Fr Michael Kelly finally goes public on the future of CathNews... (Main Forum)

by Brian Coyne , LINDEN, NSW, Wednesday, January 30, 2008, 16:37 (1968 days ago)

Readers of Catholica will be interested in the following comments from Fr Michael Kelly SJ (Executive Director of Church Resources) on The Religion Report...

Stephen Crittenden: Listen, before you go, on another topic: many of our listeners would be aware that you Michael in Sydney, run a very high-class website called Cathnews, and we often link to it, and you often link to our ABC Religion programs. A lot of people have noted the chatroom on the Cathnews website where discussions tend to, well, be disconnected from your news stories, are often very angry, and to put it bluntly, they seem to attract a lot of people with problems. I think that's a common problem with chatrooms. Denis Dutton of Arts and Letters Daily says he won't have a chatroom because they're too much trouble. Do you think it might be time to consider closing that chatroom down?

Michael Kelly: Certainly. Because in fact what has happened is that it's become a context of personal abuse and just ludicrous misbehaviour. What was begun with all good intentions has descended into a context of personal abuse and complete stupidity. We're going through a re-vamp of the site, and that will be launched next month, you know, a new look and a fresh take on things. That will be launched and it will be launched without a chatroom.

Stephen Crittenden: So you'd already taken a decision, had you?

Michael Kelly: Oh look, Stephen can I tell you, that if the church ever did anything in any of its moods or tenses to shut down conversation immediately it would be perceived as the dead hand of censorship getting to work, but you've named it correctly.

Stephen Crittenden: But this isn't censorship, I mean you've got a nest of redback spiders there, you don't need to be hosting that.

Michael Kelly: That's right. Dead right. And that's what I'm going to do.

Stephen Crittenden: Great to have you on the program.

Michael Kelly: Good on you Stephen, bye-bye.

Stephen Crittenden: Father Michael Kelly SJ on the phone from Jerusalem.

Halleluia! What a pity it has taken so long and what a pity that so many people had to be hurt so deeply before someone in a position of authority and responsibility actually did something. The bishops were warned a long time ago that eventually this embarrassment would make it's way into the mainstream media.

You can read the full transcript at: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/religionreport/stories/2008/2149957.htm (The major part of the interview is concerned with the election of the new Jesuit Superior General.)

Brian Coyne
[Editor & Publisher]