If anyone doubts that Catholics are hated by many in this country, let them read these letters. All of them were e-mailed to us following the article by Howard Rosenberg in theLos Angeles Times reporting that Fox will no longer tolerate cheap shots at Catholics on “The Simpsons.” See the article on this subject on page . We have not corrected... [Read more...]
LESSONS OF LITTLETON
The recent school shootings in Littleton, Colorado and Conyers, Georgia raise significant questions regarding the proper relationship between church and state. The Catholic League made its position clear to the media and was only too willing to address this issue on national TV. We discussed the moral vacuum in the schools that has been evident over... [Read more...]
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS APOLOGIZES
Father Thomas Haren walked into the Library of Congress on January 22nd and was told by a security guard that he had to remove the sweatshirt he was wearing over his Roman collar. He was informed that his sweatshirt was “political” and therefore could not be worn in the library. The sweatshirt read, “St. Jerome Church Marches for... [Read more...]
NEVER TOO LATE
In the state of Washington, there is a law that prohibits the issuance of a liquor license to any operation that is within 500 feet of a school. A public school, that is. So when the 99 Cent Smoke Shop in Seattle applied for a beer and wine license near a Catholic school, it was granted. The Catholic League entered the case and found that the Washington... [Read more...]
REGENTS REVISIONS
High school students in New York State have long taken Regents exams; they are standardized aptitude tests that are given in all the traditional subjects. Exam questions from previous years usually appear in the test-preparatory volumes used by Barron’s books. When going over the 1998 Regents exam in Global Studies, Father Fred Marano of Cathedral... [Read more...]
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY WINS
In May, the Religious Liberty Protection Act (RLPA) sailed threw the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution. The bill protects religious practices from governmental interference. RLPA prohibits the government from placing a substantial burden on religious practices “unless it is the least restrictive means of furthering... [Read more...]
TAKING ON THE HEAVYWEIGHTS
Six years ago, on July 1, 1993, I took over as president of the Catholic League. When I began, I routinely had to explain to reporters who we were. Now we get calls, on a daily basis, from Los Angeles to London, asking for an interview. And when I read the Los Angeles Times, I find statements like the one of June 18: “The dispute between the... [Read more...]
THERE WILL BE NO DEBATE
On May 13, at the 92 Street Y in New York City, Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, took aim at Pope Pius XII. Rabbi Hier said that making Pius a saint would “demean the meaning of sainthood” and “desecrate the memory of the Holocaust.” Pius was described as the “pope of the Holocaust”... [Read more...]
WFOR TV, MIAMI, AIRS “NEWS” STORY ON CONFESSION
On May 16, the CBS affiliate in Miami, WFOR TV, featured a story on its late-night news that depicted the Catholic Sacrament of Reconciliation in a most questionable way. All throughout the movie that preceded it, “Joan of Arc,” promotions for this “news story” were flagged. The news segment informed viewers that many Catholics... [Read more...]