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I stopped down at my neighborhood coffee shop the other day to grab a quick peek at the latest issue of "The Wanderer", the nearly 140 year old National Catholic Weekly newspaper that is published in St Paul. It might not be as timely as the Strib or the PPD, but you can be sure that the Wanderer, originally a German language newspaper, will have all the Catholic news that's fit to print plus a bunch of dang good columnists.
This week's issue had a nice story on the MCCL rally at the State Capitol on Roe v. Wade Day, something largely ignored by the secular media, analyses of some of the presidential political candidates and a signed editorial by publisher, A.J. Matt, Jr., going after the archdiocesan newspaper "The Catholic Spirit" for having giving favorable ink to a pro-abortion Catholic newly elected to the State House of Representatives, Patricia Torres Ray.
Matt said that "...'a woman's right to choose,' the code words that Torres Ray uses are plain to almost everyone. What they mean in plain English is that the proscription against murder as declared by the Fifth Commandment does not apply to the unborn.
Every Catholic shold know that homicide against the unborn is prohibited by God's Law, period. If they do not, they have no right to speak as Catholics on the issue.
Certainly they should not be able to voice such opinions in a Catholic newspaper. Is editor Towalski aware of this? If not, why is he the editor of The Catholic Spirit? Did he inform his employer, Archbishop Flynn, of the details of the Torres Ray piece? If not, why not?
Now that the Archbishop is aware of the details of this scandalous piece, what does he intend to do about it. . . ?" The Wanderer does not provide online copies of more than a small sample of its articles.
A word to the wise for potential subscribers to The Wanderer. Its columnists, the likes of Thomas F. Roeser, Paul Likoudis, Father Kevin M. Cusick, Father John T. Zuhlsdorf ("Father Z" on the internet), Pete Vere and others, are paid by the word and they are all rich. Make sure that you can block out a considerable amount of time for the reading of your weekly issue.
7 comments:
Ray: Now hold on a minute! Were you at said coffee shop by your self? ;-0
Ray,
I agree that The Wanderer is a valuable resource, and they're not afraid to tell it like it is. I'd just add a note of caution for anyone new to The Wanderer that it is an acquired taste, and not for everyone. The tenor, especially in the news section, can be very "glass-is-half-empty" downbeat, and I know someone who cancelled their subscription because they just couldn't take it any longer - they got too depressed about it.
Additionally, for any of our conservative readers, they should note that many of the columnists for The Wanderer have been strongly opposed to the Iraq War (e.g. Pat Buchanan and Bob Novak, with whom I otherwise agree most of the time) and tend to have an anti-Israel bias (especially Joe Sobran), and the tone of those discussions can get quite heated. Their elegies to Noam Chomsky and Gene McCarthy were what finally pushed me over the edge to walk away from it.
That said, it's definitely miles and miles (and miles) ahead of the Spirit, and their theological columns are outstanding. I think it's just helpful for people to be prepared when they read it, because they can come on kind of strong!
Mitchell
Mitchell: I primarily read Wanderer for the religious commentary-with the exception of Thomas Roeser's political column. I really enjoy him.
They are trad but not schismatic. It can be a bit negative in certain issues of the paper.
I am conflicted about the Iraq War. I not sure we invaded the right country. I think the Arabian peninsula and Pakistan may be greater threats then Iraq was.
I tend to be sympathetic to the Palestinians. Probably, because I'm of Native American ancestry. I tend to sympathize with people that I think were displaced because their land was stolen. Really, there is wrong on both sides of that coin: Israeli and Palestinian.
Cathy,
I think you're absolutely right. The Wanderer has never crossed the line (or even come close) to the schismatics. (You're talking The Remnant for that one.) I'd reassure anyone who has concerns that The Wanderer is one of the strongest defenders of orthodox Catholicism and the Papacy. And Roeser is wonderful - gives you the real bare-knuckle feel of Chicagoland politics.
Re: the war, I couldn't have said it any better than you. The debate in the Church over the morality of the war is quite troubling to me, as is the level of discourse surrounding it. There is much more to this than I think most commentors have expressed. Another issue, though.
Mitchell
And, of course, I must put a plug in for the Catholic Servant - that OTHER "alternative" Catholic newspaper in the archdiocese (boy are we rich in them - hmmmm, wonder why?) at a very inexpensive $15 a year subscription (also available for free at many area churches). Not available online, sadly.
Yes, the Servant is definitely quality. Someone should look at developing an online version of that.
Mitchell
At one point I thought the Catholic Servant did have an online issue. I can't find it now anyway.
I just subscribed to the print version of the Catholic Servant myself. My parish buys a bulk subscription but I thought the CS could use the support so I ponied up the extra dough.
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