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Posted on 02/16/2013 10:09:05 PM PST by Salvation
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Right. So let's look at other approaches taken.
I know it's The Guardian but I did like the transparency of this piece, which reads something like a parody of how the mainstream media treat the Roman Catholic Church. Headline:
Next pope's in-tray: five key issues for the Catholic church
With Pope Benedict XVI announcing his intention to step down, we look at the pressing matters awaiting his successor
And I'm sure you will be surprised that the five issues are contraception, sexual abuse in the church, same-sex marriage, abortion and women. It's like the newspaper was talking about the only five topics it permits discussion of when it comes to the Catholic Church instead of, you know, the Catholic Church's pressing matters that await the papal successor. But illuminating none-the-less.
For a more sophisticated version of that piece, you might want to read the Washington Post's piece headlined "In picking successor, Vatican must decide what's needed in a 21st-century pope." It's actually a great read overall and I don't want this criticism to overshadow that. But the priorities put forth in the piece when it comes to cultural issues say more about what ails media coverage of the church than what ails the coverage of the church itself. The first three paragraphs of the analysis piece (is it analysis? It reads as such but I don't know if it's marked as such) are great:
In the eight years since Pope Benedict took office, the divisions in the Catholic world have become more solidified. The West, including Europe and the United States, has been locked in a culture war over contraception, homosexuality and the role of women in the church, among other issues. Meanwhile, more theologically traditional Catholics in Africa and parts of Asia have fueled much of the church's growth, threatening a standoff with Islam.
That is the media's war, no doubt. They wage it faithfully day after day after wearying day. I'm not entirely sure it's one engaged in by many Catholics. I wonder if the media gets just what a narrow and distorted presentation of church life they present.
By the way, the next paragraph in the piece is:
In other words, the next pope will have to carefully pick his audience and decide how best to communicate with it without alienating the rest of the faith's followers.
The second time I read that, I read it imagining a bunch of journalists in a dark room, licking their lips, rolling their hands over and laughing. That's really unfair, I'm sure — and not just because the article immediately transitions to a discussion of how papacies are about focus. I think it's just a telling reaction that illuminates a breakdown in trust with certain readers.
Here's a telling couple of paragraphs:
Catholic debate in the United States often centers on issues such as whether the church should allow the ordination of women or married priests. But those are not the debates of the cardinals, all of whom were picked by Benedict or his like-minded predecessor, Pope John Paul II. They are in agreement on such matters as allowing female priests, contraception, or equality for gay men and lesbians: no, no and no.
The real factors behind the selection of a new pope are "not the kind of stuff that comes up on talk shows," said John L. Allen Jr., who has written seven books on the Catholic Church and popes.
 As for the 2,000-year history of the church teaching on contraception and who is eligible for ordination — well — all I can say about that is that it precedes not just Benedict but also John Paul II. |
Oh that every reporter in the land would read that John Allen quote and ruminate on whether he's talking about them!
As for the preceding paragraph, what the h-e-double-hockey-sticks is that? I mean, first off, the media may have done an excellent job of convincing themselves that redefining marriage is about nothing more or less than who believes gay men and lesbians are "equal." They have done an excellent job of closing their minds when it comes time to listen to any other arguments — much less giving them accurate, fair play in news coverage. Any way that you want to look at it, that paragraph was not, to put it mildly, a fair characterization of church teaching on the dignity of all people. It was not good journalism.
As for the 2,000-year history of the church teaching on contraception and who is eligible for ordination — well — all I can say about that is that it precedes not just Benedict but also John Paul II.
But if you were wondering just how hostile to Catholic teaching the Post was when it comes to church teaching on homosexuality, I guess it's nice to have it laid out so transparently. Again.
Finally, this paragraph cracked me up:
The top priority, Allen and others say, is to make Catholics evangelizers again. The church has spent much of the pasthalf-century, since the modernizing and controversial Second Vatican Council, locked in internal debates and not out spreading the gospel. Many blame an antiquated communications style and system, one epitomized by the pope's news-halting announcement Monday, which he delivered in Latin at a meeting of cardinals.
I'm in the wrong market for thinking Latin is bad — I send my daughter to a Latin school, after all — but even so, I would say yesterday's announcement would not be a good example of how bad the Vatican's communication system is (even if I'm sympathetic to the argument). Oh that we could all have such an antiquated communications style and system! One that got, you know, billions of people in the world talking in a matter of hours.
see also "Alas, the next pope will probably defend same old doctrines"
Mollie Hemingway. "Day 2: Pope still extremely Catholic." Get Religion.org (February 12, 2013).
Reprinted by permission of Get Religion and the author. "The Press . . . just doesn't get religion."
The original posting of this article is here.
THE AUTHOR
Mollie Hemingway is a Washington writer who writes for Get Religion. She is the author of Losing Our Religion.
** Oh that we could all have such an antiquated communications style and system! One that got, you know, billions of people in the world talking in a matter of hours.**
Media coverage ping!
This Lutheran Satire video gives a pretty accurate depiction of the typical member of the liberal media when it comes to their typical coverage of the Roman Catholic Church-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87vo2jkmJUg
The Media conceive of Religion as just another Kiwanis Club or General Motors with a board of Directors who make choices based on what they think will work in this situation and that, what will get the most customers and bring in the most money. They are incapable of conceiving of Truth nor do they understand people or organizations who keep Truth and God as their be-all and end-all.<p?To the media, as to all liberals and the Left, God is an excuse to organize and to wield power.God to a leftist who thinks more deeply(relatively, of course) is Mankind and the Left is that god’s brain.
... we would have done better than Barack Obama.
Great article, Mollie. I hope some of the religion reporters read it. I used to engage in endless arguments with religion writers at the Washington Post about their narrow and biased approach and could never penetrate the cloud of delusion under which they operate.
Excellent article. That “news” from atheist reporters and anti-Catholics is taken seriously is absurd. It’s been a feeding frenzy of every Catholic fault over the last thousand years.
Well said! You have summed it up perfectly.
...could never penetrate the cloud of delusion under which they operate.
&&&
I think arthurus sums it up perfectly in #4.
That certainly is the truth!
The Church was still protected during the papacies of the Medicis and others. Bad popes have power and money on their minds and are not messing with things religious. They ave had no effect on the Deposit of Faith- on morals and definitions and the like. God allows bad popes from time to time but they cannot alter the Faith.
Pope Benedict's Future Residence
SCOTT HAHN: Pope Benedict had a profound effect on this former Presbyterian minister
Is the Next Pope the One From John Bosco’s Dream? (Patrick Madrid offers an intriguing twist)
"Re-Elect Pope Benedict" - “Eight more years!”
Who can be elected pope?
The Legacy of Pope Benedict XVI: A commentary by Fr. Barron
More details on papal resignation, conclave (Vatican Press Office)
Church doesn't bend, but endures
Who Will Take Up the Keys of Peter (This is a MUST READ!)
Conclave & The Media: The Silly Season
Cardinal Bertone's Farewell Address to the Holy Father
"Thank You – Let Us Return to Prayer": For the Last Time, The Pope Leaves the Altar
"Today, We Begin A New Journey" – Liturgically Speaking, B16's Last Word
Vatican releases schedule for Pope's final days
Benedict XVI: Reason’s Revolutionary
Some Interesting Tidbits From Today’s Vatican press conference
Pope Decided to Resign After Cuba Trip, Vatican Advisor Says
Pope Says He's Resigning for the 'Good of Church'
Watch for the Anti-Catholics To Weigh in on the Papal Succession
The challenge Pope Benedict has left for his successor—and for ordinary Catholics
Historian Notes Precedents for Papal Resignation
US Will Have Unprecedented Voice In Electing New Pope
Pope Benedict’s Resignation and St. Corbinian’s Bear
Pope Benedict XVI’s Musical Legacy
Benedict announces resignation and lightning strikes
DHS's curiosity piqued over Pope Benedict XVI's retirement and Catholic Prophecy
Prayers for Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict's Devotion to Saint Celestine Signaled His Resignation from the Papacy
Cardinal Sodano to Pope Benedict: “We have heard you with a sense of loss and almost disbelief”
Pope's resignation invokes sadness, gratitude from US bishops
Pope cites waning strength as reason for resignation
Report: Brother Says Pope Was Considering Resignation for Months
Some Notes About the Upcoming Conclave
An Evangelical Looks at Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict’s Resignation in Historical Context
Virtually unprecedented: papal resignation throughout history
Pope Benedict XVI:a papal timeline
"I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome" [Full Text]
Pope Benedict's Address on Resignation of the See of Rome
POPE BENEDICT XVI WILL RESIGN AT THE END OF THIS MONTH, VATICAN PRESS OFFICE TELLS FOX NEWS
The key to all of this is the air of disappointment that the Vatican simply does not want to evolve, to change, to progress, to, well, lean forward — like the leadership of the progressive mainline denominations that are booming and thriving in Europe and North America.
Thanks for that quote. Yes, the Vatican is stable and stands tall.
Pray for the Pope and the conclave.
Lutherans and Catholics, BFF!
... we would have done better than Barack Obama."
I think you are right.
I also think that if we turn back again to look at the Papal Conclave to elect the Pope in that same light, when we at last see the white smoke again, I do not think we will find more than 117 ballots in the ballot box (so to speak), or find any ballots with the name "Cardinal Bluejay" on it, or "Cardinal Tweetiebird", or "Cardinal Bigbird", or "Cardinal Rocking-robin", or "Cardinal Ordinal", or "Cardinal Daffyduck"...
And I don't think we will find that thousands of Cardinals voted early, or that many extra boxes of Cardinal votes will be found long after the voting has ceased, or hundreds of absentee Cardinal ballots are being shipped in from all over the world.
However, I would not be completely surprised to find that Cardinal Mahoney voted for Barack Obama to be the next Pope.
And probably no dead Cardinals votes in there either.
It is quite amusing to watch the unsaved world go into a fit of the vapors because the Catholic church insists that its Pope be a Christian.
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