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First the Los Angeles Times nonchalantly reported the news that Cardinal Roger Mahony, head of the largest Catholic community in the nation, would not be asked by the pope to stay on, as is common, after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75. In a glorified news brief, no less.
I know that it will be painful, but think back for a moment to earlier posts about the young mother Ria Ramkissoon and the death of her infant son, Javon Thompson. The child was starved to death because he kept refusing to say “amen” after the prayers during meals in the bizarre religious community that his mother had joined in Baltimore.
The Washington Post is known for puffy Style-section profiles of movers and shakers in the Washington area. A few years ago, we looked at the puffiest Washington Post Style profile I can recall. It was about Kate Michelman, the former head of NARAL Pro-Choice America. We learned from that piece that she organized sales to benefit Mexican farm workers as a teenager, makes food from scratch, reads a lot (“every word in every paragraph”), and loves to wash dishes. Here was a sample from that hagiography:
Did you read the story last week about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging Catholic leaders to instruct their parishioners to support immigration reforms?
If you’re a baseball purist, imagine a metro daily publishing a full-length story about the designated-hitter rule and quoting only those who favor it. If you thought “American Idol” was better with Paula Abdul as a judge, imagine a major media report that interviews only fans who believe Ellen DeGeneres is God’s gift to reality TV. Would either piece impress you as quality journalism?
As you would expect, the editors and reporters at the Los Angeles Times have been trying to do some heavy lifting following the announcement that Archbishop Jose Gomez of San Antonio would soon be arriving in the City of Angels.
I’m extremely nervous about how the media covers the religious life of presidents. Sometimes I wonder how one of my congregation’s services would be written about in the Washington Post if we had a president worship with us. I suspect it would be difficult for a random reporter to understand the liturgy, the sermon and the context in which they are received.
“Nazi scandal engulfs Human Rights Watch.” Not a headline you would expect to ever see. But there it was in The Sunday Times of London. And all I could think was: Not again.
