The Southern Cross has historically had absolutely no hesitation
whatsoever in publishing content that creates confusion about the true teaching
of the Church, or content that portrays the Church or its leaders in a bad
light. The latest issue of the newspaper
reveals that this newspaper is clearly determined to continue in this vein.
The most recent example is an article written by Fr. Anthony
Egan titled “Ordained Ministry Renewed”[1]. It is clearly Fr. Egan’s desire to convey to
the reader that the second Vatican Council “changed
the face of ordained ministry” and that, while there has been some change,
for some there is an expectation of further change based on their personal interpretation
of Vatican II. I do not intend to
address this at all in this post. Maybe
I will do so in another post.
Fr. Egan concludes his article with a reasonable call that we
should all approach the issues, which he believes faces the ordained ministry,
“civilly, openly, and with a spiritual
generosity that presumes good intent on the part of all taking part in the
debate.” I wish to comment on this.
I agree wholeheartedly with Fr. Egan! In fact I believe that this call by Fr. Egan should
apply to all dialogue regarding the various issues that we must address in the
Church. We must approach all of these “civilly, openly, and with a spiritual
generosity that presumes good intent on the part of all taking part in the
debate.”
We must however always remember that a call for civility, openness,
“spiritual generosity” and presumed “good intent” must be genuine! It must also, naturally, apply to all
parties. It certainly is not appropriate
to make such an appeal when one has just presented one of the parties, who hold an opposing view in the debate, in a sinister light. This, sadly, is
exactly what Fr. Egan does in his article!
In the article, Fr. Egan makes an absolutely outrageous and
entirely baseless claim about the late Archbishop Dennis Hurley. Fr. Egan, under the guise of expressing the
opinion of others, claims that: “many
South African Catholics believe that the late Archbishop Denis Hurley was never
made a cardinal because he sympathised with both a married priesthood and
women’s ordination”. This statement
is purely anecdotal! It really serves no
useful purpose whatsoever in the context of Fr. Egan’s article, except to portray some in the Church hierarchy as sinister and unjust. This baseless allegation could easily have been left out of the
article without in anyway diluting the message in Fr. Egan’s article.
So why was this anecdotal and controversial statement
inserted? It is only reasonable for us
to conclude that it was inserted precisely because it would be provocative and
divisive. There is certainly absolutely
nothing of the presumed good intent and spiritual generosity, which Fr. Egan
asks of all his readers later in his article, contained in the statement.
It seems to me that it is the modus operandi of the proponents
of controversial subjects, such as gay marriage, contraception, abortion, and
the ordination of women, to mention just a few, to engage those who do not
share their views, with outrageous and unreasonable statements. These statements are designed precisely to
stir up the emotions and create heated exchanges. The moment this natural reaction happens, they then dismiss
their opponents with various disingenuous labels, such as being uncharitable,
bigoted, misogynistic, and goodness knows what else. This tactic enables the proponents of these
controversial subjects to avoid engaging in any logical, common sense dialogue
on the subject. This is of course precisely
what they wish to do. Avoid debate at
all costs! Possibly because they know that what they are
controversially proposing will never stand up to any close scrutiny or common
sense debate!
What is concerning is that this is not the first time that this
newspaper has seen fit to publish content that is baseless and even completely
false. It seems this newspaper believes
that this practice is perfectly acceptable.
The editor, Gunther Simmermacher, has on a previous occasion even
refused to retract a false statement, even though it was clearly highlighted to
him by more than one person, including a priest, that it was a false statement about
the Pope.
I don’t know about you but I do not want a tabloid for a
Catholic newspaper. I want a Catholic
newspaper that reports events happening in parishes around the country to
spread the Gospel and build the community.
I want a newspaper that reports what the Church is doing throughout the
world to spread the Gospel. I want
articles to help me understand events in the world in the context of the TRUE
teaching of the Church. I want a
newspaper that publishes the homilies of our local bishops so that all South
Africans, not only those fortunate enough to attend Mass with them, can hear
what they are saying. I want a Catholic
newspaper that encourages me to be Catholic, that gives me hope, not a
newspaper that creates doubt and confusion about the future of the Church and
the validity of its teaching.
