Albany Times Union editorial responds to public criticism of its story on Bishop Dan Herzog and the Spiritual Life Center:

We don't mean to be impolite
First published: Saturday, February 18, 2006

If you want to be a good guest at a dinner party, I'm told, you're not supposed to discuss politics or religion. Passions run deep on those topics, and it's just not polite to disrupt your host's happy table.

Which probably means you should not carry a Times Union under your arm to a nice shindig, because it could make your dinner companions hostile. Newspapers publish lots of stories about politics, and every time we make a foray into coverage of religion, it seems, we make some people unhappy.
That certainly has been clear this week from the response to last Sunday's story revealing divisions in the Episcopal Diocese of Albany over matters both financial and spiritual. Letters and phone calls have praised and pilloried reporter Marc Parry and his editors.FACTS:"Good work and fair-minded reporting," one parishioner wrote. "Mean-spirited, venomous articles," another said. Warned a third: "You had better go back to and take a good look at your soul, it needs it. Find another profession." Dozens of other messages followed, pro and con. The article prepared by Parry, under the supervision of Senior Editor Bob Port, focused on what some church leaders believe is the diocese's financial peril, a situation some believe is exacerbated by the construction of a costly retreat center in Washington County. The money woes are adding to the controversy that surrounds Bishop Daniel Herzog, who is facing retirement after leading the diocese toward a position on the conservative side of American Episcopalianism during his eight-year tenure.

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