Andrew Stern

Reuters reporter Andrew Stern grossly distorted the nature of a Vatican document released on Wednesday which raises theological concerns about American religious orders. Regarding the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), Stern wrote that the group said it was "stunned" that "the Vatican reprimanded it for spending too much time on poverty and social-justice concerns and not enough on condemning abortion and gay marriage." Yeah, and that's just the lead paragraph of his biased article, "Nuns group 'stunned' by Vatican slap," which I found on page A2 of today's Washington Post.

Stern described the Vatican document as a  "stinging report" that "reprimanded American nuns for expressing positions on political issues that differed, at times, from views held by U.S. bishops." But a review of the actual document shows no concern at all with partisan political matters, nor does the tone strike one as "stinging." Indeed, to this non-Catholic, it sounded rather pastoral and doctrinally-focused. Here's a link to the full item, with key excerpts below (emphasis mine):