Monday, February 23, 2009

Bitter Pill Muzzles Fr Finigan


I had lunch in town with Fr Tim and Jane, from the French Oasisis, I have just read on Fr Tim's blog that those appalling people at The Tablet, having trashed him, have now demanded he remove Ms Curti's article from his blog, thus curtailing his ability to respond.

How low can they get?

I took this photograph of Fr Tim in Westminster Cathedral reading a copy of The Tablet which is available for sale there.

As it is on sale in his Cathedral does it mean the Cardinal and the Administrator endorses its views?

12 comments:

Fr Ray Blake said...

Big Bertha, You would not have had time to write that comment for this post, I just posted it.
If you want something of such lenghth on the net get your own blog.
Besides I don't agree with you.

Joe of St. Thérèse said...

So much for free speech.

When you have enemies you're doing the right thing usually.

The Bones said...

He was directly attacked in the "Catholic" press and as such had every right to defend himself on his blog! Funny, I've had no letter/email in response to my criticism of the article either. Nobody at the Tablet thought to muzzle Ms Curti and her words were actually damaging to Fr Tim's reputation as a Priest! Ms Curti, on the other hand, dug her own grave.

Red Maria said...

A couple of points. First of all I understand that Elena Curti has received hatemail since her article on Father Tim appeared. When I say hatemail, I don't mean the kind of letter Father Ray sent the Tablet taking issue with its coverage, I mean full on four-letter word abusive stuff.

Secondly, coming to the matter of copyright infringement, I think, though I'm not entirely sure, that The Tablet may be onto a sticky wicket in demanding that Father Tim takes the article down from his website.

A family member is an intellectual property lawyer and from memory, there are exceptions to copyright infringement for the purposes of report, review and comment. Father Tim should check the matter out.

Anyway, The Tablet should adhere to the splendid leftwing principle of Copyleft, in my view.

becket said...

Has either one of you contacted the Bishop in regards to the Tablet debacle?. Just curious.

berenike said...

I've stuck a copy of the article on our blog, from Fr Z (I didn't think to copy Fr Finigan's post), should anyone want to read it.

berenike said...

oh, googlecache, you are my friend

copy&paste, happy snigger.

:-)

Physiocrat said...

The Tablet people sound like a bunch of [word which one would not want to use on a parish priest's blog]. They must be really scared. They might even have sold a few more copies of their dated rag due to Fr Finigan's free publicity.

Talking of legal niceties, is the use of the term Catholic by the Tablet not a breach of Trades Descriptions? Should the bishops not be asking the Tablet to refrain from describing itself as Catholic?

Do you think they would haven taken you to court if you had left the quote on, intact?

Anonymous said...

I thought you could reproduce articles as long as you gave an acknowledgement. Perhaps that applies only if you use excerpts, or publish the entire piece to show your agreement with it, otherwise it needs the publisher's permission. I do hope The Tablet is not extolling the "freedom of the press" as a one-way street.
It would be interesting to know if it has ordered the dozens of other critical blogs to remove the article under threat of legal action. We've all read it now and Fr. Finigan's truncated version triumphantly renders it more comic than polemic.
I am very sorry if letters of complaint/emails have descended into personal abuse. This was the one time to show dignity through proper argument. Editors love intemperate responses and gleefully air them. If I were editor I'd publish them, expletives deleted, right alongside the reasoned, supportive comments, just to show how vicious the trads are. Thank you very much, that's one page I don't have to worry about filling.
Westminster Cathedral has always stocked The Tablet, although I have never seen anyone buy it. Curious, because I remember reading somewhere that Cardinal CMOC had assured the Pope it wasn't stocked at any church in his diocese. Possibly a myth.

Anonymous said...

As it is on sale in his Cathedral does it mean the Cardinal and the Administrator endorses its views?

Yes, I think it does. I've seen job applications for key jobs in the diocese that went in the Tablet and not in the Catholic Herald or Times. It was obvious the "higher ups" wanted a Tablet man. Quite frankly it should not be on sale in any Catholic Church - it's a danger to the Faith. I'm not a priest but it does seem to me it's a sin for it to be on sale in a Catholic Church and grave matter as well because of the insidious/disingenuous way it presents itself as Catholic.

Kate said...

The Bitter Pill is not on sale in my parish; sadly, neither are any Catholic papers.

Anonymous said...

Here is a copy of my email sent to The Tablet earlier.

thetablet@thetablet.co.uk

‘The Editor
Will you please invite The Reverend Timothy Finigan Curé of Blackfen to reply to the attack made on him by Elena Curti in the current number of The Tablet.
Name (given)
Address (given)’

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