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By Diogenes ( articles ) | Nov 07, 2003

The Massachusetts bishops insist that the media got it wrong in reporting that Bishop Daniel Reilly went wobbly on public benefits for gay households when the issue was considered by the state legislature.

Bishop Reilly finished his testimony by telling the committee that the Church could "join the discussion" if the "goal is to look at individual benefits and determine who should be eligible beyond spouses." Many press reports interpreted this as a signal of new support for same-sex relationships and "domestic partnership benefits." That interpretation is wrong.

Oh, yeah?

All the more curious then, that the National Catholic Reporter -- with plenty of time to consider the testimony and the "clarifications" of the testimony -- should single out Bishop Reilly for praise, on precisely the grounds the bishops would have us believe is a faulty interpretation:

Reilly's comments won't please those who want no legal distinctions made between gay unions and heterosexual marriage. And he's sure to draw fire from some Catholics and from the Christian right for acknowledging that gay couples and their children face unjust discrimination.

The NCR goes so far as to call Reilly's remarks "fortuitous." Why fortuitous? "The last few months have been a very trying time for gay Catholics, their families and loved ones" on account of --wait for it -- the CDF's declaration on Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons. Regardless of his occasionally orthodox past, if a bishop can saw off the Holy See at the knees, especially on matters of infertile sex, he rockets to the top of the NCR pantheon.

Perhaps a further clarification is necessary.