CALIFORNIA
The Bakersfield Californian
BY JOHN ARTHUR Californian Executive Editor jarthur@bakersfield.com
FATHER STEVE PETERSON called to complain about the front-page treatment given Friday to the article about retired Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony being silenced by his bishop. He felt the story was being blown out of proportion.
ANOTHER READER wrote, in response to stories in last Sunday’s paper: Is the Bakersfield Californian anti-Catholic? Are they fair and balanced? By showcasing the negative i.e. Cardinal Mahony (again) on the front page, then so called Monsignor Meth on the third page of Sunday’s paper makes me wonder if this is a concerted effort to harm the church.
Cardinal Mahoney should make news, but how much, and how often? Do we have scoundrels in the church? Indeed we do, and if they operate outside of the law then they should face full justice, but the church has 1.2 billion people with over 400,000 priests… all or most do their best to feed, clothe, and tend to the sick worldwide.
Now, back to the scoundrels…should this surprise us? Bad priests…Monsignor Meth? Ponder this: Jesus chose twelve Apostles and one was Judas. Please balance this act!
Jon Ariey
Bakersfield
ARTHUR: We certainly don’t have an anti-Catholic bias; I don’t have time to recount all our stories about the many wonderful things the Catholic Church does in Kern County, often by some of the most outstanding leaders in our community.
However the sex-abuse scandal has rocked the worldwide church, and retired Cardinal Mahony was part of a coverup to hide these actions from the law. His own documents, released by the church after years of requests from victims of pedophilia, confirm this.
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