This week, at a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Timothy Dolan at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City for Catholic high school seniors, I heard a student speak eloquently about faith being the greatest of all virtues. We then heard Cardinal Dolan in his homily talk about the persecution of innocent Christians in the Middle East by ISIS terrorists. I have been shocked by the near silence by world political leaders to the horrendous atrocities that have been taking place against Christians the past several years.
Later that day, while talking to a group of college professors, I told them what the Cardinal had said and also about what the high school senior had said earlier. One well known educator later said to me, “That didn’t sound like a very upbeat message to give the students. The Cardinal could have encouraged them to achieve economic success.” Several of the other academics in the gathering nodded in agreement.
However, not a word in the New York press about the special event with with thousands of young students at St. Patrick’s Cathedral or the forum with college professors.
Well, the very next day, we happened to be walking past Rockefeller Center while the NBC Today Show was conducting a Town Forum. The guest on the national program was U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, who had just won the Republican primary in New York. I enjoyed the back and forth he had with the media, but was disappointed that not a single question came up about the important issues I heard about the day before from many well informed Catholic high school seniors, college professors, and the Archbishop of New York. I did listen to several questions from the media to Trump about whether adult men should be allowed to use the same public toilets as young girls, about rock star Prince, and about whose picture should be on a $20.00 dollar bill.
The very next morning at the Massachusetts State House, where I would be the keynote speaker at the Annual Memorial Observance of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, I heard several moving speeches by Governor Baker, U.S. Senator Ed Markey and Speaker Bob DeLeo. Markey, I felt, had made national news in calling on President Obama to use the word “genocide” in describing the killing of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915.
Yet, there was barely a word the next day in the Boston press about Markey’s remarks or the historic Armenian genocide service at the Massachusetts State House.
I’m not surprised with the priorities in the media, but I would urge the people to speak out about this oversight and disservice. When important issues of faith, values, children’s education and even world atrocities, like the genocide of Christians taking place in the Middle East today, can be all but ignored, then it’s time for the American people to stand up and take action.
As I said at the State House, if Pope Francis, two leading American Cardinals (Dolan and O’Malley), and Senator Markey can call it genocide, and if thousands of high school students in New York City and Boston can say that “faith is the most important of all values,” then we should demand that people of faith and values be given a voice in the national media. It’s time we heard from the silent majority.
Ray Flynn is the former Mayor of Boston, U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican and national political commentator. Read his past columns here.
(AP photo) 
