Catalyst Online

UNSUBSTANTIATED ACCUSATIONS

Bill Donohue The Catholic Church has many teachings that touch on public issues, and it’s only fair that they be subject to critical analysis. But it’s hardly too much to ask that its critics substantiate their charges. Unfortunately, the tendency of the media to swing wildly became commonplace once it was learned that Pope Benedict XVI had resigned. Take,... [Read more...]

SPEAK OUT? OR SHUT UP?

No sooner had Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio been elected Pope Francis when the Los Angeles Times started reporting on his alleged “timidity” in fighting Argentina’s dictatorship during the Dirty War, 1976 to 1983. The newspaper also cited the rap that he was “too quiet” during this period. Similarly, the New York Times is saying that the... [Read more...]

CRITICS OF POPE EMERGE

Pope Francis has captured the good will, indeed the love, of millions around the globe, and the response is hardly confined to Catholic circles. However, his critics are emerging, though none with any luck. Sex is always a good subject for Catholic haters. Their goal—sex without consequences (kids and diseases)—is threatened when religious leaders... [Read more...]

A NUN FOR POPE?

MSNBC contributors E.J. Dionne and Katrina vanden Heuvel both said they wanted to see a nun named as the next pope. No they don’t. They certainly wouldn’t want Mother Agnes Mary Donovan of the Sisters of Life. Nor would they want Mother Mary Assumpta Long of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. The truth of the matter is this:... [Read more...]

NY TIMES HOSTS ANOTHER DISSIDENT CATHOLIC

Author Paul Elie was one of many dissident voices in the New York Times following Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation. His parochialism allows him to assume all Catholics shared his discontent. “Resignation,” he said, is “what American Catholics are feeling about our faith.” He should speak for himself—most of us don’t share his Commonweal... [Read more...]

SALLY QUINN’S VOODOO EXERCISE

A recent Sally Quinn piece in the Washington Post managed to be wrong on just about every level, beginning with the Church’s “child sexual abuse scandal.” The scandal didn’t involve children—less than 5% of victims were prepubescent. Typical offenses involved “inappropriate touching” of postpubescent males. It was a homosexual scandal... [Read more...]

NY TIMES HOSTS EX-CATHOLIC THEOLOGIAN

In the New York Times, Hans Küng, an embittered ex-Catholic theologian, criticized Pope Benedict XVI for having irritated “the Protestant churches, Jews, Muslims, the Indians of Latin America, women, reform-minded theologians and all pro-reform Catholics.” Küng blames then-Cardinal Ratzinger for hiding abuse cases, and cites “Vatileaks” as... [Read more...]

QUINNIPIAC POLLSTERS MISLED THE PUBLIC

In a survey of American Catholic opinion, the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute intentionally misled the public by claiming that Catholics led “American voters toward support for same-sex marriage.” But Catholic League president Dr. William Donohue showed that a closer examination of the survey showed differently, forcing Assistant Director... [Read more...]

NEW YORK TIMES SURVEY OF CATHOLICS

It’s debatable whether someone who admits attending Mass only “a few times a year or never” can be considered Catholic, but their responses make interesting reading compared with those who “attend Mass weekly.” The majority of weekly attendees supported Pope Benedict; only a quarter of those rarely attending did so. While 72% of weekly attendees... [Read more...]

INADEQUATE SURVEYS

The larger the sample size of any population, the more costly the survey, but the more accurate the findings. Catholics make up anywhere between 70 and 78 million Americans, but even a sample of 1,500 can yield relatively accurate results (the margin of error in such a survey would generally be 3 percentage points). Two recently published surveys of... [Read more...]

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