Friday, July 16, 2010

Courier Mail journalists have trouble putting a coherent story together.

One of course does not take seriously the reporting  in Brisbane’s Courier Mail. One does not so much read the Courier Mail to become informed of facts but to simply maintain an vague awareness of what is happening out in the world. Not surprisingly it’s reporting on things Catholic are generally inaccurate and unhelpful, today being no exception.
The story in today's Courier is in olive and my response is in white.

Headline for story:

Female priests as unwelcome as child abuse: Vatican

Wow, the Vatican actually said that? Well no, but what the heck. We’re the Courier Mail and we often make-up “facts” for our stories.
THE Vatican placed the ordination of women as Roman Catholic priests on the same level as child abuse in the eyes of the Church.
“on the same level”??? What level is the Courier Mail talking about? Is it a bit like how stealing a million dollars is a serious crime as is assaulting someone with a baseball bat even though the two types of crimes have nothing in common?
The Canon Law’s revision to the laws on sexual abuse of children by priests included the “attempted ordination of a woman,” with future cases to lead to immediate excommunication at the hands of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Shouldn’t that read “The Church’s revision of Canon Law…”. My 10 year old daughter seems to agree with me. And why does the Courier Mail conflate to separate areas of Canon Law – those dealing with the treatment of sex abusers and those dealing with attempted ordination of a woman? Was it because the Vatican released the two separate revisions on the same day.
The Catholic Church teaches it cannot ordain women as priests because Christ chose only men as his apostles.
Well I think there’s a bit more to it than just that, but they get some points for getting something right.
Many respected scholars argue that Mary Magdalen was an Apostle
Well I suppose there are Apostles and apostles. Saint Paul’s writings(the earliest New Testament writings) don’t seem to indicate any such thing. And who are this “respected scholars”, and who are they respected by.
but her [Mary Magdalen] role in the early Church was downgraded by male writers with an agenda of promoting the all-male priesthood.
“downgraded”? If you think being elevated to the status of Saint (with her own Feast Day)and having many churches named after you equates to being downgraded so be it.
But maybe the Church has an all-male priesthood because that’s what Jesus intended. Priestesses where a dime a dozen in the Gentile world into which the early Church was growing. I would hardly think Gentile converts to Christianity would have had hang-ups over Christian Priestesses unless of course they understood that Jesus did not envisage women to be priests.
The pop star Sinead O’Connor is among a number of Catholic women who were illicitly ordained priests.
I wish Sinead O’Connor well. She seems to have had a terrible childhood. I’m sure there is a connection between the type of upbringing she endured and her rebellious and bitter nature.
The new “substantive norms” on “delicts against the faith” came days after the Church of England General Synod voted in favor of legislation to ordain women bishops.
It also came days after I had a wisdom tooth removed. But I’m sure there’s no connection or relevance.
The Vatican's changes, its first in nine years, also included new legal procedures to speed up the handling of priests who abuse children.
Well that’s gotta be good.
“This gives a signal that we are very, very serious in our commitment to promote safe environments and to offer an adequate response to abuse,” said Monsignor Charles Scicluna, a Vatican doctrinal official who helped revise the norms.
“If more changes are needed, they will be made.”
I would expect nothing less from Monsignor Scicluna, and nothing more from the Courier Mail.
Anyone interested in the facts the Courier Mail should have been reporting instead of the drivel it actually reported can find the said facts at Catholic Culture.

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