Changes at the top

Deal Hudson resigns as publisher of Crisis.

On Friday, I told the board of CRISIS Magazine that I'd like to step down as publisher.

They agreed and on January 1 of next year, I'll become the Director of the newly established Morley Institute. The Institute will have two major functions: 1) To provide continued funding for CRISIS magazine and, 2) To support several new projects that I've wanted to pursue for some time. (The first of which will be a book on how Catholics can get involved in politics... something about which I have firsthand knowledge.)

I'm very excited about this. But it does mean I'll no longer be publisher. Don't worry. Not much will change from your perspective. Since the staff of CRISIS has been running the magazine for the past 2 years, you won't actually notice any changes there.

This is really more of a personal decision. It's the right thing for me to do. As you can imagine, the past month has been very difficult for both me and my family. There's no doubt that the recent adverse publicity about me, and the criticism that followed, influenced my decision. As long as I remain publisher of CRISIS, I'll be a source of controversy.

As my friend and supporter, you've stood by me through all of this. And because of your friendship, CRISIS magazine is healthy and (still!) growing. But as you have supported me as publisher, I now ask that you support this decision. Please know that this was my call. The plain fact is, I'm tired of being a lightening rod. And more importantly, this whole thing is causing great pain to my family. When all is said and done, I'm a husband and a father. I'm certainly not perfect, but I love my family dearly, and their well being is my first priority. Thank you for your friendship and your prayers. I can't begin to tell you what they've meant to me. My greatest hope right now is that you understand my decision and continue to support the magazine I cherish.

Is the Morley Institute "newly established?" I thought Crisis was owned by the Morley Institute, and had been for years.

Comments

[Rod Dreher]

If they think this is going to work, they're wrong. This is a face-saving compromise that's not going to satisfy anybody. Remember how I told y'all when this thing first broke that the silence from Deal's circle was deafening? Seems to me that they were talking to the Crisis board. I don't believe for one second that this was Deal's call. Tomorrow's Washington papers should prove quite interesting.

[Josh M.]

Who is it not going to satisfy?

The man screwed up. He's paid the piper a couple times over.

Hopefully, a new position means a fresh start.

If people can't acknowledge a man's apology and lapse in judgment and forgive him, I'd submit that those people aren't worth listening to.

[SiliconValleySteve]

This is becoming a sad tale. Deal still hasn't owned up to the damage he has caused to the young woman he molested or the causes he "supposedly" supports. The man only sees his own pain and seems to have a persecution complex. He caused this by his own abusive behavior.

It is just rearranging the deck chairs. As Rod says, this won't satisfy anyone.

[amy]

Come back after midnight for more breaking news on this....

[Patrick Rothwell]

Well, Amy, that sure is one way of keeping a turkey in suspense.

[amy]

It's not up to me...it's when newspapers probably will post stories on the web.

[Patrick Rothwell]

Also, there is a sign in front of the Crisis office in DC with the name "Morley" on it. I pass by it every other day, but I can't remember if it has the word "institute" on it.

[Woody Jones]

Who is/was Morley? Scrooge's partner?

[amy]

From the NCR article that started it all, but one month ago. (seems longer)

Ownership of the publication was transferred to the Morley Institute, a non-profit created by Hudson and named after Lucile Morley, a Hudson great aunt who encouraged his youthful interest in philosophy.

No date given.

[Todd]

Peace, all.

Rearranging deck chairs, yes, but the story is tired already. Deal can do as he pleases, and his subscribers will do as they please, and his colleagues will help him shake things out in the end. It would be chivalrous, honorable and probably therapeutic for him to come out and apologize deeply to his victim (criticizing his pal Donohue in the process) but nobody can make him do it.

[Todd]

Peace, all.

Rearranging deck chairs, yes, but the story is tired already. Deal can do as he pleases, and his subscribers will do as they please, and his colleagues will help him shake things out in the end. It would be chivalrous, honorable and probably therapeutic for him to come out and apologize deeply to his victim (criticizing his pal Donohue in the process) but nobody can make him do it.

[Lee]

For an ironic contrast, read this article at the Crisis web site:

http://www.crisismagazine.com/feature2.htm

Quote:

"I leave to the reader to continue the speculation. We are now a society structured by fornication, adultery, contraception, sodomy, abortion, and divorce. If we took seriously the indissolubility of marriage, for everybody and not just for the saintly and the heroic, would we build suburbs for anonymity? Would married men and women associate casually? Would we call it “progressive” if a man and woman, colleagues at work, each married, made a habit of going to lunch together? Would parents allow children to choose their spouses without their least approval? Would we treat a divorce as if it were an appendectomy? Would we neglect to assign to the divorced a just and salutary blame—salutary for those who might be tempted to the same evil?"

and

"Another civil war is brewing in our nation, to be fought between those who believe in the sanctity of sex and those who do not. It will shed far less blood than the first and will therefore be much longer and more bitter. It must decide our fate as a civilization."

Lee

[Carrie]

Check out Dom's blog.

[Colleen]

Lee, Deal Hudson did not write those words, Anthony Esolen wrote them.

[Lee]

Colleen, I know that Esolen wrote them. I subscribe, and have read the whole article.

I have heard that Esolen has done a widely-praised new translation of Dante's Divine Comedy. He writes well in English ...

Lee

[Colleen]

I apologize to you Lee if you weren't piling on.

[Radactrice]

When enough time has blown over, watch for Deal to come back as the Vatican Ambassador in the next Bush administration. We have hardly seen the last of Deal in politics or with the Bushes.

[Carrie]

Maybe he'll be granted a cathedral to tend in the interim, Radactrice.

[Carrie]

Maybe he'll be granted a cathedral to tend in the interim, Radactrice.

[Dave Mueller]

Thanks, everyone! You are providing me an additional strong deterrent to sin!!

I now realize that if I ever do sin gravely, and it becomes known publicly, I will be ostracized by the Catholic community, made fun of, and generally be treated as a leper.

[Cacciaguida]

Anthony Esolen's Dante translations RULE. Go and buy his INFERNO and PURGATORIO now! His PARADISO will be out soon.

Btw, I am not Anthony Esolen, have never met him, and have no financial or other interest in his book sales. I have, however, compared and contrasted numerous Dante translations.

[Fr Phil Bloom]

I also recommend Dante, but for those with more limited time today, please read The Reporter's Contemptible Hit Piece by Mark Shea: http://www.catholicexchange.com/vm/index.asp?vm_id=2&art_id=25158