Posted on 05/17/2005 11:31:15 AM PDT by NYer
Resignation of America editor should not surprise Catholics, expert says
Boston, May. 17, 2005 (CNA) - All of the kafuffle surrounding the resignation of Fr. Thomas Reese, SJ, as editor of America Magazine is unfounded, according to First Things editor Fr. John Neuhaus.
Fr. Neuhaus expressed his views on the issue in a column published in the Boston Globe yesterday. He explained that the leadership of the Jesuits decided that Fr. Reese should be moved into a different ministry, which sparked a controversy that the “oppressive Pope Benedict XVI” allegedly ousted him from the editorial chair.
Fr. Neuhaus pointed out that America had come under much criticism in recent years for undercutting its mission “to present as effectively as possible the teaching of the Church.”
He said Fr. Reese seemed to have “seriously misunderstood” the notions of fairness and balance and confused them with neutrality.
“The problem was a basic mistake in editorial policy,” explained Fr. Neuhaus. “It was thought that being ‘fair and balanced’ required publishing on an equal footing articles that supported and articles that opposed the Church's teaching, as though the Church's teaching was but one opinion among others.”
Some of the articles to which Fr. Neuhaus was referring addressed the issues of same-sex marriage, embryonic stem-cell research and homosexuality.
“The practice of America suggested to some the magazine's neutrality or hostility to the Church's teaching,” he said.
“I dare say that an editor working for Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club, or the National Rifle Association who regularly turned a publication into a platform for those opposed to the mission of the organization would soon be looking for another job,” wrote Fr. Neuhaus.
“A Catholic magazine … may decide to publish an exchange or debate between conflicting positions, but there should be no doubt that the magazine is on the Church's side.”
He called Fr. Reese his friend and defended him as a man who works for the Church and has taken a vow of service and loyalty to the Church and the Pope.
THE Jebbies have been playing this game forever, even when they were loyalists. Pascal outed them a long time ago.
That will be enough of that. Fr. Neuhaus has contributed to the public debate on religion. There is still much room for improvement amidst the factions which contend for representing Catholicism in America. Spirited and open debate on such things, including the opinions of cradle Catholics, will continue to be part of the spiritual drama.
Whoa and not fair.
You cradle Catholics have something we converts covet (righteously so) in that you do understand what's going on from a different perspective than we do. You were taught Catholicism as a child and there are things that you just "know" because you can't recall not "knowing" them.
We converts miss that part of our education. Yes, our Protest-Ant past haunts us and we have to work ten times harder to comprehend Catholic instruction because of it.
Am I jealous? Yes and rightly so. Especially when I discover from genealogical studies that I have Catholic ancestors.
Please, no fighting amongst yourselves. We newbies are your students. Teach us well.
The internal Jesuit controversies relating to America magazine and the liberal new order in the Society of Jesus in the U.S. are things about which one has a different perspective if you lived through them. Kids were raped by priests and Catholic colleges and universities were gutted while some of these pampered liberals pursued Chablis-speckled graduate degrees at Harvard, Yale, and Berkeley to continue this cultural revolution. And that was all paid for by little old Catholic ladies who the high-powered intellectuals would look down upon. The flakes that read and cheered for the liberal ideology in the new America argued with one another over who got to spend the summer at the Jesuit house in Cape May, N.J. They went clubbing on M Street. And used aggressive intimidation tactics against conservative Catholic students. The people who gutted the American Catholic colleges and universities were religious criminals, frauds, charlatans, and, in some cases, perverts. I don't remember the editors of America resisting those efforts. At least, not since the good old days.
Gee, Howler. Tell us how you really feel.
----Of course they won't agree with him, of course they won't accept his verdict. They will grouse that he doesn't really understand the fine points of theology.------
But they can't play "I'm the Theologian and you're just a church adminstrator" game on Benedict. He knows his stuff, and he knows how to play that game.
It will be interesting to watch. And no doubt good for the church.
There should be a rigorous investigation of the anti-Catholic secret society creeps who helped engineer the de-Catholicization of American Catholic institutions. And the people who know about this should stop covering up and papering over the travesties and scoundrels involved.
Well, yes.
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