Why not cowl these tales? GetReligion stored asking about assaults on Catholic church buildings — GetReligion

In Notre Dame’s case, there was loads of protection. It was that protection, nonetheless, that was rife with what proved as soon as once more the shortcoming of many journalists to grasp primary info about religion.

One of the obtrusive errors to return out of the Notre Dame fireplace information protection was a New York Occasions blunder relating to the thriller of a small statue of Jesus. It featured prominently within the Occasions story on Father Jean-Marc Fournier, the Paris Hearth Division chaplain who risked his life to avoid wasting lots of Notre Dame prized relics.

It needs to be famous that Notre Dame would not have a Jesus statue — at the least not one sufficiently small to be taken out by an aged priest. The “statue” appeared in no different information accounts and the Occasions story was the one one to not point out efforts to protect the Blessed Sacraments from a aspect altar.

The New York Submit’s Sohrab Ahmari, a working towards Catholic, first flagged on Twitter, the social platform now often called X, that Fournier had really saved “the Physique of the Christ” — a phrase that Occasions editors interpreted as a small statue of Jesus. Sincere. That was printed.

Now there’s a correction on that story indicating “an earlier model of this text misidentified one in all two objects recovered from Notre-Dame by the Rev. Jean-Marc Fournier. It was the Blessed Sacrament, not a statue of Jesus.”

The Blessed Sacrament (often known as the Eucharist or Holy Communion) is bread and wine from Jesus’ Final Tremendous became what Catholics consider is the physique and blood of Christ.

It was a notable error and one other instance of the very secular nature of elite media East Coast newsrooms and the general public who work in them. If there had ever been any doubt about this thesis earlier than, this error was proof that journalists at this time (and over the course of GetReligion’s 20 years) simply don’t — all collectively now — “get” faith.

In spite of everything, noting blind spots of this sort was a part of the mission of GetReligion. I’m very happy with the work I did in my 5 years right here. As talked about, I’ve coated a big array of subjects and points. Nonetheless, I nonetheless take into account my highlighting the destruction of church buildings — when many others wouldn’t — to be my most essential GetReligion work.

Even all these years later, this destruction persists. Regardless of little to no mainstream information protection, U.S. Catholic bishops on January 16 issued a report that, amongst different issues, identified the specter of church vandalism by each left- and right-wing extremists.

The 48-page report, issued yearly by the U.S. Convention of Catholic Bishops, highlighted the threats to Catholic teachings in regard to migrants, what it referred to as the “suppression of non secular speech up-holding marriage and sexual distinction” and defending spiritual freedom.

Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, who leads the USCCB Committee for Spiritual Liberty that compiled the report, stated in a press release that Catholics play “a significant function to play in defending spiritual freedom and selling the widespread good.” He added the next:

“Alongside the good work that many different Catholic and non secular liberty organizations are doing, I pray that this report helps elevate consciousness of the threats to our first freedom right here in America, and that it helps Catholics and all folks of goodwill contribute to the widespread good of those United States.”

The report obtained no mainstream information protection. Phrases like “spiritual freedom” should have scared them away.