Meet Your Liberal Media: Dogma and Pony Show Edition

"BOSTON, April 11 -- Rejecting the admonitions of several national Roman Catholic leaders, Senator John Kerry received communion at Easter services today at the Paulist Center here, a kind of New Age church that describes itself as 'a worship community of Christians in the Roman Catholic tradition' and that attracts people drawn to its dedication to 'family religious education and social justice.'"

"Mr. Kerry's decision to receive communion represented a challenge to several prominent Catholic bishops, who have become increasingly exasperated with politicians who are Catholic but who deviate from Catholic teaching.

"Mr. Kerry, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, supports abortion rights and stem cell research, both of which are contrary to church teaching. He and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, are regular worshipers at the Paulist Center, which is near their home on Beacon Hill."

A Kit Seeyle classic.

First, the church describes itself as a Christian, Catholic church. Why then did Seeyle describe it as a "kind of New Age church"?

And why didn't Seeyle address the instances where Kerry's positions are more in line with those of the Roman Catholic Church than those of his opponent, on such issues as the death penalty and the war against Iraq? (For that matter, why doesn't Seelye report on how the excommunications of Tom Ridge, Rick Santorum and Fat Tony Scalia are progressing?)

These questions are, of course, rhetorical. Seelye is intent on portraying Kerry as a Bad Catholic and a Bad Christian. And equally intent on misleading her readers.

The real question is why the New York Times allows this kind of crap in its news pages.

Update: Right after posting this, I traveled to Talk Left, who links to new blogger Cat M. at My Left Brain. Cat discusses the Bad Catholic issue in more and better detail. Her post also reminds us that we're still waiting for the mainstream media to publish anything on the ties between Bush and the man who is, according to the established teachings of every Christian church, a false god: Sun Myung Moon.