thrice-divorced. He is still an advisor or on the alum board of Benedictine, so there are still ties.

The article is utterly inane, and botches the significance and meaning of the Church militant; the term is a way of denoting the Church still on earth working towards salvation, as distinct from the Church Suffering, which are those in purgatory, and the Church Triumphant, which are those in heaven.

Michael Dowd
Michael Dowd
Tuesday, January 3, AD 2017 3:48am

Good for Steve Bannon. The Catholic Church should be much more militant about the works of the devil. For example, I would like to see Pope Francis state that any Catholic who voted for a Democrat candidate for Federal office would be committing a mortal sin. If this were done it would not be long before the Democrat Party would stop supporting abortion. This should have been done years ago. It would have saved millions of babies.

Timothy Reed
Timothy Reed
Tuesday, January 3, AD 2017 6:14am

Well, while we pay attention to, what seems to us as nonsense, someone should try to keep an eye on the “Flim Flam Man” who still occupies the White House. Which shell do you think it’s under ?
Timothy R.

D Will
D Will
Tuesday, January 3, AD 2017 10:52am

The problem I see with this is more aligned with trying to debunk Voris and his site … which unfortunately brings down with it the beautiful teaching behind the real meaning of Church Militant. No question the author cleverly intertwines fact with fiction to bash us all.

in TX
in TX
Tuesday, January 3, AD 2017 5:28pm

@ Dowd: Unfortunately I think you overestimate the seriousness with which the Catholic Democrat voter takes their faith. For example, Mex-Americans have voted Democrat, and thus pro-choice, for decades, rationalizing their choice with the thought that “We’re not pro-choice, we live our lives pro-life, and we need the material assistance / open borders that the Democrat endorse to survive.” Of course if a long-time pro-life volunteer like me votes for Trump and The Wall, while saying, “Of course I care for the poor, I contribute to St. Vincent de Paul” — I’m la diabla blanca. We all know that pro-life people don’t care about the poor.

Foxfier
Admin
Tuesday, January 3, AD 2017 10:19pm

Anybody remember when some poor reviewer decided to cheese actually watching the Lord of the Rings movies, and did a search for a review…and accidentally chose one of the parody summary to base their review on?

Sounds like the guy did the same with “church militant” being interpreted with a word-exchange for “jihad.”
*********

Unrelated: lovely new theme!

Michael Dowd
Michael Dowd
Wednesday, January 4, AD 2017 2:48am

re: in TX. Thanks for your comments. You are probably correct about the over-estimation of the Catholic faith by Democrats. The faith is mostly cultural to them–lots of Irish like this–with selfish economic interests trumping (banned word) Catholic doctrine.

Timothy Reed
Timothy Reed
Wednesday, January 4, AD 2017 5:09am

Ok. I agree that the man is not a Saint. But, did not the Founder of the Church, Jesus Christ, say that,
“whoever is not against us, is for us.” Remember how suspicious the Disciples were of Saul ?
Timothy R.

trackback
Wednesday, January 4, AD 2017 8:36am

[…] Hilarious: The New York Times Attacks Bannon for Being Too Catholic […]

Foxfier
Admin
Wednesday, January 4, AD 2017 9:45am

Remember how suspicious the Disciples were of Saul ?
Which was not a bad thing, what with the hold “deadly threat” thing….
All for someone throwing out demons in His name; not so much for being tossed out while demons get ignored.

Timothy Reed
Timothy Reed
Wednesday, January 4, AD 2017 11:36am

Foxfier, Saul was the name Paul used, before he became “Paul”.
Timothy R.

.Anzlyne
.Anzlyne
Wednesday, January 4, AD 2017 11:52am

I read Michael Voris. I try to find my way in real life in real time in my real dioceses ( living on the borders of three) In my opinion, Michael is stable and determined to stick with what he knows and not countenance drifting. That helps me. I support parishes in all three dioceses because I teach bible studies in all three. The different approaches to Catholicism and the world in the three, despite the unity we used to expect (Iraneus)
Just considering the holy day calendar is only one of the things that makes us so aware of the importance of the bishop, of structure and stability.
I grew up in a town in this area populated by a handful of Catholics and many many Masons.
I learned about anti-Catholicism early, the ornery type and also how it can sometimes have a velvet glove. As I grew up, there were people who freely claimed that the Catholic Church is aligned with the devil. Today those most consciously associated with the devil see the Church as their enemy.
The small city that dominates this area has been estimated to be the most diverse in the country PER CAPITA. Probably there is a great overestimation of the faith of the Catholics trying to live in the world and the Church in this melting pot. But we are trying.
I, like many others, sense a bit of a change in the air in these times. I think some of our priests sense it too, and are becoming , as Michael Dowd says, more militant about fighting the devil and association with him.
On another note, I appreciate the tags given for the post entries I clicked on the anti-catholicism tag and read some older posts by Donald McClarey that were very interesting- I guess somehow I missed them the first time!

Foxfier
Admin
Wednesday, January 4, AD 2017 12:10pm

Timothy- I am aware of that.
You do remember what he was doing before he converted, right?

Timothy Reed
Timothy Reed
Wednesday, January 4, AD 2017 12:44pm

“Saul” was helping the Romans by arresting Christians. According to his writings, he never forgave himself for his past. As “Paul” he tried to make up with Peter and the others;but, they much feared and mistrusted him at first.
Timothy R.

Jack
Jack
Wednesday, January 4, AD 2017 4:30pm

The NYT surname is the “Hell’s bible”

Foxfier
Admin
Wednesday, January 4, AD 2017 4:56pm

Timothy –
Kind of the point…. the guy was trying to kill them. He did repent and change, but that’s a radical difference between expelling demons in Jesus’ name without being a recognized follower, and killing the people who expelled demons in Jesus’ name. That people didn’t instantly believe him when he said “hey, I don’t do that anymore” is a sign they weren’t willing to throw their lives away stupidly.

Timothy Reed
Timothy Reed
Thursday, January 5, AD 2017 10:03am

Morning Fosfier- I read your last entry with great interest. And I agree with every thing you said. I think we are talking past each other. What I was trying to say, is that : Hey ! There is no need to panic. The Big Guy., who has everything under control, knows wnat’s happening. The Disciples panicked and ran to the Boss because they didn’t know the guy tossing out demons in Jesus’ name. But He knew !
Timothy R.

Timothy Reed
Timothy Reed
Thursday, January 5, AD 2017 10:07am

Addendum : The Lord does not have to reveal to us everything He knows and what He is doing. Look at the trouble we get into with the little information He gives us. And I apologize for misspelling your title. It was a typo.
Timothy R.

Foxfier
Admin
Thursday, January 5, AD 2017 10:41am

Oh, good… confusion is one thing, disagreement is a thing, but the point you seemed to be making was rather…well, deadly to anybody who isn’t in an already Christian society, with other folks protecting them. 😀
No worries on the name, I was more interested in it being easy to find with a search engine than with it being easy to spell!

Timothy Reed
Timothy Reed
Thursday, January 5, AD 2017 11:24am

I am a born, raised, and educated Catholic. My wife is Pentecostal. We take turns attending each other’s Church. I have never felt Catholic as much as when I had occasion to defend my Church from, well meaning, but probing questions. Such as, “Do you really worship statues ?’
Foxfire, if you are Catholic, you belong to a GREAT Christian society. You are my brother.
Timothy R.

Foxfier
Admin
Thursday, January 5, AD 2017 12:36pm

While it’s a good thing to keep in mind, I was looking more towards the tangible results of cultures that are built on the idea that– as the US’ founders nicely put it– we’re created equal, with rights put there by God Himself which the state can only recognize, or fail to recognize.
It needs to be seen, and protected, and– God willing– built up more.

Timothy Reed
Timothy Reed
Thursday, January 5, AD 2017 2:04pm

The best we can do, and are supposed to do, is to try and ascertain His will for our life. And pray that He will help us stay the course.
Timothy R.

Foxfier
Admin
Thursday, January 5, AD 2017 3:31pm

We have to figure out what we’re supposed to do, and then do it. Like they say in mass– what we have done, and what we have failed to do.

We destroy the Christian culture we’ve been granted? We stand by and let it be done? We’re at fault.
Pray, but keep rowing for shore.

Timothy Reed
Timothy Reed
Thursday, January 5, AD 2017 7:43pm

I don’t know who or what knocked the Hope right out of you. I’de like to put my size eleven in their rear parts ! I let a girl do that to me a long time ago. I was very young and seven thousand miles and an ocean from home. And I never thought I would ever recover from it. But I did. You can too.
Timothy R.

Foxfier
Admin
Thursday, January 5, AD 2017 8:09pm

*shakes head* It’s not a lack of hope, it’s a recognition that we’ve got to work.

The danger in what you seem to find a hopeful stance is that it’s passive– if all we had to do was think and pray, we could avoid the real hard part of doing, and being accountable for our doing. I don’t think God will blame us for failing, but He will blame us for not doing our best.

I’m not lacking in hope– to quote a delightful character from Fairy Tail, I’m all fired up. 😀

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Thursday, January 5, AD 2017 10:27pm

I don’t read the NYT, listen to NPR or any other liberal propaganda outlet. If I did I would know less (in other words be more stupid) about the topic after reading or listening.

The Christian Teacher
The Christian Teacher
Friday, January 6, AD 2017 12:36am

“It is like watching someone blind from birth attempting to describe the color green.”

BBBAAAHHHAAA! ROFLMBO

Timothy Reed
Timothy Reed
Friday, January 6, AD 2017 8:16am

I like to think of Life from the standpoint of Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8. There’s a time to confront and a time to listen. Timothy R.

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