The National Catholic Reporter (NCA), a weekly left-wing newspaper, is now in the business of “outing” past sexual indiscretions committed by orthodox Catholics. To wit: it was its decision to report on a case of alleged sexual misconduct involving orthodox Catholic publisher Deal Hudson that led to his resignation as an adviser to the Bush campaign. Catholic League president William Donohue addressed this issue today:
“Effective today, the Catholic League has a new requirement for all future employees: all candidates must show proof of being immaculately conceived, that is, they must demonstrate that they were conceived without sin.
“We fully understand that we have raised the bar very high, but in light of the revelation that the National Catholic Reporter decided to expose a sexual harassment charge against Deal Hudson—one that was made almost a decade ago by a drunken female he met in a bar—we at the Catholic League are not prepared to take any chances. Unfortunately, we will not be able to make our new requisite retroactive, for to do so would mean the Catholic League would have to shut down. You see, unlike the puritans at the NCR, we at the Catholic League are sinners.
“Tom Roberts, the editor of the National Catholic Reporter, cannot defend a single Catholic teaching on sexuality. I know, because I made this charge to him on national TV and he could not respond. Yet he is the same person who says the reason he decided to ‘out’ Deal Hudson is because Hudson had criticized Ono Ekeh, founder of Catholics for Kerry. Hudson was critical of Ekeh for defending a champion of abortion (Ekeh was subsequently fired from his job at the bishops’ conference). Regarding this incident, Roberts says his newspaper ‘decided he’s [Hudson] such a public figure and he’s been uncompromising in judging other people’s behavior.’ So this was the trigger that led the NCR to be uncompromising in judging Hudson’s behavior with a drunk almost a decade ago. Take note, people—this is their understanding of what it means to be Catholic.”
