{"id":18804,"date":"2012-06-29T09:30:17","date_gmt":"2012-06-29T14:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=18804"},"modified":"2012-06-28T23:58:38","modified_gmt":"2012-06-29T04:58:38","slug":"an-open-letter-to-chris-hardwick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/06\/an-open-letter-to-chris-hardwick\/","title":{"rendered":"An Open Letter to Chris Hardwick"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"imgres\"<\/a>I love podcast. I love producing them, listening to them, and hosting them. My love for the media has recently put me the strange position of being caught up on all of my Catholic podcast listening queue. So I\u2019ve been venturing out into the deep and listening to other shows that people have recommended or that I\u2019ve heard about. One of my new favorite shows is the Nerdist<\/a> podcast by stand up comedian and former host of MTV\u2019s \u201cSingled Out\u201d Chris Hardwick.\u00a0 The typical Nerdist podcast has Chris and his sometimes co-host interviewing other comedian and celebrities about the business and their lives.\u00a0 In the process of listening to a few shows I came to find out the Chris Hardwick was raised Catholic and even attended Catholic school for a few years.<\/p>\n

Like so many others of our generation Chris is no longer a practicing Catholic or follower of any particular religion. What struck me recently was a discussion he had about why comedians become comedians. He stated that it was because most comedians come from an upbringing where they are told that they are \u201cpieces of crap\u201d and that they are striving to gain that approval they never got.\u00a0 In this discussion as well as in others he\u2019s mentioned his \u201ccatholic\u201d upbringing and catholic school education as primary instigators of this negative affirmation.\u00a0 Whatever experiences of the faith that have brought Chris to this decision are irrelevant.\u00a0 What is relevant is the truth about the Catholic faith and God in particular. The truth is that God is love and God so loved the world that he send his only son to die for us so that we may live with him forever in paradise.\u00a0 The faith that I know would never tell someone that they are worthless or unloved.<\/p>\n

In the past few years I have had the opportunity to meet, interact with and listen to a number of wonderful priest and lay people who I feel represent the future of the Church.\u00a0 The kind of people who have taught me about my faith and the love of God. Lessons that I\u2019ve only learned in the past five or six years, that I wish I had learned or experienced in the previous thirty.\u00a0 I truly believe that if these men and women had been in Mr. Hardwick\u2019s life back then he wouldn\u2019t be the fallen away Catholic he is today. This is the challenge for all of us. To live the faith everyday and to be the light of Christ for everyone we meet. Because you never know who you might be affecting and you might be the only positive influence of the faith in that person\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

With that I extend an open invitation to you Chris to come back and experience the real truths of the Church and the real love of God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I love podcast. I love producing them, listening to them, and hosting them. My love for the media has recently put me the strange position of being caught up on all of my Catholic podcast listening queue. So I\u2019ve been venturing out into the deep and listening to other shows that people have recommended or… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[55,830,829],"class_list":["post-18804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-blog","tag-catholic-2","tag-christ-hardwick","tag-nerdist","entry","has-post-thumbnail"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t