Has Catholic News Service now become Liberal Protestant News Service?

Yesterday, the day after Pope Benedict XVI concluded his well-received visit to the U.S., the Catholic News Service ran a piece featuring comments from seminarians. So what seminary did CNS choose to feature?

Catholic students at one of New York City's most prominent schools of theology said Pope Benedict XVI's visit did not soften some of their concerns about his papacy and the future of the U.S. Catholic Church.

The students at Union Theological Seminary, a nondenominational graduate school of theology with Protestant roots and a home for Catholic academics who have run afoul of the Vatican, praised Pope Benedict's pastoral gifts and his ability to energize the Catholic faithful.

But they also said the visit will not lead to what they feel are much-needed reforms within the church and expressed concern that the U.S. church's current and future needs are not likely to be addressed any time soon. <snip>

Catholic students are a minority at Union but one of the largest single denominational groups at the predominantly Protestant school.

Although Union is still perhaps best-known for being the midcentury intellectual home of such leading Protestant theologians as Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich, since the 1970s the school has been known as a leading center of study in the United States for black and feminist liberation theologies. The prominent black theologian James Cone, for example, has taught at Union for more than three decades.

But Union also has had a long tradition of hosting well-known Catholics. Liberation theologians such as Peruvian Dominican Father Gustavo Gutierrez have taught for short terms at Union, which has ties with Columbia University. Catholic scholars not associated with liberation theology, including the late biblical scholar Sulpician Father Raymond Brown, have also been permanent faculty at Union. [emphasis added]

Good grief, what a joke. Christopher Blosser (who brought the story to my attention) comments upon the piece and concludes:

Catholic News Service identifies itself as "the primary source of national and world news that appears in the U.S. Catholic press," however with the disclaimer that "while created in 1920 by the bishops of the United States, is editorially independent and a financially self-sustaining division of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops."

I wonder if "editorially and financially independent" is to the USCCB what "plausible deniability" is for the President, when the CIA does a black operation? Honestly, I would have normally expected this backstabbing tripe from the likes of the National Catholic Reporter.

Read Blosser's entire post.

Comments

[Henry]

Isn't CNS run out of the USCCB office right next door the the VERY liberal, if Catholic, Paulist priests? Yes, as a matter of fact, the Paulists had a large role, back in its good day, in forming not only the USCCB (which is on Paulist property and thus secures its vitality even if they can't recruit a hetersexual priest), but also forming Catholuc U and CNS. While CUA might have been successful at keeping its faith, and the USCCB is, well hit or miss about being Cathoic enough, the CNS was specifically established as an independent voice FOR the USCCB. Translation - YES, they are the VOICE OF the USCCB, regardless of their fiancially independent status. Their articles try to punish the Pope for his stance on NOT giving in to the sexual temptations of the gay liberation theologians of "Experientialism".

We need a REVOLUTION in our seminaries!!! We need to expel all the sodomites! We need to find strong, macho men who still like women, otherwise - what's the point of celibacy, eh?

[eric]

This reminds me of our two kids; the oldest would call the younger a dumbo, he would respond "no I'm not". This would go on until we stopped them. So start yelling at the Bishops only replace dumbo with catholic,( or maybe not).

[Rick]

_______ is an editorially independent and a financially self-sustaining division that often sets itself up as an alternative magisterium.

Fill in the blank:
(A) CNS
(B) America Magazine
(C) National Catholic Reporter
(D) All of the Above

[Carl Olson]

Rick: Don't forget "O" magazine... ;-)

[Linus]

I think the criticism of CNS is unfair. If you read the original article it is quite clear that the purpose is not to catch the impressions of loyal Catholics or of loyal Catholic seminarians but to gauge the impact of the Pope's visit on liberal elements of the Church. And was not one of the purposes of the Pope's visit to reclaim, if possible, what has been lost to the Church!! Sometimes, faithful Catholics can be pretty mean in their commentary.

[Christopher]

If you read the original article it is quite clear that the purpose is not to catch the impressions of loyal Catholics or of loyal Catholic seminarians but to gauge the impact of the Pope's visit on liberal elements of the Church.

Except those weren't the stated intentions of the author -- and insofar as the article seeks to measure the "success" of the Pope's visit by whether he has responded to demands for repealing the vow of celibacy for priests, or approving of the ordination of women, count me skeptical:

"... But they also said the visit will not lead to what they feel are much-needed reforms within the church and expressed concern that the U.S. church's current and future needs are not likely to be addressed any time soon."

Precisely -- and the last three paragraphs of the article have NOTHING to do with the Pope's visit -- it's basically a plug for women's ordination.

[Paul]

CNS is as Liberal Protestant as Ignatius Insight is evangelical Protestant. All you people ever do is hype evangelical Protestantism and its closeness to Catholicism which is bogus. Your commentary is biased and tendentious. Give it a rest.