Catholic Sensibility

Pardon this partially formed thought, but as I was digesting one of Rock's recent posts, the discussion steered in part into how NPR ignores stories of persecuted Catholics in the world. Why, it was asked, do some news outlets seem ever ready to tarnish the Church's image with stories about ex-priests and former nuns and other things. The Fresh Air program in question is here. I know I've blogged about this in the past, but maybe it's a notion worth resuscitating. Maybe a sports image will be helpful in this regard. Last year in baseball, Yankee haters worldwide (I count myself as one) were probably as delirious over the Red Sox comeback in the ALCS as Sox fans themselves. It couldn't have happened to a nicer team, to get humiliated like that: being the very first to blow a 3-0 MLB playoff series lead. Mind you, I didn't start screaming out my living room window about it. I didn't light Yankee jerseys on fire in my front yard. But admittedly, I wasn't too concerned about the tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of innocent (relatively) kid-Yankee-lovers who, through no fault of their own, just watched their beloved team (no less beloved than the teams I root for) dismantled and tossed on the post-season trash heap of infamy. Some twelve-year-old boy went to bed in tears after the ALCS game seven last year clueless as to why most baseball fans were cheering that night--cheering against him. Media coverage of the Catholic Church strikes me as something akin to this. The Catholic Church, justified or not, is perceived as being wealthy, powerful, arrogant, controlling, prideful, stodgy, and secretive. The twelve-year-old in the Bronx doesn't remember all twenty-six World Series triumphs. But everybody else does. Bill Clinton was a phenomenal politician and a supremely gifted man who frittered away his presidency. Bashing Bill was a sport not so much because he deserved it (which he mostly did) but because he was successful. The media takes to Michael Jackson, OJ, Tom Cruise, or Martha Stewart in the same way. It seems we like our heroes to be big, only so their collapse is more spectacular than the average Joe tripping on the sidewalk. Other baseball teams are owned by silly old rich men who interfere in their teams. It might be said that Peter Angelos has done more damage to the Orioles than Steinbrenner to the Yankees. But Big George gets the press. Why? Because it's New York and we hate the Yankees and the Orioles haven't done diddly since the 80's. Embarassing stories about the Catholic Church are more newsworthy because of the Church's perceived power. If Catholics are martyred in Indonesia or Africa, it doesn't compute in the minds of John Q. Public. JQP wants to hear news that reinforces his worldview, not news that challenges it. Martyred Catholics won't sell cars, toothpaste or Levitra. But powerful priests and bishops taking a fall or people thumbing their noses at the hierarchy will sell thfor the sponsors. It's my take that media coverage of the sex and cover-up scandals was of the same make and model as media trashing of priesidents, entertainers, and other celebrities gone bad. Martha Stewart, for example, could give PR lessons to the US bishops, if they bothered to ask. So I don't get bothered than everybody seems to be against us. I'm certainly not going to work myself into a persecution complex over it. It's just not worth the energy.