June 23, 2001
When the pope went to the Middle East in May, two Syrian leaders made anti-Semitic remarks in his presence. On May 13, the ADL ran an ad in the New York Times blaming the pope for not confronting the leaders. It ended by saying, “Pope John Paul II, we were greatly saddened by your silence.” We learned of the ad two days before it ran and... [Read more...]
ANOTHER STATE SCHOOL HOSTS “CORPUS CHRISTI”June 23, 2001
The Terrence McNally play about Jesus having sex with the twelve apostles will be performed this summer at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW). The Catholic League entered the fray and immediately drew front-page coverage in local Fort Wayne newspapers. Six state senators from Indiana raised serious questions regarding the propriety... [Read more...]
ARTIST ALTERS OFFENSIVE DEPICTION OF CHRISTJune 23, 2001
This is a story all Catholic League members should savor. It involves a member who contacted William Donohue about some offensive artwork and how successful we were in getting the artist to alter her work. There’s more: we handled this issue without going to the media but it wound up on page one of a major newspaper nonetheless. Here’s what happened. A... [Read more...]
BIGOTS GONE BONKERSJune 23, 2001
Sometimes we can’t quite believe what we’re reading. In less than a week, we read that “The Catholic Church is tearing America apart with the abortion issue, so they can take over” (letter to the editor, Southampton Press, May 9); the pope might actually be “an accomplice to Palestinian violence” (Cragg Hines, columnist... [Read more...]
BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH CLUB FLAGS CORNWELLJune 23, 2001
The Book-of-the-Month Club not only is selling John Cornwell’s book, Hitler’s Pope, it is hyping the book’s flawed thesis. Bob Lockwood took Club president William Byrnes to task for this outrageous slap at Catholics. Lockwood commented that the book “was savaged by reviewers and historians alike for its poor use of history, exaggerated... [Read more...]
CHRISTIE’S AND CATTELAN SEEK ANOTHER “SENSATION”June 23, 2001
On May 17, Christie’s auctioned one of two versions of “The Ninth Hour” by Maurizio Cattelan. The installation depicts Pope John Paul II being crushed by a meteorite while clutching his crozier. The Cattelan sculpture has been the source of controversy when shown in parts of Europe. This was especially true when it was featured in Poland... [Read more...]
HYPOCRISY MARKS THE FORT WAYNE JOURNAL-GAZETTEJune 23, 2001
On May 2, the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette ran an editorial on the decision of Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) to host the play “Corpus Christi” later this summer. It vigorously supported the position of the school’s chancellor, Michael Wartell, to defend the play as a matter of academic freedom. The editorial also... [Read more...]
INDIANA UNIVERSITY-PURDUE UNIVERSITY HOSTS “CORPUS CHRISTI”June 23, 2001
The Terrence McNally play about Jesus having sex with the twelve apostles will be performed this summer at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW). The Catholic League entered the fray and immediately drew front-page coverage in local Fort Wayne newspapers. Bob Lockwood, our research director, lives in Fort Wayne and represented the league... [Read more...]
IRRESPONSIBLE JOURNALISMJune 23, 2001
We know there are bigots of every kind, those who hate Catholics, Jews, African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, et al. But when a bigot submits a column to a mainstream newspaper, we don’t expect it to see the light of day. Well, one did. On May 12, The Desert Sun, a Palm Springs, California daily, published a piece by William Edelen that was so unbelievable... [Read more...]
MORE ROTTEN MOVIESJune 23, 2001
Some anti-Catholic movies that have recently been released have one thing in common: they’re rotten to the core. Indeed, they are so bad, artistically that is, that even those critics not bothered by the Catholic-bashing elements are complaining. Take, for example, “The Assumption of the Virgin.” It is a BBC movie about the 15thcentury... [Read more...]