As the lead story in this edition of Catalyst indicates, non-Catholic reporters and pundits used the election of Pope Benedict XVI to inject themselves into the affairs of the Catholic Church in an unprecedented fashion. What follows is a sample of just how bad things got. In April 21, the New York Daily News printed two articles under the banner, [...]
On April 24, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins staged a major event in Louisville, Kentucky, "Justice Sunday." Held at Highview Baptist Church, the program was an effort to rally pro-life Protestants against efforts to block people of faith from sitting on the federal bench. Perkins was supported by Protestant leaders such as Rev. James Dobson, [...]
Scott Bloch, who heads the Office of Special Counsel, has been the subject of an on-going campaign to discredit him. At issue are his policy decisions and hiring practices. Regarding the latter, Bloch has actually been attacked for hiring Catholics! Just when we thought things couldn't get any worse, the campaign got even uglier when Pete [...]
he Catholic League scored four recent victories, and did so without costing its members a dime. The Catholic League supports the right of public schools to have dress codes, provided, of course, that they are reasonably written. One we thought unreasonable was the one being proposed by the Ysleta Independent School District in El Paso, Texas. [...]
On May 10, the San Francisco board of supervisors unanimously passed a gag rule that violates the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech. Aaron Peskin, one of the board members who advocates banning free speech, spoke for the other 10 censors when he said, "The intent of this resolution is to make a clear statement [...]
On May 15, Pentecost Sunday, a group of radical gay activists entered a few Catholic churches across the nation during Mass staging a protest. The group, Rainbow Sash, has a history of exploiting the Mass for political purposes. The week before their demonstration, they instructed their members to put the rainbow sash over their left shoulder [...]
On April 21, Fox News Network talk-show host Bill O'Reilly said, "The Catholic League hates me." The next day William Donohue answered with a news release saying, "We do not. We simply object when he crosses the line from criticizing the Catholic Church to dissing it." Donohue pointed out that in none of the three news [...]
For the past two years, a non-Catholic pro-life group, Alaska Right to Life, has become increasingly critical of Providence Alaska Medical Center, a Catholic hospital that is under the tutelage of Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz; it has also become quite critical of the archbishop. Alaska Right to Life contends that Providence permits abortions, something the hospital [...]
On April 9, two anti-Catholic ads appeared in the classified section of the St. Cloud Times in Minnesota. The first read, "DOES Jesus eat swine? Oh yes, he eats worms, rats, dogs, or anything that moves." The other said, "WE see this Catholic nonsense on TV. Abortion? Why do Catholic girls commit fornication?" Our initial complaint [...]
Catholic League president William Donohue explained today the league’s strategy for dealing with Showtime, the cable network that recently aired a hate-filled episode of “Penn and Teller”: “On May 23, 24 and 27, Showtime’s ‘Penn and Teller’ aired the ‘Holier Than Thou’ episode that has so enraged Catholics, as well as people of all faiths (). [...]
