In a Sunday morning homily on sin, a Catholic Diocese of Knoxville priest condemned Knox News for its ongoing reporting on two separate sexual assault complaints against the church and the diocese’s efforts to obstruct the investigations and intimidate the alleged victims.

The message was delivered Feb. 12 during the 11 a.m. Mass at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus by the Rev. David Boettner, one of the diocese’s highest-ranking clergy members and pastor of the cathedral.

He used the opening words of his homily on “sin and the choices we make” to criticize Knox News’ investigative coverage.

“So first, sin. You know, one of the things about the way the media reports about the Catholic Church is interesting because they don’t really have specialists on religion that report on the church,” Boettner said. “They usually assign a sportswriter to cover the church. So, whenever they try…