By Ronald Rychlak The March 19 broadcast of CBS Television’s “60 Minutes” profiled Hitler’s Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII, by John Cornwell (Viking Press, 1999). As the title suggests, that book presents a very cynical portrait of Pope Pius XII. Like many print reviews, “60 Minutes” started by discussing Cornwell’s... [Read more...]
ANTI-CATHOLIC GAY GROUP RESURFACES FOR EASTER
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group of homosexuals dressed as nuns, have events scheduled for Good Friday and Easter Sunday in San Francisco. On Good Friday, they will sponsor “Hot Cross Buns,” a fetish fashion show that provides “a chance to get spanked” (free Sticky Buns are awarded to those who get spanked). Dr. Carol... [Read more...]
BRYANT GUMBEL’S PROBLEM WITH CATHOLICISM
The March edition of the CBS program, “The Early Show,” featured another attack on Catholicism; it was the third outburst in less than two months. Joining Bryant Gumbel in this attack was his co-host Jane Clayson, anchor Julie Chen and meteorologist Mark McEwen. Here is a sample of the extended discussion: McEwen: Do you go to church? Gumbel:... [Read more...]
CENSORING Dr. LAURA
One of the pet peeves of the Catholic League is the extent to which our critics do a flip-flop when it comes to their allies. To be specific, it is not easy to listen to those who rail against us—calling us “censors”—when we protest a movie or TV show, and then watch them defend their ideological friends when they do the same. The reaction... [Read more...]
“CIDER” TURNS TO VINEGAR
Hollywood’s love affair with abortion rights was proven once again at this year’s Academy Awards celebration. According to an AP story, John Irving got a “thunderous applause” when he picked up his Oscar for “Cider House Rules.” That’s because the abortion-rights enthusiast went out of his way to thank “everyone at... [Read more...]
EDUCATION: VASSAR STYLE
It was billed as a forum on “Literature, Homosexuality, and Catholicism in the Nineteenth Century,” featuring Richard Dellamora from Trent University in Canada and Ellis Hanson from Cornell. That gave us pause. It gave us more pause when we learned that it was being held on the campus of Vassar College and was being sponsored by the English... [Read more...]
EPILOGUE: HOUSE CHAPLAIN
On March 23, House Speaker Dennis Hastert named Father Daniel P. Coughlin the new House Chaplain. Father Coughlin is Vicar for Priests of the Archdiocese of Chicago. Our official response was as follows: “The Catholic League is pleased to note that the House Chaplain selection process has come to an end. Over the past few months, we issued 14... [Read more...]
ETHICS OF ABC
We sent a letter at the end of March to the Broadcast Standards & Practices department of ABC registering our misgivings over three recent episodes of “Politically Incorrect.” The March 20 show featured Bill Maher joking that at the Annunciation, the Archangel Gabriel didn’t tell Mary that she was pregnant with Jesus, he showed her... [Read more...]
EXCITE’S EXCISION
After a complaint by the Catholic League, the internet search engine, Excite, has removed an insulting anti-Catholic element from its search facilities. We noticed in February that when someone typed in the name Mother Theresa (the correct spelling of her name in Teresa), up popped an obscenity. The same obscenity appeared when the words Mother Superior... [Read more...]
HOLOCAUST COMMISSION
The January/February edition of Catalyst carried a story on the launching of the Catholic-Jewish Holocaust Commission. In it we noted that one of the Catholic scholars, Father John Morley, had labeled the work of Father Peter Gumpel, the realtor of the cause of Pius XII, as being “biased.” As we now know from Father Morley, the context... [Read more...]