Posted on 04/11/2008 7:49:12 PM PDT by markomalley
Pope Benedict XVI hasn’t even arrived in the United States, and mainstream media outlets are featuring feminist Catholic dissenters in their reporting of the upcoming papal visit. In one such example, the Voice of America, the "international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government," decided to cover a former Catholic nun who has been "ordained" as a priest. As the report by Jeff Swicord stated, "Bridget Mary Meehan is one of 24 Roman Catholic women in the United States conducting mass [sic] in defiance of church doctrine... In July 2006, a woman bishop not recognized by the Vatican ordained Meehan with seven other women."
Swicord also featured in his report Father Arne Panula, "a member of Opus Dei, a conservative Catholic organization." On the one hand, Swicord and the Voice of America identify Father Panula as being part of a "conservative Catholic organization," but doesn’t identify Meehan and the "Roman Catholic Womenpriests" as not only supporting the ordination of women, but also active homosexuality and contraception.
Meehan is part of a organization calling itself "Roman Catholic Womenpriests" [one word]. In 2002, seven Catholic women were "ordained" by a dissident Catholic priest who himself was "ordained" a bishop by a now-deceased former Catholic bishop excommunicated by Pope Pius XII in 1945.
Swicord juxtaposed his quotes of Meehan with Father Panula. In doing so, the VOA reporter made some gross spelling and terminological errors. First, Swicord, in explaining Fr. Panula’s position on why the Catholic Church doesn’t ordain women, stated that "it was a man, Jesus who stood at the alter [sic], broke bread, and said, ‘This is my body,’ a ritual that priests recreate during mass [sic]."
In the two paragraphs that follow, as Thomas Peters of the blog American Papist pointed out, Swicord garbled Latin terminology, first in quoting Fr. Panula and then quoting Meehan. "'The church teaches that he [the priest] does this in what is called insomnia nomini Christa, that he does this in the name and the person of Jesus,' says Panula.... Meehan disagrees. ‘A priest is suppose to be in personi Christa,’ she says." In the video version of the report, the Latin term that Panula used was in persona et nomini Christi, "in the name and person of Christ." Meehan used a shorter version of this term, in persona Christi, "in the person of Christ." But this was transcribed as insomnia nomini Christa and in personi Christa in the web/text version of the report.
The above is only one example of the mainstream media’s poor reporting on religious issues in general, and its promotion of dissenters in its reporting of the Catholic Church. On Wednesday, Father John Trigilio of The Black Biretta blog predicted that "the mainstream liberal media will be bombarding the airwaves, internet and blogosphere with the rantings and ravings of the heterodox spin doctors and dissident pundits once B16 [Benedict XVI] lands on US soil." This is a prediction that can only be destined to come true.
Graphic via VOANews.com
—Matthew Balan is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.
Yeah, I know. No surprise.
But the issue is that this is not the NY Slimes, it is the Voice of America. An official branch of the US Government.
Yeah, I still know. No surprise.
But, you know...it should be surprising (even though it's not)
VOA = NPR?
That’s nice, but I assure you she was not ordained as a Catholic Priest.
VOA is NOT NPR. VOA does a pretty credible job considering all the crap they get from Americans who don’t understand what it’s there for. It’s not a propaganda agency, it’s a news service. It’s meant to provide all sorts of angles, even if they aren’t official. Out of several thousand hours of programming a week, one story causes controversy. You can check out what VOA says on their own site, http://www.voanews.com/english/portal.cfm.
Surprised and upset !...I’m upset by the idiots at VOA...Whoever allowed this should be replaced by one more tolerant..
Asking hese excommunicated women pretenders to comment on the Pope’s visit is like asking some winos in Washington DC to coment on a political cndidate...
Is this news ?..yes,trivial news...is it wrong ?..yes...Is it discrimination against Catholics ?...Darn right it is...I think the VOA owes Catholics everywhere an apology..This is not the official voice of America and that kind of discriminatory broadcast journalism is just what America does not need. VOA should be teaching Tolerance to the world, not discrimination against one of the largest religious groups in the world. Our Pope comes with a message of peace and love for this country, and this is how he is greeted ? For shame !
It seems like this government arm is trying to take a slap at Pope Benedict XVI before his arrival in America, perhaps for not supporting the Iraq war. But I know this for certain, his Holiness Pope Benedict has condemned Islam from pillar to post, saying that Islam can never co-exist peacefully with democracy unless it completely revises and modernizes the way it interprets the koran. In other words it isn't just 'terrorism' we need to worry about, it's the religion of Islam itself that poses a threat to the world. His other anti-Mohammedism statements are sufficiently well known.
Pity that Jorge continues to believe his own foolhearty line that "Islam is a religion of peace". I hope that Benedict straightens out the bent "W" perspective on Islam when the two meet. It isn't about hunting down 'terrorists' while sucking up to the rest of Islam, it's about coming to the realization that the clash of the two civilizations, (mohammedism and the West), will be won by the islamofacists if we continue living in the suicidal belief that the whole of Islam isn't seeking to either dominate or destroy the West.
Or, perhaps, the next time Angela Merkel comes to town, they'll solicit the opining of Neo-Nazis.
what I find interesting are the implications in general.These women according to the Church were not validly orained.True or not, that’s important because once ordained ‘thou art a priest forever’ - in the event that a women is indisputably ordained, the Chruch then hasno options but suspension and excommunication.Often used to be a problem with heretics.
Actually it's not just church doctrine, it's Bible doctrine, I'm not Catholic but I know what the Bible says what a woman should do in church. (New Testament)
“Bridget Mary Meehan is one of 24 Roman Catholic women in the United States conducting mass [sic] in defiance of church doctrine... In July 2006, a woman bishop not recognized by the Vatican ordained Meehan with seven other women.”
They can elect Meehan Pope, they are not part of the Roman Catholic Church. It is stupidity to think otherwise.
I can only hope that these vermin do not defile the visit by the Pope. They have already desecrated themselves, IMO. They are not Roman Catholics, but Protestants who have not yet selected a name for their church. They should do that soon.
Yes, it was in low taste, but it’s also very unusual for VOA coverage. I suspect someone slipped up rather than a deliberate policy, and complaints should be made.
These women are NOT defying the Catholic Church. They have left the Church and they are doing some playacting but the Church is not threatening them with anything, isn’t even speaking to them, is not even noticing them. They are not “defying” the Church any more than Methodists are “defying” the Church when they hold a yard sale.
This isn't "causes controversy". This is a story funded by the U.S. government that contains egregious errors. Not only does the reporter completely misunderstand the controversy, he doesn't check his facts, even on easy to check stuff like the proper spelling of Latin.
All this stuff is a mouse click away, but the "reporter" couldn't be bothered. What does that say about his standards, or, more importantly, those of his EDITOR? Neither one of them is earning his salary.
Another waste of tax dollars by government employees.
Now, is this a subject of interest for international audiences? I don't think so myself. This is not normal VOA standards, but then Swicord is, as I noted, not a VOA employee.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-04-10-voa27.cfm
Women Enter ‘Priesthood’ in Defiance of Roman Catholic Church
By Jeff Swicord
Sarasota, Florida
10 April 2008
As Pope Benedict prepares to travel to the United States [arriving April 15th], he continues to uphold the church's long-standing tradition of not ordaining women as priests. Since July 2006, more than U.S. 20 women with the organization “Roman Catholic Womenpriests” have considered themselves ordained without church approval. VOA’s Jeff Swicord reports on one woman in Sarasota, Florida, who says it is time for the church to openly accept women into the priesthood.
Bridget Mary Meehan is one of 24 Roman Catholic women in the United States conducting mass in defiance of church doctrine.
She describes her religious journey, which started as a young girl growing up in Ireland. “We grew up in this beautiful family where prayer was as natural as breathing,” she recalls. “Every evening we prayed the family rosary, and every evening we had such a sense of God.”
Meehan entered a convent at the age of 18 and became a Roman Catholic nun with the Sisters of Christian Community. In July 2006, a woman bishop not recognized by the Vatican ordained Meehan with seven other women.
Meehan says the Roman Catholic Church needs to be more inclusive. “I think the problem is they don't know how to integrate women into the present clerical hierarchical structure,” she said. “And that is a problem because this hierarchical clerical structure needs to be changed.”
Meehan advertises her mass in the local newspaper in the southern coastal community of Sarasota, Florida. Her home serves as her church.
The local archdiocese declined VOA’s request for an on camera interview. But the archdiocese published a letter in the local newspaper condemning Meehan’s actions.
Arne Panula in Washington is a member of Opus Dei, a conservative Catholic organization. He says there are reasons why women are not ordained as priests. He says it was a man, Jesus, who stood at the alter, broke bread and said, “This is my body,” a ritual that priests recreate during mass.
“The church teaches that he [the priest] does this in what is called insomnia nomini Christa, that he does this in the name and the person of Jesus,” says Panula. “Jesus was male. Jesus was a man. And to be able to do that as Jesus did requires that it be a man who does it.”
Meehan disagrees. “A priest is suppose to be in personi Christa,” she says. “That does not mean taking on male identity. It means breaking the bread and sharing the wine in the memory of Jesus as a Pascal meal.”
But Panula says Jesus chose not to ordain women. “Jesus Christ could have ordained women,” he says. “He could have named women to the presbyterate, in which case right now there would be women priests.”
Meehan disagrees. She cites passages from the Bible and new scholarly works that retranslate the original Latin records of the Catholic Church's early days. “The ordination of women - we know for the first 1,200 years women were ordained,” she said. “So therefore, the teaching on that does not reflect the practice of the church throughout its history.”
Meehan says her congregation is growing. She says some members are disappointed with the direction of the Roman Catholic Church, particularly in the area of gender equality.
Cathy Kidder was attending Meehan’s mass for the first time. “A lot of us have raised their children in the church and saw them learn all those wonderful traditions and heritage and belief in justice attitudes of our church,” she says, “and our children have gone to other churches where they feel these things have been put into better practice.”
Meehan has conducted mass since 2006. The local archdiocese has protested her actions, but the Vatican has not sanctioned or excommunicated her. Two women in St. Louis, Missouri have been excommunicated.
“I think it is very wise of the Vatican right now to take a wait and see attitude, watch the movement of the spirit in the Roman Catholic Womenpriests rather than condemning us,” Meehan said. “Because, one day they just might have to undo their condemnation and canonize a few of the women in the movement. At least that is our hope and our prayer.”
McCain has promised to revive the U.S. Information Agency, and I hope this means more fact checkers for the VOA.
I haven't worked on a paper since the early 70s, but any editor who doesn't double check stringers' work isn't doing his job.
This article wasn't even proofread.
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