by Thomas Sowell In the aftermath of the Senate’s acquittal of Bill Clinton, conservative activist Paul Weyrich—author of the term “the Moral majority”—now says “I no longer believe that there is a moral majority. . . . I do not believe that a majority of Americans actually share our values.” Increasingly, those who believe... [Read more...]
HUNTER MADNESS
A few months ago we ran a story about a particularly disgusting item in the Hunter College student newspaper, Envoy. We thought the issue died with the apologies. Some anti-Semitic letters were received at Envoy’s office, portions of which were reprinted in the newspaper. That the hate mail was unfairly superimposed on Catholic League letterhead... [Read more...]
IS OUR CULTURE IN SUDDEN DEATH?
Paul Weyrich, president of the Free Congress Foundation, made quite a splash in February when he announced that our culture was irretrievably lost. “The culture we are living in,” wrote Weyrich, “becomes an ever-wider sewer.” With certainty, he wrote that “we are caught up in a cultural collapse of historic proportion,”... [Read more...]
“JEWS, CATHOLICS, AND POPE PIUS XII: IS THE MEDIA EXPRESSING PREJUDICE TOWARD CHRISTIANITY?”
by Sr. Margherita Marchione Members of the media seem to deliberately falsify historical facts about the Holocaust, periodically renewing their attacks on Pope Pius XII. Unfortunately these false statements can engender the same hateful feelings that in the past have led to both anti-Catholicism and anti-Semitism. In the words of the Jewish-Hungarian... [Read more...]
PAPAL BASHING
In the last issue of Catalyst we said that “Media treatment of the pope’s visit to St. Louis was overwhelmingly fair.” We stand by that assessment, though there have been some new developments. The “Daily Show” on Comedy Central did a segment wherein they poked fun at the pope’s mental health, took a cheap shot at teenagers... [Read more...]
POLITICS OF LIFE
“Life, What a Beautiful Choice.” Question: Who wants to ban this innocent message? Answer: Cherry Hill, New Jersey’s Courier-Post. The censors at the Courier-Post were upset to learn that Our Lady of Good Counsel Church had put this message on a banner and hung it across the street. There is a municipal ordinance that says that banners... [Read more...]
PRO-LIFE SPEECH IS SPECIAL
The decision by a federal jury to make abortion opponents pay $107 million in damages for a website bearing “wanted” posters of abortion doctors raised more issues than it resolved. The Oregon jury took aim at the Nuremberg website, accusing it of taking aim at abortion doctors, the effect of which was to create a “hit list”... [Read more...]
SACRED SYMBOLS, PUBLIC SPACE
For more than three decades, Jersey City, New Jersey, has erected a crèche and menorah outside City Hall. When the ACLU sued a few years ago, citing the usual separation of church and state argument, Mayor Bret Schundler added Santa, Frosty the Snowman, a sleigh and Kwanzaa ribbons. But the ACLU still wasn’t happy and so it wound up in the courts. The... [Read more...]
SELECTIVE USE OF RED FLAGS
We’re always complaining how some in the media love to red flag the Catholic status of an accused offender even though his religious affiliation is unrelated to the story (e.g., ex-altar boy arrested for drugs). Similarly, we object when Catholic priests are identified as miscreants in movies. But now we have something altogether different: the failure... [Read more...]
TED TURNER APOLOGY ACCEPTED; SUSPENSION FROM BASEBALL SOUGHT
On February 16, TV-mogul Ted Turner made offensive anti-Catholic and anti-Polish remarks. The next day, the Catholic League issued a news release criticizing Turner for his comments. Turner apologized to us that same day, and on February 18, we accepted his apology. Presidential hopeful Gary Bauer also criticized Turner. Turner made his remarks at a... [Read more...]