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Roger Ebert's latest personal essay, called "How I Am A Roman Catholic," has generated a huge response, both pro and con. (AP Photo/File)

Praise and disappointment for Roger Ebert's Catholic confession

BY Tom Tangney  on March 7, 2013 @ 6:46 am (Updated: 7:37 am - 3/7/13 )

Roger Ebert is the best known movie critic in America. But lately he's been branching out a lot, writing personal essays for the Chicago Sun-Times in addition to his weekly film reviews.

His latest offering, called "How I Am A Roman Catholic," has generated a huge response, both pro and con.

Ebert's essay was sparked by his watching the live television coverage of Pope Benedict's departure from the Vatican.

He writes that watching that made him harken back to his Catholic upbringing at St. Mary's Grade School. Wise Sister Rosanne, he says, would start each school day proclaiming the Church to be the oldest continuously functioning institution in human history, and taking pride in the fact the Popes formed an unbroken chain all the way back to St Peter and Jesus himself.

Ebert spends most of the rest of the essay crediting his Catholic education for not only his moral and political principles but his rich aesthetic ones as well.

What's getting all the attention though is one of his concluding remarks. He writes, " I consider myself Catholic, lock, stock and barrel, with this technical loophole: I cannot believe in God." That line has stirred up a lot of conversation and not a little controversy. It's generated over two hundred comments online, many praising him for his honesty and others blasting him for his hypocrisy.

A couple of representative zingers:

"Saying one is a Catholic who doesn't believe in God is like saying one loves Dr. Pepper, then buys bottles of it, pours the liquid down the drain and lovingly displays the bottles on a shelf."

And "You don't believe in god, yet you embrace a corrupt institution responsible for the deaths of thousands in Africa, the relentless villification(sic) of gay people, the ritual subjugation of women, and the aggressive enabling of thousands of child predators, for no more pressing reason than fond memories of growing up indoctrinated into this cult."

Both well-written jibes.

But what I like about Ebert's column is that he hits on not a universal truth, but a truth a lot of people experience: That one can have a lot of appreciation and yes, fondness for a religion one was raised in and yet at some point find its tenets not quite tenable.

Ebert acknowledges he would not be the man, nor the critic he is, without Catholicism and for that he's eternally grateful. But relishing the benefits of a belief system and buying into that system are two different things - for Ebert and for many others.

I personally benefited from the parochial school system in grade school (Christ the King) and high school (Blanchet) and I graduated from a Jesuit university (Seattle University.)

One of the things I most appreciate about my Catholic education was how well it taught me to think.

I remember hearing about one distraught parent of a fellow SU student who lamented - what good is all this education if one loses one's faith in the process.

I say, it seems a fair trade to me. Lock, stock, and barrel.

Tom Tangney, KIRO Radio Host
Tom Tangney is co-host of KIRO Radio's Seattle's Morning News and resident enthusiast of...everything. He loves books, movies, TV, art, pop culture, politic, sports, and Husky football.
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Comments (23)


  • Add A Comment

  • daveismenotyou wrote...
    dude looks all jacked up
    March 7, 2013 7:55 am
    What a freak show.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Booger Barnes wrote...
    Freak show?
    March 7, 2013 8:16 am
    Yeah making fun of cancer victems is fun.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • daveismenotyou wrote...
    He is a freak
    March 7, 2013 1:41 pm
    Cancer or no
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • RareClarity wrote...
    Seriously...I don't care.
    March 7, 2013 9:42 am
    Mr. Ebert's aflictions and past career as a movie critic neither lends or detracts from his view point. It's just that, his opinion. He has a right to speak his mind but we all have the right to ignore him.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Hayduke wrote...
    The Catholic Church is a criminal organization.
    March 7, 2013 10:35 am
    Much like the mafia, in fact. It has engaged in conspiracies and coverups worldwide.

    Why anyone would give this criminal enterprise their love and respect, not to mention their money, is beyond me. It just goes to settle abuse claims, which continue to pile because the church hasn't changed it's ways.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • uralnutjobs wrote...
    did you pay your taxes this year?
    March 7, 2013 1:02 pm
    the same can be said for our secular government
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • BeenThere wrote...
    If more people were honest about their faith....
    March 7, 2013 10:46 am
    Many would come to the same conclusion. Allegience to the institution can have many advantages socially and professionally. The perks are more important than their salvation.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    Much like the mafia, in fact. It has engaged in conspiracies and coverups worldwide
    March 7, 2013 11:11 am
    Proof?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Oly80 wrote...
    okay...
    March 7, 2013 11:31 am
    so why write a whole essay about being catholic and then not believing in God?

    what's the point? it sounds pretty self-serving. if you identify with it, it just kinda sounds more sad than anything else.

    i'm not saying the catholics are good, or bad. but, what does your writing do either way?

    just get people all upset one way or another. it just seems like a publicity stunt.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Seattle Dad wrote...
    It's fine to appreciate the tenants
    March 7, 2013 12:33 pm
    But you can't be a Catholic or a Christian without believing in God. I'm amused by Tom's report that developing the ability to think automatically precludes one from believing in God. How narrow minded. It's like a 'Jewish' person offended by Old Testament scripture..... I think mister Ebert could benefit from using the term 'raised Catholic'. But he's not Catholic in faith.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • sprachfuzzi wrote...
    seattle dad
    March 7, 2013 2:35 pm
    tenets, not tenants.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Seattle Dad wrote...
    Ouch!
    March 11, 2013 8:05 am
    Right!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Hayduke wrote...
    It's me, boo who, you ask for "proof" of my statement?
    March 7, 2013 12:41 pm
    Have you been living in a cave? Sorry, of course you have, it looks strikingly similar to your mom's basement.

    Anyway, have you not heard any of the stories about the Church's worldwide coverup of pedophile priests, and how they shuffle them off to another unsuspecting parish? Really?

    Here, let me help you out with the latest:

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/07/can-the-cardinals-find-a-clean-pope.html

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21572724

    Now trundle off to your happy little cave, where you can continue to be blissfully ignorant.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    He was named Bigot of the Year last year by gay rights group Stonewall Scotland, after he said gay marriage was a "grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right"
    March 7, 2013 1:38 pm
    Hayduke is this your proof?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • rational wrote...
    Hayduke is this your proof?
    March 7, 2013 5:24 pm
    His next proof is going to be the DaVinci code.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • sportsguru wrote...
    Mr. Tangney
    March 7, 2013 1:18 pm
    This is the best blog post that you have ever produced on mynorthwest.com. I definitely can relate to Mr. Eberts confusion with God and the Church as a whole and the benefit that he received being raised and taught by the church as well as the total hyprocrisy that exist within the church and the church followers. Good looking out Mr. Tangney
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Cbrew wrote...
    I'm sorry to hear
    March 7, 2013 2:23 pm
    that he lost his faith or that he never had it. I think people fail to realize the wisdom that comes from the Bible and get hung up on much of the specifics of stories they find too incredible to believe. In my own personal belief i feel that the Bible tells us the story of humanity and it's experiences with God. Do I believe that every single line in the Bible is meant to it's literal wording, no, there's often a specific meaning behind many of the stories in the Bible and that is the point of the Book in the first place, The further back an account goes the less we are able to get the real version of events, much of what is in the Bible is descriptions of events that took place generations before they were written down and as any story that passes by word of mouth to the next person you will find that the details aren't as accurate as the first account this is true of any story not just a biblical one, this is why in my opinion the old testament is difficult for many modern folks to believe or understand, but the more you listen to the accounts of Jesus as told by his apostles you recognize that his message is more thorough, it's easier to understand, and the accounts are better recorded, and for good reason, Jesus walked during a much more recent time than the stories of the old testament, and the record of his life is much more thorough... I believe in Christ, I believe in his teachings, I feel that it's a great shame that so many are turned off by the details of older stories, but to me the evidence and proof of Jesus Christ is very compelling... So much so the very Kingdom that put him to the cross converted to Christianity... I think those who automatically shut out the possibility of God, are simply afraid of the implications of God, they do not wish to be judged for their actions, and do not wish to believe that one day they will have to account for themselves and how they have treated their fellow man... but make no mistake, the evidence of God is all around you... and his love is not out of your reach... but take no one's word for it, simply open your mind and read the New Testament... see for yourself.
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