Should the next pope be a nun? a group of nuns? a non-Catholic? David Mills picks apart the refrains that have typified much of the press coverage of Benedict in a column for the Pittsburgh Catholic:
Some of these supposed experts just get things wrong, like the television reporter who solemnly told his viewers that Catholics wouldn’t know who to pray to this Easter and the Protestant magazine that explained Catholics believe in “the divinity of the pope.”
For some reason journalists can make almost any mistake about the church or religion in general and no one says “boo.” No editor would hire a guy who said the Steelers were going to draft a point guard to help improve their relief pitching, but religion? There it’s “OK, whatever, just say something.”
Too true, though David holds out hope that some good will come from the coverage:
As G.K. Chesterton said in his great little book “The Catholic Church and Conversion,” the first stage of conversion is often feeling that someone’s being unfair to the church. Many people, reading this kind of thing, will feel some sympathy for Pope Benedict and his church, and from there they may find their way in. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church, as Tertullian said in the second century, and the bruises of the popes may be, too.
More here.
February 22nd, 2013 | 6:25 pm
It is about time that we Catholics demand better “reporting”. Shoddy reporting is shoddy reporting no matter what the topic. Some of this stuff is so bad that it is like a reporter stating categorically that President Obama is a Republican.
A so called “Catholic writer” has also been making the rounds recently to get some press for his new book. As I listened I started realizing that both Luther and Calvin would say what he was saying-at best I came up with Zwingli, but that might malign Zwingli’s name as well.
February 22nd, 2013 | 6:26 pm
ooops Luther and Calvin would NOT say what he was saying sorry lol
February 23rd, 2013 | 9:07 am
From the article: “The church and its earthly head still have such importance in the world that all these people feel they have to try to bend it in their direction. This is true of no other Christian body.”
Well said!
February 23rd, 2013 | 4:25 pm
Finally! We have not had a good starting point guard since Mario Lemieux. Hopefully the Steelers can end their 20-year playoff drought and win America’s Cup!
February 23rd, 2013 | 5:08 pm
Not to underplay the seriousness of Mr. Mills’ point concerning the press’ irresponsibility in covering the unusual circumstances surrounding the Papacy, but the Steeler’s left-guard could probably make for a better relief-pitcher than any of the Pirates’ relievers…and a better point-guard than any of the Philly 76ers guards…Ouch.
Links
Blogs
Find Us
Contact