Check it out

The Knights of Columbus have launched a new news service (I wasn't sure how else to say it): Headline Bistro.

The bistro has sections for Church, national, and world news, with additional sections on the faith and one for opinions. You can even sign up to receive a daily e-mail of the news.

It looks to be a very promising site.

In the news again

The Crescat informed me that we've made the news again, this time in Honolulu:

HONOLULU (CNS) -- Hundreds of pilgrims from the U.S. mainland stopped in Hawaii on their way to World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney, Australia, and whether they stayed one day or several, they made the most of their island visit. Twenty-five people from the Diocese of Springfield, Ill., led by Father Daren Zehnle, were the first. They were in Hawaii July 3-7 and stopped by the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu for Mass July 6. Afterward, wearing shell leis given to visiting Massgoers, they took photos by the statue of Our Lady of Peace before heading to Waikiki to hike Diamond Head, a volcanic crater that is one of Hawaii's most famous natural landmarks.

More dealings with the media

Longtime readers of this blog will know that I am no stranger to difficulties with the media - both secular and Catholic - and that efforts heretofore have not been fruitful. Today, though, that may have begun to change.

The following excerpt comes from a Letter to the Editor that I submitted this afternoon to the Effingham Daily News in a meeting with the Editor.

Two area high schools recently competed in regional Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering (WYSE) competitions. One school in Farina competed February 6th at Kaskaskia College and one school in Effingham competed February 8th in Mattoon.

Both schools earned first place in their respective regional competitions; the headline for the article regarding South Central High School in Farina explicitly stated this (as did the opening line) in the article published February 14th, while the article regarding St. Anthony High School in Effingham hid the corresponding fact within the article published February 13th without putting such information in the headline.

South Central placed first in regional competitions last year, as did St. Anthony; this fact about South Central was explicitly stated while it was not stated about St.
Anthony.

Both schools will go on to compete in sectional competitions in the Spring; the article for South Central explicitly stated this while the article for St. Anthony did not.

Both schools submitted pictures of their teams: the picture of South Central’s team was published while the picture of St. Anthony’s team was not.

St. Anthony’s WYSE team received second place in the State competition last year; no mention of this was made and was reported last year one month after the fact.

South Central’s WYSE team coach was named but St. Anthony’s coach was not.

It is true that the article concerning St. Anthony briefly concerned other area schools, but this is no reason to short change the St. Anthony students with a deserved headline and better coverage....

We at St. Anthony’s whole-heartedly congratulate South Central for their
excellent performance and wish them well in future competitions. In no way do we wish to detract from their recognition, which is rightly theirs. While we are grateful for the recognition given us, we wish simply to receive the same recognition for achieving the same.

I brought with me one of our elederly parishioners who remains active and respected in the community to help explain and express our concerns to the Editor, who seems to have sincerely listened to us and offered explanations as to the differences of the two articles, which I will not go into here (though I will say that some fault lies with both sides).

Suffice it to say that the Editor offered to personally rewrite the story and rerun the article early next week, including the picture.

I am very pleased with the outcome of the meeting and hope that St. Anthony of Padua Parish and the Effingham Daily News will be able to communicate with each other and work together better in the months and years to come.

Another media blunder

Update: Creative Minority Report suggests additional reasons - together with headlines - for the liturgical color of vestments.

Update: The American Papist has some useful commentary regarding both the Reuters article and the Holy Father's comments.

This one from Philip Pullella of Reuters regarding the colors of liturgical vesture.

In his article, "Save the planet before it's too late, Pope urges," Pullella says:

"A decisive 'yes' is needed in decisions to safeguard creation as well as a strong commitment to reverse tendencies that risk leading to irreversible situations of degradation," the 80-year old Pope said in his homily.

Intentionally wearing green vestments, he spoke to a vast crowd of mostly young people sprawled over a massive hillside near the Adriatic city of Loreto on the day Italy's Catholic Church marks it annual Save Creation Day. [more]

The Holy Father wouldn't have worn green vestments because, for example, Mass was celebrated during Ordinary Time, would he? Good grief... Talk about lousy journalism.

Nicole Winfield of the Associated Press (whose work we have previously criticized) does not mention the green vestments in her article, "Pope urges young to care for planet."

I'm getting very tired of this

Just a few minutes ago the Director of Media Relations told me the AP still would not edit or retract the very incorrect and inaccurate article that I have been discussing with the AP.

Next stop on the ladder: the International Editor, who happens to be on vacation.

The battle wages on

Yesterday afternoon I finally reached my contact at the Associated Press after waiting for a returned phone call from him for two and a half weeks (I left two voice messages in the meantime).

He said he had been trying to get someone closer to the original article to contact me, but nobody would because the AP is "standing by" their story, despite the evidence that the article is false.

He apologized for not being able to assist me further - which I understand - and he gave the name and number for the Director of Media Relations.

I spoke with him just before soccer practice. He seemed sincere in wanting to understand my difficulty with the story and why I would continue to press on after a month and a half. I explained it very simply to him, citing the article and the documents. He asked me to email him that same succinct explanation and I did so on the soccer bench while the soccer players ran laps around the field. A strange place from which to e-mail, but the e-mail had to be sent quickly.

The DMR of the AP responded quickly, saying that he would look further into thisand get back to me shortly.

I'm confused

You might have heard that His Excellency, the Most Reverend Donald E. Pelotte suffered serious injuries last week (please keep Bishop Pelotte in your prayers).

The Bishop of Gallup says the injuries resulted from a fall down the stairs in his home. Many are questioning how such injuries could result from falling down carpeted stairs, despite his insistence of a fall.

Nevertheless, the police have accepted what Bishop Pelotte says and are not investigating the incident further.

The Gallup Independent is unhappy with this turn of events, going so far as to rebuke the police department. Why? Because of concern for the Bishop's safety? Sadly, not really.

The editor is upset because "Catholic officials ignored reports of child sexual abuse within the Gallup Diocese in the past." The Independent believes the Bishop is lying to the police and to everyone else (though how the two situations go together is beyond me).

But the Diocese of Gallup is not simply telling lies, according to the Independent, but "false truths" as well.

If the Diocese is providing false truths, this is indeed something of which we ought to be concerned. But, then again, what exactly is a false truth?

Another letter to the editor

An Associated Press article entitled “Other Christians” published in the 10 July 2007 issue of the Effingham Daily News claimed that the Vatican issued a document that said Protestant denominations “were not true churches but merely ecclesial communities and therefore did not have the ‘means of salvation.’”

The article quoted the document Dominus Iesus (Latin for “The Lord Jesus”) issued in 2000,rather than the one released Tuesday called “Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church”. Even so, the quotation offered is neither accurate nor correct. (Dominus Iesus reaffirmed that salvation is only possible through Jesus Christ and not through all of the world’s religions.)

The article is only partially correct and as a whole is quite misleading and false. The mainstream media has again proven itself utterly incapable of giving an accurate portrayal of the teachings of the Catholic Church. Such a false portrayal of the Catholic Church is tolerated – and even encouraged – throughout society, yet a similar false representation of Jewish, Islamic, Protestant or Buddhist teaching is not. Anti-Catholicism remains, as the historian Philip Jenkins – himself a Protestant - notes, “the last acceptable prejudice" in America.

To the matter at hand: the Catholic Church does not recognize Protestant denominations as “Churches” because, as the document in question states:

[T]hese Communities do not enjoy apostolic succession in the sacrament of Orders, and are, therefore, deprived of a constitutive element of the Church. These ecclesial Communities which, specifically because of the absence of the sacramental priesthood, have not preserved the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic Mystery cannot, according to Catholic doctrine, be called “Churches” in the proper sense (Response to the Fifth Question).

It is because the Protestant denominations have not maintained unity with Peter through his successor and because they do not have a valid priesthood or a valid Eucharist that they are called “ecclesial communities” and not “Churches.” Nowhere do any of the documents refer to them as “merely” ecclesial communities, as the Associated Press article indicates. Referring to Protestant denominations as ecclesial communities is not a pejorative description but rather a recognition of reality; they have not maintained the tradition of the Apostles.

Going back to the quotation given by the article from Dominus Iesus, an accurate, correct and full quotation would have read thus:

[T]hese separated Churches [Eastern Catholic Churches] and [ecclesial] communities as such, though we believe they suffer from defects, have by no means been deprived of significance and importance in the mystery of salvation. For the spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as means of salvation which derive their efficacy from the very fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Catholic Church” (Dominus Iesus, 17 [emphasis mine]).

From this it is plain that the article was not at all correct in its primary claim. Rather than reporting the facts its reports falsehood and lies.

While the Catholic Church teaches that she has received from Christ the fullness of the means of salvation, she also recognizes that Christ’s salvific grace is present and at work in all who seek God with a sincere heart and clear conscience, properly formed.

What is more, the document issued on Tuesday reaffirmed “that the Church of Christ is present and operative in the churches and ecclesial Communities not yet fully in communion with the Catholic Church, on account of the elements of sanctification and truth that are present in them” (Response to the Second Question).

Furthermore, it clarified the teaching of the Catholic Church in order to foster ecumenical dialogue by stating clearly the beliefs and teachings of the Catholic Church. The document has been well received by both the Russian Orthodox and the Anglican Communion (from Canterbury), as well as by many other others, contrary to the claims of the media.

Both Dominus Iesus and Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church, together with commentary, are available on the web site of the Holy See (www.vatican.va) under the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. If you have questions about these documents I suggest you read them and not trust the media’s portrayal of them; the media has heretofore proven itself entirely unreliable.

The Effingham Daily News should be ashamed for publishing such a misleading and erroneous article and should apologize for the harm it has caused in the community.

Last Mass news coverage

The Quincy Herald-Whig: "One last time: Final Mass at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church a 'joyful and sorrowful' experience"

The Quincy Herald-Whig: Pictures from the Mass (together with other news photos)