It's fascinating to see, this morning, that the posting I made Friday reporting on how National Catholic Reporter has treated Jerry Slevin has had 847 900 1002 reads (and counting)* in a mere two days — and on a holiday weekend at the end of summer at that, when many Americans are out of pocket due to Labor Day and people elsewhere are finishing summer vacations and not spending time online as a result.

 

It's remarkable to have this report so widely read and so widely distributed on such a weekend. My stats counter for the posting reminds me that Abuse Tracker and the Catholica blog in Australia have both linked to it, and I've noticed it being tweeted by folks to whom I connect on Twitter, too.

 

I read the interest in this story as a good sign that there are many lay Catholics who are extremely tired of the shoddy way in which many of our Catholic leaders and Catholic institutions play political games to make so many of us voiceless — when many of us, certainly people like Jerry Slevin, have important things to say to the Catholic community, and deserve a hearing. The shoddiness with which NCR has dealt with Jerry Slevin, the lack of transparency about how it censors people making commetns at its blog sites: these mechanisms deserve attention if we really do want to buid a healthy, vibrant, authentically catholic Catholic community.

 

A happy Labor Day weekend to those celebrating that holiday, and a good Sunday to all readers everywhere. For those seeking Labor Day music to listen to, Peter Rothberg has a good selection of video clips at The Nation.