New Castle News

While the world watches the actions, symbolic and substantive, of Pope Francis, life goes on at home.  A week ago the New Castle News, our local daily, published the following column on its editorial page.  It was a syndicated column from Scripps Howard News Service, by Dan Thomasson.

The rock of St. Peter's has some fissures in it, as we are reminded almost daily by the Catholic Church's sexual and financial scandals.

In the interest of transparency  I must confess I am not a Catholic.  I am a lifelong Methodist who has stayed away from from writing on the issues of another person's religion.  If someone wants to maintain his or her beliefs in a church whose edicts have led to wholesale criminal and moral misbehavior, that is his or her choice.  

I will say that I am tired of being bombarded by the onslaught of attention given to Catholic news, while  Christian news outside the Roman brand is practically ignored.

A significant amount of the attention comes from pedophilia in the priesthood, generating sensational coverage that other denominations wouldn't want.  But when you don't make news, maybe it's because you have done all those bad things.

Of course, now and then there are instances where aberrant activities by some offshoot Protestant fundamentalist sect or official reaches proportions that merit journalistic notice -- a 20-second spot on television or an inside blurb in the local paper.  But that's generally when a snake handler gets bitten or a TV evangelist runs afoul of the law or a spouse.

I suppose that it would be correct here to note that Protestantism was revived news wise by the presidential candidacy of Mitt Romney, a Mormon -- and not always flatteringly.  But mainly, Protestant activities are just too dull to report.

Then there are the movie stars like Tom Cruise who have put their bankrolls and prestige behind such institutions as Scientology, whatever that is.  I'm not certain it qualifies as a church in the usual sense of the word; it's more like a theology of Buck Rogers space travel.

Certainly nothing matches the controversy over Catholic clergy whose indefensible activities, if not sanctioned, were tolerated and hidden by the church's hierarchy all the way to the Vatican.

Just when it seemed the pope's reinforcement of dogma that defies human nature -- on celibacy and contraception, for example -- threatened revolution in some church quarters, he up and quit for "health reasons."

The resignation did come after it was revealed that the former archbishop of Los Angeles, the largest Catholic diocese in America, had ignored or covered p a horrific number of morally and criminally reprehensible acts by priests against young parishioners.  Even then, Cardinal Roger Mahoney [sic] was asked by the Vatican to attend the conclave from which a new pope  will be chosen.

So when the smoke rises from the basilica announcing the selection of a new pontiff, let's hope that the church can being to repair the fissures -- and that my colleagues can give it a rest.

Well.  As Forrest Gump said, "Stupid is as stupid does."

The number of inaccuracies in this "thumbsucker" is only exceeded by the missed targets in the blame game.  I called the New Castle News on Monday, and talked with a nice editor.  I said that I thought that the article was blatant anti-Catholicism, and wanted to reply.  He said, you can write a letter to the editor.  I replied, no, I wanted a column.  He said he had to ask the head editor.

An hour later, I got my column.  500 words.  So this appeared in Thursday's paper, on the editorial page, providentially on the same day when the election of Pope Francis was the lead story on the front page, with an above the fold photo of him.

There are days when I think the saying of Jesus which his followers carry out the most is, "Do not let your left hand know what your right is doing" (Matthew 6:3).

The Catholic Church is especially skilled at hiding its good news.

How often have you heard that one out of every six patient admissions in the U.S. is into a Catholic hospital?  Or that the network of Catholic Charities across our nation has more than 2,000 agencies, serving more than nine million unduplicated persons annually?  Or that the Catholic Church educates more than two million students in grade schools and highs schools, with no tax dollars?

Our scandals and sins have been well covered by the media, for all the world to see.  In response, since 2002, the U.S. Catholic community has become a world leader in educating clergy, paid staff and volunteers in preventing sexual abuse of children.

In the Diocese of Pittsburgh alone, more than 30,000 people who serve in our parishes, schools and ministries have attended the three-hour workshop "Protecting  God's Children" and received state and FBI clearances.  Every American diocese and eparchy is audited annually by an outside firm to keep us honest.  "Zero tolerance" is the standard for all church workers and volunteers.

This past week the world's media descended on Rome and the Vatican to observe the conclave of cardinals which will  elect the new pope.  The media know a good story when they see one. We are a worldwide communion of 1.2 billion souls, with every language and race represented.

The new pope will be expected to carry on the centuries-long tradition of his predecessors in upholding the human rights, the God-given dignity, and the religious freedom of every human person.

Pope John Paul II was a leading figure in the fall of the Iron Curtain and the demise of the Soviet Union.  Pope Benedict XVI proposed a world-wide fiscal body to ensure that companies protect the rights of workers and given them a living, family wage.  Both called for careful environmental stewardship of this planet called Earth, and peaceful collaborative relations with other Christians, the Jewish community, and all faiths.

But national or global numbers are not nearly as touching as the ordinary faith-filled activities of the four New Castle parishes my brother priests and I serve.  Eucharistic ministers bring Holy Communion and smiles to elderly, home bound parishioners. Two food pantries, at St. Vitus and St. Joseph the Worker parishes, supplement the meals of 600 families each month.

We console the grieving, rejoice with brides and grooms who make lifelong commitments in marriage, and hold squirming babies after their baptisms.  Our children hear the good news of Jesus in Sunday school sessions and in St. Vitus school, and see it lived out day-by-day by their caring parents and grandparents.

I'd love less media attention on the religious scandals, and more on the everyday saints n our Lawrence County neighborhoods.  Maybe we Catholic can stop hiding our love under bushel baskets.

As you can see, I decided not to bring attention to Thomasson's piece, nor to rebut his accusations and mistakes.  I figured a positive picture would do more good.  At the very least, hearing from parishioners the past two days, I made Catholics feel better about their religion.