The Lazy Lies and Libels of the Catholic Left

How I wish I had the legal muscle of Bishop Robert Barron, who has sent not one but two legal threat letters to Commonweal because midwit Massimo Faggioli said Barron was a part of what he calls the “Trump-Strickland Axis,” whatever that is. 

Commonweal removed the offending paragraph of this nonsensical piece and, in its place, left a sneering note that they figure Barron thinks it’s slanderous to be associated with Trump or something. Barron, good for him, is demanding they take down the sneering note and has alerted the Commonweal staff to preserve all communications about the piece because he intends to sue. 

Naturally, Commonweal and their fellow lefties at the National Catholic Reporter got all lathered up. How dare a bishop legally threaten the laity!

The reason I’d like to have Barron’s legal muscle is because, in a piece published a few weeks ago, the National Catholic Reporter said my group—the Center for Family and Human Rights—“supports efforts to criminalize homosexuality in places like Africa.” The statement is from poor Dawn Eden Goldstein, whom they quoted as a theologian.

The article is about the new Vatican document, which is quite good on transgenderism, and the National Catholic Reporter is trying to figure out what the Left and the far Left think about it. 

A “queer” theologian named Ish Ruiz, that’s right, Ish, is upset about the document. It should be understood that Ish teaches college students about human sexuality and that he—I think he is a he—supports the lopping off of healthy penises and breasts to align with some inner feelings. The National Catholic Reporter thinks Ish is an expert. 

Then comes Dawn Eden Goldstein, who has been working hard for years to destroy her reputation. Dawn smears my group as supporting efforts to criminalize homosexuality in places like Africa. She uses Africa because she may want you to think that my group supports the death penalty for homosexuality, which is the charge against Uganda and other African countries. 

The mention of my group in this story is weird and utterly gratuitous. What do we have to do with the new Vatican document? Dawn has a longtime axe to grind regarding groups and people she does not like. It is even stranger that the reporter and her editor let her get away with it.  

It was especially odd because it’s not true. My group has never supported such measures. My group is in special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. We have participated in U.N. negotiations at a very high level for 27 years. We have years and years of statements and positions. Even if she tried—and she didn’t—lazy, sloppy Dawn would not be able to come up with what she claims. And this was reported by a lazy, sloppy reporter from the National Catholic Reporter. 

And then the young and relatively inexperienced reporter piles on with the statement that I have called for the criminalization of homosexuality. She links to a Reuter’s story that claims I am “often quoted” supporting the criminalization of homosexuality. I am not aware of any piece where I have been quoted calling for the criminalization of homosexuality, let alone “often.” You’d think the reporter might have done something more than use Google. You’d be wrong. 

This is one of the many problems with Wiki-reporting and even Wiki-theology. Someone somewhere makes a charge, which is repeated ad nauseum until it becomes fact, and no one can trace it back to the original libel.  This is one of the many problems with Wiki-reporting and even Wiki-theology. Someone somewhere makes a charge, which is repeated ad nauseum until it becomes fact, and no one can trace it back to the original libel. Tweet This

I wrote to the reporter and the editor and asked them to back their claim or take it down. Did they do any further reporting or research? Of course not. 

I do not have the legal muscle of Bishop Barron, so I have not threatened the reporter or Dawn with legal action. But I am calling them out, and they ought to be embarrassed about being so lazy and sloppy. 

There is something they may try to do, however—what noted Catholic journalist John Allen did. I may get this story slightly wrong, but Allen worked for the National Catholic Reporter years ago. As I recall the story, Allen was in a polemical mode in those days, which is not the proper role of reporters. But then a priest called him and challenged him to do better, to become a real journalist. Allen’s life changed that day, and even in this terribly divisive age, he is uniformly judged as fair. 

It is certainly not too late for the young reporter who libeled me this week. It is not even too late for Dawn Eden Goldstein.