News You Can Use? II

First, some "News You Can Use":

Beware: Airline fares are on the rise. If you're waiting to book your holiday travel, don't! As the holidays approach, major carriers are raising seat prices daily.

Personally, we assumed this was how the airline industry always worked, but apparently last year, in the midst of the economic meltdown, many airlines actually cut prices. Consumers who were expecting the same thing this year are in for some rude surprises.

So, if you're planning a trip for Thanksgiving or Christmas, book now! And if anyone wants to join the crew here at Solipsist HQ for the holidays, we'll throw an extra 'dillo on the barbie for you.

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Now, "News We Can't Imagine You Can Use and So We Wonder What It's Doing on the Front Page of The New York Times"

An article on the front page of the Times tells the story of Pat Bond, a middle-aged woman whose son Nathan Halbach is battling cancer. What makes the story interesting is that Nathan's father is a Father--that is, a Roman Catholic priest. He and Bond had an affair over twenty years ago, and Nathan was the result ("A Mother, a Sick Son and His Father, the Priest").

Bond reached a settlement with the Franciscan order of which the priest, the Rev. Henry Willenborg, was a member--essentially, a child support agreement. In exchange for Bond's signature on a confidentiality agreement, the Franciscans agreed to pay a few hundred dollars a month until Nathan turned 18. (Bond received the money in a lump sum after Nathan was born.) Subsequently, the Franciscans also helped Bond pay for Nathan's college tuition, and, in his illness, they also agreed to pay 50% of any "extraordinary" medical costs. After a dispute over some funds that she felt she was owed, though, Pat Bond went public with her story.

A few questions:

1) Why is this news--front page news, no less? Granted, it is notable that a Roman Catholic priest engaged in sex with someone who was not a pre-pubescent boy. But aside from the Thorn Birds titillation, does anyone really care?

2) We get the feeling that the writer expects us to be shocked--shocked!--by the callousness of the Franciscan order: How dare they not take proper care of this cancer-stricken lad, the fruit of one of its member's randy loins. But how much are they supposed to do? (They are, after all, a mendicant order.) From everything we read in the article, it seems the Franciscans did everything they agreed to do--and, frankly, more. Nothing in the original agreement, for example, required the Franciscans to help pay college tuition, but they did--in addition to half the tuition, they agreed to provide $586 a month until Nathan turned 21. And even though Nathan was over 18, they continued to contribute to his medical care.

What Willenborg did was undeniably sleazy and unethical. But we can hardly accuse the Franciscans of being deadbeat dads.