First of all, Let me say that Michelle Boorstein, the religion reporter for the Washington Post, is a nice person and an honest reporter. I believe she doesn’t consider herself biased. So the following critique is in the form of opening a friendly discussion, not of putting her down.Last April 28, Boorstein reported a story that was soon picked up by AP and local Washington radio and television. Fr. Gary Orr, a priest at Georgetown Preparatory School, was found guilt of sexual abuse by the Jesuit provincial in Maryland. The school itself had cleared Orr twice of the accusations, and couldn’t explain the discrepancy. Boorstein reported all of this straight, a simply 5 W’s piece.

I had exchanged emails with Boorstein about the story. Last year I published God and Man at Georgetown Prep, an expose of the school, which I attended from 1979 to 1983. In the book I write about how left-wing politics, the takeover of the Jesuits by homosexuals, and bad catechism had undermined the school - and how status-obsessed parents (including many conservative like Bill Bennett and Michael Steele) stayed mum for fear of losing their springboard to the ivy league.

The point is, I told Michelle (she is a nice person and open to debate; I feel rude calling her Boorstein) that the collapse in morals, the rejection of official church teaching, the blocking of strong, orthodox and heterosexual males from the priesthood - these were the things that led to the Father Orr scandal. After all, when a conservative sector of the Catholic Church is depicted in the media, there is no shortage of connecting the dots from behavior and philosophy and what the media considers weird behavior. Here’s Time magazine recently on Opus Dei:

“Spend a few minutes with an Opus Dei member, however, and you quickly realize that behind the casual exterior they are rigidly orthodox, and worship is an omnipresent feature of their lives. Walk through the facility and watch what happens when an Opus Dei member passes through a chapel. He stops and genuflects in the direction of the tabernacle (which is believed to carry the blessed sacrament) before going on his way. Prayers are frequently conducted in Latin. There seems to be very little slack in days that are filled with meditation, prayer, confession and work. Opus Dei members speak assuredly and with clarity about their lives and their calling, and many have the slightly distant gaze of true believers. It was clear when we arrived, however, that every member had been made aware of our presence. They were all to a person well prepared and chose their words carefully when speaking to us, even outside of the attention of center officials.”

“Spend a few minutes with an Opus Dei member, however, and you quickly realize that behind the casual exterior they are rigidly orthodox, and worship is an omnipresent feature of their lives. Walk through the facility and watch what happens when an Opus Dei member passes through a chapel. He stops and genuflects in the direction of the tabernacle (which is believed to carry the blessed sacrament) before going on his way. Prayers are frequently conducted in Latin. There seems to be very little slack in days that are filled with meditation, prayer, confession and work. Opus Dei members speak assuredly and with clarity about their lives and their calling, and many have the slightly distant gaze of true believers. It was clear when we arrived, however, that every member had been made aware of our presence. They were all to a person well prepared and chose their words carefully when speaking to us, even outside of the attention of center officials.”So Opus Dei is secretive, hyper vigilant of the media, even paranoid. Obviously, this stems from their rigid orthodoxy.

Yet how different was Michelle’s 2005 profile of Eugene Caner, a former Muslin turned evangelical Christian. Caner teaches at Jerry Fallwell’s Liberty University, and his harsh truths about Islam’s often violent history have caused concern )though nowhere near the uproar over Falwell’s joking about Hillary Clinton being worse than Lucifer). Some money quotes from Michelle’s Post piece:”Caner said he believes that his popularity among Christians is largely attributable to his Islamic heritage, a faith he said is linked inextricably with violence and sexism. Most of his books have focused on Islam’s ‘trail of blood,’ as he calls Islamic history, and when prominent Southern Baptist leaders call Muhammad a ‘demon-possessed pedophile’ — angering Muslims worldwide — they have cited Caner as their source.

“Caner said he believes that his popularity among Christians is largely attributable to his Islamic heritage, a faith he said is linked inextricably with violence and sexism. Most of his books have focused on Islam’s ‘trail of blood,’ as he calls Islamic history, and when prominent Southern Baptist leaders call Muhammad a ‘demon-possessed pedophile’ — angering Muslims worldwide — they have cited Caner as their source.”The rapid rise of Caner — as well as his brother and co-author Emir, recently named a dean at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, one of the nation’s largest Southern Baptist schools — comes as evangelical Christians are pouring more resources into learning about Muslims, with the ultimate goal of converting them. Evangelical schools, like secular ones, are expanding their Islamic studies programs, seminars are being held on how to appeal to Muslims and speakers such as Caner are beginning to preach in Islamic countries — though he said he won’t specify where because it is illegal in some places.

“But at a time when Christian-Muslim relations are fragile, Caner’s appointment, and that of his brother, is worrisome to some Muslims and more moderate evangelical leaders. They question why Caner uses isolated quotes out of historical context to sum up an entire faith and whether Liberty would have selected someone with no administrative background if it weren’t for his power to attract controversy.

“‘This is not accidental,’ said the Rev. Charles Kimball, an ordained Baptist minister who directed the National Council of Churches’ Middle East office and now teaches world religions at Wake Forest University. ‘It says, “These are rising stars, and they will get even more visibility.”‘And this is all ratcheting up because of world events.

Although Caner says his objective is to connect with other cultures, critics say that his only mission is conversion and that his comments prove his prejudice.”

According to the Post, then, the danger is clear. In our post September 11 world, Caner is a tinderbox waiting to explode. But the thing is, Michelle is partly correct: our PC world would get weak in the knees over someone like Caner, and perhaps with some cause. There is an increasing debate about violence and Islam. And, truth be told, some evangelicals are anti-intellectual (not to mention money-grubbing), and do go overboard trying to evangelize. It’s fair to raise those questions.

So why not the same scrutiny with Georgetown Prep and Fr. Orr, a story thyat was reported completely straight? It was a who-what-when-where Journalism 101 take, no garnish. Yet had Michelle dug into the context the way she did with Caner, the story might have gone like this:

“For forty years the Jesuits have grown increasingly liberal and rebellious against official teaching of the Catholic Church. Studies, magazines, witnesses, and books like Michael Rose’s Goodbye Good Men have revealed the deluge of homosexuals into the order, which occurred simultaneously with the barring of many heterosexual, orthodox young men - a phenomenon Rose and other orthodox Catholics refer to as “the lavender mafia.” In 1984, a Jesuit left Georgetown Prep and the Jesuit order to move in with a student, a fact revealed by former student and author Mark Judge. Textbooks which celebrate Marxism and contradict the official Catholic catechism are used. and parents, many whom are conservative, seem to see the school more as a launching pad for the ivy league than the introduction to a life of faith, prayer and service. It was into this milieu that Fr. Orr, now found guilty of abuse, arrived fourteen years ago.”

The point is, if right-wing politics and religious zeal can lead to abuse and paranoia at Liberty University and Opus Dei (and let’s be honest, they can - not because they are bad places but because we are all human), then certainly left-wing politics, religious liberalism and sexual libertinism can lead to paranoia, fear, and abuse at Georgetown Prep, which is stuck in the 1960s and was more secretive and nefarious in covering up the abuse than Opus Dei has ever been about anything. It seems that when writing about orthodox folks, context is everything. when taking about liberals, it doesn’t exist.

Again, Michelle Boorstein is a nice person, and I think tries to be a fair reporter. Honestly, for many of these folks it’s just in the air they breathe. The Oklahoma City bombing? Rush Limbaugh created the environment. Nativity scene at a local library? The rising theocracy. Madonna blasted by orthodox believers? She’s the freedom-loving, always-enaging controversialist who has been pushing our buttons - for our own good - for 30 years.

Abuse by a libertine priest at a school marinated in a left-wing ideology? Just the facts, ma’am.

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