A bad place for a misleading headline

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Oct 20, 2015

Read the headline and tell me what it means:

New pastoral approach does not change doctrine, Australian archbishop says

Doesn’t that headline—atop a story from the Synod—clearly imply that the bishops have already adopted a new pastoral approach? Is there any other way to interpret the words? If this were merely a question of a proposed change, the headline should read that the approach “would not” change doctrine; an approach that “does not” change doctrine sounds very much like a fait accompli. And as we know, many people never read past the headline.

The story below that headline is reasonably accurate (although it does refer to the desire for a “genuine pastoral approach,” which suggests that the approach taken by the Church for the past 2,000 years has not been genuinely pastoral). But the headline will feed into the widespread misapprehension that the Synod has already decided on a change in pastoral practice.

It would be unfortunate, but understandable, if this misleading headline appeared in a secular newspaper. But it comes directly from the site of Catholic News Service, the agency run by the US bishops’ conference.