Maureen Fiedler

CNN Asks If Catholic Church Is Waging 'War on Women'
By Matt Hadro | June 12, 2012 | 1:32 PM EDT

CNN is friendly to Christianity -- as long as the priests, ministers and religious play into the network's liberal agenda. If Christian guests stand up for traditional marriage, however, they can expect a much colder welcome if they even make it on air.

So it was no surprise that CNN has been promoting a dissenting nun's struggle with the Vatican, and making clear that it is siding with wayward American nuns after the Catholic Church has announced a reform of the Leadership Council of Women Religious (LCWR). Anchor Christine Romans tossed softball after softball to liberal Sister Maureen Fiedler on Tuesday's Starting Point, and mocked the Vatican's criticism of the LCWR.

"Let me ask you, women can't be priests. Women – if you follow church teaching, can't use contraception," Romans stated before noting the irony of the prominence of statues of Mary in Catholic churches.  "[W]omen in the church when you look at some of the teachings, is there a war on woman within your church?" she asked Fiedler.

CBS's Morning and Evening Shows Hype Vatican's 'Inquisition' of Dissenting Nuns
By Matthew Balan | May 31, 2012 | 5:23 PM EDT

CBS made little effort to hide that it was siding with liberal dissenters inside the Catholic Church on Wednesday's CBS Evening News and Thursday's CBS This Morning. Scott Pelley hyped that there was a Vatican "crackdown on America's 57,000 nuns." Gayle King touted how "some Catholics compare it to the dark days of the Inquisition, a crackdown on a prominent organization of nuns accused of being radical feminists."

King and co-anchor Charlie Rose sympathized with the group of dissenting sisters during an interview of left-wing public radio host Sister Maureen Fiedler, and hinted that the Catholic hierarchy was "out of touch." Correspondent Wyatt Andrews also overwhelmingly slanted towards the disobedient religious and their supporters during his reports on the two programs, and played only one brief soundbite from a spokeswoman for the bishops.

CNN Promotes Liberal Nun's Fight Against Vatican, Hosts No Guest From Other Side
By Matt Hadro | May 29, 2012 | 6:43 PM EDT

The liberal host of the public radio show Interfaith Voices, Sister Maureen Fiedler has cheered for the Occupy protests, railed against the Ryan budget, advocated for single-payer healthcare, and pined for the Obama of 2008 – and it is now her taking umbrage at the Vatican that got her a nice soft interview on CNN, Tuesday morning.

Anchor Carol Costello actually made light of the Vatican's announcement last month to reform the U.S. Leadership Conference of Women's Religious (LCWR) – of which Sr. Fiedler is a part – by asking her, tongue-in-cheek, if she wasn't the "kind of radical, feminist nun the bishops are concerned about?" That prompted a chuckle from her guest, followed by her liberal lines.

CNN: Vatican Conducting 'Inquisition' Against Dissenting Nuns
By Matthew Balan | September 17, 2010 | 6:01 PM EDT

Carol Costello, CNN Correspondent | NewsBusters.orgOn Friday's American Morning, CNN's Carol Costello followed up on her biased report from the previous day, which promoted Catholic women posing as priests, with a second report on dissenting Catholics, focusing on heterodox nuns inside the U.S. Costello promoted the claim of the nuns, who accuse the Vatican of conducting an "inquisition," or wanting to "silence nuns when they disagree with the Pope."

Substitute anchor Drew Griffin gave a brief on Pope Benedict XVI's second day in the U.K. 25 minutes into the 6 am Eastern hour, just before his colleague Kiran Chetry introduced the correspondent's report. Chetry proclaimed how the Vatican is apparently "squarely at odds with American nuns," and that many of these nuns "feel they're under siege from the Church, which is questioning the quality of their religious life." Costello picked up where the anchor left off: "[T]he Vatican is now conducting two sweeping investigations of American nuns...the Vatican hopes to have a better understanding of how nuns live their lives in the United States. Nuns don't see it that way, though. Many think these investigations are nothing short of interrogations, designed to take away all they've gained."

Costello led her report by featuring Sister Maureen Fiedler, a liberal public radio host who attended the "ordination" of seven women on the Danube River in 2002. Fiedler stated during her first sound bite, "Some of my friends asked me why the Vatican officials suffer from a deep seed hatred of women." The correspondent continued by describing how "the Vatican ordered two sweeping investigations into the religious views and lifestyles of American nuns- investigations that have alarmed many sisters like Marlene Weisenbeck, whose organization represents thousands of American nuns across the country." Sister Weisenbeck was president of the Leadership Council of Women Religious until August 2010. She led the organization when it endorsed ObamaCare, contrary to the stance of the U.S. bishops' conference. Costello played two sound bites from the nun during her report.