Can AP Tell the Whole Truth?

The Associated Press is at it again. In its continuing crusade against the Catholic Church, Richard Ostling has come up with a piece titled, “Catholics Disagree Over New Vatican Decree,” in which he attempts to use priests to chastise the church for the Vatican’s decree forbidding gay men to enter seminaries. A few samples:

"I have no idea how they will apply it. It will just be a nightmare," said the Rev. Eugene Lauer of the New York-based National Pastoral Life Center.

"Our seminaries are likely to be depopulated to a significant extent," said the Rev. Donald Cozzens of John Carroll University.

As always with the AP, it’s not always what they say, but what they don’t say. Rev. Lauer is affiliated with a website called, Voice of the Faithful whose motto is “Keep the Faith, Change the Church.”

Similarly, Rev. Cozzens is a talking head who has said, “I'm in favor of an honest and open discussion of non-mandatory celibacy and I think the time has come to change that discipline in the church."

It’s fair enough to present all sides of an argument, but AP doesn’t always fully identify all the players.