Ed Palattella: Different Spotlight on Erie’s Bishop Trautman

Erie Times News
January 30, 2019

https://www.goerie.com/opinion/20190130/ed-palattella-different-spotlight-on-eries-bishop-trautman

National religion writer defends retired bishop in a parsing of the Pennsylvania grand jury report.

Peter Steinfels remains a notable name among journalists who cover religion. When Steinfels, a former senior religion writer for the New York Times, produced a lengthy examination of the Aug. 14 Pennsylvania grand jury report on clergy sexual abuse, I took notice.

So did a number of readers of the Erie Times-News.

They sent me copies of Steinfels’ 11,000-word analysis of the grand jury report, published online Jan. 14 and in the Jan. 25 print edition of Commonweal, an American Catholic magazine.

“Vehemently misleading,” reads the headline of the article’s print version. “The Pennsylvania grand-jury report is not what it seems.”