Editor's Desk: Open Season

By Michael F. Flach
Herald Editor
(From the issue of 9/16/04)

There is an old adage that says to avoid confrontation you should never talk about religion or politics with family or friends. That begs the question: What is a Catholic publication supposed to do during an election year?

Presidential election rhetoric never fails to generate emotional responses from our readers. A sampling of responses to last week’s article by Catholic News Service (CNS) on where the two candidates stand on the death penalty can be found elsewhere on this page. As usual, we’ve been accused of being a shill for the Democratic Party. One curious comment, though, is the accusation that the HERALD has not brought to the attention of its readers where the candidates stand on abortion.

A quick search of our morgue indicates that we’ve had at least four sizeable columns and/or articles that clearly state where the two candidates stand on abortion (for starters, see "Abortion and the Catholics Factor" by Ken Concannon on page 5 of our March 11 issue). We are criticized by other readers for being a one-issue paper and that issue being abortion.

We also received negative comments last week for running the bishop’s Labor Day statement. "The bishop is playing a dangerous game when he goes against the political desires of the majority of the citizens of this republic with respect to aiding those people who are in this nation illegally," wrote one reader. In other words, the Church should not be concerned about fair wages and human rights.

The CNS article on the death penalty "presents an incomplete, one-sided view of the pro-life issues facing voters in the upcoming presidential election," wrote Daniel McKim. "It clearly was an endorsement of a staunch pro-abortion candidate.

"When pro-life non-Catholics ask me why such large numbers of Catholics vote for pro-abortion candidates, I can point to the Arlington Catholic HERALD as a contributor to the tragedy," McKim said.

CNS informed its clients last week that the Office of Government Liaison of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) told the bishops that neither Bush nor Kerry had responded to the candidate questionnaire by the deadline set by the conference. Therefore, no candidate questionnaire responses will be published this year by the USCCB.

Discussions earlier this year with Catholic editors at the CNS-Catholic Press Association (CPA) liaison committee meeting and the CPA convention encouraged CNS not to pursue one-on-one interviews with the two candidates this year. Instead, CNS reporters have concentrated on a 16-part campaign series looking in depth at the candidates' stands on issues highlighted in "Faithful Citizenship: A Catholic Call to Political Responsibility," the U.S. bishops' document on political responsibility, and on other election-related backgrounders, including the death penalty, same-sex marriages, stem cell research, human cloning and abortion. The final three offerings in the campaign series should be available by the end of September.

CNS also has created a new elections page on the Web (www.catholicnews.com/data/election/election.htm) where it posts different election-related articles and backgrounders it has been working on during the past few months.

As always, this is a volatile political season that is generating heated opinions on both sides of the aisle. We encourage our readers to visit the CNS site and avail themselves of all the information that is accessible regarding the two candidates and their platforms. The HERALD can’t endorse one candidate over another, but rather is attempting, with the help of CNS and our regular stable of columnists, to shed light in every direction. — M.F.F.

Copyright ©2004 Arlington Catholic Herald.  All rights reserved.