Abortion

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Believe it or not: A story that gives decent coverage to a Catholic crisis pregnancy center

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Believe it or not: A story that gives decent coverage to a Catholic crisis pregnancy center

I’ve been so used to reading snide MSM articles about pro-lifers in Texas who are reveling in the state’s new anti-abortion regs — and the lengths women in that state are going to have abortions.

So, when I saw a positive take on the head of a crisis pregnancy clinic, I did a double take.

On Saturday, the Washington Post profiled Tere Haring’s crisis pregnancy clinic in San Antonio and her assertion that: Give a woman some diapers and you’ll save a baby.

The best quote in the piece:

“I always tell people, ‘Diapers save a lot more babies than ultrasounds.’ ” Haring said. “I don’t want an ultrasound machine. I want tons of diapers. Buy me $20,000, $40,000, $50,000 worth of diapers because if you have a woman who comes in with four kids — yeah, looking at the baby, she realizes it’s a human being. But if you tell her, ‘I’m going to give you diapers for all four kids,’ believe me, the diapers for all four kids is going to save that baby a lot quicker than a little pennant on the screen.”

Wow — a piece about a Catholic woman doing the unglamorous work of helping the pregnant and poor through a crisis pregnancy center — written with no snark whatsoever.

That’s historic. And against the grain, judging from the horrible comments appended to the piece, many written by some really demented people who can’t conceive of someone out of the goodness of her heart doing such a work.

It’s been my position that there are tons of religious folks all over the globe who do valiant work for unpopular causes. It just takes a little digging to find them. And reporter Casey Parks, who worked for the Oregonian 11 years before coming to the Post this past September, found one.

SAN ANTONIO — Tere Haring worked the math. Already, the antiabortion nonprofit she runs had given away a record number of baby items during the pandemic. She’d helped five women a day in 2020, and she’d handed out 71 car seats, 45,569 diapers, and $71,000 in rent assistance. Then, in September, a state law banning abortions after six weeks went into effect. By late October, Haring was seeing seven or eight clients a day. The phone rang, then rang again.

That uptick was just the beginning, Haring figured.


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Holy Communion wars: What is news at this week's USCCB meeting depends on what you read

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Holy Communion wars: What is news at this week's USCCB meeting depends on what you read

What is news?

It’s the key question editors and reporters continuously ask themselves when approaching and covering a major event.

Days before a pre-scheduled event or meeting like a political convention or the Super Bowl, these same people working in newsrooms prepare for what they can expect — although much of journalism deals with the unexpected such as a scandal, a crime or natural disaster.

Reporters are not in the seeing-the-future business — but there are storylines that they look for ahead of a pre-arranged event.

One such event will be the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops annual fall meeting in Baltimore (the first in-person assembly since the pandemic struck in March 2020) that started Monday and runs through Thursday. What used to be largely overlooked week by mainstream news organizations, the meeting has been catapulted into the spotlight in recent years for several reasons.

Many prominent Catholic bishops have become increasingly vocal in the ongoing culture wars and that’s drawn more media attention. At the same time, American Catholics have increasingly become split along political and doctrinal lines on issues such as abortion during the trump years. Last year’s election of Joe Biden, the first Catholic president since John F. Kennedy in 1960, and his open advocacy of pro-abortion policies.

Thus, the USCCB meeting has become a news even that now lives outside the Catholic media ecosystem. Alas, there may even be political-desk reporters covering this event.

The main storyline since the 2020 election season has been the ongoing argument over whether Catholic politicians who openly advocate for abortion are in direct conflict with church teachings and therefore should not receive Holy Communion.


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Private conversations, public debates: Concerning bishops, Joe Biden and Holy Communion

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Private conversations, public debates: Concerning bishops, Joe Biden and Holy Communion

Asked if he discussed abortion with Pope Francis during their recent Vatican summit, President Joe Biden said: "No, it didn't. It came up -- we just talked about the fact he was happy that I was a good Catholic, and I should keep receiving Communion."

The next day, the Associated Press noted that Biden received Holy Communion at St. Patrick's Church in Rome.

Asked to validate the president's second-hand quotation, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni told reporters: "I would consider it a private conversation."

What do U.S. bishops think? That has remained a hot topic as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops braces for its fall 2021 meetings next week (Nov. 15-18) in Baltimore -- its first in-person assembly since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

What is labeled as "draft 24" of a proposed USCCB statement on "Eucharistic coherence" flashes back to an earlier controversy about Catholic politicians, Holy Communion and an atmosphere of "scandal" among the faithful.

"We repeat what the U.S. bishops stated in 2006: 'If a Catholic in his or her personal or professional life were knowingly and obstinately to reject the defined doctrines of the Church, or knowingly and obstinately to repudiate her definitive teaching on moral issues, he or she would seriously diminish his or her communion with the Church," said this draft from late September -- first obtained by The Pillar, a Catholic news website.

The quote continued: " 'Reception of Holy Communion in such a situation would not accord with the nature of the Eucharistic celebration, so that he or she should refrain.' "

As insiders have predicted, this draft of "The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church" doesn't mention debates about the sacramental status of Catholic politicians who have consistently served as advocates for abortion rights, such as Biden or House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

It does, however, connect some dots on this subject, while drawing from the writings of Pope Francis.


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New podcast: Did Glenn Youngkin win the Latino vote in Virginia? Maybe ask folks in pews?

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New podcast: Did Glenn Youngkin win the Latino vote in Virginia? Maybe ask folks in pews?

On the morning after The Virginia Election, I noted that the sharp folks at a must-bookmark niche-news website — A Journey Through NYC Religion — had done some old-fashioned digging and discovered some interesting religion ghosts (to use an old GetReligion term) in that political earthquake. Click here for that story: “Faith trumps Trump in Virginia.”

I sure didn’t know, from reading mainstream press coverage, that Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin was an evangelical Anglican who once was a leader in the Alpha course, an evangelism program that expanded from the Church of England into churches and denominations around the world.

I didn’t know that Lieutenant Governor-elect Winsome Sears, an African American evangelical and former Marine, had once led a Salvation Army ministry and that the state’s new attorney general, Jason Miyares, appears to be a Latino evangelical Episcopalian.

All of that showed up in my post-election piece with this headline: “Yes, there were overlooked religion angles in today's biggest U.S. political news story.”

We talk about all of that in this week’s “Crossroads” podcast (click here to tune that in), but also veered off into other religion-based angles in the current political climate. One of them took us into familiar territory, at least for those who have followed GetReligion for the past five or six ears. I’m talking about the rising political clout of Latino evangelicals, traditional Catholics and Pentecostal believers.

There’s some evidence that Youngkin and the diverse GOP lineup actually WON the Latino vote in the Virginia election (click here for a totally faith-free Politico discussion of that topic).

So here is that question again: How can journalists cover shifting patterns among Latino voters — and Black voters, as well — without examining the role of religion and cultural issues?

Let’s say: Is it safe to assume that pro-life Latinos are more likely — lacking acceptable Democrats on the ballot — to opt for Republicans? How about Latinos who favor school choice? Who old traditional Christian views on gender issues?


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Many media pros have missed a mega-money source backing some big Christian causes

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Many media pros have missed a mega-money source backing some big Christian causes

Follow the money.

Those three little words guide journalists and prosecutors alike. And that explains the news potential of the Georgia-based National Christian Foundation (NCF), www.ncfgiving.com/ which to date has quietly given $14 billion to 71,000 non-profit groups, $1.3 billion of that last year, in both tiny and huge grants. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution piece recently noted that "mysterious" operation is "one of the most influential charities you've never heard of."

Writing last week for Ministry Watch (a news website that reporters should follow), GetReligion alumnus Steve Rabey reports that NCF became "the world's largest Christian foundation" largely through word-of-mouth referrals rather than promotional efforts. The Chronicle of Philanthropy, which posted antagonistic coverage in February, ranks NCF as the nation's eighth-largest charity.

NCF calls itself a "ministry," and though it aids a wide range of secular non-profit charities it's a particularly important vehicle for religious donations from wealthy conservative Protestants who share its belief that "the entire Bible is the inspired and inerrant Word of God." The foundation's 26 offices around the U.S. handle donations -- contact info posted here -- so local angles for the media abound. (At national headquarters, Dan Stroud is C.E.O and Steve Chapman the media contact via info@ncfgiving.com or 404-252-0100.)

Rabey's piece includes a helpful link to the Guidestar.org posting of NCF's 593-page IRS Form 990 filed for 2019, with a listing of grant recipients that reporters will want to eyeball. The largest categories of donations ranged from local churches ($215 million) on down to medical care ($21 million). Major causes included evangelism, relief, education, children and youth work, museums, spiritual and community development, media and publishing, orphan care, Bible translation and ministry to the homeless.

NCF typifies the rising importance of "donor-advised funds" in U.S. philanthropy. The basic idea has existed for a century and was devised as a vehicle for Christian donors in 1982 by pioneering Atlanta tax attorney Terry Parker, still a board member, along with evangelical financial gurus Ron Blue and Larry Burkett.


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Biden says pope called him a 'good Catholic' and why (most) journalists took his word on that

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Biden says pope called him a 'good Catholic' and why (most) journalists took his word on that

A funny thing happened when President Joe Biden visited Pope Francis at the Vatican.

The event actually made news, especially with Biden quotes about what allegedly happened in private.

In fact, it was big news across the media ecosystem — from the mainstream press to Catholic news sites — because of 20 words the president uttered to reporters in Rome after the face-to-face had already taken place.

“We just talked about the fact that he was happy I’m a good Catholic and I should keep receiving Communion,” Biden said.

With those words, Biden grabbed plenty of favorable headlines (much needed ones if you look at his sagging poll numbers as of late) online throughout the day and into the weekend. At the same time, it widened the rift between the pope and a group of U.S. bishops because of Biden’s support for abortion. Thus, it will lead to further conflict between Biden and those same bishops.

Given the love many in the press had given Biden even before the meeting, none of this should come as a surprise. The rush to accept Biden’s claim — while Vatican officials declined to confirm it — has shaped mainstream news coverage of this encounter.

Biden continued to get great headlines a day after the meeting and into Sunday when he boldly attended Mass at St. Patrick’s Church in Rome, where he received Communion. It’s worth noting that Biden was not given Communion by the pope during his private meeting. It’s also worth noting that the pope serves as the bishop of Rome.

Why all the glowing headlines, built on the acceptance of Biden’s second-hand quote from Pope Francis?

Biden’s words fit the popular news narrative on the Communion issue, beginning with the label that the president is a “devout Catholic,” even as his words and actions undercut Catholic doctrine. Far too many news accounts were happy to take Biden’s words at face value — perhaps because doing so validated their own beliefs on the issue. It amounted to a papal dispensation.


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Is this statement accurate? All true evangelicals wanted to vote for Donald Trump -- period

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Is this statement accurate? All true evangelicals wanted to vote for Donald Trump -- period

As a rule, your GetReligionistas strive to avoid writing about analysis features that are published in magazines such as The Atlantic.

However, when I keep hearing people asking questions about one of these “think pieces,” it’s hard not to want to add a comment or two to the discussion.

So first, let’s start with something that GetReligion team members have been saying for nearly two decades, as a reminder to readers who have never worked in mainstream newsrooms: Reporters/writers rarely write the headlines that dominate the layouts at the top of their pieces.

Case in point: The double-decker headline on that buzz-worthy Peter Wehner commentary piece at The Atlantic:

The Evangelical Church is Breaking Apart

Christians must reclaim Jesus from his church.

Yes, I know. There is no such thing as “the evangelical church.”

Do basic facts matter? There are, of course, denominations that are predominantly evangelical. Some of them disagree on all kinds of things — such as baptism or the ordination of women. There are Pentecostal denominations that share many, but not all, doctrines with flocks that are connected with the evangelical movement. There are lots of evangelicals who still sit — though many are quite unhappy — in liberal Protestant pews.

We won’t even talk about that second line: “Christians must reclaim Jesus from his church.”

You can get to the heart of this confusion by — if you are reading the Wehner piece online — glancing at the tagline that appears in the subject line in your computer browser. That semi-headline reads: “Trump is Tearing Apart the Evangelical Church.”

Ah, that’s the heart of this matter.


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New podcast: When popes and presidents meet, headlines may not tell the private stories

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New podcast: When popes and presidents meet, headlines may not tell the private stories

Sometimes, the calendar isn’t friendly to columnists and podcasters.

This week’s “Crossroads” podcast (click here to tune that in) was recorded before the lengthy, closed-door chat (with photo ops before and after) between Pope Francis and the “devout” Catholic President Joe Biden. Thus, host Todd Wilken and I took a kind of “tomorrow’s headlines” approach, surveying the advance coverage of the meeting and some fascinating features that looked at images and the realities of some previous pope-president meetings.

In this podcast I predicted that the headlines and public pronouncements would focus on their agreements about the environment, immigration, poverty and COVID-19 strategies.

Why? Well, the mainstream press believes that these meetings are, first and foremost, political events and these are political topics, even though they clearly have doctrinal content for those with the eyes to see that.

Biden and the pope agree on these subjects and, at this point, the progressive Pope Francis has little or no motivation to hurt a Catholic progressive in the White House. They have many of the same goals and they, to be blunt, have all the same enemies — especially among American Catholics who wear the red hats that mark them as cardinals (and those who have not received red hats).

Would anything significant happen in the private discussions?

That’s the kind of question that Catholic publications will probe and, here at GetReligion, I’ll leave commentary on that topic to Clemente Lisi (it helps that he is fluent in Italian).

If you are looking for a perfect summary of the elite press template for coverage of this meeting, and the ties that bind these two modern Catholics, this block of Washington Post material — from a political-desk story, of course — is pitch perfect:

… The resonance is also personal, given the similarities between the 84-year-old pope and the 78-year-old president, who have in a sense become allies. Both attained ultimate leadership late in their lives and quickly moved in a liberal direction. They have faced internal resistance. Both are treated warily by conservative American bishops.


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Fallout from Pelosi's Roman holiday continues: More proof journalistic objectivity is dead?

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Fallout from Pelosi's Roman holiday continues: More proof journalistic objectivity is dead?

Debates about the concept of objectivity in news coverage have been around for a long time — but now they are heating up to shockingly intense levels.

Objectivity, as it pertains to reporting, refers to fairness and nonpartisanship on the part of journalists and news organizations in the way they cover stories. An emphasis on objectivity is also linked to journalistic standards for balance, accuracy and showing respect for citizens on all sides of public debates.

This so-called “American model of the press” (click here for background) first evolved in the post-Civil War era and in the early 20th century as a way for U.S. newspapers to report and disseminate information to a wide, diverse body of readers. It allowed for a consistent method of testing that information so that personal and cultural biases would not undermine accuracy.

In a polarized digital age, the practice has been criticized and objectivity is all but dead as news outlets test new business models for struggling newsrooms. As a result, alternatives have emerged, most notably, in the form of a more partisan press that preaches to choirs of digital subscribers.

That brings us — no surprise — to the latest news story to inflame U.S. Catholics.

Despite it being almost two weeks since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with Pope Francis at the Vatican, the fallout and reaction from that October 9 private audience continues to reverberate across the American political landscape, especially among Catholics across the doctrinal spectrum. Naturally, some are concerned about how the news media we consume has covered it all.

If facts are what matters here, it’s obvious that San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordelione should play a major role in these debates — since he is Pelosi’s bishop. Thus, he plays a crucial role in determining her sacramental status in the church. Who included his voice in this discussion and who didn’t?


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