Washington D.C., Jul 3, 2005 / 22:00 pm
A Catholic journalist and former editor of a diocesan newspaper has suggested that “[dissident] Catholic journalists feeling ‘unfree’ [in their work at Catholic journals] would do well to go over to secular publications where their view of the Church would be quite welcome.”
John Mallon made these comments in a recent issue of Inside the Vatican in response to the Catholic U.S. media’s reaction to the allegedly forced resignation of Fr. Thomas Reese from America magazine.
In his analysis, Mallon noted that some “outraged editors of leftist Catholic journals” called Fr. Reese’s resignation “tragic” and “a sad, disappointing and to some degree shocking development.” They said his departure would put a damper on all “thinking Catholics.”
“The implication is that if you accept the authority of the Magisterium you are an unthinking, unwashed peasant who is an embarrassment to the … American Catholic Church,” said the former editor of Oklahoma City’s Sooner Catholic. “And this perhaps is what is most offensive about theological dissent: the inherent snobbery of it all.”
Mallon wrote that dissenters “mistakenly believe that truth is arrived at via dialogue instead of Revelation and Magisterial discernment.” The dissident press presents itself as “self-proclaimed prophet,” he stated.