TEXAS
GetReligion
Julia Duin
Every so often, you run across an article that sings. The Dallas Morning News’ front-page piece on the area’s incoming Catholic bishop was one of them. And we’re talking smack-in-the-middle, above-the-fold placement.
Having recently lived in Alaska, I cannot imagine having to move 3,422 miles from lovely, isolated Juneau, where bald eagles are everywhere and king crab gets sold from the city dock (at least when my family lived there) to flat, hot Dallas.
Yet, this is the fate of Dallas’ new bishop. And the writer gets to the story through an amusing anecdote that could have only happened via good reporting and interviewing. …
There’s a few small things to suggest in improving the piece. First, the scathing letter by the sexual abuse victims group SNAP –- albeit mentioned by the Dallas paper -– should have gotten a bit more ink, as the group criticizes Burns for doing “nothing more than the bare minimum” in helping victims in the church. For instance: Why Burns didn’t post the predators’ names for the Juneau diocese, as 30 other bishops have done?
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.