May 6, 2005
Stalinist Paul Robeson a
"Celebrated Defender of Civil Rights"
"The larger-than-life actor and activist Paul Robeson is a tall order for any
play - or for that matter actor - to capture. Robeson was a dazzling polymath
(not to mention a stunning physical presence): a star athlete and valedictorian
at Rutgers; a lawyer; a world-famous singer and actor; and a celebrated defender
of civil rights, social justice and Soviet socialism, who was ultimately
blacklisted and had his passport revoked."
- Critic Phoebe Hoban on Stalinist actor Paul Robeson in a review of a play
about his life, April 26.
Benedict XVI "An Extreme
Conservative"
"But many in the crowd were openly and greatly distressed by the choice of the
new pope - widely regarded as an extreme conservative on a wide variety of
social issues. This included many Catholics who said he would take the church in
the wrong direction."
- Elisabeth Rosenthal in the online version of her story on the choice of
Cardinal Ratzinger as pope, April 19.
New Pope "Likely To Deepen the
Fissures" in the Church
"But it is already clear that the new pope is likely to deepen the fissures that
exist in the church. The reactions from the crowd in the first few minutes after
Pope Benedict appeared on the balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square suggested
the divisions he will have to confront."
- Reporter Laurie Goodstein, April 20.
The Pope's "Deep Conservatism"
"But while his deep reading and thinking in theology, philosophy, and history
were fundamental to development as a theologian, it was the protests of student
radicals at Tbingen University - in which he saw an echo of the Nazi
totalitarianism he loathed - that seem to have pushed him definitively toward
deep conservatism and insistence on unquestioned obedience to the authority of
Rome.His rulings came flowing out of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith, carefully footnoted and, to critics, repressive and intolerant."
- From a profile of Benedict XVI by Richard Bernstein, Daniel Wakin,
and Mark Landler, April 24.
Surprised by Personal Warmth of
Conservative Pope
"But, with his gold glasses slightly askew, he seemed serene and at ease in his
new role as the 265th pope. He did not chide or lay down harsh truths as he did
on Monday when the conclave began, warning direly of a 'dictatorship of
relativism.' It was his first public audience, the day before he will be
formally installed as pope on St. Peter's Square, and it posed again the issue
the very same reporters in the audience have been trying to resolve: How a man,
the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, 78, with so fierce a reputation and so
long a record of unstinting orthodoxy can also be, by nearly all accounts,
courteous, humble, warm if not effusive, and even shy?....But he was smiling,
congenial - and orderly. Colleagues and friends say a sense of order may also
be a hallmark of this new pontificate, though detractors worry, too, that it
might too much resemble rigid traditionalism."
- From a profile of Benedict XVI by Ian Fisher, April 24.
The Church's Failure to be
"Forward-Looking"
"his worldview is grounded in the ideological struggles of 20th-century Europe
and he has yet to show how he intends to reconcile that view with the
forward-looking hopes and fears of 21st-century Europeans. As a cardinal, Pope
Benedict XVI spoke at length of the perils of secularization and the crisis of
the Catholic Church in Europe, where priests are in short supply, churches are
empty and Catholics use their consciences more than dicta from Rome in deciding
how to live."
- European-based reporter Elaine Sciolino on how the new pope is playing at
a Catholic university in Belgium, April 23.
"Unstintingly Conservative" Pope
"More Inclusive" Than Expected
"The election of an unstintingly conservative pope could inject a powerful new
force into the intense conflicts in American politics over abortion and other
social issues, which put many Catholic elected officials at odds with their
church.Analysts on the right and the left say it is impossible to predict a
papacy, and on Wednesday Benedict XVI was clearly seeking a softer, more
inclusive tone than some had expected. But they say he shows all the indications
of wanting to preserve a bright line around orthodoxy, around what is an
acceptable position for a Catholic and what is not."
- Robin Toner, April 21.
And Teachers Unions Aren't
"Ultra-Liberal"?
"Until very recently, virtually every political force in Utah, from the
ultra-conservative Eagle Forum to the main teachers union, had supported the
Utah bill."
- Sam Dillon in an April 20 story on the federal education law, No Child
Left Behind.
Church Hurt by "Emphasis On
Punishment and Sin"
"Part of the problem is the church's emphasis on punishment and sin rather than
on inclusion and community. On the trip to France in 1980, early in his tenure,
for example, Pope John Paul referred to the country by its historic title and
asked, 'Eldest daughter of the church, what have you done with your baptism?'
That approach, which some here dismiss as paternalistic, alienates many of
Europe's Catholics, who insist that it is the church's leaders - not the
faithful - who must change."
- Elaine Sciolino, April 19.
This Just In From Out of Nowhere:
Conservatives "Emasculated" PBS
"Last time PBS caused a stir was in January when Education Secretary Margaret
Spellings objected to a children's show that featured real-life lesbians. PBS
pulled the episode. So there is something both delicious and sad about public
television's decision to rebroadcast a famously controversial docudrama, 'Death
of a Princess,' about the execution of an adulterous Saudi princess, that was
shown in 1980 over the objections of the Saudi government, the State Department,
members of Congress and Mobil Oil, a major PBS sponsor. A new postscript to
tonight's broadcast poses the question of whether the condition of women in the
Islamic kingdom has improved at all since 'Death' was first shown 25 years ago.
One change, however, seems indisputable: pressure from Christian fundamentalists
and conservatives has all but emasculated PBS."
- TV reporter Alessandra Stanley, April 19.
