Hardly an Ash Wednesday comes and goes without an anti-Catholic incident. While Ted Turner took the prize this year, WJFK-FM in Virginia was runner-up; the show originates from WJFK in Washington, D.C. On February 28, “The Don and Mike show” aired a segment called “Ass Wednesday.” It seems that Don Geronimo and Mike O’Meara’s... [Read more...]
FUNDING BIGOTRY
Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC) is anti-Catholic, pro-abortion letterhead (it has no members) led by Frances Kissling. Were it not for some very rich foundations, they wouldn’t exist. While it is difficult to get a complete record of its funding sources, new research by Francis J. Butler, president of Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic... [Read more...]
HATE MAIL
One of the most viciously anti-Catholic pieces of mail ever received at the Catholic League was recently addressed to William Donohue. Obviously angered over our protest of “Yo Mama’s Last Supper,” the offender sent an obscene note to Donohue. On the other side of the self-made “postcard” was a drawing of a man performing oral... [Read more...]
JUSTIFYING ANTI-CATHOLIC BIGOTRY
Scenario: a group of so-called enlightened thinkers assemble to play a word association game. When they hear the term “bigotry,” they respond by saying things like “anti-Semitism,” “racism,” and “sexism.” It would never occur to them to say “anti-Catholicism.” But why? It’s too easy to say... [Read more...]
LAME ATTEMPT AT HUMOR
There’s a feminist website by the name women.com that ran an ad in Redbook that we found objectionable. In the March edition, they posted an ad that mentioned how 41 women out of 100 believe a woman will be president within 10 years, etc. The listing we protested was the comment that for every hundred women, “.5 carry an insurance policy against... [Read more...]
FOREVER YOUNG
The number of serious Catholics who made it in Hollywood is not a huge figure, which is why reading about the life of Loretta Young is so refreshing. She found in Catholicism a resource that proved to be invaluable, and now it is nicely captured in an authorized biography by Joan Wester Anderson, Forever Young. The life of this beauty radiates on every... [Read more...]
CONTROVERSY MOUNTS OVER HEALTH BILL
Things are heating up in New York State regarding a health bill. In the last Catalyst, we commented on how the New York State legislature was trying to pass a bill that would require all employers to provide contraceptive health insurance coverage for its employees. Now the bishops have entered the fray, voicing opposition to the bill unless it allows... [Read more...]
A RABBI LOOKS AT PIUS’ CRITICS
David G. Dalin is a rabbi and historian with impeccable credentials. He recently reviewed several books on Pope Pius XII, both pro and con, for The Weekly Standard. His review essay has attracted a lot of attention, and rightly so: Dalin’s analysis of the controversial role Pius XII played during the Holocaust is itself a worthy contribution to the... [Read more...]
RAGING RABBI
Rabbi Mordechai Friedman is a raging rabbi from New York who hates lots of people. Lately he has taken aim at the pope and the Catholic League. He spews his venom on public access cable TV because that’s the only media outlet available to him. Rabbi Friedman has called the pope “a dumb Pollock” and a “stinking old cocker.”... [Read more...]
RELIGION GROUNDS MORALITY
The Forward is a well-written Jewish weekly published in New York. In the February 16 edition, there was a piece about faith-based programs that quoted Rabbi Sherwin Wine. Rabbi Wine was critical of the Bush administration’s effort to fund faith-based social service programs. This was fine but in doing so he took the occasion to criticize President... [Read more...]