The ghost at Chappaquiddick

I’ve wanted to look at some of the coverage of the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy but haven’t quite been sure what to say of the it. From my perspective as a Capitol Hill reporter, he was a blast to cover — a fascinating man to watch in action either at work or play. And not that I would “cover” him at worship but I even saw him once at St. Joseph’s — the Senate-side Catholic Church that I have visited with friends.


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A special place in the ground

Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA Today’s longtime religion reporter, had an interesting story recently about the growing number of Americans who are opting out of clergy-led funeral services. It’s not clear what kind of growth in the secular death business we’re talking about — it appears cold, hard numbers aren’t available — but Grossman writes that times have really changed:


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Once a priest, always a priest?

Journalists can be sometimes sloppy about how they use terms like “evangelical” or “born-again.” But they also face a real problem — how to convey the basics of a situation accurately in very limited space. And when covering a doctrinal dispute, or a controversial denominational figure, it’s very tricky to give your readers all the information they need without getting into dangerous territory.


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