Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

GetReligion

Home
Religion News
Warning! Mixing theology, canon law and ink is difficult

Warning! Mixing theology, canon law and ink is difficult

Last updated on: October 4, 2012 at 10:21 am by tmatt

Warning! Mixing theology, canon law and ink is difficult 2012-10-04T10:21:38-04:00 tmatt

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

When it comes to the nuts and bolts of journalism, the task that terrifies my students the most is attempting to paraphrase the complicated words of experts into prose that can be understood by the proverbial average American sitting at his or her breakfast table with a cup of coffee.

This is especially hard when the journalist in question knows little or nothing about the complicated matters being discussed by said expert.

Things get even trickier when the expert is highly skilled in speaking in an unknown tongue linked to a lofty profession — such as law, biology, philosophy, theology or, well, baseball.

First, the journalist has to get the words down accurately — in a recording or in dense, accurate notes.

Second, the journalist has to understand the words. Journalists must know what they don’t know and humble themselves enough to ask follow-up questions that yield understanding and, this is crucial, anecdotes and simple explanations that will build bridges to readers.

Finally, the journalist has to translate the words, slicing away layers of verbiage to reach the core information that can accurately be linked to the news issue being discussed. Journalists must attempt to say, accurately, in 50 words or so what experts would prefer to say in 500.

This is terrifying stuff, which is why journalists often seek user-friendly experts who, well, can speak ordinary English. There is a reason that, for a generation or two, religion-beat specialists have said that the formula for an A1 religion story consisted of “a poll, three local anecdotes and a quote from Martin Marty.”

On to the case at hand. The bottom line: If you put theology and law together you get Canon Law — a truly terrifying prospect.

This brings me to a blog post from Catholic scholar Edward Peters in which he describes a recent train wreck on the other side of a reporter’s notebook. Alas, this is a case in which the actual news report seems to be hidden behind a firewall at Newsday, which means I can only link to Peters’ take on the incident and a letter to the editor that followed in which the canon lawyer was accused, wrongly, of error because his words were inaccurately paraphrased.

The key is that Peters provided his answers — the topic is the possibility that women could be ordained as deacons — via email, which means he has the verbatim material. Thus, he explains at his “In the Light of the Law” website:

Over many years of trying to respond to secular reporters’ questions about religious, especially canonical, topics, I have adopted the practice of responding, in writing, time-permitting, but in a timely manner, to specific questions about canon law and Church life. (I don’t answer questions like “What does canon law say about marriage?” Not any more, I don’t.) And, I keep copies of my answers. Occasionally, as now, they are useful.

So, the reporter above contacted me in a professional manner by email, asked for a few minutes by phone to discuss female deacons, whereupon I suggested his sending a few written questions, to which I would respond within 24 hours. He sent me two good questions, and I promised written answers within 1 hour. Which I did.

It’s crucial to read the scholar’s answers, which are remarkably short and to the point:

(1) What is your opinion of the suggestion to have women deacons in the Roman Catholic Church?

The suggestion has no merit. It rests on several misunderstandings of the nature of holy Orders in the Catholic Church. It is true that in recent decades the Magisterium has spoken with greater clarity in pronouncing against the possibility of ordaining women to the priesthood than in regard to deacons. Some people take from recent Roman statements on priesthood some wavering on the question of female deacons. But such language was, in my opinion, simply a showing of care not to preclude research into “deaconesses” of the ancient Church. But, whatever exactly ancient “deaconesses” were, they were not, I am convinced, clergy in the modern sense of the word, and thus appeal to them as precedents for female deacons today is bootless.

(2) What are the chances in your opinion this could actually happen?

I see no possibility that women will ever be ordained to the diaconate. The ceremonies that one sees from time to time purporting to be such ordinations are, first, of zero sacramental effect in the Catholic Church and, second, subject to severe penalties because of the confusion and disruption they introduce into the lives of the faithful.

The key point is that Peters based his answers on sacramental theology, not on canon law. He nods towards historical issues and gives his opinion on the theology in this matter. At no point does he refer to Catholic canon law.

Alas, according to Peters (if anyone can access the original, please let me know) the resulting Newsday story quoted him as saying:

“But canon law expert Edward N. Peters, of the Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, sees ‘no possibility that women will ever be ordained to the diaconate’ because canon law forbids it.”

And that’s that. Peters was not amused.

Period. End of quotation.

Pffft. No nuance, none of my recognition that the other side has an argument, and, worst of all, the misrepresentation that my opposition to female clerics rests on positive canon law, instead of, as I expressly stated, in the theology of the sacrament of holy Orders.

As it turns out, the canon lawyer on the other side of the issue — Msgr. John Alesandro — was not amused with the answer that Peters was alleged to have provided and wrote the newspaper to say so. In this case, the text is not hidden behind a digital firewall. Alesandro writes, responding to the anti-Peters:

The article “Backing women deacons” [News, Sept. 27] contains a statement from a canon lawyer that “‘there is no possibility that women will ever be ordained to the diaconate’ because canon law forbids it.” It is true that current canon law forbids it, but that is irrelevant as to a future decision by the Holy Father. To conclude that there is no possibility is quite a leap.

The question of whether women can be validly ordained as deacons is a doctrinal one, not canonical. The real question is whether the prohibition of such an ordination is, when applied to diaconate, repeating an unchangeable doctrinal teaching or, alternatively, expressing a legal prohibition that can be altered — something that has happened in many areas of law in the past.

In his web post, Peters notes that Alesandro’s task was an easy one: “What I said — correction, what I was reported as having said — was as shallow as it was rigid. My kids could have refuted it.”

Peters does not believe that he was the victim of a conspiracy at Newsday or that this error was rooted in any kind of overt bias. The problem is that the Newsday team tried to make the issue simpler than it was. In the end, he was quoted as saying something that he did not say.

Now, the question is whether Peters is to blame, to some degree, because his email did not include words to this effect: “Warning! Please note that I am basing my opinion on sacramental theology, not on canon law.”

Is there a correction out there somewhere, perhaps behind a firewall? GetReligion readers, how would you word the correction?

Previous Post

October 3, 2012

Jesus Rifles Redux

Next Post

October 4, 2012 Hundreds of Godbeat journalists hit the Beltway

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 5Q+1 Academia Anglicanism Announcements Atheists & Agnostics Baptists Books Business & Economy Catholicism Creeping Fundamentalism Education Ethics Evangelicals Film First Person gays Godbeat Got news? Humor Interviews Islam Journalism Judaism Lutherans Mainline Marriage & family Middle East Mormons Music Nones Orthodoxy Pagans Pentecostalism People Podcasts Politics Pop Culture Race Radio & TV Religion religious liberty Same-sex marriage Science Sex Social Issues Sports Uncategorized Vatican Web/Tech What is this? World World Religions Worship

Select a Month August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 May 2010 July 2009 February 2009 October 2008 July 2008 January 2007 August 2006 July 2006 October 2005

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which branch of Christianity uses the term "Mass" for its main worship?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Pentecostal Methodist Catholic Baptist