AmericanPapist Comments
Just when NCR showed the slightest signs of balance, they name Joe "Damn the Bishops" Feuerherd as boss? Well, forget that.
Just a question about NCR in general. Our parish sells that paper in the back of church. Isn't it considered a heterodox publication or something? If so, can a parish knowingly sell that rubish to their parishoners?
No petition, just silence. Methinks NCR's subscription base is similar to its counterparts in the MSM- shinking, limited to grayhaired dissidents who have been in a snit since the GoGo60s. Check back in five years if its exists- although Vatican correspondent John Allen is worthy of staying employed.
At this point, Allen can go anywhere he wants. He doesn't need NCRep. I'm a bit surprised a guy with his talent is sticking around. If, everytime he writes a good piece or does a good interview, the first comment is "Doesn't he work for NCR?" his continued association has become a liability.
Just a question about NCR in general. Our parish sells that paper in the back of church. Isn't it considered a heterodox publication or something? If so, can a parish knowingly sell that rubish to their parishoners?
It certainly warrants a courteous, well-reasoned letter to your priest that it ought to be removed or replaced. Tell him how much money it will save the parish. He'll love that. :)
Given Bishop Finn's proactive style toward "straightening things out," I'm surprised he hasn't touched this at all. One wonders what sort of "conversation" might ensue...
I remember this guy. His name means "fire stove" in German. People with names like that ought to think carefully before talking about someone else's damnation. God forbid there is some connection between his name and his own destiny.
...their strategy, with John Allen, must be to attract enough orthodox readership, who'll read them to read John Allen and to keep tabs on the paper as a whole, to keep them afloat. Because certainly, their editorial policy is soooo dated and out of touch.
Talk of interdict or excommunication is right from the middle ages. Instead what about talking about dialogue and attempting to come together? Clearly Pope Benedict has persued dialogue. For example, look at how patient he was Milango. They tried everything and then some before they drew a date for excommunication. Or what about the constant dialogue with the Lefevbre people in recent years? What about Lugo? Pope Benedict and him worked together extemely calmly and reached a resolution. So why can't the u.s. bishops and this gentlemen dialogue in a christian spirit to seek resolution to their problems? That is the christian way. The Chrisitian life as found described in the Bible demands love and attempts at reconcillation not quotes from canon law demanding people to be kicked out of the church for their statements.
canon law is not at all opposed to Christianity. Quite the contrary, in fact - and it's sad that this needs to be stated. Interdict and Excommunication are not "straight out of the Middle Ages" (and, honestly, what's wrong with the Middle Ages anyway? One of the most thoroughly Christian of eras, in Europe and most of the Near East, at least).
Dialogue is only fruitful if both parties are willing to understand and adhere to basic ground rules. There is a time and a place for dialogue, and there is a time and a place for drawing a line.
Ultimately, in this case, I'd have to agree with the posters above who say that the NCR has paved its own way to its demise. I know of no one under the age of 60 who subscribes or takes it seriously.
I thought the duty of the bishops was to preach the Good News, the truth Christ teaches through His Church. Not to make sure that all the members of the flock get to heaven(that's the duty of each member of the flock), but to make sure that, if a member of the flock should wake up one morning in hell, he won't have to wonder how he got there.
Or, they could just "dialogue" and not warn members of the flock of the danger of damnation so as not to tick off them and people like Dave.
This seriously deserves a petition....
Seriously, what would be the point of petitioning the most liberal and heterodox "Catholic" newspaper in the nation that they shouldn't promote the most liberal figureheads among their staff?
I'd call for a boycott, but I don't know anyone (except institutions) that subscribe to them...
"Talk of interdict or excommunication is right from the middle ages."
Well, actually, both are ancient Church, if not OT, but hey, who cares about facts?
Those interested can find a number of canons on excommunciation and interdict in the 1983 and 1990 Codes of Canon Law respectively. Both works rather post post-date, I'd say, the Middle Ages by a few centuries.
So why can't the u.s. bishops and this gentlemen dialogue in a christian spirit to seek resolution to their problems?...The Chrisitian life as found described in the Bible demands love and attempts at reconcillation
Because the Church has spoken on the issues the NCR and other dissidents don't accept, it's simply some people just don't want to listen so dialogue is pointless. It is at this point in the Bible where the disciples are told, "If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town."
I am guilty of not studying the people as much as I should still I don't ever recall St. Paul being much of a "dialoguer."
Anyone who has raised children knows that talking about things--in cases of discipline--usually means that the parent has lost the ability to parent. Sometimes, one has to act, and send the kid to his room (or some other kind of interdict), and afterwards the dialogue is usually more fruitful.
Considering all the ploys that kids of all ages use in a discussion to distract the parent from the real issue of their misbehavior, dialogue almost never works. It is uncanny how often folks like NCReporter use the same ploys. It's like we're in a national neurosis of stunted juvenile emotional development.
Also, this isn't a matter of working out an honest disagreement or working through an honest misunderstanding. It's a matter of blatant and conspicuous disregard for Catholic faith and morals.
It's "editor-in-chief" :-)
I miss the Inquisition. Sigh.
I'm just amused by the fact that we're here blasting the NCRep for promoting a contemptuous enemy of the episcopate to heretic-in-chief while a cheerful ad for the Jesuits sits on the page. I don't trust it though, I know the fellow in the image is holding the obligatory guitar, but he's wearing a Roman Collar. No American Jesuit worth the SJ behind his name wears one of those, in fact I can think of only one American "Jesuit" who has both collar and guitar, that being Fr Fessio.
Then again, his may be a banjo.
"Dialog", especially as a verb, has become the code word for: "Flux is all there is, ever was, and ever will be." Yes. Self-refuting I know. But sin breeds stupid.
Why do we even care? The National Catholic Reporter is soooooooooooo
yesterday, always fighting the last war. Ignore them. Tom
(This punk) Feuerherd deserves to be ignored, along with that rag the NCR = only useful for lining a guinea pig cage. How about a simple, forceful statement - "The USCCB declares that the NCR is a catholic-in-name-only publication that frequently misrepresents or distorts official Church teaching. The Catholic faithful are advised that any support of the NCR is to lend credence to a media organization which habitually promotes a revisionist agenda while fostering scandal in order to sell newspapers. No Catholic can, in good conscience, purchase nor promote the NCR until such a time that the NCR reports in a consistent and constant manner a truly authentic Catholic view of the news. Likewise, NCR shall not be sold nor promoted at any Catholic institution until its editors demonstrate a sustained commitment to a truthful, unbiased Catholic perspective."
That's why I never read John Allen...I just don't believe a tiger will change his stripes.
If you subtract the institutional readership of NCR and then subtract the readership OVER 65, I am more than certain their are weekly parish bulletins that are far more read than that rag.
A decade ago someone in the Catholic publishing industry noted that a sizeable (perhaps near majority) number of issues were shipped off to public libraries, college libraries and the like. Take them away, not much is left, not much at all.
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