From her "I'm back" post
http://studiomatters.com/note-to-readers
This brings me to Ross Douthat’s go-round with the roster of Jesuits and academics who pulled their hems back from his published dismay over the agenda of our bien pensant pope. Without a doubt, I am in Douthat’s corner. Full square. I have only one demurral from his rousing public apologia.
In his “Letter to the Catholic Academy” he states: “A columnist has two tasks: To explain and to provoke.” To explain, yes. But to provoke? That is the role of pamphleteers, not journalists. It implies a willed effort to inflame, agitate. Hacer un lío—rock the boat. That is Francis’ preferred modus operandi. It is not mine, and never was.
No serious journalist—and Douthat is unquestionably serious—needs to make an effort to provoke. Provocation comes unbidden when writers try to tell the truth as they understand it. The truth shall make you free, John told us. But not everyone wants the truth for fear of the very freedom it brings."...pulled their hems back from his published dismay..." Classic!
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