From Msgr. Vincent Foy, P.H., J.C.D.

There is a good letter to Catholic Insight of February 05, which raises a matter of great importance to Canadian Catholics. For prudent reasons the full name and address of the writer are withheld.

The letter expresses righteous alarm over the selling of the bi-weekly tabloid Catholic New Times in Catholic churches. This paper, we are told, contains articles that are pro-choice, pro same-sex unions, pro women priests, etc. It has frequently attacked the Church's teaching against contraception.

"Debbie", the writer of the letter spoke to her bishop about her concerns. Although he admitted that Catholic New Times was "garbage", he thought it would cause too much attention if he banned it from his churches.

The disappointed writer asks, "Are there any documents or anything written on the subject of literature which is unsuitable in churches or given out by parishes?"

The answer is a resounding "Yes!" There are such documents. Perhaps the best reference is in the Code of Canon Law. Canon 827, n.4 states: "Books or other written material dealing with religion or morals may not be displayed, sold or given away in churches or oratories, unless they were published with the permission of the competent ecclesiastical authority or were subsequently approved by that authority". Catholic New Times is not published with permission of a competent ecclesiastical authority.

For further documentation, one could go to the Decree of Vatican II on the Instruments of Social Communication. Great stress is laid on the importance of true teaching. Even parents are warned of their obligation to see that no publications which jeopardise faith or good morals are permitted "to cross the threshold of their home" (n.10). What of the obligation of parish priest and bishops?

Further confirmation of the obligation of protecting the faithful against teaching against good morals and the Faith is to be found in numerous papal documents including the allocutions on the annual Communications Day. So serious does the Church consider orthodox communications that she says: "Under the guidance of the bishop, therefore, let every diocese of the world devote a day of each year to instructing the faithful on their duties on this subject". (Ibid. n.18).

Just recently my attention was brought to the insidious evil propagated by the Catholic New Times. A fellow priest was shocked to read in the January 16, 2005, issue an article by Gregory Baum entitled, "Should homosexuals remain in the Catholic Church?" He sent me a copy and asked whether something could be done about it. Cleverly written, but replete with false documentation, Gregory Baum's article concludes, "My answer to the question raised by Catholic gays and lesbians is to remain in the Catholic Church, actively and discreetly dissenting from official teaching, according to which they are intrinsically disordered personalities."

Is it not time to banish the moral and spiritual "garbage" Catholic New Times from our churches, as the Church tells us we are obliged to do?

Toronto, ON

Editor

For a full examination of this newspaper, see the article "The anti-Catholic New Times" in this edition.