Alex Jones, the founder and CEO of the Catholic prayer app Hallow, defended the company’s collaboration with actor Liam Neeson despite his stance for abortion rights.
In a statement from Jones, published on Sunday, he addressed pushback over the faith-based app’s partnership with Neeson, 71, for the Advent Prayer 25 challenge which he stated left many “upset, hurt, or confused.”
“I’d want to start by saying that Hallow 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,” Jones wrote.
Additionally, he called the topic of abortion “a heartbreakingly important issue that we as an organization, and I personally, take very seriously.”
“We have several explicitly pro-life prayers and meditations on the app guided by the foremost pro-life leaders in the Church. We would never allow any content on the app that goes against the pro-life teaching of the Church,” Jones assured.
He also mentioned the Hallow team’s attendance at the anti-abortion movement March for Life every year in Washington D.C.
“We will do everything in our power as long as we are around to assist in the fight for life and to work to let God change hearts and minds,” he continued.
Furthermore, Jones spoke about the company’s decision to partner with Neeson along with “The Chosen” actor Jonathan Roumie.
He shared:
“We were thrilled with the opportunity to partner with Liam as a voice actor to read the C.S. Lewis passages because of his powerful portrayal of Aslan (who is C.S. Lewis’s representation of Christ) in the C.S. Lewis films. We felt that pairing Liam alongside Jonathan Roumie and an incredible religious sister would allow us to hear Liam bring to life the writings in a new way, while also letting the religious sister and Jonathan lead us deeper into a Catholic reflection on the passages.”
According to a blog post from Hallow announcing the partnership, the award-winning actor would be reading from the works of author and theologian C.S. Lewis for the Advent season. Neeson voiced the character of Aslan in the film adaptation of Lewis’ book series “The Chronicles of Narnia.”
In his statement, Jones emphasized that Hallow doesn’t “stand behind or claim to endorse any of the personal views, past actions, or political opinions of any of the narrators on the app.”
“We have many actors on the app with differing personal views on many topics, some who are practicing Catholics, but several of whom come from different faith backgrounds. Several have done things in the past or may hold personal views that we would disagree with,” Jones explained, adding “The one thing we do strongly stand behind is every word they read within the app itself.”
Neeson was instrumental in bringing down Ireland. I am shocked that they included him. I pray he's had a conversion, but he needs to publicly apologize for his actions to promote abortion.
— Teresa Beem (@BeemTeresa) November 21, 2023
Jones also shared that Hallow’s goal “has always been to try to reach out to folks who have fallen away and to invite them into a relationship with Christ. This often means partnering with non-traditional partners and people from different backgrounds.”
On Nov. 21, Catholic content creator Brian Holdsworth posted a video on X, formerly known as Twitter, featuring a voiceover of Neeson expressing his support of the 2018 abortion referendum which would allow women to have abortions in his home country of Ireland, via CNN.
“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?” Holdsworth wrote in the caption.
Other users slammed Neeson for his support of abortion.
“Yea, (sic) having blood on your hands for promoting something that is killing people today and not repenting of it is not something [Hallow App] should be thrilled about,” one user wrote.
Another user wrote, “Neeson was instrumental in bringing down Ireland. I am shocked that they included him. I pray he’s had a conversion, but he needs to publicly apologize for his actions to promote abortion.”
