The way some pundits rallied on behalf of nuns made for quite a circus this month.
Anyone who has ever read New York Times columnists Maureen Dowd and Nicholas Kristof, and the editorials in the Boston Globe (owned by the Times), knows how thoroughly contemptuous they are of the Catholic Church.
However, there is one exception: they love left-wing dissidents. Hence, their all-to-predictable rally for “progressive” nuns.
On April 29, Dowd sounded like quite the stand-up comedian when she said “the Vatican is trying to muzzle American nuns.” Maybe she should talk to the Sisters of Life and then write a column on how “muzzled” they feel.
On the same day, Kristof also showed how clueless he is when he wrote about “a stinging reprimand of American nuns.” Perhaps he should speak to Mother M. Assumpta Long of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist and ask if she’s been reprimanded.
On April 30, the Boston Globe said “the pope has rebuked the disobedience of European priests,” and has “set in motion a severe disciplining of American nuns.” Imagine that? The pope rebukes disobedient priests. So what exactly do they do at the Globe when a staff member disobeys the newspaper’s policies? Give him a raise?
Whenever these newspapers fire a reporter, they refuse to comment, saying these are “internal matters.”
Indeed, when the Times fired A.M. Rosenthal in 1999, they didn’t want to speak to the press about it.
Ten years later they went silent again when they fired Ben Stein.
But for some reason, these same people think they have a right to condemn the Catholic Church when it seeks to discipline its flock.
If these examples show anythying, it is that the New York Times and the Boston Globe should emulate the way the Catholic Church publicly deals with miscreant staff.
The sad fact is that these newspapers love dissident nuns, but reject those sisters who are not in rebellion. Their twisted priorities are a national disgrace.
