There are other star players including an excellent kicker named Harrison Butker. He's really good and a game-changer in his own right. We've also learned that while he is only 28 he was somehow born in the 1930s in terms of his values and perspectives. Butker's conservative Roman Catholic outlook on life was on full display at the commencement of a small RC college where he let it all hang out during a 20 minute speech. According to AP:
Butker, a conservative Catholic himself, dismissed Pride month as consisting of the “deadly sin sort of pride” while denouncing abortion and President Joe Biden’s handling of the pandemic. He said women are told “diabolical lies” about career ambition when “one of the most important titles of all” is that of homemaker. He said this is not time for “the church of nice” and in particular blasted Catholics who support abortion rights and “dangerous gender ideologies.”
Even though there were plenty of women graduates in the audience he assured them his own wife felt that there was no greater fulfillment in life than as a wife and mother. I suppose you can feel that way, if you choose, when hubby is paid millions of dollars to play a game and paying the bills isn't a worry. Career aspirations? If you're a woman God says you don't need them!
There has been a lot of backlash to this arrogant, homophobic, misogynistic diatribe, some of it wickedly funny. It's scary that his speech would have been vetted by college mucky-mucks beforehand and they decided it was okay. It's also unsettling that there are a lot of people claiming Butker is being "persecuted" for his views. I don't think he's been fired, incarcerated, tortured, or executed so maybe persecution doesn't quite fit. You might have figured out that Butker is white, so he won't be ostracized by the NFL for his views the was Colin Kapernick was for taking a knee during the national anthem.
We live in a weird time when certain Protestants and certain Roman Catholics who once literally hated one another because of their perceived differences are regularly allies now in the gallop to the right. What a world.
I do love this response from a community of Roman Catholic sisters:
3 comments:
Topical as always David!
I followed this story too (and agree about Patrick Mahomes skill!).
It appears that there has been a movement of some congregations in the U.S. going back to more conservative liturgies and attitudes; they would find common ground with Protestant evangelicals.
According to Associated Press this College in Kansas is a conservative one -- and he received a standing ovation. The Sisters you quoted would represent the more modernized, more liberal thinking in the Catholic Church and the quote you chose provides a counterpoint to his views.
Something like this always raises the question about athletes speaking out on a social or political cause..... They could be team players or individual athletes; I wonder if that matters in terms of who they are speaking for. The NFL have distanced themselves from his comments. KB
Yes, I was surprised by his comments but not surprised by the backlash. His comments that women should be satisfied by being a wife and mother are especially laughable. Hard to believe there are people who think this way in 2024.
Can't share my enthusiasm about the KC Chiefs though. I despise the team and find Mahomes annoying. Don't even get me started about Kelce.
At the risk of taking this blog in another direction, I will share my enthusiasm for my Pittsburgh Steelers. Two new quarterbacks(the previous three so-called quarterbacks are now other teams' problems) as well as some other newcomers have me feeling hopeful for the next season - not the feeling of dread that I usually have.
All helpful, Kathy, including the question of why we turn to celebrities, including athletes, to think deep thoughts. It's not that they are necessarily lacking in intelligence, but in this case, why choose a young guy with a specific athletic skill set to pontificate -- that word is probably doing a disservice to the pontiff.
I believe we should live in hope, Roger, although you could be choosing hope beyond hope with the Steelers. You may find Mahomes annoying, but three Superbowls in five years is the sort of irritation most of us would accept.
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