Harrison Butker is a placekicker for the Kansas City Chiefs and a miserable human being. NFL fans will probably know him. Everyone else will likely not. However, after his commencement speech at Benedictine College, he will be more famous — or infamous — depending on how much you appreciate bigotry in your fellow Americans.
Benedictine is a private Catholic college. Butker is a Catholic. So far, so good. Far be it from anyone to say Benedictine should not organize itself as it sees fit. And Butker’s belief is constitutionally protected. Even if it were not, common decency and respect for private choices would demand he be free to practice his faith.
However, Butker has no interest in extending that common decency or respect to others. This pompous ass has the gall to tell the LGBTQ community they are sinners for being who they are. That women should be barefoot, pregnant, and kitchen-bound. And that antisemitism is a true believer’s duty.
In just over 20 minutes of hateful oratory, he proved that America harbors some of the most reprehensible people on the planet. Here are some of this bigot’s offerings.
He starts by congratulating the graduates for making it through COVID. Fair enough. But then he went on to criticize “bad leaders.”
“As a group, you witnessed how bad leaders who don’t stay in their lane, can have a negative impact on society. It is through this lens that I want to take stock of how we got to where we are and where we want to go as citizens. And yes, as Catholics”
It soon became apparent that the “COVID fiasco” — now in the rearview mirror — would occupy a principal role in Butker’s speech. Why? He soon makes it clear.
“While Covid may have played a large role during your formative years, it is not unique. Bad policies and poor leadership have negatively impacted major life issues. Things like abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, as well as a growing support for degenerate cultural values in media, all stem from the pervasiveness of disorder.
Our own nation is led by a man who publicly and proudly proclaims his Catholic faith but is at the same time delusional enough to make the sign of the cross during a pro-abortion rally.
He has been so vocal in his support for the murder of innocent babies that I am sure to many people it appears that you can be both Catholic and pro-choice. He is not alone.”
Indeed, Biden — I will say his name because, for some reason, Butker has not — is not alone. American Catholics are pro-choice. A Pew Research poll reveals that 59% of them support abortion in all or most cases. It is a typical position. All religious Americans, except for White evangelical Protestants, support a woman's right to choose.
Butker goes on to conflate pro-life COVID measures with LGBTQ acceptance.
“From the man behind the Covid lockdown to the people pushing dangerous gender ideologies on the youth of America, they all have a glaring thing in common. They are Catholic.”
At this point, atheists can breathe a sigh of amazed relief that they are not on the point of Butker’s rhetorical dagger. The fundamentalist Catholic has targeted people who, in his opinion, are doing Catholicism wrong.
“This is an important reminder that being Catholic alone doesn't cut it.”
He adds, “If we are going to be men and women for this time in history we need to stop pretending that the ‘Church of Nice’ is a winning proposition. We must always speak and act in charity, but never mistake charity for cowardice.”
I thought "nice" was a good thing. I have also never mistaken charity for cowardice. According to Butker, I am deluded.
Butker goes on to say he did not want to be a public asshole. But God has given him that platform. So he must embrace it. We must take his word for it — as God never talks to anyone except the zealots.
Butker then celebrates Catholic martyrs. Nothing is more exciting to the fanatic than people dying for the faith — as long as he is not the one dying. He then rips Catholics who are modest in their faith. He adds:
“The world around us says we should keep our beliefs to ourselves whenever they go against the tyranny of diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
I do not remember Jesus saying that DEI was a tyranny. Butker must have a different Bible. Next, he goes cryptic.
“Congress just passed a bill stating something as basic as the biblical teaching of who killed Jesus could land you in jail.”
He appears to be referring to the malicious canard, “blood libel.” Which is the fundamentalist Christian position that all Jews are mortal sinners damned to eternity in hell for killing Jesus. And I am guessing he is referring to some congressional anti-hate speech measure. (If the reader knows more, please add a comment below.)
Next, Butker takes on the numerous priests and bishops he says are “misleading their flocks.” He adds that it is up to congregations — including his audience — to demand their religious leaders get back on the hate train.
Butker then revisits COVID and criticizes Church leaders for responding to the pandemic wrong. An error he blames on “fear of being sued, fear of being removed, fear of being disliked.”
He is opaque on what they did wrong. But Butker seems to be referring to the church closings that he said left parishioners to die alone without sacraments. He does not mention the Vatican by name, but let us note that the Pope was intelligent enough to suspend public services in the Holy See. Butker is the kind of arrogant prick who thinks he knows better.
Next, he celebrates history’s “heroic shepherds, who gave their lives for their people.” He then tells a bald-faced lie
“Over the centuries there have been great wars. Great famines. And yes, even great diseases. All that came with a level of lethality and danger. But in each of those examples, Church leaders leaned into their vocations and ensured that people receive the sacraments.”
Bullshit. During the Black Death and Plague years. Catholic management shut down churches and canceled religious processions. As for war and famine, neither are infectious. The comparison with COVID is irrelevant.
Finally, after his speech is half done, he gets around to the reason for the occasion — the graduating class. He tells them to be good Catholics. Fair enough. It is a Catholic College. But then the misogyny starts.
“For the ladies present today, congratulations on an amazing accomplishment. You should be proud of all that you have achieved to this point, in your young lives. I want to speak directly to you briefly because I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told you.
How many of you are sitting here now, about to cross this stage, and thinking about all the promotions and titles you are going to get in your career? Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.”
Being an arrogant bastard, Butker makes someone else’s graduation about him.
“I can tell you that my beautiful wife Isabel would be the first to say that her life truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother. I am on this stage today, and able to be the man I am because I have a wife who leans into her vocation.”
It would have saved time if he had just told the women to forget their dreams. Their role is to have sex and cook dinner. To add drama, Butker tears up as he reflects on his wife’s decision to embrace the most important title of all, “homemaker.”
Butker then further beats down women by telling them to not “play God” with reproduction.
“Let's be honest, there is nothing good about playing God with having children — whether that be the ideal number or the perfect time to conceive. No matter how you spin it, there is nothing natural about Catholic birth control.”
Having put the girls in their place. Butker turns to the boys.
“To the gentleman here today, part of our plagues our society is this lie that has been told to you that men are not necessary in the home or in our communities. As men, we set the tone of the culture. And when that is absent, disorder, dysfunction, and chaos set in. The absence of men in the home plays a role in the violence we see around the nation.”
Only men set the tone? I also have no idea who claims that men are unnecessary in the home and community. And Butker does not say. Because, like the shark in most of the movie ‘Jaws’, if you do provide details of the threat, it is that much scarier.
Butker then adds to his fundamentalist credit by pining for the Latin mass (TLM) — which the Vatican has not mandated since 1964. He then encourages students to move to parishes where the TLM is still used.
Next up, premarital sex.
“Sadly, I'm sure many of you know of the countless stories of good and active members of this community who, after graduation and moving away from the Benedictine bubble, have ended up moving in with their boyfriend or girlfriend prior to marriage.”
And finally, apostasy.
“Some even leave the church and abandoned God. It is always heartbreaking to hear these stories and there is a desire to know what happened and what went wrong.”
If Butker were interested in reducing Catholic ‘sinning,’ he should reflect on the conditions in the Church that led to the institutional coverup of serial child rape. The Church’s history of killing native populations. Its legacy of indigenous cultural destruction in the Americas. The death of so many Africans from HIV/AIDS due to its anti-condom stance. And the poverty it created by its ban on contraception.
I have no beef with individual Catholics. Everyone is entitled to worship how they choose — or not at all. But Jesus Christ, for people like Butker to think that Catholics or the Catholic Church have the moral standing to lecture is insane.
Below is the video of his speech provided by Benedictine College. (Note: they have turned the comments off.)
