Why We Need GOOD Catechetical Youth Ministers and Teachers!

(major h/t Mark Shea)
AKA: How Millions of Ordinary Slobs Get Their Information about the Catholic Faith

WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back. I don't know if you guys are aware of this, but, you know, often times when our politicians are running, you know, the Church gets a little aggravated with that because there's quite a few of them have different pasts and sometimes the Church wants them to be more perfect.

JOY BEHAR: When you say "the Church" which church are you talking about?

GOLDBERG: Well, it's, it's all churches seem to have all kinds of problems with all kinds of candidates. But this particular problem comes when Archbishop Raymond Burke says no communication --

BEHAR: No communion, communion.

GOLDBERG: No communion for Giuliani.

BEHAR: Holy communion on Sunday.

GOLDBERG: Yes, holy communion, you know what holy communion is. For the Catholic Church, you go in on Sunday, you've confessed everything on Friday or Saturday, you're clear, they give you the host, they say you're cool.

BEHAR: Then you get drunk and go out and have fun.

GOLDBERG: Yeah, you're done. But because of Rudy's stance on abortion, he says he can not give him communion and he is persisting in a very serious sin. When asked if the Archbishop would deny those pro-death penalty, pre-emptive war, he says it's a little more complicated in that case.

BEHAR: Because they're adults and they've committed some crimes, they feel that, that's a legitimate reason to kill someone.

ELISABETH HASSELBECK: I always had an issue with priests denying communion. I remember someone in my family went through a divorce. Unless she got her marriage anulled, she wasn't allowed to receive communion. Her ex-husband wouldn't give her an anullment. He wouldn't show up for the anullment. So, then she was shamed, in other words, for not being --

BEHAR: Ex-communicated, yeah.

HASSELBECK: -pretty much not able to walk down and receive what is to be the most intimate, you know, part of the week with God and taking Jesus into your body.

BEHAR: What about Giuliani? He's been divorced three times at least.

SHERRI SHEPHERD: Has he had communion prior to this? Have they been giving him- is this an everyday thing?

GOLDBERG: I assume in other churches he wasn't having an issue or we would have heard about it.

BEHAR: Well, they don't exactly interview you when you're at the rail. The priest doesn't say how many times have you been divorced? They don't do that.

GOLDBERG: But if the archbishop is making that much noise, I assume that this is not the kind of story that would disappear. We would have heard something because it happened with John Kerry, didn't it?

BEHAR: Well, you know, just, just speak to the anullment problem. I remember when the Beatles were around, that you could, that you could buy an anullment. People used to buy anullments.

GOLDBERG: Yes

BEHAR: You know, the Kennedys and people like that could buy anullments, so it meant really nothing.

HASSELBECK: Our family didn't come from a lot of cash, so they weren't buying an anullment.

BEHAR: Well, that's my point. So, I mean, it's not exactly the most moral position.

GOLDBERG: It's very strange that when, when the Catholic god, you know, because there are so many different gods. I'll refer to the Catholic god at the moment. It seems that the Catholic god always says judge lest ye be judged. And always says if I-

BEHAR: They always say that.

GOLDBERG: If you come to me, I'm the only one who can forgive you. It doesn't matter what everyone else says. And yet a priest, the mouth piece to God, would say you can't --

BEHAR: There are amendments. Unless you do this. Unless you do that. (hand gesturing)

SHEPHERD: The priest has absolute say, because I don't know about Catholicism -

BEHAR: No the Pope does.

SHEPHERD: The Pope, okay.

HASSELBECK: No, the Pope does. The bishops are an extension of his, his abilities to say yeah or nay to certain things. There are a lot of rules in the Catholic, you know, Church.

SHEPHERD: So if he says I don't believe in abortion anymore, then he can take communion?

BEHAR: Well, the thing about is that Rudy Giuliani hasn't necessarily had an abortion himself. His wi- you know what I mean? His wife hasn't had one. I don't know if she has or not. He's not saying I'm going to get it or you should get it or you shouldn't get it. He's saying people should have the right to choose whether they want this or not. And that's his position is. The Church doesn't have that position.

[Applause]

SHEPHERD: But did they deny him for leaving his wife or cheating on his wife and marrying another woman?

BEHAR: No, no, no.

SHEPHERD: Why don't they deny him for that? Is that not a sin any more to leave your wife? Excuse my anger, but is that not a, not a --

BEHAR: It is a sin. But he wasn't running for president at the time, so there wasn't an issue.

HASSELBECK: I seems this archbishop needs a little pub. You know what I mean? He wanted a little publicity. He though slamming Giuliani would get him into the limelight.

BEHAR: You think that's it?

HASSELBECK: Yeah, they're all about it.

BEHAR: What about the vows of modesty? Don't they take that also?

HASSELBECK: Some don't. You should see the jewelry they wear. They're, you know.

SHEPHERD: Blinging! Bling, bling!

GOLDBERG: I just find it very interesting that, that, you know, it's like closing churches. I don't understand people who close churches because there's so many, you know, folks that go to church. You know, it's really a big deal for a lot of people. How can you live at the Vatican and say we have to close these churches because there's not enough money when we could, like, sell some stuff?

BEHAR: Well, the Catholic Church is, is in debt now for paying off a lot of the pedophile cases and they have to close all these churches.

GOLDBERG: There's a lot of stuff they could be selling.

HASSELBECK: And they were handing out communion to all those men who were molesting all the boys out there and they didn't have a problem giving them communion.

BEHAR: We were all raised Catholic here, so this is not some anti-Catholic rant that we're on. This is just factual information.

GOLDBERG: No, I'm a little bit on a rant. No you're right.

BEHAR: You can rant. But I was raised -- I had communion every Sunday. I received my communion, my confirmation, all nine yards. My daughter's been baptized, just in case, you know?

GOLDBERG: You are so funny.

BEHAR: And so this is just- these are facts about the Church right now that people have to either live with or reject.

HASSELBECK: That's one area. That's the Catholic Church. There are many other divisions of Christianity.

SHEPHERD: If you're a Christian, you can do communion if you sin.

GOLDBERG: Not in the Catholic Church.

And it came to pass that which was spoken through the mouth of the Prophet Chesterton:

The modern world will accept no dogmas upon any authority; but it will accept any dogmas on no authority. Say that a thing is so, according to the Pope or the Bible, and it will be dismissed as a superstition without examination. But preface your remark merely with "they say" or "don't you know that?" or try (and fail) to remember the name of some professor mentioned in some newspaper; and the keen rationalism of the modern mind will accept every word you say.