Well, the Vatican’s Congregation for Religious Doctrine released a statement clarifying a point in the governance of the Church: if you are a woman and attempt being ordained, or if you are a bishop who attempts the ordination, you incur excommunication upon yourself automatically, called “latae sententiae.” This is not really uncommon in the Church for serious offenses. The Vatican’s tone was actually quite moderate, making this clarification “in order to protect the nature and validity of the sacrament of the holy order.” This makes sense. One simply can’t go around ordaining whoever he wants, male or female.
Here’s how CNN writes its headline: “Vatican Sends Threat Over Women Priests.” And how does CNN decide to cover this as respectable news? Explain what “latae sententiae” means? Of course not. Rather, it makes the Vatican the active party, instead of the one who commits the improper acts:
The Vatican announced Thursday in a general decree that it will excommunicate anyone who would attempt to ordain a woman as a priest and the woman herself. [italics added]
In the second and third sentences of the article, what would a responsible CNN reporter do? Interview Vatican officials? Talk to American priests or bishops? Discuss the meaning of big, scary Latin words with a canon lawyer? No, the writer compares the position to the Anglican Church and then interviews a “womanpriest:”
The Anglican Church has taken a different approach to ordaining women — even accepting women as bishops.
It was not persuasive to Regina Nicolosi, a program coordinator for Roman Catholic Womenpriests (sic), who was ordained two years ago.
The “womanpriest” then undermines her own position by stating that she doesn’t care what the Church says anyway:
“We have come not to take that too seriously,” said Nicolosi, a 66-year-old married mother and grandmother who lives in Red Wing, Minnesota, and said her group is composed of 40 to 50 women priests, none of whom are recognized by the church hierarchy. “It’s one of the very last patriarchal hierarchies in the western world, and I don’t know when they will be ready to let go of that.”
It makes you wonder why she wants to be a part of a Church whose authority she doesn’t recognize. But then again, logical thinking and common sense are less important than agenda- driven politics, both for the attempted-priest Regina Nicolosi and the attempted news reporting of CNN. Perhaps we should send them both Sister Sara Butler’s book on the topic.
May 30, 2008 at 4:29 pm
That’s the problem with news reporters covering religion. they have the political templates which they force feed into the occasional news story. So they force this story into what seems to them a civil rights template.
That’s why most religion stories should be handled by religion reporters, who too often don’t get religion as well but at least they may learn just through covering the beat.
May 30, 2008 at 4:55 pm
CNN does agenda journalism?
I am shocked!
May 30, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Get over yourselves! Anti Catholic? Like the Roman Catholic church has never changed course in its entire history on earth. Here is the fine point you all ignore, as does Rome. If you want the Catholic faith to prosper, to the glory of God, then you’re right, you don’t need women priests, but you need to do something as you keep closing parishes and having more and more dillution of the mass with more and more lay persons. You need to allow Married Priests. Gee, and you did, once, many centuries ago.
May 30, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Come on. If they didn’t interview the womynpriest, this article would have been DULL.
The headline would have to have been “Vatican repeats what it’s been saying all along.”
That doesn’t look great on the newsticker! Pretty soon people will suspect you of MAKING NEWS UP just to fill the time between commercials for Obama!
May 30, 2008 at 5:52 pm
I don’t mind if they interview the woman “priest” as part of presenting both sides. The fair presentation of ideas is part of our great American tradition. However, CNN did not present both sides. They presented ONLY one side, and any references they did make to the objective facts of the actual news item was given a slant which misrepresented what actually happened. That is the larger issue involved here. This isn’t journalism, its an op-ed.
May 30, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Now if you expected CNN or any other major mainstream media purveyor to act objectively then you will also be a believer in the amazing butterflies I have in my yard — the ones that make buttermilk. And then there’s this great opportunity for the folks here at CMR to purchase this bridge in Brooklyn….
May 30, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Now if you expected CNN or any other major mainstream media purveyor to act objectively then you will also be a believer in the amazing butterflies I have in my yard — the ones that make buttermilk. And then there’s this great opportunity for the folks here at CMR to purchase this bridge in Brooklyn….
May 30, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Call CNN and ask them if they would send someone who knows nothing about baseball to cover a baseball story. When they answer heck no, then ask them why they would send someone who knows nothing about the Roman Catholic faith to cover the Roman Catholic faith. I’d be interested in hearing their response.
May 30, 2008 at 7:43 pm
“You need to allow Married Priests. Gee, and you did, once, many centuries ago.”
We still do, though the circumstances are very limited. To know why, you’d have to know what the hell you’re talking about, and… you don’t.
May 30, 2008 at 7:45 pm
D Mac, thou hast writ:
“It makes you wonder why she wants to be a part of a Church whose authority she doesn’t recognize.”
That’s easy. Catholics are one-fifth of the USA population, and one-sixth of the world population. If you want to call the most attention to yourself, you look for the biggest audience you can find.
It always works, until they learn to ignore you.
May 30, 2008 at 11:29 pm
“We still do, though the circumstances are very limited. To know why, you’d have to know what the hell you’re talking about, and… you don’t.” No, you don’t, read, that is. “Our” circumstances are so limited, “We” really don’t. “We close parishes. We are losing male priests at an alarming rate. This is a much more major issue, especially since Rome is not addressing it, than women priests whom we real catholics do not want. We do want vibrant parishes, with male apostolic sucession. Wake up. And you call yourself Catholic? Let me guess, you must like the new and approved church design that allows for the “altar in the round” so we can all face “each other” instead of the Altar, the crucifix, the east. C’mon Benedict, when are we going to get real and cut out all this modern secular creeping in stuff?
May 30, 2008 at 11:56 pm
Anonymous:
I’m not entirely sure of the point you are trying to make, whether you are mocking what someone is saying, or trying to say something yourself.
For much of the history of married priests, it meant giving up your wife, basically. This was especially true in the West. Both would agree to live as brother and sister, or live separately. In the East, they gave up marital relations the night before Divine Liturgy. That is why the East never developed the practice of “daily Mass.”
That’s the short version anyway.
Parishes close for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that people have moved out of the cities and into the suburbs. Most of the ones that do close are in urban areas. Where are the people who used to live there, and if they want them open so badly, why don’t they move back? I guarantee you if they did, they’d make a much better case.
May 31, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Our local news reported it as “Roman Catholic Church slams door on women priests.” I never knew the door was open to begin with!
In the last few years, our community has gone from 7 to 4 Roman Catholic parishes. Not from people moving out of the urban area–we aren’t even close to urban around here–but because there are fewer people attending Church. Say what you will, but our acceptance of the secular society we live in and contraception play a big role in this.
Sharon
June 1, 2008 at 7:28 am
Interesting that parishes are closing. It seems that in the Atlanta area new parishes are springing up all the time in the suburbs. In Tuscaloosa, Alabama of all places you can’t find a place to sit at mass if you arrive late. It’s packed. Have some of these reporters considered: Catholics are moving south.
June 2, 2008 at 9:48 pm
… what would a responsible CNN reporter do?
A responsible CNN article would educate himself on the issues under discussion, write an unbiased article explaining the matter, and then, at the end of the day, ride home on his unicorn.
What’s that? Unicorns don’t exist, you say? No problem. Neither do “responsible CNN reporters.”
March 29, 2009 at 7:27 am
cnn yesterday in its main headline was against the pope..
saying..lots of group have formed against the pope condemning his anti condom usage etc..
It is more interested in running of facebook i think it is biased dont know ..who owns this group…
This was the main headline for them ..Not issues which are real issues like city corp chairman pandit making huge money on salary rather than bonusess.
I think time will come soon when cnn should be closed..
March 29, 2010 at 7:45 pm
CNN clearly has an ant-Catholic agenda while neglecting other more serious groups. It used to be such a great outlet for news but has fallen into the trashy side. Is it no wonder that all their good anchors and news people are leaving for better outlets?