Also this issue:

Bender on a Roll
The city’s most famous forensic sculptor has two new projects on tap.
-Jenn Carbin

Guilty, Eh?
International row follows Philly conviction of Canadian for trading with Cuba.
-Steve Eckardt

Art Attack
A brawl over a wall near Peirce College.
-Jenn Carbin

City Beat

Soundbites
-Frank Lewis

April 11-17, 2002

city beat

Sins of the Fathers

Two papers, two approaches to covering the biggest story on the religion beat since the Reformation.

by Frank Lewis

News is about the unexpected. And no one could have predicted the way the city’s dailies have covered the big story of early 2002, the Roman Catholic Church’s handling of allegations of pedophilia and other sexual misconduct by its priests. The Daily News, which typically revels in its role as one of the last great big-city tabloids, has made the growing local and international scandal take a back seat to coverage of a tax-policy issue, of all things, while the Inquirer, which has been accused in the past of being afraid to cover Archdiocese of Philadelphia thoroughly, has put some of its best people on the story. And kept them there.

In fact, it seems the closest the Inquirer has come to backing off was when editor Walker Lundy and others agreed that the paper shouldn't "go out of its way," as deputy managing editor Hank Klibanoff puts it, to publish stories on important Christian holy days. But when Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua showed up at a parish on a Saturday to apologize for and explain the removal of its pastor over old claims of abuse, the story ran the next day, Palm Sunday.

Until the priest sex scandal, the Inky's coverage of the Archdiocese relied mostly on longtime religion beat writer David O'Reilly. Now, two members of projects editor Dan Biddle's team, Nancy Phillips and Christopher Hepp, have been involved, along with several other staff writers, covering the revelations, and in some cases revealing new cases, in the Philadelphia and Camden dioceses.

"I remember when it first began to break," says recently installed city editor Craig McCoy. "The paper encouraged us to take the time with it we needed." And they intend to do just that.

"It's a big story," says Biddle, "and it gets bigger with each passing week. ... I'm convinced there are many more stories there, and this is a huge issue for many, many people."

And no one, the editors say, is thinking much about the paper's past coverage of the Archdiocese -- or lack of coverage, depending on your point of view. It may be little more than a year since the paper settled a lawsuit brought by former reporter Ralph Cipriano, based on a libel claim that was closely tied to his and others' criticisms of the paper's apparent timidity when it came to the Catholic Church, but judging from recent interviews and coverage, it seems like the distant past.

"In passing, Ralph Cipriano's name may have come up," says McCoy. "But in truth, I don't really think it's a factor. ... We just recognized, as many American papers have, that this is a major story."

It's a major story at the Daily News as well, just not central to the mission of the increasingly activist "people paper." The News has devoted noticeably fewer bodies and pages to the issue, largely because of the maelstrom set off by Mayor Street's plan to stop reducing the wage tax. "The bottom line," says Editor Zack Stalberg, "is I think we're able to influence the outcome of the wage-tax issue, but it's hard to influence the Vatican."

A source says the paper has some investigative projects related to the priest scandal in the works. For the time being, however, Stalberg says religion beat reporter Ron Goldwyn will continue to serve as the paper's one-man team, with others being brought in as needed.

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