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Breaking news: sex sells

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A few years ago, a “wardrobe malfunction” grabbed the country’s attention during the nation’s annual celebration of consumerism and marketing (and in-between, there were some violent expressions of athleticism). Amongst this year’s Super Bowl commercials, marketers for a certain Internet domain registrar and Web hosting company grabbed its fair share of attention by producing an ad that was deemed “the most watched commercial among TiVo users.”


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"Badly botched" doesn't quite cover it

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We frequently discuss the “ghosts” that are present in various stories. It pains me to use that term for this story about a child born at 23 weeks gestation who was allegedly killed by an abortion clinic owner outside Miami. This is another story that had been percolating around the internet before being picked up by mainstream media this week.


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Back into a church-state minefield

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As strange as it sounds, the coverage of President Barack Obama’s new White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships has me yearning for the clarity of the Bill Clinton years.


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Covering accusations responsibly

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I am impressed with Laurie Goodstein’s story in the New York Times about reports that the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, an influential Catholic order, had an affair with a woman and fathered a daughter. The Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado was deeply revered by many, even after Pope Benedict XVI had forced him to leave public ministry over a completely different set of accusations dealing with sexual abuse of students. Many followers had felt that those accusations were unproved.


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Take five

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But when you cruise through an entire year of GetReligion posts, it really is amazing how much can happen in a year. There’s just so much stuff in this here weblog (and most of it still “works,” even though flaws in the cyberspace concept of a “permalink” creates some holes).


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Take, eat, this is my body (updated)

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A fire caused extensive damage to the Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago this morning. There’s a really long, interesting and thorough article about the blaze and its repercussions over at Chicago Breaking News, which is a composite site for WGN, the Chicago Tribune and other media outlets:


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Mollie's year in review

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For our fifth anniversary, we’re picking our top five posts from the last year. So I’ve reviewed all of my posts, a fruitful exercise that reminds me I’m still partial to stories about doctrine, the liturgical calendar and unlikely stories of how faith changes religious adherents. Even though these are my favorite topics to write about, they rarely elicit as much feedback as political posts. I normally dislike writing about politics but this last year was a huge exception.


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