I have penned some highly critical words in the past concerning televangelist Robert Schuller. And I am not going to add anything new here. In fact, I regret having been overly sarcastic in my past remarks, which didn’t do anyone any good. Nevertheless, it is right to say that saccharine platitudes offered in place of Catholic truth are bad enough a weekly fare for rich Protestants, but when served with that indelible, plastic TV smile, that makes the deception all the worse. Well, let’s just say that when I did accidentally hit upon his “Hour of Power,” on a Sunday morning, my “Minute of Incredulous Fixation” was a tortuous exercise that I could only describe as Orwellian. What also irked me was reading that sleazy-tabloid king Rupert Murdoch (owner of anti-family-value Fox TV) was a buddy (read, benefactor) of Schuller’s. Then, to my chagrin, I came to find out Murdoch is also a papal Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Gregory the Great, thanks to the nomination of fellow traveler, Cardinal Mahoney, to whom he had donated ten million for his convention center/cathedral in Los Angeles.
Now, with the sale of the Chrystal Cathedral to the Orange, California diocese, I see that there is another side of Robert Schuller, a side that could respond to grace. At the age of eighty-five he hasn’t much time left — indeed our every tomorrow is given for our repentance — so, if you please, say a prayer for the man who had this to say recently in a LA Times interview:
The 85-year-old minister, who became the pivotal unifying force in the bankruptcy sale, said he has always respected the Roman Catholic faith and considers it the “mother church.” Schuller also said he drew inspiration for his “Hour of Power” from Catholic Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, whose own popular TV show in the 1950s paved the way. “The Roman Catholic Church isn’t going to change its theologies,” Schuller said. “I trust them.” Read full article here.
