Thread by @jdflynn

Today at CNA, we published a story about a bishop under investigation in India after a religious sister accused him of rape. There's a link to the story in this thread.

But I want to talk about something else. I got messages from readers asking why we published it. (cont)

Readers said it was sinful to write about allegations that had not been proven. That we were slandering the bishop. Or we were causing scandal.

Our job as Catholic journalists is to write about the Church and the world, while presupposing the truth of the Church's claims (cont)

Our job is to inform, to educate, to elucidate, and to inspire. My hope is that we help our readers to think about the Church and the world from the perspective of faith- to think, see, and act AS Catholics.

BUT, we can only do that if we write about the Church honestly. (cont)

This doesn't mean we want to harm the Church, or harm the faith of Catholics.

It does mean that we think light is a disinfectant, and that truth is an essential part of holiness. For the Church- her leaders, and all members- to be holy, we have to live in the truth (cont)

We have to acknowledge truth, and we have to act upon it. We have to accept that every member of the Church is a sinner- save the Blessed Mother, and even she was immaculately conceived through the grace of Jesus' Passion.

We also have to acknowledge that grace is real. (cont)

We have to acknowledge that God can, and will, set us free from sin, and set the Church free from sins. But mercy presupposes repentance, and repentance presupposes acknowledging the truth.

So if we bring the truth to light, the Church can begin to address problems. (cont)

When we report on "negative" things happening in the Church, it's not to harm the Body of Christ, but to build it up. To help it to live in the truth, and act on it.

"The wise man built his house upon the rock...a foolish man builds his house on the sand."

(cont)

Most of us know that if the media had not begun to cover the sexual abuse crisis, the Church in the US would not have addressed it responsibly and thoroughly. Real people's lives have been spared unspeakable trauma because the media reported the truth. (cont)

Catholics need to lead the way in doing that. Catholic journalists should be more zealous for the truth, no matter how negative it seems, than anyone. And we at CNA are committed to that. Because only the truth will set us free for holiness. (cont)

I hope we balance that kind of truth-telling with stories that encourage and inspire. There are so many good stories in the Church- so many stories of God's grace working among his people. We want to tell those stories. (help us find them). (cont)

But we also have to tell the stories, for the good of the Kingdom. And we will.

Rest assured that we're praying for every single person we write about, and every single person who reads our work. We're praying for you, every day. Pray for us.

And help us find and tell the stories that need to be told. Send me a DM. Send me an email. Send me a note asking for a phone call. Send me a secure communication in whatsapp. "Good" or "bad," we want to tell the truth, for the glory of God.

Thanks for reading CNA, and thanks for helping us in our work. It's a privilege to do what we do.

Incidentally, here's the story:

catholicnewsagency.com/news/in-india-…

*the "bad" stories.

even editors need an editor.

Here's a column that is basically this thread in column form:

catholicnewsagency.com/news/commentar…