We need to have these talks every now and then because people sometimes get confused about the role of a newspaper, even a religious one like The Catholic New World.

All this is sparked by comments that arrived after a recent issue in which staff writer Michelle Martin, a skilled and professional reporter, chronicled the journey of a group of Dominicans to Iraq. They reported how the children and others were suffering from U.S.-led sanctions.

The readers took objection to the article and, apparently, to Martin for writing it, saying she was biased, uninformed, unethical and bordered on being anti-American.

That’s where the journalism lesson comes in.

Let’s understand the difference between opinion and reporting. Martin’s “report” was just that: a report of what the Dominicans saw, said and did on their humanitarian, though illegal, visit.

This column, on the other hand, is opinion, though since I report to Cardinal George, it better be informed and in line with church teaching.

At the bottom, some people didn’t like Martin’s report on the Iraqi visit by Catholics seeking to apply Gospel values and Gospel justice to a painful reality because they don’t agree with the values and that justice.

One of the letters said, “The Catholic Church has much to say of serious import on the subject of a just foreign policy and the use of economic sanctions against nations; unfortunately, Ms. Martin’s anti-American propaganda … contributes nothing to such a discussion. We are led to believe, by Ms. Martin’s credulous ‘reporting,’ that U.S. foreign policy is all that stands between the Iraqi people, and peace and freedom from any sort of deprivation—omitting entirely the role of Saddam Hussein …”

That’s a legitimate point of view. But it ignores journalistic research: The U.S. bishops have continually condemned the sanctions because of their effect on the Iraqi people, an effect not felt, incidentally, by Saddam. Pope John Paul II has expressed a “closeness … to the suffering people of Iraq” and “the negative effects of sanctions on the lives of the population.” There’s more, too. The article is hardly written in a vacuum.

Opposition to Saddam is understandable and challenging sanctions hardly an article of faith. But it helps to know where faith is coming from.