{"id":148,"date":"2011-04-08T15:03:55","date_gmt":"2011-04-08T19:03:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/catholicbychoice\/?p=148"},"modified":"2011-04-08T15:03:55","modified_gmt":"2011-04-08T19:03:55","slug":"hbo-bill-maher-anti-catholicism-and-catholics-come-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/04\/hbo-bill-maher-anti-catholicism-and-catholics-come-home.html","title":{"rendered":"HBO, Bill Maher, Anti-Catholicism and ‘Catholics Come Home’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bill Maher of HBO<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

I spoke with Tom Peterson the founder of “Catholics Come Home” <\/a>\u00a0about the horrid attack leveled against \u201cCatholics Come Home\u201d by HBO Talk Show Host Bill Maher on his television program. Maher had seen one of the commercials of \u201cCatholics Come Home\u201d and decided to reach into the pits of hell and attack the whole Catholic Church.<\/p>\n

It is not\u00a0surprising that Bill Maher saw these fantastic commercials, they are showing up everywhere. That is because Tom, who refers to himself as an \u201cadvertising guy\u2026simple and not a scholar\u201d has built Catholics Come Home into something unlike anything else happening in the Catholic Church today.<\/p>\n

Like the little boy with the loaves and the fish in the Gospel encounter of the miracle multiplication of the loaves and the fish he has offered what he had and the miracle continues. This \u201cadvertising guy\u201d is utilizing the best quality offered by the media to reach real people with the real hope they need in an age that has lost its soul.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCatholics Come Home<\/a>\u201d is already cooperating with thirty Dioceses and Archdioceses, the most recent of which is my childhood home of Boston, Massachusetts being led by the Franciscan Archbishop, Sean Cardinal O\u2019Malley.\u00a0 What has happened in Boston is happening everywhere they air. Mass attendance has increased an average of 10 percent, and as much as 18 percent. The ads and the interactive website have reached 40 million viewers across the US and 1.5 million viewers worldwide in the past three years.\u00a0 According to census statistics published by participating dioceses, \u201cCatholics Come Home\u201d ads have helped more than 200,000 fallen away Catholics come home to the Church.<\/p>\n

Now back to Bill Maher\u2019s attack. In his rabid rant against the commercial and the Catholic Church he failed to do his due diligence. He thought the commercial was produced by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. It wasn\u2019t. It was done by a nonprofit effort led by a layman trying to share the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as found in its fullness in the Catholic Church. Maher said in a three minute segment on his HBO show that \u201cthe Catholic Church had made an ad\u201d which was \u201cslick, like a Superbowl commercial.\u201d Then, he offered his own profane, virulently anti-Catholic harangue. He made his own mocking commercial, making it look like one of these beautiful commercials. It was offensive, bigoted, slanderous, disgusting, and yes, downright diabolical.<\/p>\n

\u201cCatholics Come Home<\/a>\u201d responded that \u201cBill Maher continues to rant against all things Catholic, in an effort to \u201ccrucify\u201d the Catholic Church by holding it up to continual ridicule and scorn.\u00a0 Maher inaccurately claims that the \u201cCatholic Church made these ads.\u201d\u00a0 False. The hierarchy of the Church did not produce these ads, CatholicsComeHome.org did.\u00a0 The television and website advertisements accessible at “Catholics Come Home”\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0were created and are supported by a group of Catholic families and individuals inspired by Pope John Paul II\u2019s call for a New Evangelization.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the course of my conversation with Tom Peters I was moved by the authenticity of this man. I was also amazed at the impact of this media apostolate. He rattled of story after story and statistic after statistic which confirm that, in his words, \u201cpeople are coming back (to the Church) in droves.\u201d As we spoke I asked him what motivated him to leave his advertising career and undertake this work. He told me that years ago he began to realize that we all have a \u201choming device\u201d within us, fashioned by the One who created us out of love and for love. He knew back then that his task was to help \u201clove more souls into heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the conversation continued I told Tom that in my experience over decades of helping people find the Lord, who alone can fill that hole in their soul, or come home to the Catholic Church which He founded, I have\u00a0learned that many like Bill Maher who have such a strong animosity toward the Lord and His Church are often fighting His irresistible call to come home themselves. In fact, the more strident ones are often the closest to putting down their resistance and succumbing to the Lords loving invitation of grace.<\/p>\n

Sure enough, my research showed me that Bill Maher professes to having been raised as a Catholic. That means he has been Baptized. There is grace given in that gateway Sacrament of Christ\u2019s Church. I suggested to Tom that he consider inviting Bill Maher to \u201cCome Home\u201d to the Church which he has attempted to tear down. His response was predictable, given his sincere faith and warm heart, and wonderful. \u201cOf course\u201d he said, \u201cBill Maher, Come Home!\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom Peterson and I discussed the possibility that this angry son of the Catholic Church, Bill Maher, who has now turned his talents against the truth and against the Lord who loves Him, might return home to the Church into which he was baptized. That is when I decided to turn the injustice committed by Bill Maher against \u201cCatholics Come Home\u201d – and against the Catholic Church \u2013 into the beginning of a new campaign of prayer. The campaign is called \u201cBill Maher Come Home\u201d. I invite you to join this effort.<\/p>\n

I invite you to pray with me for Bill Maher for the remainder of Lent and throughout Holy Week. Flood the heavens with requests for the Holy Spirit to break through his anger, heal any pain from the past, open his eyes to the truths of the faith and bring him back to the One whose grace was given to him years ago at the waters of the Baptismal Fount. I know that this is not only possible, but that greater things have happened in the 2,000 year history of the Church.<\/p>\n

For any of my Catholic by Choice readers who have not seen a \u201cCatholics Come Home\u201d commercial, you need to stop reading, right now and click on their outstanding interactive web site here<\/a>.\u00a0Look around. Watch these commercials. Read about this wonderful work. Be encouraged\u2026 and learn to feel good again about being a Catholic Christian. But don\u2019t stop there! Respond to one or more of the wonderful opportunities offered on this virtual media apostolate site to join in their mission.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bill Maher of HBO I spoke with Tom Peterson the founder of “Catholics Come Home” \u00a0about the horrid attack leveled against \u201cCatholics Come Home\u201d by HBO Talk Show Host Bill Maher on his television program. Maher had seen one of the commercials of \u201cCatholics Come Home\u201d and decided to reach into the pits of hell…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[94,95,97,13,96],"class_list":["post-148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-anti-catholic","tag-bill-maher","tag-catholics-come-home","tag-deacon-keith-fournier","tag-hbo"],"yoast_head":"\nHBO, Bill Maher, Anti-Catholicism and 'Catholics Come Home' - Catholic by Choice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/04\/hbo-bill-maher-anti-catholicism-and-catholics-come-home.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"HBO, Bill Maher, Anti-Catholicism and 'Catholics Come Home' - Catholic by Choice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bill Maher of HBO I spoke with Tom Peterson the founder of “Catholics Come Home” \u00a0about the horrid attack leveled against \u201cCatholics Come Home\u201d by HBO Talk Show Host Bill Maher on his television program. Maher had seen one of the commercials of \u201cCatholics Come Home\u201d and decided to reach into the pits of hell…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/04\/hbo-bill-maher-anti-catholicism-and-catholics-come-home.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic by Choice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-04-08T19:03:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/catholicbychoice\/files\/2011\/04\/Bill-Maher-2.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deacon Keith Fournier\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"HBO, Bill Maher, Anti-Catholicism and 'Catholics Come Home' - Catholic by Choice","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/04\/hbo-bill-maher-anti-catholicism-and-catholics-come-home.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"HBO, Bill Maher, Anti-Catholicism and 'Catholics Come Home' - Catholic by Choice","og_description":"Bill Maher of HBO I spoke with Tom Peterson the founder of “Catholics Come Home” \u00a0about the horrid attack leveled against \u201cCatholics Come Home\u201d by HBO Talk Show Host Bill Maher on his television program. 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He is a widely recognized voice in the Catholic and broader Christian community. He is a member of the Clergy of the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia. In his fifteenth year of service as an ordained Catholic Deacon, he is currently assigned to St Stephen Martyr Parish in Chesapeake, Virginia. He is also authorized to serve the Liturgy of the Greek Byzantine Melkite Catholic Church. Deacon Fournier and his wife Laurine have been married for 34 years and have five grown children and six grandchildren. Deacon Fournier holds his Bachelors degree in theology and philosophy from the Franciscan University of Steubenville (BA), his Masters Degree in Marriage and Family Theology from the John Paul II Institute of the Lateran University (MTS), his Juris Doctor Law Degree Law (JD) from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and is a PhD candidate in Moral Theology at the Catholic University of America where he is currently writing his Doctoral Dissertation. Deacon Fournier also holds two honorary Doctorates, a Doctor of Laws (L.L.D. 1994,Honoris Causa) from St. Thomas University - Given for pro-life legal contributions, and a Doctor of Divinity Degree (D.D. 2005, Honoris Causa ) from the National Clergy Council and the Methodist Episcopal Church for his contributions to authentic ecumenical efforts toward Christian unity. Attorney Fournier is a constitutional lawyer who appeared as co-counsel in cases before the United States Supreme Court on Pro-Life, Religious Freedom and Pro-family issues. He served as the first Executive Director of the American Center for Law and Justice for seven years. He then served as a public policy activist for the causes of life, marriage and family issues for a number of years. He has extensive experience in nonprofit and for profit leadership. He has taught at the College level and served in Academic administration. He was a Dean of Students and the Dean of Evangelization at the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Steubenville, Ohio. Deacon Fournier is, above all, a communicator. His faith informs his passion to share the fullness of life which he has found in the heart of the Catholic Church. He has written eight books on matters of faith, family and the Christian life and is widely published in the broader Christian community on matters of life, faith, family, and cultural and social issues. He hosted two daily national radio programs, Purpose for Living, and Millennial Moment. He hosted several television series on Christian family and contemporary faith issues on EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network). He is actively involved in preaching and teaching in the Catholic Church and the broader Christian community. In addition to serving as the Editor in Chief of Catholic Online, Deacon Fournier is the John Paul II Fellow and special counsel for the National Pro-Life Center in Washington, D.C. and is the president of Third Millennium, LLC, a communications and consulting company. He views his role on Beliefnet as an opportunity to share his Catholic Christian faith in what he calls a new areopagus. The areopagus is referred to in the 17th Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the Christian New Testament. Also called Mars Hill it was there where the Apostle Paul shared the Christian faith with the early Greeks in their temple.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/author\/deaconfournier"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions\/151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}