Michael Moore Almost Became a Catholic Priest
By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country
Left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore, popping up everywhere to promote his new documentary Capitalism: A Love Story, left high school to study for the priesthood. Seriously.
Moore is taking flack on some conservative blogs for saying that Jesus would condemn hedge funds, but it turns out he has a serious Roman Catholic side. Check out this clip from an ABC News interview from a couple of years back in which anchor Terry Moran expresses shock at Moore's seminary stint:
A recent New York Times profile of Moore has more on Moore's faithy side (courtesy of GetReligion):
As much as Mr. Moore sometimes plays a comic-book version of class warrior—Left-Thing vs. the Republic of Fear!—his politics are not grounded in class as much as in Roman Catholicism. Growing up in Michigan, he attended parochial school and intended to go into the seminary, inspired by the priests and nuns who, at least until Pope John Paul II, inherited a long tradition of social justice and activism in the American church.
"The nuns always made a point to take us to the Jewish temple for Passover seders," he said. "They wanted to make it clear that the Jews had nothing to do with putting Jesus up on the cross."
Along with a moral imperative, Catholicism also gave a method. Mr. Moore idolized the Berrigan brothers, the radical priests who introduced street theater into their activism, for example, mixing their own napalm to burn government draft records. Their actions were a form of political spectacle that, conceptually, is Marxist—workers seizing means of production and all that—and it influenced some of Mr. Moore's best-remembered stunts.
I'm submitting my interview request now . . .
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Tags: religion | Catholicism | Michael Moore
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Reader Comments
Catholicism is a seamless garment
The teachings of the Catholic Church confound both the left and the right; they are whole and seamless. The Church offers a strong critique of capitalism, and argues for what G.K. Chesterton called distributism instead. The Church says any society can and should be evaluated by how it helps the poorest, last and least. The Church opposes the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and calls the very fact of nuclear weapons (let alone their use) an "intrinsic evil." The Church asks for a living wage for all workers and says the right to immigrate is a human right. Michael Moore well represents Catholic Social Teaching. Read the encyclicals; it's all quite clear.
Tithing
Suradawn Veirs - I can tell you have never been a Catholic. The Catholic Church does not require a 10% tithing. So to say that the purpose of the Pro-Life movement is about more people 10% tithing makes about as much sense as saying the Pro-Life movement is about more people making blue berry pie.
Also, went you are under excommunication, you still have access to a priest for confession - it is part of how you get out out of excommunication.
Yes, abortion is a sin. Why would you think murder of an innocent isn't a sin?
Michael Moore
is is a man who makes a living at what he does, He knows what people want to hear and he might even believe every thing he says. He does do some good but so do snake oil sales people, like Michael Moore snake oil sales people gives hope. Which is more than people who complain then does nothing about it does. I would be more impressed with Michael Moore if he could father grassroots think tanks around America So “We The People” would know how to be a part of our own Government Again. City counsel is not always boring, Sometimes you can hear some crazy things when a counsel member is doing a constituent a favor and does not research the subject. Of course A grassroots group is even more fun than city counsel because when they first get started nobody knows what to do and things are very informal and people bring snacks and sometimes they even have a baby sitter. And everybody gets to know there neighborhoods and there Government, Sometimes local as well as federal. I know I have learned a lot by reading these articles and mostly the posts when they are not negative.
Don D. Brock
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