Catholic Standard Report on Red Mass - Useless At Best

Today's edition arrived, with a picture of Archbishop Wuerl and Chief Justice Roberts taking the bulk of the front page. The article was a disappointment, but that disappointment is no surprise at all. Of course there is a picture of Justice Sonia Sotomayor schmoozing it up with the clergy - the same clergy that had ignored the plight of a faithful Catholic being denied her canonical right to attend Mass. It was quite nauseating to read that Sotomayor received a standing ovation at the brunch after the Mass.

I cannot say that the pro-life presence outside was completely ignored. The article took a good page and half. So how much of that space did our efforts merit in the editorial eyes? Two sentences! Count them! Two entire sentences!

Now one might think that it would be somewhat difficult to distort our message in only two sentences, but the Standard managed to accomplish that stellar feat. According to the Standard, we used pictures of "aborted fetuses". Do you notice the acquesence to pro-abortion language here? The word "fetus", although it means "little one" in Latin, has been used by pro-abortionists to de-humanize the tiny unborn child. Mark Zimmerman wrote this article. As an editor, he really should know better that he must be precise with language. Mr. Zimmerman, what we showed was pictures of murdered babies - plain and simple!

He also misrepresented the message that we were conveying. What he omitted was that we were exhorting the clergy to fulfill their obligations under Canon 915, in addition to urging pro-abortion politicians not to go to Communion. In omitting our exhortation to the clergy, Mr. Zimmerman tacitly (hopefully inadvertently) implies that Canon 915 binds on the laity. Not so. Canon 915 binds upon the minister of Holy Communion.

Now just take a guess as to how much space was devoted to the abysmal treatment that Ms. McKee suffered at the hands of Cathedral personnel. Not one word did Mr. Zimmerman write about the sorry behavior of the Cathedral! I might add that the clergy's behavior during that episode was less than exemplary. Ms McKee is known to Bishop Gonzales. In the video, she can be heard pleading to him by name for assistance. If my camcorder's microphone picked it up while she was facing away from it, surely the bishops heard her calling as she was facing them. How can this be ignored?

Perhaps you too are disgusted with this sorry excuse for reporting. Perhaps you'd like to make your disappointment known. As most of us know, the Standard ceased publishing "letters to the editor" around the time that Cardinal McCarrick made clear that he would disregard Canon 915 (but of course, that's just a coincidence - right?). Therefore, I remind you that you can comment on this posting, and other postings. The conditions to the right do apply. As soon as I review for these conditions, I'll release them for viewing.