Catholic League president Bill Donohue takes issue with a news story in today’s New York Daily News:
On the front page of the Daily News, in huge bold letters, it reads, “THE LYIN’ ‘NUN.'” Below, in smaller letters, it reads, “Spins rape tale, recants.”
The quotation marks around “nun” do not give the newspaper cover: the average reader will no doubt conclude that a Catholic nun lied about being raped. The story appears on p. 6 with the headline, “Nun: Rape Tale Was ‘Bed of Lies.'” No quotation marks are given this time. Moreover, the online version reads, “The Lyin’ Nun,” absent any quotation marks. Worse, it shows a picture of someone holding a rosary.
Not until readers get to the story do they learn that “A Brooklyn nun from a fringe Christian sect” has admitted she lied about being raped. We also learn that the Apostles of Infinite Love convent “appears to be linked to a Canadian-based religious order founded in the 1960s by a defrocked Catholic priest who ordained himself Pope.”
In other words, these people are not Catholic, yet the Daily News deceitfully sold the story as if they were. Indeed, the story ends with an admission that this group is a “sect” from Quebec that “has been described as a cultlike group.”
There is no way to justify such fraudulent hype. Catholic nuns have been smeared and the public has been invited to think the worst about them. The newspaper owes them an apology.
Contact Kevin Convey, the editor-in-chief: kconvey@nydailynews.com
