Last October, the Catholic League sent a letter to the director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and a news release to the media, stating our objections to a piece of art by Robert Gober (see November Catalyst). Gober’s work showed a phallic culvert pipe piercing Our Blessed Mother, the purpose of which, he [...]
As soon as the Catholic League learned that the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) was planning on starting a cable station in the U.S., William Donohue wrote a letter to John Birt, Director General of the BBC, expressing his concerns. The BBC, Donohue said, produced the movie, "Priest" (it was distributed by the Disney owned firm, Miramax) [...]
The premier issue of a new magazine, Notorious, featured an article by Sean Bosker that described his experience of "going to confession" at four New York-area Catholic Churches. In his piece, "I Confess: Gettin’ Off Easy," Bosker instructed non-Catholics how to engage in a mock confession. Himself a non-Catholic, Bosker detailed what it was like for him [...]
The Catholic League has had an interesting relationship with HBO (Home Box Office) over the years. The bad news is that HBO airs its share of shows that are offensive to Catholics; the good news is that when we complain, they listen and make changes. Such was the case with the Denis Leary "Lock-N-Load" comedy show. [...]
The November Catalyst carried a story about the five Orthodox Jewish students at Yale University who objected to the sexually-charged living arrangements on campus. They were told by Yale that they could opt to live off campus only if they agreed to buy their way out: they were told to pay room and board fees of $7,000. The [...]
Never before in television history has a show been more praised by the critics and more panned by the public than "Nothing Sacred." Virtually every TV critic in the country has used superlatives to describe the show while demonstrating nothing but utter contempt for the public that refuses to like it. One gets the distinct feeling [...]
In December, a senior official at Sony called the league to say that a serious mistake had been made by their San Antonio office: it had inadvertently released, in a few parts of the country, a CD that Sony had agreed to retire, O Come All Ye Faithful. Readers of Catalyst will remember that the Catholic League threatened a [...]
In November, a woman was jailed in Miami for prostitution. For some reason, the news wire service, Reuters, felt compelled to note that the 39-year-old hooker was "a former Catholic high school student." Had she at one time worked for Reuters, we doubt that her former status would have been mentioned. In December, a New Jersey [...]
Levitz Furniture Corporation has instructed its ad agency "to immediately pull our commercials from the series ["Nothing Sacred"]. A spokeswoman for the company wrote to Catholic League president William Donohue saying, "I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to you and your members…." Levitz is the 36th company to withdraw sponsorship of the show. Those [...]
William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, commented as follows on the January 24 episode of the ABC show, "Nothing Sacred": "If anyone wants to know why ‘Nothing Sacred’ is a failure, just consider last Saturday night’s episode. It showed a parish in disarray and a nun who doesn’t know if she is coming or going. [...]
