One of the perks of being on vacation is the time to sit back and leisurely read the Sunday papers leisurely. I noticed some interesting numbers in today's Boston Globe. The front page headline reports that the town of Middleboro has voted 2-1 to approve the possibility of a gambling casino being built in their community. A total of 3, 722 citizens of approximately 14,300 registered voters turned out on a Saturday in July to participate in a special town meeting. A casino isn't something I'd want in any suburban town where I lived but that's not my principal point here.
Tucked away on page B-3 was an article about Women of Faith's Amazing Freedom conference held at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston. Run by a Dallas-based "nondenominational" Christian group, the conference attracted some 10,500 women.
The Middleboro decision, of course, was a much anticipated event and has implications on many levels for the whole Commonwealth. Still, 10,500 people doing something out of the ordinary together just might merit page 1 in the City and Region section, not page 3.
Such editorial decisions aren't peculiar to the Globe but are typical in the media. Some news sells papers, other news doesn't. The archdiocesan weekly, The Pilot, operates on the same philosophy. Although I might not theologically endorse everything that was said at Amazing Freedom I do believe those 10,500 women made a better decision in attending the conference than did the voters in Middleboro.
Faith, however, did make a more prominent appearance in today's offering from Morrissey Boulevard. Another great op-ed piece by Elissa Ely does not hesitate to name a neighbor's Christian faith as the reason and source of the assistance he offered Ely's family after her father's death. Worth the read!
