The recent papal visit to Denver gave the phrase “Rocky Mountain high” a whole new meaning for the hundreds of thousands of participants and the millions more who followed the event on TV.
The “aftershocks” have reverberated through the media for well over a month and have made for some very interesting reading.
Denver area reporters seemed to be in awe of the young people who attended. In the wake of gang violence and a rash of murders this past summer, our smiling young Catholics must have been a breath of fresh air. The media couldn’t seem to say enough in praise of the youthful exuberance and genuine Christian charity exhibited by these young people.
New York Times Religion editor Peter Steinfels wrote an especially good reflective piece on the aftermath of the papal visit. On Sunday, August 15, the Times published a major excerpt from a new book taking liberals and the liberal media to task for their disdain of religious beliefs.
Our thanks goes to the many members who sent in clippings of local coverage. An extra big thank you goes to Dr. James J. Martin of Colorado Springs who sent every article about WYD which appeared in the Denver area print media.
Crime in the Denver area plummeted and dire predictions of massive traffic jams and other disruptions failed to materialize.
Some members of the fourth estate – many of them well after the fact – took their colleagues to task for negative reporting and ill-disguised efforts to seek out “dissident Catholics” in order to satisfy their own preconceptions about the Church and Catholics.
The electronic media in particular paraded out whatever garbage they happened to have “in the can” for the occasion. 60-Minutes rebroadcast a tawdry piece on pedophilia. Catholic League president Bill Donohue dropped them a note and asked sarcastically if the broadcast was just a coincidence.
