On her Monday show on CNN International, Christiane Amanpour celebrated the same "Catholic" Salon.com writer who penned the revolting piece, "So What If Abortion Ends Life? [1]" and who shuddered [2] at an Olympic gold medalist being "so, so, so into Jesus."
Salon.com's Mary Elizabeth Williams is a "pro-choice, liberal
Catholic," and Amanpour hyped her "fight" to change the Catholic Church –
allowing women to be ordained to the priesthood and thus treated as
"equal citizens." Apparently Catholic women are second-class citizens in
Amanpour's book.
Amanpour teed her up: "Do
you think, given all your studies, all your writing, all your academic
work on this issue, that there is a chance that women might see
themselves priests and treated as equal citizens in the church?"
Williams, for her part, lashed out at the Church authority in Rome that
has a "very strict, very dogmatic, and very backward-looking world
view."
In her January column [3]
on abortion, Williams bragged that she would still have the "World's
Greatest Abortion" if she was pregnant, and that she would know she was
aborting a human being. "A life worth sacrificing," she devilishly
termed it. Is this the type of woman Amanpour wishes to honor?
Amanpour's Monday show was dedicated to "a celebration of the women who
fight to change our world every day." Along with Williams, she also
honored a "great woman" Gabrielle Giffords who is fighting for "gun
sanity." Gun control is "gun sanity," Amanpour thinks.
"Her spirit is undaunted and her cause is to stop the gun violence here
in the United States. After the shocking attack on children and
teachers in Newtown, Connecticut, she painfully and powerfully appealed
for gun sanity here," Amanpour touted.
Below is CNN's transcript of the segment, which aired on Amanpour on May 27:
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN host: Hello, everyone, I'm Christiane
Amanpour. And welcome to a very special edition of the program, a
celebration of the women who fight to change our world every day.
(...)
AMANPOUR: And now we turn to the epic changes happening in the Catholic
Church. And while many Catholics, according to polls, are leaving their
faith because they're angry at the abuse and corruption in the church
hierarchy, one woman has chosen to stay and fight from within. Mary
Elizabeth Williams is senior writer for Salon.com, where she wrote a
personal essay called, "No Matter What, I Am Still a Catholic." I asked
her what keeps her in the church.
(Video Clip)
MARY ELIZABETH WILLIAMS, Salon.com: I still philosophically believe in
the groundwork of Catholicism. I believe in the virtues of simplicity
and forgiveness and tolerance and inclusion that were taught to me as a
child and what I try to teach to my children as well.
But the main thing is, I think that to be questioning and to call out
hypocrisy and to eliminate injustice when you see it is about as Christ-
like as you can get. So for me, I feel the work of those of us who
still believe in the faith of Catholicism is for us to do what Christ
would do, which is to make a lot of noise and roar and make trouble.
That's what I think we're supposed to be doing right now.
AMANPOUR: Do you think, given all your studies, all your writing, all
your academic work on this issue, that there is a chance that women
might see themselves priests and treated as equal citizens in the
church?
WILLIAMS: I think -- I think women priests are still a long way away.
But I can tell you that when I was a little girl, I had to fight and I
lost the fight just to become an altar server. And when I now go to my
church and I see girls up there on the altar, that, to me, represents an
understanding and a little bit of progress.
And I think that what we see in parishes across the world, certainly I
see in my own parish, is so different from what we hear coming out of
Rome.
And what I would love to see in the future is more of a connection and
more of a consistency between the work that Catholics are doing on the
ground, who really care about these progressive issues, who really care
about poverty, who really care about equality, who really care about
family in real ways and what we hear coming out of Rome that is just
this very strict, very dogmatic and very backward-looking world view.
We live in a different world now, and I think that the church has
revised itself philosophically in the past. There's no reason that it
can't revise itself philosophically in the future and take an attitude
that's just more encompassing. That, to me, is what being Christ-like is
supposed to be about.
(End Video Clip)
(...)
AMANPOUR: And finally, we began our tribute with the courageous and
determined Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan. And we'd like to conclude this
program with another brave woman, former U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle
Giffords, who was also shot in the head and is also speaking out.
She was attacked by a crazed gunman in her home district of Tucson,
Arizona. And just like Malala she has had a miraculous recovery. Her
spirit is undaunted and her cause is to stop the gun violence here in
the United States.
After the shocking attack on children and teachers in Newtown,
Connecticut, she painfully and powerfully appealed for gun sanity here.
(Video Clip)
GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, former Arizona congresswoman: Speaking is
difficult. But I need to say something important. Violence is a big
problem. Too many children are dying. Too many children.
We must do something. It will be hard. But the time is now. You must
act. Be bold, be courageous; Americans are counting on you. Thank you.
(End Video Clip)
AMANPOUR: Behind every great woman like Gabby Giffords and Malala Yousafzai there is another woman waiting to be great.
And that's it for tonight's program. I hope it has inspired you and moved you. Thanks for watching and goodbye from New York.