It looks like Eric Stonestreet creates fiction on more than just the set of Modern Family. Wednesday on Huffington Post Live, the prominent actor claimed to have the support of the Vatican in his efforts to normalize homosexual relationships and families. For those who are not familiar with his work, Stonestreet plays the flamboyant gay father Cam Tucker on the sitcom Modern Family.
In his interview with Huffington Post, Stonestreet equated the title of a WordPress blog, “Vatican Family Official Thanks TV’s ‘Modern Family’ for Revealing Reality,” with the words of the Vatican. The interviewer read this aloud, with Stonestreet responding, “Yeah, I mean that’s a statement from the Vatican, I mean, the Vatican.”
The blog refers to comments made by the President of the Vatican’s Council for the Family, Cardinal Vincenzo Paglia, at the UN’s International Day of Families last Friday. His actual comment was that because of “phenomena like the media production Modern Family, or same-sex marriage initiatives in a significant number of jurisdictions, the family has become the subject of increasingly intense interest and discussion.”
Sound like a ringing endorsement for the show’s concept of family? Hardly. Stonestreet reacted as if he had received a golden bull, but he should learn the difference between recognition of a fact and support.
“I kind of can feel like, uh, we’re doing something right, you know, if the Vatican is saying we’re exposing what it means to be a unique and different family that’s not just what we think of as traditional.” Apparently Paglia’s acknowledgement that the sitcom increases discussion of the family is equivalent to a seal of approval.
The interviewer even referred to it as “a vote of support from the Pope.”
Of course, this is not the first time that comments coming from the Church have been carelessly (or perhaps purposefully) misinterpreted. Throughout his pontificate, Pope Francis has enjoyed…adventurous…interpretations of his comments on homosexuality from the Associated Press, CNN, CBS, and NBC (and if that’s not enough, check out this and this).
The Vatican’s words have been too often misconstrued. Dabbling in moral theology may be fun, but Stonestreet should stick to his day job.
