On Sunday, Fox's resident priest, Fr. Jonathan Morris used part of his weekly Fox & Friends' homily to push the right wing gospel of American entrepreneurship. He showed a photo, taken his way to the studio, that he believed is a perfect example of what folks should be doing instead of sitting around on their asses waiting for a welfare check. The wording of the sign was cause for much merriment. The sign interested me so I decided to do a little investigation. Turns out that it's not quite what was represented on Fox & Friends. It also raises questions about Fr. Jonathan's route to work. And if it does represent an "entrepreneur," Morris' slam on those "waiting for a check," is both misinformed and, once again, offensive to those who are part of the social safety net that Fr. Morris maligns. And there's some juicy irony too!!!
Fr. Morris told his little flock (all Catholics, btw) that on his way to the studio he got out of his car and took a photo that showed "great American spirit." Brian Kilmeade read the part of the sign that listed "car wash, 147-07 Guy R Brewer tattoos and barbershop." Brian pronounced Brewer as Brewster. Morris interjected "he does tattoos." After Kilmeade said yes, Morris said "he's a barbershop" and "he does hair braiding." Morris added that "they buy cars." He then talked about how this is an example of American entrepreneurial spirit that makes you "want to fight" instead of "waiting for the check like this guy Mr. Brewer is doing." With his best jazz hands, he said he just "loved it."
If you look at the photo, there is a green street sign in the background that says Guy R Brewer Blvd. In googling this street, one finds out that it is a very long street in the Jamaica section of Queens. It begins nears KennedyAirport and ends at Jamaica Ave. So the first question is why Fr. Morris, who is a priest at Old St. Patrick's Cathedral, was cruising around this area "on his way to the Fox Manhattan studio," if he lives in the church's rectory which, as is the church, in Manhattan. Bit of a circuitious route, eh?
The handmade street sign has the numbers 147-07 over Guy R Brewer which indicates that this is an address for the services described below the name. Thus, it appears that there is no such "GUY, Mr. Brewer" that Fr. Morris claims is the person behind this sign - a claim that, in the minds of at least one of Fr.'s Facebook fans, has created a real "Mr. Brewer." In googling the address (14707 Guy R Brewer Blvd), one finds only a delicatessen; but that could be an old listing.
But more importantly, when Morris tries to say that this mythical Mr. Brewer isn't waiting for a check, he's not entirely correct. The person behind the business could be disabled, perhaps even a disabled vet, who is supplementing their disability check with earned income. He (or she) could be on partial "welfare" and, again, supplementing this income with earned income. But this reality doesn't support the right wing meme, promoted by the holy father, that all those collecting checks are a bunch of lazy moochers.
But here's the best part. Guy R Brewer Blvd. is named after an African-American NY assemblyman who fought against city hall's unfair allocations of money to white areas as the expense of minority neighborhoods. He described himself as "a pariah" to the Tammany Hall interests which he consistently fought against. He was also pro-choice and believed in open college admissions for all high school graduates. His wife described him as "a fighter for Negro rights all his life."
Somehow, I don't think the real Guy R Brewer would be impressed with Fr. Morris. And something tells me that he wouldn't be a Fox fan, either.
The Catholic church has been having a hard time since the truth about child abuse by priests came out and was corroborated by victims no longer ashamed of something that was not their fault in the first place. I come from a deeply Catholic background and even my relatives have taken considerable distance from the clergy and started keeping a close eye on same.
Their “spiritual authority” has already been badly compromised and they’re not helping themselves at taking umbrage at someone actually praising them for having spiritual values like caring for one’s brothers. (wanted to use “brotherly love” but that’s come to mean something quite unacceptable nowadays).
NOTE TO MORRIS
You are nothing but a Cafeteria Catholic. If given the choice between your Maker and Roger Ailes’ paycheck, you would choose Ailes’ paycheck. His foul mouth does not bother you one bit, you fraud.
Catholics are extremely touchy nowadays. They remind me of a comic book hero with a belly ache, who was shouting “don’t look a me, don’t look at my belly, it hurts”.
It’s not only in the USA. I believe it’s an international, eventually worldly tendency. In France, there was, a few weeks ago, a secretary of housing who said to a journalist she had written to the archbishop of Paris to ask for the Church’s help for the homeless. Then the journalist asked if she was going to requisition the Church’s buildings, and she answered she didn’t expect to have to, since the Church had the same desire to help than the government. Well, would you believe this was considered an attack against the Church, with archbishop, priests, and catholics all in a tizzy about it ?
Thou shalt not bear false witness….unless it is in advancement of an approved Fux Noise meme.