I was interviewed for “Chronicle”, “the nation’s only locally produced nightly newsmagazine,” yesterday. They’re doing a show on the Boston parish closings and I spent some time on the phone talking to the producer a few weeks ago. He’s also been reading the blog (and may in fact be reading this!) So he wanted to sit down with me in front of the camera for me to give my unique perspective. I’m neither on the side of the sit-in protesters, nor completely on the side of the archdiocese which is doing the right thing by closing some parishes but has munged up the process a lot.
Of course, I wasn’t satisfied with all my answers. I have a tendecy to go back and say, “I wish I had said it this way,” but overall I think it’s okay. We’ll have to see how the edit it. (Hint, hint, Tony.)
The questions were interesting, including some on women’s ordination and letting married priests return to active ministry. On the former, I repeated the basic, “It ain’t gonna happen”, and on the latter I said that there are a lot of practical reasons for not doing it: If we’re strapped for cash now, who’s going to pay the just wage for a family man? Above all, I tried to keep an upbeat attitude, conciliatory yet firm. “I understand the pain and anger of parish closings, but acting like a rebellious teenager is not the answer.”
The hardest part was not looking at the camera, schooling my expressions, and not saying “Um” or “Uh”. It’s harder than you think. But this is why I’m a print journalist.
I’ll let those of you in the Boston area know when the show is going to air when I find out.
