Controversial editor resigns.

New York For years America and Commonweal, two prominent U.S. Catholic periodicals, have upset American Catholic readers with their dissenting attitudes. The bi-weekly Commonweal is edited by laymen but the weekly America is written and edited by New York Jesuits on behalf of North American Jesuits.

Now the editor of America, Father Thomas Reese, has resigned from his position after repeated complaints from the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith over the magazine's treatment of important Catholic issues.

Father Jose de Vera, spokesman for the Society of Jesus in Rome, said Father Reese decided to resign after discussing the situation with his superiors following Cardinal Ratzinger's election as Pope Benedict XVI. The Pope used to head the CDF. The articles which drew specific complaints dealt with Dominus Iesus (2000), the document on Christ as unique saviour; other complaints from U.S. bishops concerned same-sex "marriage"; embryonic stem-cell research; and the reception of Communion by Catholic politicians who favour abortion.

On these and other questions, America presented a spectrum of opinions among Catholics, including those who dissent from Church teaching and encourage others to do the same. "With Cardinal Ratzinger elected Pope," Father de Vera said, "I think Father Reese] thought it would be very difficult to continue his line of 'openness' without creating more problems. He had been at America magazine seven years and he improved it tremendously; so I think he understood it was time to go" (NC Register, May 15, 2005).

Archbishop John Foley

American Archbishop John Foley, the Vatican president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications (which deals with the media) said this:

"In 1968, the editor of the Catholic Standard and Times in Philadelphia was on vacation when Humanae vitae was published--and I found myself in charge. A number of Catholic publications ignored the fact that there was dissent from the encyclical; a greater number high-lighted the dissent and put the encyclical in a subordinate position. I decided to use the encyclical as the lead story and to use the dissent as a separate story on an inside page with the jump of the encyclical story from page one--and then I did an editorial in support of the encyclical.

"I felt that the encyclical represented the official teaching of the Church, which had to be highlighted and with which I happened to agree then, as I do now, but that the dissent was a significant fact that could not and should not be ignored. I also though that the official teaching of the Church should be supported editorially--both through comment and through story placement. If I were still an editor, I think that would remain my publication philosophy today."

Comment:

The observation of Father de Vera that Father Reese "improved America tremendously" is opposed to the facts. America dissented from the papal encyclical Humanae vitae in 1968 and ever since the Jesuit editors have taken their distance from the Vatican, during the 1980s especially in the area of bioethics. Father Reese cranked up the dissent a few extra notches. He was doing it in the name of thousands of Jesuits who were never asked and who may not have agreed. More importantly, conformity to the world never benefits truth.