UNITED STATES
Religion Dispatches
BY KAYA OAKES MARCH 28, 2016
On March 14 of this year, the Boston Globe announced it would be pulling the plug on Crux, the Catholic news website it launched in 2014. Crux was headed by John Allen Jr., a veteran church reporter who had previously written for National Catholic Reporter, CNN, NPR and many other outlets, most of them operating independently of the Catholic church.
Allen has also written several books about the Vatican, including a 2000 biography of then-cardinal Ratzinger that was seen by many as critical of the former prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In spite of some readers holding the opinion that Allen’s work veers toward the liberal side, Allen has strived for neutrality as a journalist, thus making him a logical pick to head the Globe’s venture into Catholic journalism.
In its brief existence, Crux quickly became an important voice in church news. Because most secular outlets only give limited coverage to religion news, it can be difficult for readers to find stories about the Vatican and the pope that aren’t slanted in one way or another. National Catholic Reporter is run by lay people, as is Commonweal. Both tend to attract what could be described as more liberal contributing writers, but because of their editorial freedom, they are able to wrestle with issues like women’s ordination, marriage equality, and birth control. Religion News Service also covers the Catholic church, and is run by a secular nonprofit, as is this website. (Full disclosure: I have written for all of the above, as well as for America magazine.)
Other models of Catholic church news sources, however, fall under Vatican jurisdiction. This sometimes skews their ability to have complete editorial control. America magazine is supported by the Jesuits, and its former editor, Thomas Reese, SJ, was pressured into resigning due to objections to magazine content from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, at the time headed by the same Cardinal Ratzinger. As a news outlet supported by a religious society, the magazine tends to strive for a neutral point of view. Matt Malone, SJ, its current editor in chief, banned the terms “conservative” and “liberal” from the magazine in 2013, when he stated that terms like “left” and “right” are “counterproductive” in a Catholic context. US Catholic, published by the religious order of Claretians, often aims for a similar middle ground.
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