Cardinal Wm Levada takes on the NY Times hit piece on Pope, and more...

The unobjective and shoddy manner of journalism by so-called professional sources, has been too much to take.  I have not ceased subsriptions to newspapers and magazines because of the web.  I enjoy having a piece of paper in my hand.  There are places you just can't take a lap top (or shouldn't).  I don't know how else to say it, but many newspapers these days are better used as toilet paper and the NY Times is one of them.

There have been a number of hit pieces in the NY Times against the Holy Father which are seriously lacking in credibility.  A number of bishops and journalists have risen to the Pope's defense.  I've even seen a surprising number of people from the most unexpected places take on the NY Times piece.  I'll provide some links at the bottom for further reading on this subject. 

However, given that Cardinal Levada has taken the time to speak out on the NY Times shoddy journalism and editorial work, please take the time to read what he says in full.

In his introduction to the piece, Catholic journalist Rocco Palmo writes:

Over these last days, you've seen many responses by top clerics regarding Pope Benedict's actions as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, all criticizing the reporting of the record as produced by the New York Times.



Until now, though, you've seen nothing like this.


In the biggest underscore yet of the significance and seriousness which the Vatican has taken the 25 March Times piece laying out the Murphy Case, Catholic San Francisco features a rare intervention: an extensive commentary on the situation from the pontiff's successor at the CDF -- the city's former archbishop, now Cardinal William Levada

.Here is the beginning of Cardinal Levada's article.  He's just getting warmed up in these first two paragraphs:

By Cardinal William J. Levada
Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith


In our melting pot of peoples, languages and backgrounds, Americans are not noted as examples of “high” culture. But we can take pride as a rule in our passion for fairness. In the Vatican where I currently work, my colleagues – whether fellow cardinals at meetings or officials in my office – come from many different countries, continents and cultures. As I write this response today (March 26, 2010) I have had to admit to them that I am not proud of America’s newspaper of record, the New York Times, as a paragon of fairness.


I say this because today’s Times presents both a lengthy article by Laurie Goodstein, a senior columnist, headlined “Warned About Abuse, Vatican Failed to Defrock Priest,” and an accompanying editorial entitled “The Pope and the Pedophilia Scandal,” in which the editors call the Goodstein article a disturbing report (emphasis in original) as a basis for their own charges against the Pope. Both the article and the editorial are deficient by any reasonable standards of fairness that Americans have every right and expectation to find in their major media reporting.....

You can finish reading it in three places where it is in full, including the Vatican's website where it is now posted.  I recommend the first because Rocco offers many useful links for background.

• The "Holy Office" Speaks by Rocco Palmo
• The New York Times and Pope Benedict XVI: how it looks to an American in the Vatican (vatican.va)
• Reconsider 'attack mode' against Pope Benedict at Catholic San Francisco

Related commentaries in recent days: 

• Abp Timothy Dolan receives extended applause after coming to Pope's defense at Palm Sunday Mass
• A Response to the New York Times by Fr. Raymond J de Souza
• Keeping the record straight on Benedict and the crisis  By John L Allen Jr (at Vatican Radio)
• Setting the record straight in the case of abusive Milwaukee priest Father Lawrence Murphy by Fr. Thomas Brudage, JCL (Judicial Vicar who presided over the actual canonical criminal case)
• Game Over: Benedict - 1. MSM - 0 (And how we can help the pope's numbers) AmP
• Archbishop Listecki: Milwaukee, not Rome at fault in Murphy abuse scandal (Catholic Culture)
• A Reasonably Fair Assessment of the Accusations Against the Pope in the NYT by Msgr. Charles Pope (Archdiocese of Washington)
• What the New York Times won't tell you by Deacon Greg Kandra
• The Pope and the New York Times by Kathryn Jean Lopez
• Praying for the Pope & All by The Anchoress
• Murphy Case: Judge never talked to NY Times by The Anchoress
• Cardinal Ratzinger and Evil Monster? by Jimmy Akin

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The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!