On December 20, Washington Post columnist Harold Meyerson wrote, “John Paul also sought to build his church in nations of the developing world where traditional morality and bigotry, most especially on matters sexual, were in greater supply than in secular Europe and the increasingly egalitarian United States, and more in sync with the Catholic Church’s inimitable backwardness.”
Bill Donohue said Meyerson’s statement “smacks of elitism, anti-Catholicism and racism”; his letter to the editor was published December 30.
On December 31, Washington Post ombudsman Deborah Howell labeled Meyerson’s comment “a pretty broad statement.”
So who was bent out of shape by Howell’s slap on the wrist? MediaMatters.com. Its column of January 2 took Howell to task for mildly criticizing Meyerson. Not surprisingly, it had absolutely nothing to say regarding Meyerson’s elitism, anti-Catholicism and racism.
