Dan Burke and I headed over to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life on Tuesday for a lunch with Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput. He’s a genuinely genial guy — the type of archbishop who will tell you you’re going to hell, and then you ask him to tell you again because he sounded so sweet the first time. I once asked how to pronounce his last name. “Rhymes with slap-you,” a church official told me. ‘Nuf said.

Chaput was invited to talk about Catholics in public life, or to be more precise, whether pro-choice Catholic politicians should receive Communion. Chaput talks softly and carries a big stick on this issue — he doesn’t want Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi receiving Communion in his archdiocese, but he’s not going to say that publicly. (Believe me, Dan tried).

But I thought his comments about the media’s treatment of religion — and Catholics in particular — were more interesting. His full address had been posted here, but a few highlights:

— I also know reporters and editors who were, and are, uniquely frustrating – not because they write bad things about the Church, and not because they lack skill or intelligence. It’s because too often they really don’t know their subject; or they dislike the influence of religion; or they have unresolved authority issues; or they resent Catholic teachings on sex; or they’d rather be covering the White House, but this is the only beat they could get.

— I don’t expect journalists who track the Church to agree with everything she teaches. But I do think reporters should have a working knowledge of her traditions and teachings. I do think editors should have the basic Catholic vocabulary needed to grasp what we’re talking about, and why we’re talking about it. Too often, they don’t.

— Thankfully, many journalists are experts in their fields. But that expertise doesn’t seem to extend to religion coverage. John Allen and Eric Gorski do outstanding work. Terry Mattingly and his colleagues offer a wonderful tool for understanding the interplay of the media, news and religion at Getreligion.org. Sandro Magister at l’Espresso and Alejandro Bermudez at ACI-Prensa both offer excellent and well informed international reporting on religious affairs. But for many Catholics, these journalists, and others like them, seem to be the exceptions.

— No serious media organization would assign a reporter to cover Wall Street if that reporter lacked a background in economics, fiscal and monetary policy, and these days, at least some expertise in Keynesian theory. But reporters who don’t know their subject and haven’t done their homework seem common in the world of religion reporting.

— Most of you came here today because you already do try to take the Catholic Church and religious issues seriously, and you do try to write with depth, integrity and a sense of context. I thank you for that. Now please tell your friends in the newsroom to do the same.

Get Religion’s take is here, while Catholic News Service offers their take here.