Russell Shaw on Catholic Journalism

Several recent posts have dealt with the responsibilities of Catholic journalists arising from the resignation of America's editor, Fr. Reese, S.J.  Russell Shaw provided his analysis in Friday's Wall Street Journal:

"[E]diting a religious magazine is, for a priest, analogous to preaching a homily. Catholics rightly expect to hear their church's teaching expounded from the pulpit, and they have the same right to find it upheld in the pages of a Catholic journal edited by clerics and published by a religious order. Parallels are easy to find in other fields. Junior officers do not have the right to lecture the troops on the folly of the strategy and tactics devised by senior officers. Diplomats are not free to criticize their governments' policies before their foreign counterparts. And public officials of the church have no right to undermine its authoritative doctrine and policy in the eyes of the Catholic people.

That doesn't mean marching in lockstep. Differences in approach and emphasis are welcomed, and there is ample room for spirited debate over truly open questions, such as the conditions under which capital punishment is allowable. But the fundamental obligation, for the editors of America and other such publications, is to represent the church faithfully and to convey its teachings loyally."

For the full article, click here.