This is the article that appeared in the October 2024 edition of Catalyst, our monthly journal. The date that prints out reflects the day that it was uploaded to our website. For a more accurate date of when the article was first published, check out the news release, here.

The crazies descended on Chicago, whipping up hatred against Jews and Christianity. Their goals are unambiguous: destroy Israel and destroy Christian sexual ethics. The former is easier to comprehend, but the latter deserves more attention, especially as it relates to the former. First a little background.

According to a New York Times story last November, “On Oct. 7, scores of Hamas gunmen swept into Israel towns and military bases near the border with Gaza, opening fire on people in their homes, on the streets, and at a music festival. The attackers fatally shot the elderly, women and young children, according to survivors; others were burned after attackers set their homes ablaze.” Most—70 percent—were civilians.

The protesters in Chicago are not upset with Hamas for killing 1,200 innocent Jewish civilians on October 7, 2023. Their only regret is that they didn’t finish the job.

“March On The DNC 2024, Chicago, IL,” is the name of the coalition. Its central aim is “Stand with Palestine! End U.S. Aid to Israel” and to “stop our government from arming and supporting this genocide!” But it also lists as one of its goals, “Defend LGBTQIA+ & Reproductive Rights!”

A look at some of the groups that are part of the coalition underscores the nexus between the political (anti-Israel) and the sexual (anti-Christianity) aspects of the protest.

Bodies Outside of Unjust Laws says, “We demand national legislation to expand access to abortion, support families, and defend the rights of trans and queer people.” It explains its founding, stating, “We are a national coalition formed to demand a federal response to the wave of attacks on our bodily autonomy.” Naturally, they add, “We demand an end to US funds going to the genocide in Palestine.”

CODEPINK not only hates Jews and hates Christian sexual ethics, it wants to kill unborn children in Israel. Earlier this year, it issued an urgent call for “Reproductive Justice in Gaza/Palestine & Everywhere!” Of course, it demands an end to U.S. aid to Israel. It showed what a fraud it is when it said it was “an enthusiastic supporter of the rights of gay and lesbians to join and serve openly in the military,” but after that goal was achieved it issued the following statement: “To the LGBT community: Now that you can join the military, please don’t!” For good measure, it also wants to “Defund the Police, Defund the Military.”

Democratic Socialists of America not only has nothing to say about the Hamas attack on innocent Israelis on October 7, it blames Jews for defending themselves. “Since October 7, Israel has continuously engaged in provocative military aggression, aimed at expanding its brutal war into Lebanon.” It is also an “advocate for LGBTQIA+ liberation.”

Jewish Voice for Peace is a pro-Hamas organization that has played a prominent role in demonstrations against Israel. Its Chicago affiliate is part of the coalition; it has previously supported the Chicago Dyke March Collective. Its members “were present at Dyke March wearing Jewish symbols, including Stars of David, t-shirts with Hebrew, kippot, and sashes with Yiddish script.”

Thank God for Abortion—yes, such a group exists—has been around for several years. Although it is primarily interested in killing kids, its members have launched protests in Grand Central Station in New York City on behalf of Hamas. It also pays for a float at Gay Pride Parades. Its leader, a young woman, brags openly about her two abortions, saying to her followers, “I celebrate your life to have 20 abortions—I’ll throw you a party.”

In the 1960s, Wilhelm Reich, a cultural Marxist from the radical Frankfurt School, helped create the intellectual seedbeds that led to the pro-Hamas and pro-LGBT coalition. He blended Freud’s ideas with those of Marx, envisioning a world where individuals would enjoy sexual liberation and society would experience a revolution. It was only fitting that he was a sex maniac and a member of the Communist Party.

That is what is driving the Chicago protesters. They see oppression everywhere. Hence, they are convinced that the only true liberation is to shed their sexual and political shackles. According to their logic, Israel must be destroyed because it is an outpost of Western oppression and Christianity must be destroyed because it promotes sexual repression.

These people are not only mad, they are a threat to a free society. A sensible society would deal with them with dispatch.

This is the article that appeared in the October 2024 edition of Catalyst, our monthly journal. The date that prints out reflects the day that it was uploaded to our website. For a more accurate date of when the article was first published, check out the news release, here.

In 2016, Donald Trump squared off against Hillary Clinton, and he won the Catholic vote by a margin of 52 to 45. In 2020, Trump narrowly took the Catholic vote, beating Joe Biden 50-49.

Two recent polls of Catholics came to different conclusions. An EWTN News/RealClear Opinion Research survey showed Harris winning 50-43 over Trump. But a Pew Research poll showed Trump winning 52-47.

Why the difference? One reason may be because the EWTN survey was based on self-identified Catholics; the Pew survey was based on Catholics who are registered voters.

In virtually every instance, Protestants tend to vote Republican and Jews tend to vote Democrat. Catholics are the swing vote—they can go for either Party.

It is important to note that there are more Independents than there are Republicans or Democrats. They constitute a plurality of voters.

In short, Catholics and Independents may decide the election.

This is the article that appeared in the October 2024 edition of Catalyst, our monthly journal. The date that prints out reflects the day that it was uploaded to our website. For a more accurate date of when the article was first published, check out the news release, here.

The 2024 Democratic platform notes, “For generations, LGBTQI+ Americans have summoned the courage to live authentically and proudly, even when it meant putting their lives and livelihoods at risk.”

However, it seems the speakers at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) could not summon “the courage” to speak “authentically and proudly” about their full-throated endorsement of the most radical LGBT policies ever implemented. They appear to be unwilling to put their political “lives and livelihoods at risk.” Even taking a fleeting second to explain who the “+” people are appears to have been too much for them.

No, rather than defending the record of the Biden-Harris administration, the DNC featured a stealth campaign to obfuscate the barbarism and depravity at the heart of the policies promoted over the last four years. Instead, the DNC has chosen to put a “joyful” and moderate spin on their agenda in hopes of appealing to normal voters in the swing-states.

While the Democrats might lack the fortitude to highlight their “accomplishments” on these issues, here is just a brief summary of what the Biden-Harris administration has done:

• On the first day of the Biden-Harris administration, it implemented an executive order allowing boys into the girls restrooms and locker rooms and to compete in girls sports.
• The Biden-Harris administration has rolled back religious liberty protections for medical providers compelling them to provide “gender affirming care.”
• The Biden-Harris administration has routinely championed the Equality Act. This act would effectively gut religious liberty protections and eviscerate women’s sports and other legal protections. It would compel Catholic Hospitals to provide “gender affirming care.”
• The Biden-Harris administration adopted a rule that if foster parents refused to support “gender affirming care” they would have their children taken from them.
• The Biden-Harris administration regularly condemned states like Florida, Texas, and Tennessee for defending parental rights and protecting children from mutilation in the name of “gender affirming care.”
• The Biden-Harris administration sought an appeal to mandate that Catholic doctors and hospitals would have to provide “gender-transition” surgeries.

You would not have heard any mention of these policies from the DNC speakers. There were platitudes about children “being who they are and loving who they love” as Michelle Obama put it, or Barack Obama’s insistence “that true freedom gives each of us the right to make decisions about our own life,…what our family looks like,…[and] who we marry….”

The DNC speakers were happy to go on about “book banning.” Vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, and Secretary Pete Buttigieg were happy to mention this. Of course, they left out that the books are not being banned, but instead, parents are calling on education officials to keep books out of schools that are not age-appropriate (they feature graphic sexual content).

But what makes this political expedience even more outrageous is for the past four years we have been told by the Biden-Harris administration that “trans” kids are facing a crisis in this country. To drive this point home, they have turned to Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services Rachel Levine, a man who pretends to be a woman. Levine has assured us that “Gender-affirming care is medical care. It is mental health care. It is suicide prevention care. It improves quality of life, and it saves lives.” If what he says is true, why would the DNC not give him a prominent platform to highlight this?

We at the Catholic League have the courage these speakers lack. This is why we had a billboard calling for the end of gender transitioning just outside of the United Center. Additionally, we ran 30 radio ads on WLS 890 AM, one of the most prominent radio stations in Chicago. The radical LGBT agenda seeks to upend our nation, and the promotion of gender affirming care for minors is child abuse. This is a critical issue that we will never walk away from. The American people need to be leveled with, but the DNC speakers won’t do that.

Bill in the News (Fox News): Catholic League President Bill Donohue told Fox News Digital on Monday that Harris’ snub of the Al Smith dinner sent “an unmistakable message to Catholics.” The campaign previously told the media that Harris would not attend the dinner in order to campaign in a battleground state.

Simultaneously to skipping the Al Smith dinner, Harris held a campaign rally in Wisconsin, where she told two pro-life student protesters that they were “at the wrong rally” when they yelled, “Jesus is Lord,” and, “Christ is King” last Thursday. READ MORE HERE

Bill Donohue

Can abortion be funny? Some think so. While most liberals would not agree that it is, it remains true that the only ones who do are secular liberals. Some are prominent Americans. If they are not mocking pro-lifers, they are joking about abortion.

On October 17, Vice President Kamala Harris mocked Christian students, much to the applause of her fans. When Harris began to defend abortion at a Wisconsin rally, two young people shouted, “Christ is King.” She could have let it go. Instead, she berated them.

“You guys are at the wrong rally.” As is her wont, she laughed heartily, and the crowd loved it. Yet when pro-Hamas protesters shout her down, she simply insists on her free speech rights. But on this occasion, that was obviously deemed inadequate. These were Christians—they deserved to be belittled.

Recently, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer insulted Catholics by going for the jugular—she ridiculed the Eucharist. We made sure everyone found out about it. Then she lied about what she did. What was not generally reported was how she reacted when the subject of abortion came up.

Liz Plank, the podcaster with whom Whitmer mocked Holy Communion, said to the governor, “Okay, and you have two daughters. When they come back home and they leave their Stanley Cups lying around, do you ever think about getting a post-birth abortion?” Whitmer broke out into uncontrollable laughter, saying, “Thank you for raising that because there is no such thing.”

In fact, there is. Babies are born alive as a result of a botched abortion. Some not only live to tell their story, they have organized to inform Americans about it. Yet Whitmer thinks it’s funny. If she had any guts she would confront these survivors face-to-face, and then share her sense of humor with them.

Less well known pro-abortion advocates think the same way. About a decade ago, some male students at Hunter College in New York City decided to play a game mocking abortion. They stuffed balloons under their shirts, pretending to be pregnant, and then used plastic forks and knives on each other to pop the balloons. Students yelled, “Kill that baby! Kill it!”

Four years ago a girl went on TikTok bragging about her second abortion. Two years ago she was outdone by Alison Leiby. She performed a comedy show, “Oh God, a Show About Abortion.” It was a celebration of her recent abortion. Why did she do it? “I wrote the show to help people understand and laugh about abortion.” That way more women will find it easier to make the decision to abort their child, and may even get a good chuckle out of it.

Almost as bad as these people are those with whom they live and work and refuse to confront them. Many of them know it is sick to laugh about abortion, but they don’t want to appear “judgmental.” But that in itself is a judgment.

Our society has become increasingly debased. When abortion is treated as legitimate comedic fare, the most vulnerable among us are next in line. History shows that desensitizing the population yields ugly results.

Michael P. McDonald

On October 25, Conclave will appear in movie theaters across the country. This thriller about a fictitious papal-election has garnered glowing reviews on the film festival circuit. In fact, the movie has garnered a 94 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes.

In its fawning review, the Hollywood Reporter notes, “The film raises timely issues of sexual and racist prejudices within organized religion, while also acknowledging the sexual scandals that have rocked the Church in recent years.” Entertainment Weekly adds that “much of the film interrogates the gap between the Catholic Church’s sins and the true meaning of faith….”

Since Conclave is about the intrigue surrounding the election of a new pope, one might wonder how these negative elements fit into the plot. Unfortunately, the reviews are scarce on specific details, but looking at the 2016 novel it is based on provides more insight.

Like the movie, the novel revolves around the political intrigue of a papal election. Of course, the leading candidates have some sort of moral failing.

• Cardinal Joshua Adeyemi from Africa who holds traditional views had an affair with a nun and fathered a child ruling him out of contention.
• Cardinal Joseph Tremblay a smooth Vatican insider is involved in a scandal of selling Church offices and appointments to bolster his support.
• Liberal Cardinal Aldo Bellini who favors modernizing the Church is a suffering hero rejected by the College of Cardinals.
• Foiling Bellini is the ultra-conservative Cardinal Goffredo Tedesco, a boorish man.

In the middle of the conclave there is an attack by Islamic terrorists prompting Tedesco to effectively call for a new crusade, ending his candidacy. Ultimately, the conclave selects Cardinal Vincent Benítez, a relatively unknown prelate from the Philippines who currently serves as the Archbishop of Baghdad. In a final twist, it turns out Benítez is intersex with what looks to be male reproductive organs but is female.

The author, Robert Harris, claims he has no real religious tradition. However, he is a devout British liberal, even authoring a novel to attack Tony Blair, which was made into a film in collaboration with sexual predator Roman Polanski. In fact, the pair worked on three films. Harris even defended Polanski from his critics saying his crimes are a problem of culture and fashion.

In the novel’s Acknowledgements, Harris cites a slew of dissident Catholic writers including John Cornwell, a British author known for the totally discredited book Hitler’s Pope.

It is equally instructive to consider what some of the people associated with the movie have said:

• Director Edward Berger—”If the Catholic Church wants to survive and take a step into the future it needs to change quickly….”
• Leading actor Ralph Fiennes—”When religious things become so codified, so doctrinal and extreme, then they become for me very frightening.” He then criticized Pope Benedict XVI, “I don’t think anyone who considers themselves an enlightened Catholic can like him.”
• Supporting actor Stanley Tucci played the anti-Catholic Boston lawyer Mitchell Garabedian in Spotlight, lauding his work. That tells us volumes about Tucci’s real agenda.

Given what we know about Conclave from the fawning critics, the novel, and what people associated with the film have said, Conclave is more a piece of anti-Catholic propaganda than it is a work of art. It might have stunning cinematic sequences and a star studded cast, but those things do not redeem the underlying ugliness of the project, namely it aims to paint the Catholic Church in the most negative light possible.

Bill in the News (The Washington Stand): Roman Catholic commentators offered another explanation for her absence: “None of us like to go to a party where we feel out of place. This explains why Kamala Harris decided to stiff New York Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan and skip the Al Smith Dinner,” said Bill Donohue of the Catholic League in an email sent to The Washington Stand. READ MORE HERE

Bill in the News (Pro America Report): Bill Donohue discusses the Al Smith Dinner and what it means that VP Harris skipped it this year with Ed Martin. To listen, click here.

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Bill in the News (Catholic Connection): Bill Donohue talks with Teresa Tomeo about Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s non-apology for the anti-Catholic “Dorito” video. To Listen, click here. (Bill’s Segment Begins at 34:50)