The controversy over St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke’s protest of abortion-activist Sheryl Crow has the media in a frenzy. Addressing this is Catholic League president Bill Donohue:

“The decision by Archbishop Burke to resign from the board of governors of the Cardinal Glennon Children’s Foundation because of its unwillingness to cancel an appearance by pro-abortion activist Sheryl Crow at a fundraising event is a legitimate media story. What is not legitimate is the voyeuristic posture assumed by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, KMOV (CBS affiliate) and others: they have invited the public to voice its opinion over Burke’s decision.

“The St. Louis Post-Dispatch had to apologize to Catholics in January 1999 for allowing a glossy anti-Catholic pamphlet to be inserted into its newspaper. It apologized for not making it clear to the reader that it was paid for by an advertiser, but it didn’t have the decency to apologize for allowing it to be inserted in the first place. The day before this happened, this same newspaper allowed another anti-Catholic group to take out a full-page ad in its newspaper. Now it’s inviting non-Catholics to opine about an internal matter of the St. Louis Archdiocese, beckoning the bigots to post their hatred on its website. It has even gone so far as to run a punch line cartoon on this issue, asking the public to submit a caption.

“KMOV now wants to know why Archbishop Burke did not raise questions over other fund-raising celebrities who were arguably offensive. The Archbishop is too mannerly to say what we’re not afraid to say, take a walk—it’s none of your business. KMOV is also playing voyeur by asking Protestants, Jews, Muslims, agnostics and atheists to stick their noses into the business of another religion. In fact, this station is so obsessed with Catholicism that it boasts four surveys on its website on the Catholic Church. No other religion is open for question, however. 

“The St. Louis Post-Dispatch and KMOV would like to manipulate the Catholic Church—that’s what’s behind their silly surveys. Guess they really don’t understand who we are and what they’re up against.”

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