April 8, 2005
The Pope's funeral and the New York Times
Such an event, but what happened with the Times' lead article this morning? The piece reads like a paper by an undergraduate who slept through Christianity 101:
The coffin was placed on a large ornate rug and a liturgical text [which one?] was placed on it and opened. At the side of the coffin was a statue of Jesus on the cross bleeding from his thorns [that's known as a "crucifix", boys]. . ."The gospel"? -- the writers use the word liberally throughout to denote anything Christianish that they can't quite pin down.Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, dean of the college of cardinals, who delivered the sermon, spoke first after crossing himself [quelle surprise]. He sang in Latin from a holy book [now that's reporting] held up by an assistant and read the confession of sins that begins the Catholic Mass. . .
Some 35 minutes after the funeral began, a young priest in red vestments sang the gospel in Latin.
Posted by David on April 8, 2005 11:52 AM
The best version of the "gospel in song" I have ever heard was written by Handel.
So did they translate that in to Latin, and sing every line...solo?
Posted by: t karrde on April 8, 2005 1:28 PM
I was put off more by the simplistic writing style--subject/verb, one-syllable descriptive words, adjectives of color, sound and shape--sounding almost like a high school writing assignment: 'Boys and girls, write an essay today using as many sensory adjectives as you can. Adjectives are words like red, long and big--words that describe a noun.' Flash: two-syllable words are all right, too! We are not all limited to 6th grade reading levels.
Posted by: Sarah
on April 8, 2005 2:28 PM
Guess no one at the Times is Catholic. (Or Lutheran or Presbyterian, either).
Posted by: Mary on April 8, 2005 7:47 PM
Haven't you heard? The news media is not owned by Christians.
Posted by: Neil on April 10, 2005 8:43 PM
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