(LifeSiteNews) — Self-identified Catholic prayer app Hallow has come under fire for its professional relationship with Irish actor Liam Neeson, who also happens to be a public supporter of abortion-on-demand in his home country.
Recently, Hallow — which also employs Jonathan Roumie who portrays Jesus in the popular show The Chosen — hired Neeson to voice a series of Advent Reflections for the company’s “Pray25” meditations alongside Roumie. The Catholic app hired Neeson to narrate the series of meditations based on the works of C.S. Lewis, who, although a well-respected Christian author, was not himself Catholic.
On X (formerly Twitter), popular Catholic YouTuber Brian Holdsworth publicly challenged Hallow for their work with Neeson, stating: “Apparently Hallow is partnering with Liam Neeson to produce some content for their app. Did Neeson ever disavow his work on this anti-Catholic propaganda campaign to seal the fate of the unborn in Ireland?”
Apparently Hallow is partnering with Liam Neeson to produce some content for their app. Did Neeson ever disavow his work on this anti-Catholic propaganda campaign to seal the fate of the unborn in Ireland? https://t.co/tcqjvWz67k
— Brian Holdsworth (@briankeepsworth) November 21, 2023
The “work” Holdsworth referred to was Neeson’s efforts to legalize abortion in Ireland in 2018. Leading up to the 2018 abortion referendum in Ireland, Neeson released an ad in conjunction with Amnesty International Ireland entitled “Chains,” which accused Ireland’s pro-life laws of “blindly” bringing “suffering” and “death to the women whose lives it touches.”
Doubled down
You would think that a supposedly Catholic company — one that not only works with Catholic celebs like Roumie, but well-known priests like Father Mike Schmitz — would disavow their financial support of a publicly dissenting, pro-abortion “Catholic” like Neeson… but you would be wrong.
You see, the folks at Hallow responded to Holdsworth and claimed that the pro-abort bank-rollers had “discerned intensely” their actions and, well, Neeson will be the voice of Hallow for this Advent season.
It’s something we’ve discerned intensely. Here is the summary. Hope it’s helpful in understanding both our firm commitment to the Magisterium and to our mission of helping those that may have fallen away back into the loving arms of Christ in prayer. https://t.co/ZKe2QQBaPI
— Hallow (@HallowApp) November 26, 2023
Made things worse
Their response was in some ways even more shocking than the mere fact that they had hired Neeson in the first place. The CEO and Co-Founder had the audacity to claim that “God is calling” them to work with Neeson. He wrote: “As with every major decision at Hallow, we prayed deeply through this decision and consulted heavily with our advisors. It is a very difficult decision. Ultimately for us it comes down to our discernment in prayer. I do not always get clear answers in prayer, but in this particular case I do strongly believe this is what God is calling us to do. I understand if you disagree.”
Is this a joke?
Are we to believe that a supposedly Catholic CEO of a supposedly Catholic app was called by God to employ a man as the voice of meditative prayer who campaigned for the destruction of unborn life in formerly Catholic Ireland? It is fitting that Hallow hired a Hollywood actor for this role, because actors play pretend for a living, and apparently Hallow is pretending to be Catholic.
In addition to Neeson and Roumie being on this particular recording, the CEO who signed his response as “Alex” without using his last name — how cute — stated that “an incredible religious sister” is also on the Advent meditations recording. Wow! So not only has Hallow discerned the will of God Almighty to use the voice of Irish civilizational suicide for prayer, but has associated a consecrated religious sister in the mix. Did Hallow tell the sister she would be narrating alongside an advocate of death?
Granted, Alex did explain that the company cannot stand behind all the personal views of every voice actor — and fair enough — but there is a big difference behind hiring someone with a nice rich timber from an actors guild to voice a part in an audio drama, and hiring a world-famous actor who has publicly advocated for the death of infants in Ireland. Is Alex really this daft? Does he really believe that he can sweep this under the rug by pulling out the old, “well I don’t agree with everything so-and-so has ever done”?
Stand for nothing
Funnily enough, not only do Hallow and Alex not stand behind Neeson’s views, but apparently they don’t stand behind any of “the personal views, past actions, or political opinions of any of the narrators on the app.”
Amazing, I guess Hallow doesn’t stand behind the pro-life views of their actors either, I mean, how could they if those amount to “political opinions.” Maybe Hallow stands for nothing at all, then.
Well, that isn’t true, because Hallow apparently “stands proudly and unequivocally in support of all Catholic Church teaching, especially the pro-life stance of the Church and the USCCB’s affirmation of the end of abortion as the preeminent priority.” But, of course, they don’t stand behind these views if one of their actors holds them, and they also don’t stand behind one of their actors if he doesn’t hold them. This is very convenient for Hallow, because Hallow can sit back and rake in the cash from the money Neeson will bring in for the company, all the while “unequivocally” standing behind pro-life views, but just not if people who work for them hold them.
Saul Alinsky couldn’t have formulated a better response than Alex and his team.
Boycott Hallow
Founder and President of the Avila Institute for Spiritual Formation, Dan Burke – a man who stands behind pro-life views and Catholic views and expects other Catholics to hold them as well – told LifeSiteNews: “It is one thing to be an actor with a private opinion and another to be an activist. Hallow is defending the hiring of Liam Neeson, who as you know was instrumental in legalizing abortion in Ireland. Hallow asked me to produce content for them – I will not. I am canceling my subscription and recommend every Catholic do the same.”
Burke is a man of deep prayer, and I for one will trust his discernment of God’s will more than Alex and the abortion-activist-hiring jokers over at Hallow, and I think we should all follow Burke’s lead and cancel our subscriptions, if we have them. In fact, I think we should all consider signing up with Burke’s organization which offers true spiritual formation without any pro-aborts voicing how you should get closer to Jesus.
Personally, I have never subscribed to Hallow, as the company always gave me the creeps, given the fact that the CEO does things like signing letters without his last name. But, if you do happen to subscribe to Hallow, I think you should give them an early Christmas kick in the wallet and boycott this insane company and pray that Alex and his cronies ask Santa for a spine for Christmas so they can finally “stand” for something in a real way.