Island Catholic News and Impartiality

Just this morning I stumbled across a free 'c'atholic newspaper while dropping off some mail. It was the Island Catholic News, a living relic of 20th Century Canadian Catholicism. In all honesty, I cannot say that I approached the newspaper with an impartial lense. I had heard stories of it being one of the few remaning 'Catholic newspapers' that had a parish circulation of zero, similar in a way to the group Catholics for a Free Choice, which also suffers from a subscription deficit in its own way.

Some gems from this issue:

'George Weigel Reviled by Progressive Catholics for Pro-war Imperialist Writings' - The sub-title to the linked article.

'The deeper question is the rise of right wing politics and theology in the Catholic church here in Victoria and worldwide, since the election of Pope Benedict XVI.' - Ah, yes, the seizure of the Church by Ratzinger and his army of neo-cons. I hadn't seen that one in print for a while.

'The very choice of Edith Stein as the patron of the group is polemical. A Jewish convert to Catholicism is hardly a sensitive choice in an era of interfaith possibilities. ' - An Era of Interfaith Possibilities... You can't make this stuff up.

'He [George Weigel] is also not an entirely honest intellectual.' - Oh my! Proof?

'John Paul II may have manifested various sorts of inconsistencies and contradictions in his era as pope but he was consistently if not radically strong in his critique of what George Weigel is more than fond of pushing: War making and American capitalist imperialism.' - Oddly enough, Weigel and JP2 were good friends. Methinks this author hasn't left the island in quite some time.

'Have they been taken advantage of or are they fellow travelers of this Opus Dei style of spirituality?' - I'm not sure what's worse: The sentence or the Dan Brown influence.

'His current program is to ride the coattails of the present pope who is probably more to his liking politically, although Benedict too opposes the American policy in the Middle East. It will be interesting to see how Weigel manipulates all that to his own perspective.' - Yes... because his ulitimate plan is to rule the world.

'As I ponder the barbarity, criminality and foolishness of the execution of Saddam Hussein, I wonder why the notorious American Catholic neo-con dissenter George Weigel was invited by a group headed by the Rector of St. Andrew’s Cathedral to speak in September. ' - ICN reader number 2 of 7 Greg Hartnell 'weighs' in. Apparently Weigel is 'notorious' and Hussein is not?

Watch this space for more in the future.