The Los Angeles Times has joyfully discovered a way to keep the clergy misdeeds of the Catholic Church forever in the minds of its readers and the public: the obituary page.
Take a look at the obituary of former bishop G. Patrick Ziemann. At over 900 words, it's not so much an obituary as it is a gleeful relishing by Duke Helfand and the Times over the sins of a Catholic authority.
Did Ziemann violate his vows, wreck the trust bestowed upon him, and cause immense hurt? Absolutely. But is the appropriate place an obituary for a paper to pile on about the most demeritorious moments of someone's life? About 80% of Ziemann's lengthy obituary does just that.
Michael Jackson publicly admitted to sharing his bed with young boys, and he had two high-profile molestation cases filed against him. Yet when the Times reported Jackson's death, the paper buried and glossed over these episodes. Instead, it trumpeted the loss of the "King of Pop" across the entire front page. (See the image of the Times' front page that day.)
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By the way, this is not the first time the Times has done this to a Catholic clergyman. When Bishop Juan Arzube died on Christmas Day in 2007, the Times published an obituary with the title, "Juan Arzube, 89; bishop was lauded as an activist but tainted by accusation." After decades of service and commitment to serving poor Latino immigrants, Arzube was hit in 2003 with a single charge of molesting a minor 28 years earlier. Arzube vehemently denied the charge and sought to meet the man who had accused him. The Times' obituary of Arzube actually quoted the alleged victim's attorney to make his case against the bishop.
And to add to the issue, the Times plastered the word "ACCUSED" under Arzube's photo that accompanied the obituary. "ACCUSED." Think about it for a minute. We can never know for sure if any molestation took place at all. Arzube was never tried in a court of law. (Before people raise the issue: Arzube's case was part of the bulk $660-million civil settlement in 2007. But, contrary to what many may claim, by no means did the settlement itself prove any individual accuser's claim of abuse.)
I'm just sayin' ...
See also: TheMediaReport.com: Los Angeles Times - Anti-Catholicism
TheMediaReport.com: Los Angeles Times - Clergy Abuse and School Abuse
—Dave Pierre is the creator of TheMediaReport.com and a contributor to NewsBusters.
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LA Times Circulation Down 11%
October 26, 2009 - 21:12 ET by BW222LA Times circulation is down 11% according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation report today. This rag cannot die soon enough.
BW222
Disgusting does not begin to describe this
October 26, 2009 - 21:34 ET by B-townGiantI knew the man, I knew the Bishop. I am friends with his brother and his nephew. The pride this family has in their brother/uncle/son is palpable. Bishop Pat was truly, in every sense of the word, a man of God.
That the LA Slimes would stoop to this level is no surprise to me (after all, they support and defend individuals like Manny Ramirez, (s)he of the progesterone -injections will make me a better ballplayer...oops, guess it did). I refuse to allow the rag anywhere near me. But what I find most interesting is the folks I know in LA who simply have allowed their subscriptions to expire with no attempt to renew. Used to be I would see the Slimes in sections on the floor behind their desks; no more.
The MSM is far more interested in fake, non-existent anti-Muslim bias, while completely ignoring (and, in truth, fostering) anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish bias UNLESS they happen to be pro-abotion Catholics, e.g. Pelosi, Biden, Durbin and their miserable ilk or anti-Israel Jews, the most infamous of which is Noam Chomsky (now, THERE is a positive argument for abortion...well, at least retroactively). So be it. We true Catholics do not need any help in defending our faith.
"And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it." - The Gospel according to Matthew, Chapter 16, verse 18. So, Helfland, you slimy weensqueeze, my church was started by Jesus Christ himself. Who started yours? Could it be, let's see.....SATAN!?!
It Is Awful, Even To An Anti-Catholic Like Me...
October 26, 2009 - 23:12 ET by The7SticksTo me, there is a certain set of rules in order to be an anti-Catholic. I know, it sounds hypocritical to have an honor code of chivalry in order to espouse bigotry, but sometimes that's the way it is. Here's how I list them:
1.)Never, ever target individual practicing Catholics because of their beliefs. If you must take an individual on, do so based on their actions rather than their thoughts (That's why I regularly target Jabba the Don-of-Puke because of the outrageous and lame claims he's made, not because of his beliefs.);
2.) Take on the system, not the arch-bishop, cardinal or pope that enforces it (that's the big no-no that this moronic columnist made in the obituary of this priest. Even I think this is below the belt.)
3.) Don't make up stories about the history of the church without explicitly disclosing it is a work of fiction and not based in fact (That's the mistake fiction authors like Dan Brown and Phillip Pullman made with The Da Vinci Code & The Golden Compass (Though a talking polar bear should have been a red herring towards the fictitiousness of that book.) If you are going to bring up my rants about how the Vatican aided Hitler and the Nazis, I don't believe it is false that the Church has had some anti-semitic leanings in the past, including the aiding of Nazi officials by the Vatican during the Holocaust because I rely on facts (My dad being a amateur historian on the Holocaust and, being Jewish, having bitter feelings towards the Church in order to motivate him.)
Please...
October 27, 2009 - 00:38 ET by B-townGiantDon't tell me you have bought into the crap in Hitler's Pope, John Cornwell's now discredited book. Cornwell is an ex -Catholic seminarian, now virulently anti-Catholic. No scholar of any consequence puts stock in anything the man has written or says.
Pope Pius XII has been widely praised by individual Jews (Golda Meir, for one) and Jewish organizations (how about the World Jewish Congress) for his public denunciations of Nazi treatment of Jews and the relief efforts he led and ordered. Among those are the issuance of fake Baptismal certificates, which was to take advantage of the deal he had worked out with the Nazis that any Christian convert from Judaism would be spared the "Final Solution" of Hitler's Germany. Pope Pius XII also ordered all convents and monasteries in Italy to hide Jews throughout World War II. Estimates range from 700,000 to as many as 850,000 Jews spared cruel death because of the efforts of the Vatican and, specifically, Pius XII.
Those are facts. What you present is conjecture fabricated in the twisted minds of anti-Catholic bigots. What you fail to understand is your promulgation of untruths, whatever your intentions may be and whomever may be the source (with all due respect to your father), ignites bigotry. You may choose to readily admit you are anti-Catholic, but, I repeat, my church was founded by Jesus Christ himself. Can you honestly say the same? No, you cannot.
compare and contrast
October 27, 2009 - 15:36 ET by konoAnd how prominently did the L.A.Slimes mention Mary Jo Kopechne in Teddy "the swimmer" Kennedy's obit? Hm?
Thought so.
The Catholic Church bears the collective burden of these fallen men's sins. But the MSM's virulent hatred of her goes far beyond that, to the point of obsession. (The SF Comical has omitted mention of ordinations of priests and even a new bishop in SF, only to run reprints of an old story of accusations against Cardinal Mahoney, instead.)