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Talking about the clergy job market may seem a little crass — pondering the job market in the midst of widespread job loss, even more so. As an ordained minister, I tend to think of the folks in congregations who are losing their jobs, and the impact it has on their lives rather than wondering how my fellow clergy or seminarians waiting for calls to congregations are riding out the storm.
The Columbia University campus where I teach is awash in graduation regalia and good feelings. Students strut about in their caps and gowns as proud parents snap photographs and listen to commencement speakers wish everyone a bright future. As we at the Journalism School send out a new crop of students into a perilous economic and journalistic climate, my mind turns to the students I’ve trained over the last 15 years and the pride I take in their work. It is a special kind of pride known in Yiddish as naches, which I define as the ability to look at someone’s work without a hint of jealousy. It is the pride we take in the work of our children and our students.
As I keep reading the waves of media coverage of the University of Notre Dame rites honoring President Barack Obama (click here for a flashback), I continue to be impressed with two facts.
Have you heard? GQ has the images, people, the proof of just how outrageous the Bush years were, the stuff that’s going to blow the lid on all the pious hypocrisy that was the Global War on Terrorism. Just wait until Keith Olbermann tees off on this!
How did NPR’s Scott Simon make it into this post? Hang on, gentle reader, and all will be clarified.
When diplomats want to make a specific point or argument, they tend to speak in very precise language in an attempt to prevent misunderstandings. This is especially true when their statements address issues linked to major world powers or leaders — such as the president of the United States.
When Pope Benedict visited the Holy Land last week, every religious move he made was analyzed for its political significance. On Monday when Prime Minister Netanyahu will meet President Obama in Washington, just the opposite will be true: the political moves will be analyzed for their religious significance.
Amy Sullivan of Time launches a nearly 1,200-word report on President Obama and Notre Dame University with this ludicrous sentence: “At the rate things are going, Pope Benedict XVI may find his next trip to the U.S. dogged by airplanes overhead trailing banners with images of aborted fetuses.” Sullivan qualifies this language in her next sentence, calling it “a bit of hyperbole,” but the rest of her report proceeds in a similar vein, arguing that an article in L’Osservatore Romano “essentially urg[ed] the bishops to chill out” on Obama. She repeatedly confuses diplomatic silence with tacit endorsement of the university’s decision.
