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Sorry for the delay on this one folks. I have, for some time now, been meaning to post the link to some interesting comments from the noted Vatican watcher John L. Allen Jr. of the National Catholic Reporter. In a way, it’s a meditation on the need for reporters — especially when covering Roman and American Catholicism — to dig past the easy layers of official sources and talk to real people on both sides of the church aisle.
Every now and then, it’s OK for experienced, skilled journalistic specialists to let their hair down and have a little fun.
Our own M.Z. Hemingway has had a lot of fun lately writing about the issue of who is and who is not a Roman Catholic priest. It’s pretty easy to become a “priest” if you really want to be one and you can write checks that do not bounce.
You see, this is what I get for hiding in the basement and watching old movies — you know, innocent things like Singing in the Rain and Bringing Up Baby — on Halloween night, with all the lights in the house turned off and the front door locked tight.
Thank you, thank you, to all the readers who made sure that I knew about the Los Angeles Times news feature by William Lobdell and Stuart Pfeifer about Matthew Crouch and his Gener8Xion Entertainment, which is one of the most controversial players in the emerging Contemporary Christian Cinema industry.
I’m not sure this is quite the direction I want to see religion coverage veer in mainstream media, but I have to admit that I enjoyed The Dallas Morning News’ “Take our ‘Faith of the Famous’ quiz” feature this weekend. I also learned a few things and, I have to admit, this funny little celebrity feature does show how wacky the modern religious marketplace has become in what I call the age of Oprah America.
Here are some random thoughts this misty Saturday morning while I’m reading the free-speech fallout on the wire services.
