The May Catalyst featured a story on the controversy over an offensive photo collage of Our Lady of Guadalupe on display at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The issue has largely been resolved. The outcome is a mess for both sides. The usual chorus of artistic liberty was sung by the free speech crowd. They defended the... [Read more...]
COURT RULES ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN THE SCHOOLS
Every spring there are rulings from the bench that touch on serious matters of religious liberty. This past spring was no exception. Perhaps the most important decisions this time centered on issues affecting the rights of students. Most of the outcomes were encouraging. In May, a federal appeals court ruled once again that public school students have... [Read more...]
SDA WINS
Readers of Catalyst know that we have been protesting every newspaper ad placed by the Eternal Gospel Church. The ads refer to the Catholic Church as the “Whore of Babylon” and feed every paranoid belief about the Church taking over the world. Unfortunately, those responsible for the ads claim to be part of the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA)... [Read more...]
SHOWTIME BOYCOTT UNDERWAY
In the last edition of Catalyst, we ran the entire ad that appeared in Variety asking Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone to join with us in condemning Showtime for producing the anti-Catholic movie, “Sister Mary Explains It All” (Showtime is owned by Viacom). Showtime issued a lame statement simply saying they do not believe in promoting intolerance.... [Read more...]
SPIN DOCTORS DEFEND “CORPUS CHRISTI”
Readers of Catalyst are aware that over the past few months we have protested the anti-Catholic play, “Corpus Christi.” The Terrence McNally play, which opened Off-Broadway in New York in 1998 (and never made it to Broadway because it was so bad), was recently performed at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) and is scheduled to be performed... [Read more...]
THE ACLU’S IDEA OF FREE SPEECH
One of the problems with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is that it tends to get over-heated on a regular basis. This is especially the case when the subject turns to the public expression of religion. Few doubt that the Ten Commandments historically symbolize the roots of American culture, but that hasn’t stopped the ACLU from trying to... [Read more...]
VOUCHER SEE-SAW
We’ve been on a voucher see-saw for what seems like an eternity. As usual, the same two topics dominate the discussion: the undeniable success of private, especially parochial, education and the undeniable opposition that school choice still provokes. At about the same time that the U.S. Senate was voting down another school choice provision, the... [Read more...]
ANTI-CATHOLIC BIGOTS ATTACK VATICAN
On July 14, a group of pro-abortion feminists, led by Frances Kissling of Catholics for a Free Choice, and Feminist Majority leader Eleanor Smeal, held a rally at the Vatican Mission in New York and the Vatican embassy in Washington, D.C. The demonstrators protested what they said was the Vatican’s lack of accountability in addressing the alleged... [Read more...]