Inside
NCR
Sometimes, we decide, well keep quiet
We received an interesting letter from John
R. Koller of Albuquerque, N.M. We edited it, and it ran in the June 5
NCR.
Koller begins by praising, in a backhand sort of way, our May 8
editorial, Little good results when the thinkers stop thinking. He
goes on to excoriate the NCR staff: You are the real creative
intellectuals. You are the real thinking theologians. ... Those of us misguided
people who loyally accept all of the genuine teachings on faith and
morals are merely mentally blind-sheep followers.
The letter is a full, hard-hitting page, spiced with a bit of
sarcasm: My startling news for you is that dissenters arent the
only thinkers in our church. I realize that this must come as a great shock to
you.
We get occasional letters expressing similar unpopular (to us)
sentiments. Frequently the writers choose to be anonymous, and frequently they
use the pre-stamped envelopes of our NCR promotions. Koller is more
upright: Ive read virtually every issue of the NCR since its
inception. Not only that, You have many gifted writers and have had
many excellent articles throughout the many years.
Such a reader deserves a response. Especially since he asked for
one: Please publish this letter, and lets have a spirited dialogue
on this.
He got his wish up to a point. A spirited dialogue did
indeed follow. Not so much about the arrogance of dissenters, however, or
whether we at NCR qualify. Our dialogue was about whether to dialogue
with Koller and other letter writers.
Over the years, NCR has, with mild inconsistency, wavered
between responding to provocative letters from readers and simply running them.
Some cases are clear enough. If the identity of the letter writer is pertinent
-- she is CEO of the company shes defending and hasnt said so -- we
mention this. If a letter writer disputes the facts of an article, we give the
author a chance to defend himself. Beyond that, vacillation. Occasionally,
unable to restrain ourselves, we have risen to the bait of letters like
Kollers.
And Koller nearly pulled it off. We even prepared an
editors response to his letter, elegantly crafted
(naturally!) by John Allen, who gets to play with the letters every week. Then
the debate began in earnest. On the one hand, such repartee could be
stimulating and entertaining for our readers as well as ourselves; on the
other, it unfairly gives us the last word on all such disputations. We
concluded that, since we get a fair chance to make our point every week, we
should leave the last word to the letter writers except where questions of fact
and such apply.
But we salute John R. Koller and thank him warmly for his
persistence in reading NCR, even while he occasionally stoutly disagreed
with us.
Among others who often stoutly disagree
with us are members of Opus Dei. A long letter from William Schmitt, their
communications director in New York, takes issue with NCRs May 15
article on the deaths of three Swiss Guards at the Vatican.
Schmitts objection is not to the main gist of the article --
I have no quarrel with an article that questions outdated investigative
procedures in the Vatican -- but to NCRs statement that the
murdered couple were members of Opus Dei. They were not, he
categorically continues.
Whether in Rome or the United States, Schmitt then says, all one
had to do was call Opus Dei headquarters to get the facts. And, indeed, Opus
Dei has, in my opinion, invariably been helpful and courteous to the press.
In a perfect journalistic world, our writer would have made one
more phone call -- the one to Opus Dei -- never mind that the Opus Dei
connection was widely reported in the Rome press in the days after the
killings. And Schmitt admits that even he, had you called me, might not
have been able to say, but he would quickly have found out, he says, and
I believe him.
The matter cant completely be laid to rest, however, without
alluding to a key paragraph in Schmitts letter: I think you should
be aware that there is a big difference between someones being a member,
vocationally committed to being formed in Opus Deis spiritual mission in
the church, and someones simply attending the various spiritual
activities Opus Dei freely offers to thousands who are not members.
The couple, this surely implies, were closely associated with Opus
Dei, though not formal members. Were sorry we got that wrong.
Letters keep pouring in from our readers,
high caliber letters. Thanks to everyone who takes the time and trouble. Send
them by pigeon if you wish, but if youre sending them E-mail our new
address is letters@natcath.org.
-- Michael Farrell
National Catholic Reporter, July 31,
1998
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