Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly has announced an ambitious plan to deal with the problem of child molestation by priests in the Boston Archdiocese. He proposes to involve his office in the recruitment, selection, training and monitoring of priests. We did not hold back in denouncing Reilly’s plan. Here is what we told the media: “On... [Read more...]
NEW YORK POLITICIANS SNUB CATHOLICS
New York gubernatorial hopefuls Andrew Cuomo and Carl McCall refused to march in New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day parade, saying they would only participate when members of a gay group are allowed to march under their own banner. Senator Charles Schumer, who has skipped the parade since the flap with the gay group began, also refused to march.... [Read more...]
NEW YORK TIMES PULLS CARTOON MOCKING 9-11 WIDOWS THEN POSTS CARTOON MOCKING CATHOLIC PRIESTS
On March 5, the New York Times pulled a cartoon by Ted Rall that mocks widows of the 9-11 terror attack for being greedy. The cartoon was fed to the website of the New York Times by Universal Press Syndicate and was taken down when widows complained. Christine Mohan, the newspaper’s spokeswoman, said the “subject matter was inappropriate.” Yet... [Read more...]
OF PRIESTS AND PEDERASTY
Every priest, religious and Catholic lay person I admire is furious with the extent of the pederasty problem in the clergy and the way it’s been handled. Indeed, if someone claims to be a good Catholic and isn’t outraged, I’d begin to wonder. It always hurts more when those whom we trust let us down. Having said this, I hasten to add that it is... [Read more...]
PRO-LIFE STUDENTS REWARDED BY CATHOLIC SCHOOL; ABORTION GROUPS OBJECT
A Catholic high school in the Philadelphia Archdiocese, Archbishop Wood, is rewarding students with extra-credit for participating in pro-life demonstrations outside a Planned Parenthood clinic. Planned Parenthood and Catholics for a Free Choice are going bonkers. We told the media that we are delighted with the news that pro-life students at the school... [Read more...]
RASH OF CARTOONS ON PEDOPHILIA
News reports on the problem of priests engaged in the sexual molestation of youngsters led to a rash of cartoons lampooning the Church. Clearly the most objectionable ones were those that portrayed all priests as predators. Newspapers which ran such cartoons included the New York Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Dayton Daily News, South Bend Tribune,... [Read more...]
RED CROSS APOLOGIZES FOR BAN ON RELIGIOUS SPEECH
On March 11, the Catholic League went on a tear against the American Red Cross. Four hours later we got what we wanted: a reversal of its newly minted policy banning religious speech at its functions and a much deserved apology. The pressure we put on the American Red Cross was enormous. We asked over 100 organizations to drop their support for the... [Read more...]
“SOUTH PARK” LASHES OUT AGAIN
Catholic bashing is nothing new to “South Park,” so when the new season began March 6 we braced ourselves for more trouble. What we didn’t expect was that the bashing would begin even before the first show aired. Days before the new season began, a promo aired showing a young woman in the confessional. With trepidation in her voice, she... [Read more...]
SPITZER BACKS OFF
In the last edition of Catalyst, we reported on the efforts of New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer to try to close down crisis pregnancy centers throughout the state. On March 1, he announced that he had withdrawn his subpoenas. Spitzer, who works closely with NARAL and other pro-abortion groups, targeted the abortion alternative centers... [Read more...]
TRIUMPH: AN ANSWER TO CATHOLIC REVISIONISTS
By Russell Shaw In the last several years the culture war against the Catholic Church has been extended to a new battleground—the writing of history. It is not the first time this has happened, since it has long been known that he who gets to tell the story of the past his way can reasonably hope to shape the future. Think of the “Black Legend”... [Read more...]