Day: November 16, 2010

Dolan’s coming . . .

Archbishop Timothy Dolan Greets Rangel
Dolan and Rangel chat.

. . . to a pulpit or classroom near you. From what a Princeton U. conservative scholar calls “the capital of the world.” As new top U.S. bishop for next three years, he is bound to be heard and seen.

“. . . [T]he bishops have decided to opt for a confident Catholicism,” [the scholar, Robert] George said. “They had a choice, and they chose the boldest, most outspoken bishop. You wouldn’t choose him as your leader unless you thought what he was doing in the capital of the world (New York) is what we want the church to represent.”

That “confident Catholicism” sounds good. Let’s see how it plays.

Loosey-goosey with viewpoint

Loosey Goosey
Loosey Goosey wondering what's next

ChiTrib’s Manya Brachear tips her hand:

Just in time for parishioners to pass the plate this weekend and raise funds for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops are expected Tuesday to tighten guidelines for giving financial support to groups that empower the poor.

Tighten?  From whose perspective?  Not from that of Catholics and others who see anomaly in RC funding of groups that flout RC teaching.

Brachear’s “tighten” remains in her lede in this story — about reverting to the community-organizing bias of Catholic Campaign for Human Development decision-makers — but it’s gone from the online head, where the home-delivery hard copy “tighten” becomes “adjust.”

Catholic bishops adjusting guidelines for funding programs in campaign against poverty

is indeed more like it.

So somebody’s minding the store at the Trib, trying to save the day, though you can hardly blame the hard-copy editors for going with the lede in its head, “Catholic bishops tighten rules on aid for poor.”

Point? Why does Brachear thinks it’s a tightening when it’s a loosening — relaxing a ban on giving money to abortion-referring organizations and the like?