Correspondence
CORRESPONDENCE Novak on capitalism Washington, D.C. To the Editors: Mel Piehl made many interesting and important points in his article ["A Wealth of Notions," May 3] onRerum novarum and its...
...395, 398, Antonucci...
...The argument of Toward the Future points in the opposite direction: toward restoring unregulated capitalism...
...Controversial issues were frequently presented as conflicts between the church hierarchy, on one side, and lower-level clergy, lay Catholics, and nonCatholics, on the other...
...72r six times...
...And if 98 stories out of 115 is not an "overwhelming" majorit y - w h a t is...
...And he skips over our analysis of how the study detected anti-church bias...
...Neither the authors nor the sponsors of the study regard it as a last word...
...Illustrations: Cover, pp...
...Although your editorial speaks of "evident agreement" on the part of the study's authors, they (appropriately) 14 June 1991:413 rate the church on the oppression-liberation scale is irrelevant...
...To wit: 1. From the context, Mr...
...Without taking a sample, it's about 97 percent certain that in U.S...
...Yet Catholic antidefamation organizations complain of a continuing bias that is all the more corrosive for its apparent lack of self-consciousness...
...In other words: The magisterium vs everybody else...
...The most recent newcomer, St...
...RUSSELL SHAW The writer is director of the office of public information of the Knights of Columbus, a sponsor of the study...
...To the other, we reject libertarian visions of an 'unfettered' economic system which would measure all matters merely in their economic aspects...
...FAITH, FORMATION, AND DECISION Ethics in the Community of Promise JAMES R. CHILDS, JR...
...The young, the elderly, the disabled, those visited by sudden misfortune, and many others are permanently or for a time unable to work...
...Media Coverage" expresses it this way: "How could the balance of opinions tilt against the church despite the media's extensive reporting of church teachings and reliance on the hierarchy as sources of information...
...We quoted enough of the story to show, first, that if there was any bias in it the victim was not "the church" but Fox...
...Constructs a model for decision-making in the Christian community in the face of modern dilemmas such as war, business ethics, abortion, and euthanasia...
...Ministry vs...
...and, second, that the bean-counting approach used in the study was mechanistic, wooden, and inappropriate...
...monthly in advance for more than three times...
...Which is to say, John Courmey Murray, along with other dissenters, was speaking the mind of the church, understood as the whole people of God with all the sources of Christian belief at their disposal, before the church, understood as the hierarchy or the magisterium, knew its true mind...
...Here's a post-postscript...
...Ecclesioloically," we wrote, "the assumption under414: Commonweal lying the study identifies 'the church' [emphasis added] solely with certain official positions or attitudes...
...To the Editors: Mel Piehl made many interesting and important points in his article ["A Wealth of Notions," May 3] onRerum novarum and its offspring in America...
...But this statement appears in the study as a quotation attributed to a Catholic antidefamationist...
...That's why, in our opinion, it's wrong for a study of media coverage of things Catholic to assume that researchers can establish bias against the church by comparing the number of times that quoted sources support or criticize official teachings...
...To the Editors: I am grateful to Commonweal for the quantity of attention given to the study "Media Coverage of the Catholic Church" and for printing the address at which copies may be obtained ["Thinskinned," May 17...
...Novak's earlier writings did speak favorably of labor unions, but I am not sure how strongly he and Mr...
...We would have expected Russell Shaw, himself a seasoned journalist, to see the same basic flaw...
...The American system is not a free market system alone, or a free enterprise system alone...
...Matthew Fox...
...Novak here quotes from the "lay letter" mentions only the one minimal welfare function of "care for the truly needy" as a state responsibility, and then restricts the truly needy to those"unable to work" (thus presumably excluding the structurally unemployed...
...Commonweal's editorial acknowledges the existence of "a real problem" in the media treatment of the church...
...p. 414, Szabo, Rothco...
...Whatever else one makes of it, such coverage is not an accurate reflection of the real-life spread of opinion either inside or outside the church...
...secular media coverage of debates on the topic before Vatican II, "the church" (as implicitly defined in the study ) "came out on the losing end" of the debate...
...But my article also suggested that the resolution of crucial economic issues depends on moral choices of social values that transcend economics...
...p. 390, Baloo, Rothco...
...Perhaps the media are wrong...
...March 6-8, 1992at Mt...
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...It was a pastoral gesture, not part of the research and publication of the official books directed by Vatican II...
...386: Commonweal thought...
...It's a more serious mistake for a study of the media under Catholic auspices to adopt the same assumption...
...More to the point, as S. Robert Lichter, principal author of the study, has noted, the study takes this view because it is the view adopted by the media themselves: Catholic teaching is the "official" teaching, disagreements with that teaching are dissent...
...The real church is bigger, and messier, than is dreamt of in the philosophy of the Center for Media and Public Affairs...
...Second-class postage paid at New York, N.Y...
...The study's finding is that, in 98 of 115 stories in which the question of characterizing the church in terms of liberation and oppression rose atall, the church was painted as oppressive...
...By the time Professor Piehl's article appeared, Mr...
...Economic expertise is useful within its sphere...
...10.95 paper STONY THE ROAD WE TROD African American Biblical Interpretation Edited by CAIN HOPE FELDER Marks the emergence of a black biblical scholarship that combines sophisticated exegesis with special sensitivity to issues of race, class, and gender...
...3. Mr...
...Violence The Niebuhr Conference on the Church and Society: Christian Ministry in God's Violent World juxtaposes sociological analyses of violence with theological interpretations and ministerial applications...
...Here is some of the context: "In theory, the Catholic church is now more able than ever to compete for the hearts and minds of Americans within an atmosphere of religious tolerance...
...JOSEPH O'CONNOR Media study misread Washington, D.C...
...The passage Mr...
...that is, Catholics and others who disagreed with official church teaching on religious liberty got more space and probably more favorable treatment than those who defended it...
...76r three times...
...Its suggestions for responding deserve to be taken seriously, as does its repudiation of simplistic media bashing...
...To the Editors: Thanks for printing Marian Burkhart's postscript [Correspondence, May 3] to the earlier discussion of Thomas Day's Why Catholics Can't Sing...
...There are many other passages exactly like that, both in the lay letter and in all my own writings...
...That misses the point...
...THOMAS H. GROOME $16.95 paper WELCOMING THE STRANGER A Public Theology of Worship and Evangelism PATRICK R. KEIFERT ". _9 insightful linking of evangelism and worship should mark a fruitful path for theologians and pastors...
...But he ignores the 1,778 other stores that did not depict the church as oppressive...
...For any who are disillusioned, rejected, no longer conventionally religious, come explore with us, a faith that transforms...
...This is said to be too few to show that the church was "overwhelmingly" depicted in a negative light...
...Media Coverage" is one of the first serious attempts--perhaps the first--to take an objective look from the viewpoint of social science at a phenomenon about which, up to now, we have all been treated to many more opinions than facts...
...The first objection---equating Catholic teaching with official positions---opens up an ecclesiological argument which has vexed the church for at least the past twenty-five years...
...14.95 paper...
...The second statement to which the editorial objects is: "The church is overwhelmingly portrayed [in the media coverage analyzed] as an oppressive or authoritarian institution...
...The third statement is: "On most controversies involving Catholic teachings, the church comes out on the losing side of the debate as reported in the media...
...Alas, however, he made three mistakes in his description of the lay letter Toward the Future, produced by the lay commission chaired by William E. Simon and myself...
...Mary's in San Francisco, features a Latin Mass every Sunday and offers weekday conferences on the upcoming Sunday liturgy...
...Your editorial finds fault with the results of the study on several grounds...
...truly foundational to religious education...
...July 29-31...
...Media Coverage" does present this as one of its findings...
...Your editorial describes it as part of the problem...
...Shaw says, it's clear that "Media Coverage" cited the statement we quoted about Catholic and Nazi images only to illustrate one point of view...
...Microfilm from Vol...
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...I have gone into this much tedious detail (while resisting the temptation to go into more) for a simple reason...
...We think it is a great encyclical...
...The Company at Kirkridge A different kind of base community for individuals on the inward, outward journey...
...Neither in Toward the Future nor in Mr...
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...To the one side we reject statist views which would swallow all of life under state control...
...In particular, it attributes to the study three "statements of fact" with which it disagrees...
...It's a basic mistake, but a natural one, for the media to make this identification...
...But then--on December 7, 1965--Vatican Council II issued Dignitatis humanae, its "Declaration on Religious Freedom...
...Rather, it argued that the "facts" did not hold up...
...Third, we of course recognize that many learned experts argue for more of the "stateregulated welfare" that we argue against, but we believe that that argument is perfectly legitimate, and that the outcome should be left to legitimate moral inquiry and democratic debate...
...The fast edition sold out in eight weeks...
...In the first place, the lay letter was not exactly a "response" to the bishops' pastoral letter, since in fact we wrote and published it before we ever saw a copy of the bishops' first draft...
...What is one to make of it...
...Burkhart is fight (and so was Day's book...
...Motivating congregational participation is also the reason more and more cathedral parishes in the U.S...
...Your editorial challenges the finding on methodological grounds...
...All Canadian and foreign subscriptions must be paid in U.S...
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...History and philosophy, he says (and I would add novels and stories), will make for better balanced doctors and for more prudent medical practice...
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...That the rest of the sample was composed of coverage affording no opportunity to CORRESPONDENCE (Continued from page 386) agemore, Solesmes has just published a Latin/English Gregorian Missal for the revised liturgy...
...The new pastor is a friend of Solesmes abbey, of which I am an oblate...
...Write for more information, Tony Ciccariello, 520 W. Gray St., Elmira, NY 14905...
...To provide for such projects and encour(Continued on page 413) Commonweal, is indexed in Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, Catholic Po'iodical Index, Index of American Periodical Verse, Book Review Digest and Book Review Index...
...The political system has many wholly legitimate and important economic roles, including care for the truly needy...
...Dianne Connelly & Robert Duggan, founders of the Traditional Acupuncture Institute: "All Sickness is Home Sickness...
...We think (and Russell Shaw probably agrees) that the church came out on the winning end that day...
...foreign, $72...
...Those interested in a more positive approach would do well to start with the careful analysis embodied in "Media Coverage...
...Wider Theology...
...The editors reply: Our editorial did not "disagree" with three statements of fact in "Media Coverage of the Catholic Church...
...Simon now support strict enforcement of the National Labor Relations Act and similar laws...
...Contact: Paul Parker, Elmhurst College, 190 Prospect, Elmhurst, IL 60126...
...of debate on Catholic teaching about religious liberty...
...The second object (ratio of favorable to unfavorable evaluations) also misses the poinL What is the point...
...103-107) about the power of Gregorian to "connect" the people of a parish...
...and, in our reading, it is cited with approval...
...MEL PIEI-IL Catholics CAN chant Clayton, Mo...
...In a good society, the moral system and the political system must come to the assistance of such persons in ways that the economic system alone cannot...
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...As example we cited the very first news story used by the study's authors to show their method, a piece in the New York Times reporting a Vatican decision to impose silence on the Rev...
...Despite their varying emphases, that appears to be a bedrock principle of all the social encyclicals, including Centesimus annus...
...Bishop John Spong, Episcopal Diocese of Newark: "Exorcising Fundamentalism, Sexual Phobias and Other Demons...
...Jonsen is one of those builders whose new ideas provide reinforced concrete for the medical tower...
...He would have doctors read more, think more, and rejoin society as more than technicians...
...LUKE TIMOTHY JOHNSON $12.95 paper PASTORAL THEOLOGY A Black-Church Perspective JAMES H. HARRIS "James Harris has, in plain, unadorned language, lifted up the essential meaning of black liberation theology for the pastor and the local congregation" --GAYRAUD WlLMORE $12.95 paper TEACHING FROM THE HEART Theology and Educational Method MARY ELIZABETH MOORE Argues for an organic approach to religious, moral, and theological education...
...Joanna Macy, Berkeley, CA: "Deep Ecology...
...we are unlikely to settle it here and now...
...November S-lO at Kirkridge, Bangor, PA...
...Shaw argues that since there were only 115 stories in which the church was porttayed as either oppressive or liberating, the media score is bad...
...Single Copy, $2...
...it isn't--but I very much fear the editorial is...
...Copyright _9 1991 Commonweal Foundation...
...WAYNE C. STUMMF $'I1.95 paper IN SEARCH OF CHRISTIAN UNITY Basic Consensus/Basic Differences Edited by JOSEPH A. BURGESS Lutheran, Episcopalian, Methodist, Orthodox, Reformed, and Roman Catholic leaders interact with a view to sorting out the challenging and hopeful issues of ecumenical dialogue...
...REUMANN " . . . a genuine value to anyone seeking to appreciate the full range of issues associated with biblical theology...
...Simon and I thought that Pope John Paul I I ' s new encyclical, Centesimus annus, reflected the argument of the lay letter, in substance and in tone, even in many specifics, especially those on family and welfare, creativity, enterprise, and "capitalism" or "the free economy...
...they are popular even among those who attend other Masses...
...Yet it is a creditable first step and it would be more helpful to discuss its findings than attempt to undermine them by misreadings and irrelevant arguments...
...express neither agreement nor disagreement...
...When earthquakes relieve the strains of the San Andreas fault, old buildings may collapse...
...That said, however, I must also say that your editorial seriously misrepresents "Media Coverage" and contributes little to discussion of the issues with which the study deals...
...Plenary sessions and workshops with John Yoder, Rosemary Ruether, Catherine Meeks, Ismael Garcia...
...The editorial complains that this equates church teaching with "official positions" and that the ratio of favorable to unfavorable evaluations varied from issue to issue and on a few issues actually tilted in favor of the church...
...It is this regulation, beginnlng in the Progressive Era, that partially tempered and humanized American capitalism (and, incidentally, made it more politically acceptable to the public...
...But edifices can be structured to survive even in Santa Cruz if their architects respect new knowledge...
...It is clear in context that it is cited to illustrate one point of view...
...Novak's The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism is there any positive endorsement of substantive regulation of capitalism in such areas as working conditions, minimum wages and maximum hours, environment, safety, health, labor unions, securities and commodities markets, and the like...
...VlICHAEL NOVAK The author r e p l i e s : If not "exactly" a response to the bishops, Toward the Future was substantially so, since it was issued shortly before the first draft of the pastoral with the plain intent of preemptively countering its widely expected emphases...
...Only 115 of 1,876 stories (five percent of the sample) dealt with the church in the terminology of oppression and liberation (with 98 coming down on the oppressive side...
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...p. 399, Bassouls...
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...Retailer religious goods stores are marketing the missal as a pastoral tool...
...As Michael Schwartz writes in The Persistent Prejudice, 'Hostility to the Catholic church functions as the unspoken premise for a good deal of what passes for the intellectual and cultural life of contemporary America.' Citing numerous examples of popular entertainment portrayals of Catholic clergy and doctrine, Schwartz concludes: "Catholicism is represented alternatively as ridiculous or cruel and oppressive....The mass media image of Catholics is only slightly better than that of Nazis.'" We still think that last statement is, let us say, nonfactual, not to say paranoid...
...2. No matter how you do the math, the study "proves" that the church is "overwhelmingly" shown as oppressive on the basis of 98 out of 1,876 stories...
...foreign, $41...
...The first statement is: 'r mass media image of Catholics is only slightly better than that of the Nazis...
...Shaw says we complained that the study "equates church teaching with 'official positions.'" Not so...
...and at additional offices...
...For example: "The very concept of political economy implies that the economic system of democratic capitalism does not stand by itself...
...No economic system can pretend to do everything sufficient for a good society...
...The answer directs our attention to the structure of the coverage...
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...bank...
...To see why, apply it to preconc'tliar and postconciliar reporting CLASSIFIED RATES: 80r a word, one time...
...In this reading, the church speaks only when the hierarchy or the Vatican speaks...
...COMMONWEAL, 15 Dutch St., NYC 10038...
...388, 394, 397, 404, Ross, Rothco...
...Second, like other examples of Catholic social thought, we also rejected "unregulated Friedmanesque capitalism" several times in our letter...
...many human requirements must be met outside and beyond it...
...b~ 14June 1991:415...
...but, if so, it is not the job of social science researchers to set them straight on ecclesiology...
...have begun a chant Mass, usually at 9 o'clock on Sundays...
Vol. 118 • June 1991 • No. 12
