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Monday 27 April 2015

Will the Catholic Register keep Catholic Michael Coren as a columnist?

He once wrote "Why Catholics are Right." Now we must ask, as he was right then, what has caused him to be so wrong now?

After insulting the very people that bought his books and paid him to speak at Catholic events he has spent the better part of a year insulting the same Catholics who aided his career now Michael Coren is confirmed as an apostate and has become an Anglican. He is also hosting 100 Huntley Street this week.

Is he still going to be kept on staff as a columnist at The Catholic Register?

Nothing more to say but this parting shot from Michael.


13 comments:

Murray said...

Well, Michael Coren is brittle and prissy in his rhetoric, and he has the intellectual depth of a puddle, but let no-one say that he lacks a keen sense of personal advancement!

When Catholic orthodoxy seemed to be on the upswing, Michael became an orthodox Catholic and milked it for all it was worth, producing several books and making regular appearances on Catholic media outlets. But then the winds from Rome shifted, and when our human weathervane swiftly accommodated himself to the new circumstances, the invitations dried up and orthodox Catholics quickly stopped paying attention. Add to this the loss of his Sun News gig, and Michael Coren was facing the prospect of falling into that most fate that an inveterate self-promoter dreads more than any other: obscurity. What new trick could he perform to return to the spotlight?

Surprise! He changed his religion. Again. On the face of things, this is history repeating itself as farce, and we have to admire the man's chutzpah and sense of comic timing. But what else was he going to do? Coren's not smart enough to harmonize his newfound heresies with Catholic teaching, and once-bitten Catholics wouldn't trust him even if he did.

But will it work this time? We might paraphrase the words of Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons:

It profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world ... but for the Anglican Church, Michael?

I mean, I can see the strategic utility of this move, in that it allows Michael to rerejoin Catholicism through the Ordinariate, should the winds once again blow in that direction, but this does seem like a desperation gambit. Time will tell.

TheGoat said...

Better question is if he will resign from The Catholic Register. (Not that the CR is all that Catholic anyhow, but I think integrity demands that he resign rather than wait to be asked to be let go.)

He's also got a lot of Catholic parishes and institutions on his speaking schedule. He should cancel these if he was hired specifically to talk about Catholicism, though I know a lot of his talks are probably about his new book on Islamic persecution, and might still be worthwhile. Still, not exactly a great example to be presenting to your parish.

Brian said...

Years ago I cancelled my subscription to the Catholic Register. Why? They had a piece lionizing Gregory Baum. Recently, I did not renew my subscription to Catholic Insight. Why? Coren continued to be a regular columnist. Coren is now with his true hero...Henry Tudor. There is no Thomas More or John Fisher in Coren, a "johnny come lately" Catholic, who barely reached the apprentice level. He is a very confused soul who will continue to mutate. I suspect that his final stage, if he honestly goes public, will be agnosticism.

Radical Catholic said...

I fully expect him to die a Jew. Though, I would not be surprised to see him take a detour through Islam - seriously. Just imagine the media coverage and book deals he could squeeze out of that in a very short time.

Puff the Magic Dragon said...

To quote St. Thomas More in a Man for All Seasons.

His head is spinning, we can only hope that when his head stops spinning, his face is to the front again.

But hey that's just me.

BillyHW said...

I, for one, am glad that Michael Coren has finally found a religion that believes the same things he does.

Unknown said...

He was one of the few commentators brave enough to call out Islamic jihad for its' ugliness and horror. For that he deserves our respect.

Unknown said...

Most high church Anglicans consider themselves Catholic anyway, so it is possible that very little will change for him other than the location in which he worships.

Anonymous said...

https://catholicintelligenceblog.wordpress.com/2015/04/27/michael-coren-crypto-anglican-becomes-anglican/

ElliotB said...

And this is surprising, how? Once he turned on sodomy, the game was over.

Kitchener Waterloo Traditional Catholic said...

Coren needs a job. He's not getting his M.Div. for nothing. He'll be working as an Anglican minister after graduation; probably already has the gig lined up.

Kitchener Waterloo Traditional Catholic said...

To Murray's speculation Coren might re-enter the Church through the Ordinariate: I don't think that's possible. If I understand how things work you can't be Catholic, then become an Anglican minister, then re-enter the Church. It would be a tidy little loophole for those who want both a priestly vocation and wife. Hence the Church doesn't allow such trickery.

Murray said...

KWTC,

I don't really think Coren would come back through the Ordinariate. No, if he comes back (and it would be--what?--the fourth time, so I don't think he will), it will be with that same unmistakable combination of of posturing, self-flattery and snark that he is currently displaying on his Twitter feed.