Oregon’s Lane County District Attorney Doug Harcleroad admitted on May 22 that he made a mistake in arranging for the bugging of a priest, Father Tim Mockaitis, in a confessional in the Lane County Jail on April 22. Father Mockaitis administered the Sacrament of Reconciliation to Conan Wayne Hale and did not know that his conversation [...]
by William A. Donohue (Catalyst 5/1996) The issue of pedophile priests has been the source of much discussion both in and out of the Catholic community. Like all incendiary issues, it has been the subject of heated analysis, much of it irrationally based. The good news is that there is finally a book that examines the [...]
The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights is urging passage of a new bill sponsored by Congressman Jim Talent that would award scholarships to the parents of indigent children. The bill would allow parents to choose from a wide variety of schools, including private religious schools. Known as the Community Renewal Project Act of 1996, [...]
The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights has called for a congressional investigation of the office of Doug Harcleroad, the District Attorney in Lane County, Oregon. On April 22, Harcleroad ordered the taping of a confessional in the Lane County Jail; Father Tim Mockaitis administered the Sacrament of Reconciliation to suspect Conan Wayne Hale. On [...]
The Paramount movie, "Primal Fear," which opened nationwide on April 3, maligns the Catholic Church by presenting every Catholic character as being either a sexual abuser, victim of sexual abuse or swindler. The Archbishop of Chicago is portrayed as a priest who sexually abuses young boys, commands them to have sex with girls in pornographic movies, [...]
The Catholic League's second Annual Report on Anti-Catholicism was published in March. It details approximately 150 of the most egregious examples of anti-Catholicism that took place in 1995. The purpose of the report is to inform those in the media, education and government of the extent and variety of anti-Catholicism that is prevalent in American society [...]
I don't like lunch. I have no problem with lunch on weekends, but on weekdays, that is a different matter altogether. Here's why. The Catholic League, thank God, continues to grow by leaps and bounds. As a result, I am frequently asked to have lunch with people to discuss the secrets of our success. Sometimes the [...]
On March 20, Catholic League president William Donohue debated David Melton, an attorney at the Rutherford Institute, at Regent University in Virginia Beach on the subject of "The Outer Limits of Free Speech." The debate was the result of an ongoing disagreement between the Catholic League and the Rutherford Institute regarding the propriety of having Rev. [...]
Fear of being anti-Catholic was on the mind of a PBS anchor at New York’s affiliate, WNET. On March 11, the station re-broadcast a 1990 documentary called The Burning Times, produced by the National Film Board of Canada. In celebrating women’s history month and in raising money during their pledge drive, WNET aired this program which [...]
This past winter, the Catholic League joined with several Polish-American organizations to protest a decision by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to renege on granting a prestigious literary award to Richard Lukas for his book, Did the Children Cry? Hitler's War Against Jewish and Polish Children. The protest paid off because in the end, ADL was pressured into [...]
