www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Joan Lewis, EWTN correspondent, in Iraq

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Joan Lewis, EWTN's Rome correspondent, is reporting from Iraq. I've only heard short segments on EWTN radio and haven't had time to read her blog [ewtn.com] yet. She's gone apparently in response to a letter from the Bishops there asking western reporters to come see the situation. You can see in the right margin that her reporting apparently began 2/15 in Beirut.

Her reports from Rome are always very informative and interesting. I think Grace has brought her to Iraq, apparently also Lebanon. She's usually very articulate and economical with her reporting but she sounded almost dazed in the live snippets I've hear. She kept saying how changed she is by what she is experiencing. She mentioned the daily killings and that two female students were stopped the previous day, asked to show their identify cards, which said they were Christians, and they were then shot.

May her reporting, and all that she will bring back to her life in Rome on a daily basis, bring more attention to and response to the plight of our sisters and brothers in the Church suffering in Iraq.

May our Lord have mercy!!!

I'd be more impressed at the prospect that we'd see meaningful reporting from this individual were there evidence that she'd done some research in advance. Witness this description of her attendance at Divine Liturgy in St John's Melkite parish in Beirut, from her blog (emphasis mine):


One would think that in 20 years of Catholic religious journalism, including a number of years working in the Vatican Information Service, that she might have encountered the words 'Divine Liturgy', 'iconostasis', or - at the very least - learned the difference between a fresco and an icon.

Many years,

Neil

Dear Neil,

I agree with you...she sounds very narrow minded or deliberately Western, and that is a bit offensive in today's small world where cultures are shared through mass communication, but on the other hand, (giving her the benefit of the doubt), maybe she thought that the proper words 'Divine Liturgy', 'iconostasis', 'icons', etc. might not be fully understood by the average American Roman Catholic reading it on EWTN?

I have read many articles in English throughout the journalistic world that refer to the Eastern DL as the 'Mass', so that, in an of itself doesn't surprise/offend me (though many of those articles will say "The Mass, known as the Divine Liturgy...") as much as using 'frescoes' for 'icons', since I believe that even your average American Roman Catholic has come to know what that word means in the past ten years.

Hmm..How long has she been away from the States?!?

Alice

To me, it's just bad journalism. We haven't been taught in my journalism classes to simply find a "dumbed down" version of what we are trying to say. If you use a term that the audience you are writing to may be unfamiliar with, then you define it for them. That's what journalism should be all about, telling the truth and informing the public. This is why we need good Eastern Christian journalists.

Good points, Katie.
Regards,
Alice

I sent her an email pointing out that she attended a Divine Liturgy (not Mass) of one of the Eastern Churches (not rite) and informed her of the proper term for the Icon screen. I received no reply as yet. It appears that she is finally learning about the Eastern Chruches and the diversity of the Catholic Churches. She has some nice pictures from her trip.

I regret that I still haven't read her blog, hopefully I can tonight, and she was on air at least twice yesterday on different programs and I just missed those.

In the interest of charity, remember Joan went in response to a plea from the Churches there that western journalist come and report on the situation of Christians in Iraq. I don't know who else has responded to the plea but she did, and what little I heard of her on the radio she's been profoundly moved by the situation, and confessed her own lack of knowledge before this trip and her awareness now of the lack of information in the west about the Church in Iraq. She also willingly put her own life in danger being there, which is of course not unheard of with journalists, bless them, but nonetheless is a fact.

I hope people will contact her, I plan to, and whatever you express remember the point of her going- that she went answering an urgent request from the Church there to get word to the West. I hope in the end that what she has experienced will benefit our Church there living in such dire conditions. Hopefully, maybe with our help, she will come to know something more about the Divine Liturgy as well.

Thank you for reminding us...you are ofcourse, most correct in your charity and in reminding us not to nit pick but to keep in mind and respect the sacred and important purpose of this article! Forgive me.

May God bless Joan Lewis and keep her protected. Amen.

In Christ,
Alice

I encourage you all to give Joan a second chance.

I've finally read her blog, and frankly I cannot wait to see what she will write when the dust settles and she gets time to really write, as she says again and again she will do, back in Rome where electricity isn't rationed to "about two hours daily, sometimes three.." and she's not on the go all day.

I don't know why she had no familiarity with the basic looks of an Eastern Catholic church, but that said, did you note that she was at the Melkite Church by mistake? I can only guess, but would guess, that had she known she was going to a EC Liturgy she'd have asked for some basics, as we know from experience people do (I did) before going to an ECC for the first time. I also frankly would have expected her hosts to accomplany her, had they known she was going to a DL, which they did not know since they had sent her off to a Mass celebrated by a Jesuit.


Here are a few things that popped out to me from her blog. Clearly she is merely making the barest sketch now, until adequate time post trip allows for the rest of the story. As she said 2/16 "I have almost filled one notebook today and my head is swimming with names and facts and Chaldean history and local history and politics. My mind and heart are filled with stories of the joys and sufferings and hopes and dreams of the priests and nuns who work here."




For that podcast on/after February 20 and 21 go to “Vatican Insider" [ewtn.com] Scroll down the page to Vatican Insider then click on her photo.


Regardless of how well versed she becomes in the Liturgies of ECC OCC, and do you doubt she will want to learn more about our liturgies, her short broadcasts so far and whatever she does share in the future will hopefully be the powerful message to more Catholics, and non-Catholics, that the Bishops have hoped and prayed it might be. "Fr. Bashar told me at lunch that I was the first journalist to interview Archbishop Nona in person." Does this speak volumes to why she "was invited to Iraq by the bishops to report on the situation of Christians there..."? Blog 2/12 [ewtn.com]

I realize that my bias against EWTN is showing (to say nothing of my occasional lapse into being curmudgeonly), but as it is barely 6 weeks since Mar Emil's episcopal ordination, it's not a great surprise that she's the first to interview him. And that was done on the occasion of this trip; thus, that she did was the result of her being invited, not the cause of it.

I'll reserve further judgment until I see what is forthcoming but, in perusing her older blog entries, I don't see anything that looks to me like hard-hitting or particularly noteworthy religious journalism.

Many years,

Neil

Great point Katie!