The brute dishonesty and ignorance with which the Los Angeles Times opines on issues related to the Catholic Church never ceases to astound. The latest shameful entry is an error-ridden and misleading editorial (Wed. 4/1/09) on the Obama-Notre Dame scandal. This follows an equally fallacious opinion piece from Tim Rutten just a few days ago.
The article begins by slamming those who oppose Obama's appearance at Notre Dame as "seem[ing] to believe they are more Catholic than the pope." It also besmirches the Cardinal Newman Society, a leading voice in opposition to Obama's appearance, as "a self-appointed guardian of orthodoxy."
What the Times doesn't tell its readership (whose number continues to dwindle) is that protesters of Obama's appearance simply want to uphold what the full body of United States Catholic bishops boldly declared in a statement five years ago:
The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.
If the Times is still unclear about what those "fundamental moral principles" include, the very same document states,
[T]he killing of an unborn child is always intrinsically evil and can never be justified ... The legal system as such can be said to cooperate in evil when it fails to protect the lives of those who have no protection except the law ... Those who formulate law therefore have an obligation in conscience to work toward correcting morally defective laws, lest they be guilty of cooperating in evil and in sinning against the common good.
Bestowing an honorary degree to Obama - which Notre Dame plans to do - clearly is "honoring" the man. Therefore, Notre Dame is unquestionably in defiance of the United States bishops.
By not citing the bishops' important 2004 document, the Times dishonestly misleads its readers.
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See also:
Anti-Catholicism at the Los Angeles Times - A Catalogue
