Robin Williams attacks Catholic Church

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Robin Williams attacks Catholic Church
Question from on 07-07-2007:
Dear Father, Robin Williams went into a screed about Catholics on the tonight show a few days ago. The Catholic league reported it. We have no one to blame but ourselves. Robin Williams must be really running out of funny if he has to stoop to that sort of "humor". Pathetic. It is so sad to see such vulgarity. An intelligent person would not generalize like that! Is he not aware how much the percentage is so much higher for fathers of family, or the percentage is higher in the protestant faith? Such anti-catholicism is so maddening! It would be like saying that all men are pedophiles for ehaven's sake! Anti-catholicism is rampant these days.

This reminds me of what Isaiah the prophet says. Isaiah 28:8 "For all tables were full of vomit and filth, so that there was no more place." This serves as a warning to Catholics who lack good deeds. Williams is simply another wise-***** using ammunition provided by the Church. The US bishops openly invited this catastrophe. The ridicule is a minor side show to the Church's serious self-inflicted wounds. The American Bishops and us have reaped what we've sowed. I think it is easy to place the blame on the Bishops (and no doubt they take a lot), but they were not in this thing alone and we should be screaming for them to make this Church right. The only thing I can think that would have done the Church more harm than our Bishops leading it would be the laity leading it. A lot people have taken away the wrong message from the scandal.

Very, very few of the Priest molestations were on pre-pubescent boys. The abuse scandal was almost exclusively homosexual rape of post-pubescent boys(over 90%). If we write this scandal off as being the work of pedophiles we are making a big mistake and the problem will continue. What escapes people is that our children are more safe now in Catholic schools, then they are in their own homes and they are actually more safe in Catholic schools then in any other place. In fact the most dangerous place for children is with close male relatives. Yet, we all know it is going to take decades for this scandal to finally heal. It will always be a source of Catholic bashing, like the crusades, etc...even though people are nearly 100% ignorant of the real history behind those events. That's why I say people like RW are absolutely and utterly meaningless, there will always be people like him to wrongly attack the faith. We need to build the faith one person at a time and let God worry about the rest.

What many are missing in their defensiveness is that Williams is a seasoned pro. He knows where the line is and does not cross it. He wasn't booed. Leno didn't rush through William's segment. No sponsors cancelled the following day. The Church's problem is not Robin Williams' contempt. The Church's problem is the applause he gets. When a person working for a company makes vile statements to a national audience, and the company decides to air the tape, and the company's reps (Jay Leno and producers) do nothing to stop or even tone down the vile statements, then said company is giving direct support of the bigoted trash. It makes no difference if during other events the company was a bit more favorable.

If RW had said something truly horrible and deeply offensive about women, or minorities (think Imus here), Jay Leno and NBC would never have allowed it to air, or they would have at the very least cleaned it up for airing. Yet, the subject of RW's perverse and sick humor was the Church and the faith, so it was considered okay to air the entire skit. That is anti-Catholocism in action, and NC/Jay Leno and RW are guilt of it.

My two cents.

Yours in Christ, Nick
Answer by Fr. Robert J. Levis on 07-07-2007:
Nick, I print your complete post, unhappily, but there is much truth in it. Our American culture today is secular, thru and thru. We should actually expect that our cultural headmasters, like Roger, will do and say what you experienced the other night. It is easy enough to blame our leaders, fairly or unfairly. The good old days of the 40's and 50's are gone, actually admitted by our Pope Benedict 16. The Church, he predicts, will be much smaller. The weak will be lost, our enemies will have the limelight. True. This should be a goad to us, actually to sanctity so that critics like him can find little to criticize. Many thanks. Fr. Bob Levis

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