I don't know much about Life Site News. I've heard it slammed by Catholics who have banned me, slandered me, falsely accused me, and insulted me. So that alone makes me give it a few benefits of a couple doubts.
Nonetheless, if Hitler said Stalin was a bad guy, I won't say Stalin was a good guy just because. Life Site might peddle in fake news (why be left out?), slander, false accusation and the lot. I don't know. I just know I've seen much across Catholic sites taking sides in a brouhaha that arose between Life Site and a Catholic blogger named Rebecca Bratten Weiss, and most of it has been against Life Site.
Ms. Weiss is in that part of the Church that more or less accepts the lion's share of post modern, liberal developments in thinking and values. She appears pro-life, including abortion. I believe I commented on her post once, or at least interacted with her at Patheos. She seemed pleasant and charitable enough.
That's all I know. The complaint appears to be from Life Site saying Ms. Weiss is, well, what Ms. Weiss appears to be, and proud of it. Life Site, which appears to be far more traditional, would logically take issue with that fact.
Here is the Life Site piece in question. Here is a link to Ms. Weiss's blog. I'll let you decide. Unlike Mark Shea, the captain of the Calumny for Christ brigade, I won't condemn either one. My guess is, it's a clash of outlets that represent radically different ways of understanding how the Church should deal with the world today. A clash far too prevalent in the modern Church.
I would add, BTW, that the larger LS piece, taking issue with the much referenced Seamless Garment, is on track. The idea of a Seamless Garment, in terms of all Catholic teaching, is fine. There's nothing wrong with saying we should follow all of the Church's teachings about more than just abortion. Unfortunately, just like the loaded term 'Social Justice', it's frequently used as a way of attacking anyone who doesn't vote liberal Democrat. Let's be honest. That's as often as not what it's used for. Reject the Democrats' position on something, and you're opposing 'The Seamless Garment.' So at least in terms of how it's applied in real discourse, Life Site has a point.
The main weave of the seamless garment is respect for and right to life from conception to natural death. Otherwise it's just a tangle of loose knotted threads.
ReplyDeleteI think that's the heart of what is meant, though I'm not sure it's always applied that way.
DeleteI think the key issue in this case is the one were Franciscan University chooses not to advise, council, discuss, or otherwise develop or "manage" Weiss. As I understand the situation, there was a number of Kabuki Theater performances, over the past 5 years, where the VPAA met with a number of different "tribunals" of faculty and staff and "investigated" Weiss as an adjunct. I understand that, in none of these, (multiple), "investigations" did the VPAA, or the members of the "tribunals", reach out to discuss matters with the adjunct, hear her side, or ask her intention or advise of a better course of action. A Franciscan University Theology Faculty member's wife, and Franciscan University's VP of Student Life's wife, are sisters. Another younger sister of these two had Weiss years ago in class, and did not like her as a teacher. Thus started the complaints. Ever since then, the "tribunals", (multiple), have met. Yet, somehow, no one in authority at Franciscan University ever gave the adjunct the most basic justice of facing her accusers, or learning from the experience, growing and improving through correction. Instead they had a sufficient number of "Kabuki performances" of the ad hoc "tribunals", until the desired result followed this fall. Why not give Weiss due process, and coaching for improvement. That due process and coaching would be both Catholic and Franciscan.
ReplyDeleteI don't know the details. It wouldn't be the first time that it was institutional breakdown that led to the problems.
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