Phillips Academy is a prototypical blue-blood New England prep school, located in Andover, Massachusetts (it likes to call itself “Andover”). That means that there is a better than average chance that most of the students were reared in homes that are just as fashionably “progressive” as the school itself. Enter Austin P. Van,... [Read more...]
ANOTHER ANTI-CATHOLIC PLAY HITS NEW YORK
“The Cardinal Detoxes,” an anti-Catholic play by Thomas M. Disch, opened on September 24 at the Tribeca Playhouse in New York City. The play, which ran until October 18, is a 35-minute monologue by a character who plays a cardinal. The cardinal is an alcoholic who runs down and kills a pregnant woman while driving drunk. He attacks the Church... [Read more...]
ANOTHER “FORMER ALTAR BOY” STORY
Some young guy killed an old lady in Florida and on October 5, the Associated Press (AP) ran a story on it. Halfway through the story, we learn that the killer had a lousy upbringing and suffered from bouts of depression and other psychological maladies. This was helpful in understanding his violence. What we thought was bizarre was the characterization... [Read more...]
ANTI-CATHOLIC BIAS IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
by Inez Fitzgerald Storck Good parents have always known that it is necessary to watch over their children’s reading. But Catholic parents today and even Catholic educators may not be aware of the extent of the negative elements in contemporary children’s literature. Many if not most books for preteens and teens attack Christian values. Examples... [Read more...]
CATHOLICS OF THE WORLD, UNITE
In the space of one week, Cardinal John O’Connor of New York and Cardinal Francis George of Chicago warned audiences of the prevalence of anti-Catholicism. At his September 27 homily at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, Cardinal O’Connor said “Some of the filthiest shows and movies today are attacks on the Catholic Church. I will not... [Read more...]
COMEDY CENTRAL ATTACKS CHRIST
On September 24 and 25, Comedy Central aired a “Daily Show” segment with host Craig Kilborn that outdid all its previous attacks on Christianity. This one celebrated the Terrence McNally anti-Christian play, “Corpus Christi,” by calling it a “delightfully blasphemous homosexual romp.” It aired a news clip of those... [Read more...]
“CORPUS CHRISTI” IS GAY HATE SPEECH
Just a few days before the gala opening of the Terrence McNally play, “Corpus Christi,” I had a chance to preview it. The basic message is this: Jesus was no more divine than the rest of us and the reason why he was crucified was because he approved of homosexuality. That is why he was branded, “King of the Queers.” The play... [Read more...]
DEMAGOGUERY COLORS WIESENTHAL CENTER
In our New York Times ad commemorating the 20th anniversary of Pope John Paul’s papacy, we take note of the slander that has been heaped on the recently beatified Cardinal Stepinac. Leading the slanderous charges has been the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. “In Croatia,” writes Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center,... [Read more...]
“DEVOUT CATHOLIC”?
The Washington Post did a follow-up story on the killing rampage that John Salvi went on at an abortion clinic in Brookline, Massachusetts on December 30, 1994. It was an interesting story. One of the woman whom Salvi terrorized, Deborah Gaines, was in the clinic that day to abort her baby. As things turned out, she never had the baby and is now madly... [Read more...]
ERSATZ NATIVITY SETS
When people talk about the commercialization of Christmas, they usually mean the extent to which material indulgence has overwhelmed the celebration of a sacred event. But there is a secularizing trend going on that is, on many counts, even more offensive than the empty-headed pursuit of profit: the introduction of ersatz nativity sets. It used to be... [Read more...]