NCR in the News

Pope Pleas for Peace
CNN
MANN: CNN's Jim Bittermann reporting.
We take a break now. When we come back, more on why John Paul is suddenly so sought after.
Stay with us.
MANN: The pope's call for prayer united millions of non-Catholics as well Wednesday. While protesters marched in Rome, the general senate of the Anglican church called on its 70 million followers worldwide to observe the day, and in Geneva, the World Council of Churches also urged the faithful to pray for peace.
Welcome back.
A lot of people oppose war in Iraq. A lot of people pray for peace for reasons that have nothing to do with John Paul II. Still, the list is impressive. The leaders of Italy, Spain, England, the United States and the United Kingdom all paying exceptional attention to the pontiff and his opinions.
Is it real?
Joining us now is Jim Bittermann, in Rome.
Jim, we are used to seeing photo ops all the time. Whenever the world leaders go to Rome, they make the rounds and do the Vatican as well. Is this the same, or somehow different?
BITTERMANN: Well, I think it is somehow different. I think this time around the pope has gotten definitely involved in a very intense way in an international affair.
Now, it should be said, as Marco Politi pointed out in my package, you know, the pope has before gotten himself involved in world politics. During his years in the early 80's, when he was fighting Communism he was heavily engaged in the struggled to bring freedom to the Eastern European countries. But the pope had a vested interest there too -- too vested an interest, perhaps. His personal interest, because he grew up under Communism, and the church's interest because religious freedom was restricted in Eastern Europe, and that was something the church was interested in ending.
This time around, it should be said the pope has some interests as well. He spent a lot of his pontificate trying to build bridges to the East, to the Arab world, to the Islamic world, and he wouldn't like to see that end through some uncertainty that comes about at the end of the Iraq War.
The other thing is that there are several hundred thousand Christians in Iraq who could in fact be directly involved in a war, or perhaps after a war, if some kind of fundamentalist government were to come into power at some point down the line, they may not be as open to religious freedom as the present regime is -- John.
MANN: Let me be cynical and ask you if anyone in the Vatican shares my cynicism. Is the pope being used? Is he simply a prop for world leaders who want to look like they are taking a moral approach to what is, after all, a very complex and controversial war?
BITTERMANN: This question comes up a lot, actually, because the pope has traveled to several parts of the world where there are dictators -- Pinochet in Argentina, Castro in Cuba, and other parts of the world. His answer, and the answer of those around him, has always been the same, and that is, the door is open to everybody, and there is no way that you have a dialogue unless you're ready to listen to both sides.
And so his door is open, and so a lot of people do come through the office and in fact use his office, or at least those visuals that we see of people meeting with the pope, they use those for their own political benefit -- John.
MANN: Jim Bittermann, in Rome, thanks very much.
And still the question remains, why do so many world leaders pay so much attention to the pope at a time like this.
Well, we're going to ask John Allen. He's a frequent analyst on our air on things papal, Catholic and Vatican. He is also the Vatican correspondent for the "National Catholic Reporter," though he joins us on this day from here inside the United States.
Thanks so much for talking with us. Let me ask you, why, really, would the pope matter at a time like this? Is he just a prop?
JOHN ALLEN, "NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER": Well, whether he's a prop or not depends on your point of view, Jonathan.
But what's clear is that the pope is the most visible religious leader on the world stage, period. He is in a way a symbol of the conscience of humanity, and when the conscience of humanity comes knocking, no political leader can afford to ignore it. That's why, since this crisis began, you have seen this steady stream of VIP's in and out of Rome, beginning with Joschka Fischer, Tariq Aziz, Jose Maria Aznar, Tony Blair, Mohammad Al-Reza Khatami, the vice president of the Iranian parliament.
And we've seen the pope's emissary to Baghdad, Cardinal (UNINTELLIGIBLE) get a red carpet treatment from Saddam Hussein and now (UNINTELLIGIBLE) shaking hands with George Bush.
You know, the point is that the pope, in this sense, represents humanities moral sense and every politician, of course, wants to be seen to be on the good side of morality.
MANN: In a more specific sense, though, what exactly is his position? Is he opposed to war against Iraq under any circumstances? Would he be for it if the United Nations authorized it?
ALLEN: Well, the pope is not a pacifist and the Catholic church is not a pacifist. I mean, their position is that a state has the right to defend itself against aggression, and so if Iraq were to attack someone, then that state, up to and including the United States, would have the right to retaliate.
However, what they are against is this doctrine of a so-called preventive war. That is, that it is somehow morally licit to start a war in order to achieve some alleged moral end. And so in this case, it is not the idea of war, but it is the kind of war that is being proposed that they are against.
And beyond that, I think, as Jim said in your Q&A with him a moment ago, you have to bear in mind that Vatican diplomacy always unfolds on two levels. There's the level of the sort of voice of conscience. There's also the level of protecting the institutional assets of the Catholic church in the way that every state does in its diplomatic activity.
And in this case, there are Christians, there are Christian parishes, schools, hospitals, universities, all over the Islamic world, and there is tremendous fear in the Vatican that this conflict could make all of those things targets.
MANN: Let me ask you to look back a bit in history, because the pope's position looks different, if you recall, and correct me if I'm wrong, but he opposed the war that pushed Iraq out of Kuwait after the 1990 - 91 invasion, that he has opposed most of the sanctions that the United Nations Security Council has voted.
I am curious if in fact the pope isn't really a little bit isolated when you look at history, when you look at the decisions that all of the Western powers acting in concert have made together.
ALLEN: Well, you know, whether he's isolated or not depends, once again, on the point of view.
I mean, certainly, if you look at the polling on this war and especially outside of the United States, what you find is that substantial majorities all over the world are, if you believe the polls, opposed to this war. And, in that sense, perhaps it isn't the pope who is isolated. Perhaps it's President Bush and the pro-war line coming out of the White House.
But, you know, certainly, if you roll the clock back to 1991 and the first Gulf War which, you're right, the pope did oppose, compare it to the NATO incursion in Kosovo, which the pope and the Vatican supported, I think there you'll see that relevant difference we were talking about a moment ago.
In '91, the conflict had in a sense stabilized, and the Vatican took the position that diplomatic initiatives could be sufficient to restore justice. In Kosovo, you have a civilian population that was being brutalized. You had a conflict in act, and the only thing that would stop it was the application of force. And I think that's the relevant difference.
If in this case Iraq was in this moment, right now, involved in a conflict against an innocent civilian population, my suspicion would be the pope would support the use of force.
(CROSSTALK)
MANN: Well, let me just jump in and tell you what the president of the United States would say in this context -- and forgive me for speaking for him. He would say there is a civilian population that's being brutalized. It's the population of Iraq.
ALLEN: Yes, and that of course is one of the interesting things, Jonathan, at the rhetorical level, a shift we've seen in recent weeks.
As you know, originally the argument coming from the Western coalition, that is Bush and Blair, on behalf of this conflict, was essentially a security argument. That is, that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, they could get in the hands of terrorists. That posed a security threat to the West and, above all, to the United States.
What's happened in recent weeks, and I think it's a response to the moral criticism that's been coming from the pope and other religious leaders, is that the argument has shifted to now we have a humanitarian imperative to come to the rescue of this oppressed and brutalized Iraqi population.
Now, I think that very few people would dispute the claim that this is a regime that does not have a very good human rights record. Most Iraqi Christians that I've interviewed off the record say quite honestly they would be delighted to see Saddam Hussein go.
The problem is, to be replaced with what? And at what cost? And that comes down to a prudential judgment. Is pressing for a regime change here worth the cost in human blood, worth the cost in inflaming Christian- Islamic relations that it would take? And the pope and the Vatican's prudential judgment, which other people would disagree with, is that it's not worth the cost.
MANN: Let me ask you about -- not about what's morally right and morally wrong, but actually about the business of diplomacy when the Vatican is involved.
In other conversations between the United States, for example, and Turkey, there's horse-trading. The United States wants certain things, and it will give certain things in return, whether it's aid or trade or some kind of political consideration.
When the Vatican sends its envoys to the White House, when it sends them to Baghdad, or when it receives heads of state from elsewhere, what do they talk about? What kinds of conversations are going on? Does anyone know?
ALLEN: Well, Jonathan, this is one of the interesting things about Vatican diplomacy. This is the oldest diplomatic core in the world. The Vatican is a 108-acre city-state in the heart of Rome. It has no standing army and no national economy to speak of. So there isn't that kind of, you know, horse-trading that goes on when a Vatican diplomat comes calling, which is one of the reasons that they are received by all sides in conflicts, because it's clear they're not seeking commercial or territorial advantage.
What do they talk about? Again, think about those two levels I mentioned. There is the level of which they are trying to represent the voice of conscience, and so they're making an argument on behalf of the common good -- what they see as the good of the entire human family.
But beyond that, they are also talking about the very specific needs and fears of the Christians, the Catholics, that are on the ground in these places.
So quite often, when Bush, for example, in the past, has met with the pope and with Vatican diplomats, in addition to the welfare of the human family, they've talked about Christians in China and they've talked about Christians in Palestine, and what can the Bush administration do to try to come to the aid of those beleaguered Christian populations.
So the Vatican almost has one eye on the big picture, and one eye on its own folks on the ground, and what they can do to come to their aid.
MANN: John Allen, of the "National Catholic Reporter," thanks for talking with us.
ALLEN: Jonathan, it's a pleasure.
MANN: We take another break. When we come back, the other side of the debate -- the religious case for a war.

posted by Tom # 10:29 AM

U.S. envoy adds energy to post at Vatican after 9/11
Philadelphia Inquirer
By Ken Dilanian
Inquirer Staff Writer
ROME - For many Catholics, meeting the Pope for the first time is a deeply spiritual experience.
Jim Nicholson didn't have the luxury of those feelings.
Nicholson, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, had just arrived in what was supposed to be a low-key posting as U.S. ambassador to the Vatican when the Sept. 11 attacks happened.
Two days later, he was scheduled to present his credentials to Pope John Paul II. What might have been a celebratory occasion was suddenly fraught with geopolitical significance tinged in high emotion and a sense of crisis.
"The Holy Father said that this was not only an attack on the United States but on humanity," Nicholson recalled recently, rising slightly out of his chair in an office overlooking the majestic ruins of the Roman Forum. "He sort of arched his arms like this and said, 'on humanity.' "
It was such a sober moment that Nicholson, who grew up poor on an Iowa farm, could scarcely reflect on what it meant personally to meet the leader of his church and one of the most important figures of recent history.
"I was doing my job, at a moment of real gravity," said the 65-year-old Vietnam veteran, a West Point graduate who entered politics after making his fortune as a real estate developer in Denver.
A lot has changed since then, including the Vatican's stance toward the Bush administration's policies in what it calls the war on terror. Although the Pope's remarks to Nicholson were seen as an endorsement of military action in Afghanistan, John Paul and the Vatican have made clear that they oppose a preemptive strike against Iraq. Nicholson has found himself having to justify American policy in the face of increasingly critical remarks by Vatican officials.
What has not changed, though, is the relatively high profile that Nicholson has brought to a job that had been viewed as something of a sinecure.
"He has injected a new energy and a sort of hustle to that embassy that just never existed before," said John L. Allen Jr., the longtime Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter. "He is probably the most dynamic ambassador to the Holy See that the United States has ever had."
The U.S. Embassy to the Holy See, which has existed only since 1984, is separate from the much larger American diplomatic mission to Italy. Aside from the ambassador, just three career diplomats and a small support staff work in a modest building across from the ruins of the Circus Maximus, where throngs of spectators once watched Christians fed to lions.
As author Michael Lewis has observed, on its face the post is "the textbook case of the Pointless Embassy" because the U.S. ambassador is not allowed to engage the Vatican on theology, which is what drives Vatican policy.
But the Catholic Church, with bishops and priests in every corner of the world, has an unrivaled information network, and Nicholson's predecessor, the charming former U.S. Rep. Corinne "Lindy" Boggs, was adept at tapping into it. She was an octogenarian, though, and sometimes kept a limited schedule.
Predating her was former Boston Mayor Raymond Flynn, who was the subject of a detailed article in the Boston Globe reporting that, while he spent little time at the embassy, he was a regular at a popular Irish Pub.
Nicholson, who prepared for the job by writing a book on the short history of U.S.-Vatican relations, has not been afraid to use some of the skills he learned in four years on the Sunday talk-show circuit.
In an effort to focus attention on the problem of human trafficking and the sex trade, he secured a private grant to host a conference on the subject here. Six months later, the Pope condemned human trafficking in his Christmas message, drawing wide media coverage.
Last month, Nicholson brought in a Catholic theologian, Michael Novak, who argued that a strike against Iraq would be warranted under Catholic "just war" doctrine. Novak met with Vatican officials, held a well-covered news conference, and delivered a public lecture.
"A lot of career foreign-service people would not have felt comfortable inviting a high-profile speaker like Michael Novak to really lay out in a very public way how different our position is from the Vatican's," a senior U.S. diplomat here said.
"The Vatican can be pretty opaque, and he has adopted some very interesting ways to engage it," the diplomat said.
Nicholson's methodical approach is no surprise to those who know his background.
The man who now lives in a Roman villa and attends state dinners with a police motorcycle escort grew up in isolated tenant shacks in Struble, Iowa, without electricity or indoor plumbing. In a flat, Midwestern delivery, he tells of eating French toast for Christmas dinner and walking through the snow to a one-room schoolhouse.
"Sometimes I had to wear two different shoes," he said. "That was tough, because kids make fun of you."
His father was an alcoholic, and his mother kept the family together.
"My mother used to say... if you study hard and work hard - and she used to say pray hard - this is not the kind of life you'll have to lead."
Nicholson won an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy, became an Army Ranger, and in 1964 volunteered for Vietnam.
He spent most of his tour in the jungle fighting with the South Vietnamese Army. Returning home with a Bronze Star, he went to law school and then grew wealthy developing real estate. Friends still marvel at the way he weathered a financial crisis in the 1980s without declaring bankruptcy.
s the Republican committee chairman, he was criticized for his lack of a national profile, and he narrowly survived after Republicans lost seats in the 1998 midterm elections. But Bush would not be president without the record-breaking fund-raising operation of which Nicholson was a part.
Nicholson also set up a GOP Catholic task force, led by Philadelphia public-relations executive Brian P. Tierney, that helped woo Catholic voters.
After Bush took office, Nicholson talked to Vice President Cheney about becoming secretary of the Army. But after years of nonstop travel and 18-hour days, he opted for an ambassadorship. His wife, Suzanne, a professional artist who majored in Italian renaissance art at Vassar, wanted Rome.
There's no denying the post is a plum, Nicholson acknowledged on a recent sunny morning, as the Eastern Seaboard shivered under freezing temperatures. But 9/11 "changed everything," he said. "It changed this job."
The senior American diplomat was more specific: "I don't know if Sept. 11 changed the job, but I think it put a charge into Jim Nicholson."

posted by Tom # 10:20 AM

Thursday, February 27, 2003

Pope Reportedly Acts to Speed Removal of Abusive Priests
The New York Times
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Pope John Paul II quietly approved changes in church law this month that will speed the removal of sexual abusers from the priesthood, according to a spokesman for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The changes also allow bishops to ask the Vatican for permission to use deacons or laypeople trained in canon law as judges on the church tribunals that will decide the cases of accused priests. Before, just priests could be judges on tribunals, the spokesman, Msgr. Francis Maniscalco, said.
"I think they want to make the procedures as user friendly as possible," Monsignor Maniscalco said. "They are taking into account that not every bishop has the resources" to form tribunals of three to five judges who are priests.
The procedures were part of instructions given to 210 priests who have been at sessions last week and this week in Washington training to be tribunal judges, defense advocates and prosecutors. All those in training are canon lawyers, and all are priests, making it less likely that bishops will need to call laypeople or deacons in the near future, Monsignor Maniscalco said.

posted by Tom # 11:59 AM

Praying for Papal Intervention
The Washington Post
By Mary McGrory
Pope John Paul II is causing heartburn among one of the president's key constituencies: conservative Catholics. The pope is unequivocally and fervently against the war in Iraq, and George W. Bush, who fancies himself something of a spiritual leader, has to grin and bear it.
His holiness cannot be attacked like other war critics, such as France and Germany.
Even Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, the designated hit man for "appeasers," dares not inveigh against the supreme pontiff of a church with a congregation of a billion. Ari Fleischer, spokesman for a White House that is now wooing nations such as Angola, said stiffly, "It is the papacy's right to engage in dialogue

posted by Tom # 11:52 AM

Monday, January 06, 2003

That old-time journalism of guts and glory
Los Angeles Times
By Carl Jensen
Muckraking!
The Journalism That Changed America
Edited by Judith and William Serrin
New Press: 392 pp., $25 paper
If you ever questioned the power of the written word, you never will again after reading "Muckraking! The Journalism That Changed America." In absorbing detail you'll learn how journalism saved lives, solved crimes, built bridges, eliminated slums, created national parks, brought us safer automobiles, exposed sports scandals and inspired reforms that made our lives a little better.
Co-editors Judith and William Serrin had high expectations when they agreed at the behest of their publisher to compile a book on this form of journalism -- roughly defined as reporting that searches for and exposes misconduct in public life -- and they have succeed marvelously, selecting some 125 stories spanning three centuries. In approaching their subject so broadly, they distinguished their effort from other books on the subject, most of which start with the muckraking era in the 1900s known as the Golden Age of Journalism.
The Serrins were a good choice as editors because they have extensive experience teaching and working as journalists. (William Serrin was a member of the Detroit Free Press team that won a Pulitzer for its coverage of the Detroit race riots of 1967, one of the stories cited in the book.) They have categorized the stories chronologically into 13 subjects ranging from "The Poor" to "Politics" to "Americana," and they take us into such disparate worlds as the celebrated John Peter Zenger seditious libel trial in 1735 and a story produced in 2000 by a Houston television station about the fatalities associated with Firestone tires and Ford Explorers.
While their choice of subjects is somewhat eclectic, occasionally straying from traditional muckraking topics (the "Americana" chapter includes Horace Greeley's call for a transcontinental railroad and Richard Goldstein's 1968 defense of rock 'n' roll), the book's organization makes it easy for the reader to pursue a special interest.
The section titled "America at War," for instance, provides an insight into how the press has covered our military involvements, starting with the revolutionary battles at Lexington and Concord in 1775 and ending with our imbroglio in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992.
Other chapters include "The Working Class," "Freedom," "Public Health and Safety," "Women -- Their Rights -- Nothing Less," "Conservation," "Crime and Punishment" and "Sports." There is also a chapter titled "The Press" that features stories about its foibles and achievements. One amusing item relates how James Gordon Bennett, who founded the New York Herald in 1835, reported a conversation he had had with a New York madame, and in doing so, created a new journalism practice now known as the interview.
One may cite the omission of such writers as Upton Sinclair, whose landmark piece on dangerous meat-processing practices, "The Jungle," initiated the first Pure Food and Drug Act; or George Seldes, who traced tobacco's link to cancer in 1938; or J. William Fulbright, who alerted the nation to militarism's threat; or I.F. Stone, who early on warned about the futility of the Vietnam War; or Paul Brodeur, whose expose on asbestos shut down the industry in the U.S.; or Paul Ehrlich, whose bestseller, "The Population Bomb," awakened the world to the impending problems of overpopulation -- and indeed, the list is long -- but no anthology can ever be complete.
Most of the Serrins' stories document how the press has covered important issues such as child labor, slum housing, mine safety, the Holocaust, cigarettes and cancer, birth control, political corruption, slavery, the Pentagon, patent medicines and police brutality. Many readers will be surprised to discover that the issue of priests molesting children surfaced in the National Catholic Reporter in June 1985. That story reported that "[i]n cases throughout the nation, the Catholic church is facing scandals and being forced to pay millions of dollars in claims to families whose sons have been molested by Catholic priests."
Despite the inflammatory nature of the story, the Serrins point out that the National Catholic Reporter kept the story of pedophiles in the priesthood alive in its pages for two years before "the national media stepped in, and pedophilia became a topic for the covers of the national news magazines." Now 17 years later, again the national media have stepped in and pedophilia and the church has again become a topic for the covers of the national news magazines. It is a story that raises an interesting question: If the goal of a book about muckraking is to show how journalists have changed America for the better, why are we still mired in a social problem that was exposed in 1985? Is it possible that muckraking is merely a short-term solution to a long-term problem?

posted by Tom # 8:58 AM

Saturday, December 14, 2002

Cardinal's departure may be first of many
Boston Herald
by Jules Crittenden
Saturday, December 14, 2002
The Vatican is justified in its fears that Bernard Cardinal Law's resignation will have a domino effect, according to those who have closely followed the crisis.
``Every bishop is looking over his shoulder tonight,'' said New Jersey lawyer Stephen Rubino, who has litigated dozens of priest sex-abuse cases. ``The laity want their church back. There isn't a diocese that hasn't been touched by this.''
Thomas Fox, publisher of the National Catholic Reporter, said the momentum has long been building among alienated laity, priests and wealthy donors.
Law's resignation tells bishops ``you cannot extricate yourself from the depths to which you have sunk when for 20 years you have practiced denial,'' Fox said. ``Law is a station on the railroad tracks, and the train will continue on.''

posted by Tom # 1:24 AM

Church Crisis: Cardinal Law in Rome
CNN LIVE AT DAYBREAK
December 9, 2002 - 06:13 ET
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The embattled leader of Boston's Roman Catholic, Cardinal Bernard Law, is in Rome at this hour, leading to much speculation about why he's in Rome.
Joining us now on the phone from Rome is John Allen, the Vatican correspondent for the "National Catholic Reporter."
John, why would Cardinal Law be in Rome at this time?
JOHN ALLEN, "NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER": Well, Carol, what we have -- morning -- is a very brief two sentence statement from the Vatican confirming Cardinal Law's presence and indicating that he has come to inform the Holy See, that is the Vatican, on diverse aspects of the situation in his diocese of Boston. Now that's all we have officially.
Unofficially, I think we can add that those diverse aspects would certainly include the mammoth document drop that's occurred in the last few days, documents that have been unsealed under court order and also would include the prospect of bankruptcy, which of course under the weight of current and future legal problems facing the archdiocese is a very real one. So he is meeting with the...
COSTELLO: So just to interrupt for just one second so people understand, so does he have to get Vatican approval to declare bankruptcy?
ALLEN: Well that's -- you know I can answer that in two levels. The one is (UNINTELLIGIBLE) what does church law say? And then perhaps unsurprisingly church law doesn't say anything about bankruptcy because no one anticipated that a diocese might be going bankrupt when the Code of Canon Law was put together in 1983. So Canon lawyers sort of don't know. But politically speaking, obviously, no archbishop is going to do something as huge as declaring bankruptcy without confirming (ph) with the Vatican

posted by Tom # 1:20 AM

Rising up against Cardinal Law
CNN SUNDAY
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: It isn't just lay people rising up against Cardinal Law in Boston. A group of Boston area priests have drafted a letter calling for his resignation. They plan to deliver if they get enough signatures. For more on all this, Tom Roberts, editor of the "National Catholic Reporter," and he joins us from Kansas City. Good to see you.
TOM ROBERTS, EDITOR, NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER: Good to be with you.
WHITFIELD: All right, I want to talk with you about both Boston as well as California. Let's begin, of course, with Boston, with protesters saying they want Cardinal Law to step down. He didn't show, but likely he's hearing about all of this activity going on throughout Boston today. Is it likely he would respond to such public pressure like this?
ROBERTS: I don't know. He hasn't yet. Except to say that he's staying. What we do know from our correspondent in Boston is that the level of anger and frustration has reached, I think, a new level. Certainly it's an unprecedented discussion that priests are having, and rather openly. And we also know from our correspondent in Rome that the congregation for bishops is finally watching this carefully. And I think that this past week of revelations has gotten their attention in a different way than it has in the past.
There is reason to suspect that they're even angry with Law at this point, and are rather dismayed at the findings that keep coming out.
So there's, I think, a new level of anger and frustration, not only in the United States, but perhaps even in Rome. And I don't know where this leads, because it's very difficult to -- there's no precedent for this sort of thing.

posted by Tom # 1:16 AM

Friday, November 22, 2002

Review of Pentecost in Asia
Catholic Theology Society
Thomas Fox's new book, Pentecost in Asia, is an interesting, informative, hope-filled narrative of the transformation of the Church in Asia in the years following the Second Vatican Council. Written in easy-to-read journalistic style, the book traces the `quiet revolution' in which the Bishops of Asia gave birth to a new vision of church, built the necessary structures to implement it, and patiently continue to incarnate their vision in the face of recent and increasing pressures from the Vatican.
Fox brings to his work a background of nearly four decades of personal and professional interest, study and involvement in Asia. From his own `Asian Odyssey,' he invites readers to enter vicariously into the recent odyssey of the Asian churches by weaving together stories of personal encounters with important Asian church leaders with a description of key events and documents from the Asian Bishops' Conference.

posted by Tom # 9:14 AM

Monday, November 04, 2002

People, Look East
Pentecost in Asia
A New Way of Being Church
By Thomas C. Fox
Orbis Books. 238p. $25.
America Magazine
It is not often that one finds a book on Asian Catholics written by an American and published in the United States that is not only informative and thought-provoking, but also presents a deep insight into the developments in the Asian Catholic Church that have thus far garnered very little attention in the West. Thomas C. Fox’s Pentecost in Asia: A New Way of Being Church presents in clear and lucid prose the emergence of a unique, prophetic model of Catholic Church in Asia. Fox insists that “Asian Catholics today have something very important to share with the wider Church”—a “new way of being church” that seeks solidarity with the poor, dispossessed and marginalized and fights for justice on their behalf; that seeks dialogue, harmonious relations and collaboration with ancient Asian religions and cultures; and that seeks consultation and consensus-building in ecclesial leadership.
A veteran journalist, former editor and now publisher of The National Catholic Reporter, Tom Fox has a deeply passionate interest in the Asian world, having visited Asia more than a dozen times, lived in Vietnam for five years, and been married to a Vietnamese woman for more than 30 years. The result of this is a fascinating and insightful reflection on the Asian way of being church by an outsider-yet-insider, a “son-in-law of Asia.” The plethora of accolades from noted Asian bishops, missionaries, theologians and religious on the book’s dust jacket and its first pages bears testimony to the fact that Asian Catholics find this to be a very helpful book describing their faith experiences accurately to their fellow brothers and sisters in the West, as well as to fellow Asians.
For readers who are looking for abstruse theological ruminations on Asian Catholicism, this book might be disappointing because of its simple, straightforward presentation. But for those who are looking for a clear and unencumbered presentation on Asian Catholics and their struggles to mold the shape and direction of their church, this book is a real gem and treat. As Fox admits at the outset, this book seeks to present the Asian Catholic Bishops’ vision of being church and doing mission in Asia in a reader-friendly manner from a journalist’s perspective, “to bring a very important pastoral-theological story to a wider audience, to popularize it.”

posted by Tom # 5:42 AM

The Challenges Ahead
CATHOLIC CHURCH'S ISSUES ARE FAR FROM RESOLVED, WRITER SAYS
San Jose Mercury News
By Richard Scheinin
Mercury News
Sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church: It's the news story that has no end. Thomas C. Fox, publisher of the National Catholic Reporter, has been covering it since 1986, when there was an early round of reports on sexual abuse by priests.
We asked Fox to comment on the bewildering state of affairs in the church, focusing on events since June when 300 American bishops met in Dallas to forge a policy on sexual abuse -- and what lies ahead when U.S. bishops meet again this month. They face a significant challenge from Rome on that policy.
Here's how events have unfolded: In Dallas, the bishops formulated a landmark zero-tolerance policy for priests who abuse minors. But two weeks ago, the Vatican rejected aspects of the Dallas charter and appointed a joint commission of U.S. and Vatican officials to shape a compromise.
This week, the commission of four U.S. bishops and four Vatican officials signaled a retreat from the Dallas policy, which called for the permanent removal from ministry of any clergyman who has ever abused a minor, no matter how long ago. Instead, the commission said it wants to reimpose a 10-year statute of limitations on the church's internal disciplining of priests accused of sexually abusing minors. And it said, more generally, that priests cannot be permanently removed from ministry unless they are convicted by a church tribunal.
Fox says there is ``no question'' that the commission's changes will dominate debate when the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meets Nov. 11-14 in Washington. Looking beyond that meeting, he says the bishops have yet to even consider ``the larger and deeper question: their own culpability in sexual abuse. This is all still in the context of priests.''

posted by Tom # 5:37 AM

Tuesday, September 24, 2002

Vatican studying U.S. policy on abuse: Rome expected to object next month to guidelines to end abuses by priests
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Associated Press
September 23, 2002
ROME - The Vatican will make its position known next month on the new U.S. bishops' strategy to eradicate sex abuse among clergy, a policy expected to raise objections at the Holy See.
The Vatican press office said yesterday that it would not comment about a report by the National Catholic Reporter, a liberal, U.S.-based publication, that the Vatican would not grant legal approval to the guidelines, adopted in June at a Dallas meeting of U.S. bishops. Without Rome's approval, the bishops' policy amounts to a gentlemen's agreement, as opposed to being enshrined in church law and binding on all American dioceses.

posted by Tom # 3:27 AM

Monday, September 23, 2002

Church experts say bishops bungling crisis
Diverse observers unite in condemning Catholic hierarchy
San Francisco Chronicle
Nashville -- It's news when the Rev. Thomas Reese, the Rev. Richard John Neuhaus and layman Tom Fox all agree in their assessment of the nation's Roman Catholic bishops.
And that's what happened over the weekend when these well-connected and influential church-watchers were asked how the American hierarchy was handling the church's burgeoning sex abuse scandal.
Three thumbs down.
Three months ago in Dallas, the bishops adopted a "zero tolerance" policy for all past and present sexual molestation of minors by Catholic clergy. But they failed to take any action against bishops who have covered up priestly crimes or merely transferred abusive priests from parish to parish.
About two months from now, the bishops will meet again in Washington -- when questions of their own accountability are sure to resurface.
"Priests feel they are being punished while the bishops are getting off," said Reese, the Jesuit editor of America magazine and author of several books on the U.S. bishops.
Neuhaus, a leading light in conservative Catholic circles, said the current crisis was caused by bishops who have failed to enforce their priests' celibacy vows for decades and have looked the other way as a "culture of homosexuality" took over the priesthood.
"In Dallas, the bishops followed the advice of their PR experts and tried to get this off the front page," he said. "But business as usual has not been shaken. This is not a pedophile crisis. It's a crisis of sexual infidelity. Now the priests are being thrown to the wolves as scapegoats."
Fox, publisher of the independent liberal weekly National Catholic Reporter, was the third speaker on a weekend panel at the annual meeting of the Religion Newswriters Association, a group of journalists who cover spiritual news for the secular press.
Fifteen years ago, his newspaper was the first national publication to regularly report on the sex abuse crisis in the church. Since then, numerous daily newspapers have covered the scandal when it broke out in cities across the nation. Earlier this year, the story exploded again in Boston and kicked off a second or third wave of national media coverage.
From the beginning, Fox noted, there have always been two stories. "There is the abuse act itself. But as painful as that is, it is not as large -- even for the victims -- as the coverup."
By failing to police their own house, Fox said the bishops have ignited a "massive implosion of trust and betrayal."
"It's like Watergate without the Nixon resignation," he said. "There is no structure in the church to extricate the bishops from this crisis."
Nevertheless, Fox and other speakers said the scandal has not resulted in U. S. Catholics abandoning their churches or withholding funds from parish ministries.
"Parish life goes on," he said. "There's a goodness and forgiveness among so many Catholics -- which in some ways makes this all the more sad."

posted by Tom # 9:37 AM

Thursday, September 12, 2002

The pro-Israeli lobby provides big bucks in Washington
San Antonio Express-News
By Maury Maverick
"No one should doubt that the U.S. is every bit as much a part of the problem (regarding Israel and Palestine) as it is a part of the solution. The U.S. spends $3 billion a year supporting one of the world's tiniest states. That state now has one of the strongest armies in the world, which is used to maintain an illegal occupation financed by American taxpayers.
"Supporters of Israel mount a strong and effective lobby to which Congress responds."
Editorial, National Catholic Reporter (NCR), July 19
On issues of peace in the Middle East, I read and hold in high regard the newsletter of the Jewish peace lobby, anything from the Quakers and the National Catholic Reporter, generally called NCR.
"Catholic social justice groups, Catholic religious and Catholic laity should put changing U.S. policy in the Middle East front and center on the agenda," NCR urges.

posted by Tom # 2:43 AM

Saturday, August 03, 2002

Church charities face huge fallout after sex scandal
USA Today
By Gary Strauss, USA TODAY
As the scope of the sexual abuse scandal tests the resolve of U.S. Roman Catholics, the church is bracing for a downturn in contributions. Catholic fundraisers say they haven't noticed any drastic drop in donations yet. But that may be only because a big chunk typically arrives at year's end.
Yet as more priests are implicated, lawsuits alleging abuse increase, and church leaders continue to draw criticism for their response to the crisis, Catholics increasingly are expressing displeasure by withholding donations.

posted by Tom # 5:27 PM

Wednesday, July 31, 2002

Pope John Paul II Addresses Young Catholics in Toronto
CNN
THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: We started with images of the pope in Toronto; we're going to take you back now to images of the pope in Toronto and the holy visit that's taking place there for World Youth Day. The mass is going on, as we speak. It's a pretty windy and rainy day. Frank Buckley joins us now live to fill us in from there. Hi, Frank.
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thomas, the weather has taken a turn for the worse at the moment. Suddenly, we've had tremendous weather as we show you picture, take you down to the stage and show you the mass as it's getting under way right now. This is Aloysius Cardinal Ambrozic who is the archbishop of Toronto. We're being told, actually, here on the media riser, a security guard just came up a moment ago to suggest that we come down, because of the deteriorating weather.
John, you've covered a number of these staple masses, open air masses. Has it ever been this bad?
JOHN ALLEN, "NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER": This is one of the worst days I've ever seen. You know, they say in the Catholic Church, when everything -- when they want to be enthusiastic, that the spirit is blowing. Well, there is a lot of blowing going on here this morning in Toronto.

posted by Tom # 2:14 PM

Papal Journey
The New Hour
Margaret Warner looks at Pope John Paul II's trip to the Americas with John Allen, a Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter currently traveling with the Pope; and Scott Appleby, professor of history and director of the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism at the University of Notre Dame.

posted by Tom # 2:01 PM

Experts ponder papal succession
Pope John Paul II is in Guatemala Monday. Four top candidates are from Latin America.
Christian Science Monitor
By Colin Woodard | Special to The Christian Science Monitor
VATICAN CITY – As Pope John Paul II continues his 11-day tour of the Americas to Guatemala and Mexico this week, some Vatican observers suggest that his third trip to the region in less than a decade is one indication the next pope may be drawn from that part of the world.
Latin America is home to half the world's Catholics and several strong papal candidates, including cardinals from Colombia, Brazil, Honduras, and Cuba.

posted by Tom # 1:53 PM

Pope In Guatemala
National Public Radio
July 30, 2002
Listen to Susan Stamberg interview John Allen, Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, who is in Guatemala City, Guatemala, for the Pope's visit today.

posted by Tom # 1:46 PM

Guatemalan throngs greet pope
A Latino pontiff? Faithful have hope
Atlanta Constitution
Mike Williams - Cox Washington Bureau
Tuesday, July 30, 2002
Guatemala City, Guatemala --- The crowds for Pope John Paul II's visit here are expected to swell to more than a half-million, a tribute to the centuries-old strength of the Catholic Church in Latin America.
Deep affection for this pontiff, who has become known for his support of the poor and downtrodden in the developing world, is clear. Many also realize this may be their last chance to see the ailing pope in person.
But there is another reason for a building sense of expectation among Latino Catholics: The enticing question of who will be the next pope and excitement that he might come from Latin America.

posted by Tom # 1:40 PM

Monday, July 22, 2002

Ailing pope seems set to lead to end
Chicago Tribune
ROME -- The pope is never allowed to be ill, goes the Vatican saying, until he is dead. But Pope John Paul II is very visibly ill.
The tremors that once afflicted only his left hand have spread to both. His head slumps to his chest. His words are so slurred that aides must read most speeches. He cannot walk more than a few paces without help. In recent weeks, the color has drained from his face.

posted by Tom # 5:27 PM

Pope's Trip Is Bypassing the Anxious U.S. Flock
The New York Times
OME, July 21 — When Pope John Paul II touches down in Toronto on Tuesday, he will be hardly more than 30 miles from the United States, where Catholics are still reeling from one of the most painful episodes in the American church's history.

posted by Tom # 5:24 PM

Saturday, July 20, 2002

La sucesi?n de Juan Pablo II, un tema que ya se convirti? en best seller
La Nacion
"C?nclave" es una suerte de gu?a para entender c?mo se elegir? al pr?ximo jefe de la Iglesia Cat?lica
El libro se public? en Estados Unidos y ya repercuti? en Italia
El autor selecciona una lista de 20 cardenales candidatos
Pronostica que el elegido ser? del Tercer Mundo

posted by Tom # 7:33 PM

Thursday, July 11, 2002

The politics of papal elections: John Allen, Jr.
USATODAY.com
The next time a conclave unfolds in Rome, some 6,000 journalists are expected to descend on the Eternal City to cover the death of John Paul II and report on the election of his successor.

posted by Tom # 12:41 PM

Monday, July 01, 2002

Catholic women to be 'ordained'
CNN
PASSAU, Germany -- A group of Roman Catholics is planning to hold an ordination ceremony Saturday to admit women to the priesthood in a rite unrecognized by the Vatican. At least three women from Germany and Austria, and possibly as many as 11, will be "ordained" in a ceremony set to take place on the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, the day such ceremonies are traditionally held, sources told CNN.

posted by Tom # 5:30 AM

Cardinal Rules: Review of 'Conclave: The Politics, Personalities, and Process of the Next Papal Election' By John Allen
Washington Post
John Paul II's countrymen are understandably proud of their native son, but they also recognize, sometimes sardonically, that his record hardly pleases everyone. According to one popular joke, he asks God when there will be peace in the world. "Not in your lifetime," the Lord replies. Then he asks when there will be another Polish pope. "Not in my lifetime," God answers

posted by Tom # 3:57 AM

Wednesday, June 26, 2002

There's another aspect to the Catholic Church crisis
Orlando Sentinel
The Roman Catholic Church is facing two sexual abuse scandals. One, concerning children and young adults, was confronted with painful directness as three hundred of the nation's bishops met in Dallas recently.
The other largely was and remains ignored.
"When will the nun stories surface again?" Allan Wolper asked recently in the monthly column he writes on ethics for Editor & Publisher.The nun stories are not sweet tales of singing sisters. They are accounts of the sexual abuse and rape of nuns by priests and bishops in 23 countries -- including the United States -- over a 10-year period. Since the National Catholic Reporter published its two-year investigation in March 2001, the Vatican's silence has been even more deafening than its tepid response to the child-abuse scandal in this country.

posted by Tom # 5:41 AM

Wednesday, June 19, 2002

Tom Roberts discusses the day's events
Morning Edition: National Public Radio
June 13, 2002
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting starts today in Dallas. Bishops will set new sex abuse guidelines and decide what to do about past cover-ups. Meanwhile, Catholics across the country are wondering how the Bishops Conference will stop church sexual abuse and make their bishops more accountable. NPR's Wade Goodwyn reports. (4:03)

posted by Tom # 3:57 AM

Tuesday, June 18, 2002

Bishops adopt less severe abuse policy, Priests wouldn't be automatically defrocked
The Seattle Times
By Janet I. Tu
Seattle Times staff reporter
June 14, 2002
DALLAS -- The nation's Roman Catholic bishops overwhelmingly passed a historic national policy yesterday that would remove from active ministry -- but not defrock -- any priest who has ever sexually abused a minor.
The policy, which many bishops refer to as a "zero-tolerance" measure, fell short of what many victims and reformers had called for. It does not streamline the defrocking process, for example. Nor does it provide for sanctions against bishops who knowingly allowed sexually abusive priests to continue ministering.

For 3 Who Warned Church, Fears Borne Out; Priest, Journalist and Professor Who F oresaw Sex Abuse Scandal Frustrated by Bishops' Response
The Washington Post
By Steve Twomey
Washington Post Staff Writer
June 13, 2002
In an auditorium in the Minnesota countryside one June day, the bishops of the American Roman Catholic Church were gathered in closed conclave. It was a heady time. They had used their moral standing to plunge into the nation's political debates, taking bold positions on the dangers of capitalism and nuclear arms. But those were not the agenda items of this session.
The bishops were being briefed about priests who sexually abuse minors. And a new, internal-eyes-only document was circulating at the highest levels that bore a chilling, simple message: The abuse problem had catastrophic potential.

The Church in Crisis
The News Hour
June 13, 2002
MARGARET WARNER: And for more on today's meeting, we turn to Tom Roberts, editor of the National Catholic Reporter, an independent weekly that covers the Catholic Church. It was one of the first publications to report on pedophilia in the priesthood, more than 15 years ago.
And welcome, Tom Roberts.
MARGARET WARNER: How unusual...was this spectacle we saw today and we just saw a little bit of here, where you had survivors and non-priest church thinkers openly challenging the bishops in an open way like this, televised?
TOM ROBERTS: I've been covering these meetings since about 1985, and this was the most unusual meeting I have ever been to. This was a... I think an unprecedented event. I think Dallas may... this meeting in Dallas may be seen historically as a marker, as some sort of point at which things began to change a bit.

Bishops in Dallas May Vote on Abuse Policy
CNN LIVE TODAY
June 14, 2002
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: In Texas, in Dallas, more specifically, the U.S. bishops are expected to vote today on what could be the second-draft proposal, which, according to officials have said that this is a zero-tolerance policy applied to past, present and future cases involving sexual assault carried out by priests, that the U.S. bishops may possibly vote on that today.
If they do agree on that sort of policy, it still has to win the approval of the Vatican. And we are learning today, according to "The National Catholic Reporter," that being written by John L. Allen Jr. -- he is reporting that -- quote -- "There is growing consensus in Rome that the zero-tolerance stance on sexual abuse slated for adoption by the U.S. bishops is likely to run into difficulty at the Vatican." Now, our own Alessio Vinci is in Rome. And he is joining us on the telephone now.

Bishops' Conference may not address biggest issue, Many critical of church's proposed sex abuse policy
Dayton Daily News
By Tom Beyerlein
June 9, 2002
As the nation's Roman Catholic bishops prepare for a historic meeting this week in Dallas to consider a nationwide sex abuse policy, critics say the proposed policy fails to address the most infuriating aspect of the priest scandal: It gets tough on abusive priests, but contains no sanctions for the bishops who covered up black-collar crimes.
"Nowhere in there are any lines about punishing the bishops and priests that have protected the (abusive) priests and made life miserable for the victims," said Tom Roberts, editor of the National Catholic Reporter , an independent weekly newspaper based in Kansas City.

Tom Fox finds that a prophet has no honor among Catholics.
Pitch Weekly
By Mark Kind
June 6, 2002
If more journalists were as bold as Tom Fox, the Catholic church's sex-and-secrecy scandal might have gone supernova during Ronald Reagan's administration instead of during Dick Cheney's. Fox was editor of the National Catholic Reporter back in 1985; now he's publisher at the independent weekly, which has been headquartered on Armour Boulevard in Midtown since the 1960s.

posted by Tom # 1:16 PM

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