Saturday, October 09, 2004

Should I make a gentle call?
The local paper carries an interview of a local person from time to time. This weekend's interview was of a parishioner, a convert of a few years ago, who is very helpful and who just completed his service as Chairman of this parish's Pastoral Council. At one point in the interview, he makes a very good statement about defending the unborn and quite simply rejecting the craziness of abortion. Great. The problem came after the quotes on his statement closed and the journalist tried (with good intentions, I am sure) to make a transition. Keep in mind, these are not the words of the parishioner interviewed, but of the article's writer. The writer wrote: "It is evident that he is very passionate about this topic [abortion]. Bob and his wife are both Catholics, but the passion seems to come from deeper than that."

Now, I really believe the poor lady who wrote the article meant no disrespect or condescension. However, that is an extremely careless comment and people of other faiths ought to be worried too. Does she mean that apparent values or strong opinions and positions are ultimately shallow if they are motivated by Catholic faith in particular, Christianity in general, or religion at large? So, my question is: Should I call the newspaper and VERY GENTLY just say that the article was most welcome, but that the one part can be viewed as dismissive and careless?

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