Some of the highlights of 2000 are recounted here, drawn from the various thematic sections that make up this report.

The year 2000 saw a presidential election. The Catholic League is not a political organization, nor does it align itself with any political party or agenda. However, the Catholic League speaks out when the political process or government agencies, whatever their affiliation, interfere with the rights of Catholics or the Catholic Church. It can be over a simple matter, such as in Shirley, MA where inmates in a state prison had their rosary beads confiscated. Or it could be on the national scene, where a Catholic priest was denied the position as House chaplain.

The House chaplain issue actually began in 1999 and was not resolved until March 2000 with the selection of Father Daniel Coughlin, vicar for priests of the Archdiocese of Chicago. An 18-member House committee (nine Republicans and nine Democrats) presented three finalists for the chaplain vacancy to the House leadership, with the top choice being Father Timothy O’Brien, a Marquette University professor.

During the selection process, Father O’Brien was subject to outrageous questions that showed signs of lingering anti-Catholic prejudices at work. He was asked whether his Roman collar might be a divisive obstacle in ministering to congressional representatives, though his Protestant predecessor had worn a collar for decades. He was also questioned whether a celibate priest could minister to families, though priests have been doing such counseling for centuries.

House leadership then named Reverend Charles Wright, a Presbyterian minister, to the position. When it was acknowledged by Republican House leadership that members would be more comfortable with a Protestant minister, the Catholic League protested, wondering when a “Catholic priests need not apply” sign was posted for the House chaplain position. The Catholic League asked for an examination of the selection process to determine if anti-Catholicism had been a determining factor. As New York Times columnist William Safire put it, “All hell — perhaps all Hell — has broken loose.”

When a report was issued in January on the selection process, the Catholic League was not satisfied. House leadership attempted to strong-arm the Catholic League into folding on the issue, but our public response was to tell them to “take a hike.” In late January, the House vote on the chaplain position was postponed. When it was reported that the Rev. Billy Graham had called House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s office asking him not to abandon Rev. Wright, Graham issued a statement—sent to the Catholic League—that Speaker Hastert had called him, and that he “did not and could not take sides on this issue.”

Writing in the Newark Star Ledger, Paul Mulshine said that Hastert and House Majority Leader Dick Armey “are engaging in a shouting match” with Catholic League president William Donohue over the issue. “Sometimes league officials get carried away,” Mulshine wrote, “but that’s all the more reason that no politician in his right mind would get them started.” On March 23rd, in an extraordinary move, Hastert announced on the House floor that Rev. Wright had withdrawn at Hastert’s request, and introduced Father Coughlin as the new House chaplain.

In the midst of this controversy, then-Texas Governor George W. Bush launched his South Carolina primary bid with a speech at Bob Jones University. The Catholic League objected, noting that Bob Jones University was notoriously anti-Catholic and that its website identified the Catholic Church as “The Mother of Harlots.” The university also was noted for its racially discriminatory policies, including a ban on interracial dating. Governor Bush eventually wrote a letter of regret to Cardinal John O’Connor for not rejecting the university’s anti-Catholic policies outright, and sent a copy of the letter to the Catholic League. On February 28, 2000, Donohue was asked by Matt Lauer on the “Today” show whether Bush’s apology was sufficient. The Catholic League president said it was, and this put the issue to rest.

The Catholic League also took strong exception when U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez, vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee, scheduled a fund-raising event at the Playboy Mansion during the Democratic national convention in August. Bill Donohue wrote to Vice President Al Gore asking him to cancel the event. Scheduled for August 15th, the league noted the offensiveness of holding an event at such a venue on the Feast of the Assumption. The league also condemned the association with an organization that exploits women and has funded anti-Catholic organizations such as Catholics for a Free Choice. In addition, the leaders of Playboy Enterprises—Hugh and Christie Hefner—had made numerous derogatory comments about the Church and Catholic teaching.

When Gore’s response was unsatisfactory, the Catholic League issued a press release condemning the planned “Gorgy,” then held a press conference in front of Playboy Enterprises in New York. This was followed by an ad in the Washington, D.C. newspaper Roll Call outlining the Catholic League’s position and demanding that Vice President Gore cancel the event. After announcing a “web war” and enlisting assistance from supporters in the Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist communities, the league wrote to Senator Joseph Lieberman asking his assistance. On August 11th, William Donohue appeared on “Hardball” on national television calling for Sanchez to be fired by Vice President Gore, or for the event to be moved. A few hours later, Sanchez announced that the fundraiser would be relocated.

As it does before each presidential election, a motley group of dissenting Catholics called Catholics Speak Out, with the financial support of non-Catholics, sought to define Church teachings in their own way in a full-page advertisement in the New York Times. The political advertisement claimed that Catholic views on abortion were not “monolithic.” The Catholic League responded in the same issue with an advertisement stating that just “as there are not diverse Catholic teachings on genocide or racial discrimination, there is no legitimate diversity in Catholic teaching on abortion.”

On July 11, the Washington D.C. Council passed a bill mandating health insurance coverage for contraceptives that did not allow for an exemption for Catholic institutions. It was not an oversight. During the debate on the bill, council member Jim Graham called the Catholic Church homophobic and warned his colleagues against “deferring to Rome.” The Catholic League called for the censure and resignation of Graham, as well as a reversal of the council’s measure as the state attempting to impose its will on religion. As Congress has oversight of council action, measures were immediately taken by Rep. Ernest Istook, who chaired the D.C. appropriations committee. He promised that the legislation would not be accepted without a “conscience clause” to exempt Catholic institutions.

Congressman James P. Moran of Virginia then decided to lash-out at Catholicism in support of Graham. Moran complained of the “hypocrisy of the Catholic Church as an institution towards homosexuality.” To compound the offense, an aide to Congressman Moran then deleted the attack from the Congressional Record. The congressman was told that he had violated ethics rules that prohibit such alterations.

Most of the Catholic League’s interventions in 2000 did not involve politics. In April, officials of New Jersey Transit cancelled the appearance of a Catholic entertainment group at the grand opening of a new light rail system “because of separation of Church and State.” A gospel group from a local Baptist church was allowed to perform. The Catholic League blasted the unequal treatment to the press, then called the governor’s office for an explanation. New Jersey Transit admitted they were mistaken and issued a full apology.

At Denver International Airport authorities banned the announcement of upcoming Catholic masses on Sundays and holy days at an interfaith chapel used by Christians, Jews and Muslims. One person had complained that the announcements on the public address system were a violation of separation of Church and State. The local American Civil Liberties Union chapter supported the ban, arguing that only Catholic services were announced. It was not mentioned that the other members of the interfaith chapel supported the Catholic announcements and chose not to use the public address system. The Catholic League protested and in December, the airport authorities announced a revised rule that allowed a public announcement of the existence of the chapel and a number to call for scheduled services. The Catholic League responded that was just a gag rule aimed specifically at Catholics under threats from the ACLU.

Press coverage of the Catholic Church is often slanted from the perspective of a cultural agenda. No better example of that appeared in 2000 than the Kansas City Star series on an alleged AIDS epidemic in the priesthood. Beginning in its January 30th edition, the Kansas City Star ran a series of articles claiming an AIDS epidemic in the priesthood caused by the Church’s teaching on homosexuality, the practice of celibacy and the failure of the Church to teach “safe sex” in seminaries. The series also claimed that the Church was attempting to hide the epidemic and, as a result, priests with the disease died alone and without support.

The series was based, in part, on a survey conducted of Catholic priests by the Star and investigation of death certificates of priests which claimed to show that the death rate among priests was four times the general population rate. The Catholic League responded with an examination of the Star’s survey of priests by Center for Media and Public Affairs. The Center found that the survey was based on only a 27 percent response rate, with no geographic or demographic balance sought in the responses. Additionally, the Star’s claim of a higher rate was in error as it compared the death rate to the general population, rather than to adult males. Adjusted accordingly, there was no discernable difference. Finally, the investigation into death rates was flawed as it made national claims based on regional investigation. The Catholic League charged that the survey and series smacked of an agenda, rather than a serious investigation. Few newspapers gave much credence to the series, and a follow-up that intended to “prove” the allegations collapsed from the same faulty research and evident journalistic prejudice.

An ongoing difficulty in the press throughout 2000 was the appearance of advertisements in various newspapers from the Eternal Gospel Church, a breakaway Seventh-Day Adventist sect, or from a similar breakaway group, the Sweetwater Seventh-Day Adventist Church. The anti-Catholic advertisement—under the headline “Earth’s Final Warning”—calls the Catholic faith false, says its leadership is corrupting Catholics, and equates the Church with the biblical Whore of Babylon. Whenever the ad appeared in a newspaper, the Catholic League immediately asked the publisher to refrain from accepting adds filled with such hate speech in the future, just as ads would be rejected from neo-Nazis or the KKK. In 2000, publications such as the Columbian in Washington State, the Baltimore Sun, the Huntsville Times, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Arizona Republic, the Athens Messenger and The Sun in San Bernardino, CA agreed that running the advertisement was a mistake and many chose to run an apology to readers.

The Oregonian of Portland, Oregon, refused to promise not to run the advertisement, singing a song about freedom of speech. The Fresno Bee made a similar cliched response, but did publish an op-ed piece from the Catholic League which stated that “this is not an issue of ‘free speech’ in any sense of its meaning in journalism. This was a commercial transaction between the Fresno Bee and the Eternal Gospel Church. It was a paid advertisement, not a news story, opinion piece or editorial. The Fresno Bee decided to accept money for an advertisement that dealt squarely and entirely in religious bigotry and published it within its pages.”

A different battle with a newspaper took place after the Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Washington, ran a short news item in its November 8th edition headlined, “Nazi priest promotes his book.” The story was simply a brief news item announcing a talk and a book signing by Father Robert Spitzer, president of Gonzaga University in Spokane. When contacted by Bill Donohue, the paper explained that the headline was an “error” and that an apology would appear the next day. Donohue responded that it was not an error. He charged someone at the paper had deliberately defamed Father Spitzer because he had banned Planned Parenthood from speaking at the university campus the previous spring.

The Catholic League then contacted all the major newspapers across the country and the TV and radio stations in the Spokane area. Within 24 hours, intern Robin Moody was asked to resign by the newspaper’s editors for writing the headline. Though Donohue didn’t know it when he predicted the connection between the story and Father Spitzer’s previous action, Moody had been the president of the women’s studies club at Gonzaga who had sought to bring a Planned Parenthood spokesman to the campus.

Attacks on Pope Pius XII, claiming that he was a virtual collaborator in the Holocaust, continued throughout 2000 and the Catholic League vociferously defended his legacy. These attacks are most often based on an anti-Catholic agenda and have nothing to do with historical truth. One of the most vicious and biased attacks took place on a March 19th edition of CBS’ “60 Minutes.” Relying almost solely on John Cornwell’s notorious book, Hitler’s Pope, correspondent Ed Bradley allowed Cornwell to be unchallenged in his attacks on Pius. This, despite reviews such as that by Newsweek’s Kenneth Woodward which described Hitler’s Pope as “a classic example of what happens when an ill-equipped journalist assumes the air of sober scholarship…Errors of fact and ignorance of context appear on almost every page.” That critique, along with others, was published by the Catholic League in an advertisement less than two weeks later in the New York Times condemning “the revisionist history of ’60 Minutes.'”

The Catholic League would go after “60 Minutes” again later in the year when it interviewed Catholics For a Free Choice head Frances Kissling for a story on Catholic hospitals merging with secular institutions. The story’s agenda was the “threat” this posed to access to contraceptives and abortion. Kissling stated that, “Doctors are no longer gods. Now we have bishops who are gods.”

Donohue blasted “60 Minutes” for seeking out Kissling as an “expert,” considering her years of anti-Catholic activity and the fact that the U.S. bishops had twice denounced CFFC for fraudulently posing as a Catholic group. A few months earlier, the Catholic League also exposed CFFC’s anti-Catholic background and activities to media around the country. And when Kissling released the results of a survey in October that purportedly showed 60 percent of Catholic voters supported legal abortion, Donohue dug into the survey and proved that the actual results showed that only 6 percent supported abortion law as it exists today.

Catholics for a Free Choice took a leadership role in attempting to downgrade the status of the Vatican at the United Nations in its “See Change” campaign. This was a blatant attempt to silence a voice that CFFC opposes and, on July 11, the Catholic League was delighted when the U.S. House of Representatives approved by 416-1 a resolution denouncing those efforts. The Catholic League had written to all House members in March asking for their support of the resolution.

The voucher campaign continued to bring out the anti-Catholics who would rather use bigotry than reasoned arguments to advance their position. In the student newspaper at Michigan State University on October 10th, a cartoon ran with a Christ-like figure nailed to a cross. Across the figure’s chest was written “Public Schools” and atop the cross was the inscription, “Proposal 1,” a ballot initiative for vouchers. President William McPherson of Michigan State told the Catholic League that he was outraged by the cartoon and issued a public statement condemning it.

The Detroit Free Press ran an anti-voucher editorial cartoon that referred to a “Vouch-O-Matic” that destroys the constitution and sucks millions out of public education. The last panel of the cartoon said, “To order, Rush Your Tax Dollars To: The Roman Catholic Church” care of the pro-voucher organization in Michigan. A patently dishonest anti-voucher television campaign aired in Michigan showed a disabled child in a wheelchair with the statement, “private schools are allowed to reject disabled students like Angelica.” In fact, Michigan law barred any such discrimination whether the school was public or private, while those in the forefront of the anti-voucher campaign lost in a 1993 bid to stop public funds from being spent on handicapped children in private schools. The Catholic League contacted virtually every TV outlet in the state and the ads were pulled from many stations.

Popular culture continued to dip into anti-Catholic polemics to get a headline. Singer, actress, and infomercial huckster Cher released a new CD called “Not Commercial” in November. One song on the CD was called “Sisters of Mercy.” Allegedly written based on tales told to Cher by her mother, the song called the Sisters of Mercy “daughters of hell,” “masters of pain” and “mothers of shame.” The Catholic League accused her of taking a cheap shot that costs nothing in Hollywood, and Pat Scully went on the NBC show “Extra” to denounce the song. Cher had almost nothing to say in response.

Marilyn Manson’s new CD “Holy Wood” was replete with anti-Catholic imagery and violence. Among his songs were “Godeatgod” and “Cruci-fixion in Space.” The Catholic League denounced the alleged musician as a bigot who appeared in a video dressed as a bishop and performs wearing a bishop’s miter. On his website, Manson responded by saying, “I can’t possibly be at war with Christ, because your religion killed him and what he stood for.” Ann Powers of the New York Times reviewed a Manson concert and noted, without disapproval, his anti-Catholic taunts.

There were certain books that raised concerns in 2000. They are not included in the Annual Report because they were not specifically meant to be anti-Catholic. But they were often used by bigots to weigh-in against the Church. A book such as Garry Wills’ Papal Sin, released in June, may not have been intended as a screed. Yet, Wills charged that the Catholic Church exists in a system of lies, falsifications, and misrepresentations meant to prop up papal authority and are part of a fabricated “structure of deceit.” While Wills may have intended his book to be meant for Church reform from his particular perspective, his vindictive language aimed at the papacy was used as a source by those out to attack the Church, particularly in the press. Another such work, though the author’s intent seemed far more insidious, was The Silence of Sodom, Homosexuality in Modern Catholicism. Released in July by University of Chicago Press, it was written by Mark D. Jordan, a former Catholic seminary instructor who teaches religion at Emory University. A self-described “openly gay man,” Jordan drafted his book while on a paid fellowship from the John S. Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. In the book he claims to find in Catholicism in general, and the priesthood in particular, a dominant “homoerotic” culture. It is central to liturgy, the sacraments, and the priesthood itself. Church teachings that condemn homosexual practices are “efforts to keep the dreaded ‘secret’ from being spoken.”

The business world still panders to anti-Catholicism. Insight Media offered a catalogue of videos and CD-ROMS for high school and college students. Everything from Animism to voodoo was treated with fairness in its religion section. Under Roman Catholicism, there were two listings: one on the Inquisition, the other on the Church’s “origins and growth into a political force in world events.” Both are negative portrayals of Catholicism. Catholic League members protested and the head of the company announced that his staff would more carefully screen new videos on Catholicism.

Bear Basics, a store in Berkeley, California offered T-shirts for sale that said “F— Christmas,” though the shirt spelled out the actual obscenity. When the Catholic League inquired, it was informed that there were no similar T-shirts in regard to Hanukkah. Of course, the forced secularization of Christmas was evident in numerous commercial businesses and Internet shopping guides. While Hanukkah remained properly represented in its religious context, Christmas was consistently reduced to its secular symbols, if not eliminated completely. At 1-800-FLOWERS.com there were no religious items for Christmas, but a Star of David charm necklace for Hanukkah was featured. The Christmas selection for FTD.com had all secular items but sold Star Shaped Hanukkah cookies while Hallmark’s “Holiday Gifts” selection had no religious items for Christmas. Altavista.com explained the secular meaning of Christmas but offered a religious interpretation of Hanukkah. Yahoo.com listed six religions under “Religious Holidays,” but only one of them is presented with an “Opposing Views” category—Christmas.

The Internet has also become a vast supplier of anti-Catholicism in digital form to make certain that bigotry moves into the 21st Century. The Internet search engine Excite offers web users the service of typing in words when doing an Internet search. When the words “Mother Teresa” were typed and searched, among the matches listed was a profane title for a pornographic website. Excite corrected the offense after being contacted by the Catholic League.

Slate magazine’s Jack Shafer wrote a piece in response to a column in the New York Times Magazine about anti-Catholicism. Shafer argued that, “If anti-Catholic bigotry exists in America, it might have something to do with the Catholic Church’s past conduct. Just this weekend, His Holiness John Paul II conceded as much when he finally got around to apologizing to the world for 2000 years of Catholic wickedness.” Shafer also compared the pope to Louis Farrakhan: “But tap-dancing away from accountability more beautifully than Farrakhan, the pope absolved the Catholic Church of blame because it is ‘holy and immaculate.'” In December, Salon. posted an article allegedly written by a 15-year-old girl charging that her school is anti-gay. The piece, “Teens, Sex and God” accused the Catholic Church of hating gays and contributing to “intolerant attitudes” that “contribute greatly to teen depression and suicide.”

A sad development is the continued vandalism against Catholic churches. The Catholic League reported acts of vandalism and desecrations in Maryland, Alabama, Alaska and New Jersey. Media in the United States were virtually mute when a church desecration took place in Montreal in March. A group of radical feminists invaded Mary Queen of the World Cathedral. They painted “No God, no masters” on one of the altars, overturned flowerpots, and stuck sanitary napkins—some soiled—to pictures and walls. The New York Times report from Montreal the day after focused on a Quebec controversy over whether Pokemon cards should be issued in French.

A series of attacks on Catholic statues took place in Brooklyn, NY. Primus St. Croix, an illegal immigrant, confessed to the vandalism and was sentenced to five years probation. At the same time, a man who had smeared paint on a dung-laden portrait of the Virgin Mary surrounded by pornographic pictures was sentenced to a year in jail and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine. The Catholic League requested that New York Senator Charles Schumer ask the U.S. Justice Department to investigate if St. Croix could be prosecuted under federal law that makes it unlawful for anyone “who intentionally damages or destroys the property of a place of religious worship.”

There are other means to attack the place of religion in American society and activist organizations were busy this year going after the expression of religious belief. As usual, the American Civil Liberties Union led the way with a host of silly lawsuits. Postings of the 10 Commandments seemed to attract most of the organization’s ire this year with suits filed in Nebraska, Kentucky, Indiana, and one deferred to Americans United for Separation of Church and State in Pittsburgh. Local ACLU chapters protested the erection of prison chapels at private expense in Louisiana, and the National Park Service folded to the ACLU over a memorial to World War I soldiers in California’s Mojave Desert that was in the shape of a cross. The ACLU is appealing a district court’s decision in Virginia that allowed a moment of silence in public schools. The ACLU protested because the “moment of silence” allowed the option of silent prayer.

The year ended with the usual burst of activity surrounding Christmas, with various activist organizations going berserk over any mention of the religious nature of the season. At the beginning of December, the Anti-Defamation League issued a pamphlet called, “The December Dilemma: Guidelines for Public Schools During the December Holidays.” The guidelines would virtually ban the use of the term “Christmas,” let alone religious symbols and explanations of the season. The Catholic League posted on its website a parody of the ADL guidelines called “The December Celebration” which outlined the many ways to legitimately and permissibly acknowledge the religious significance of Christmas within public schools.

The usual illegal attempts to ban from public property Nativity scenes that were paid for privately took place, with activist organizations relying on threats and intimidation. In Eugene, OR, the city manager banned the display of Christmas trees on public property in the name of “practicing diversity.” The level of absurdity reached the sublime in Vancouver, WA when bus drivers were ordered not to wear seasonal hats, neckties or vests that displayed “religious symbols” of the season. The transit authorities attempted to explain their position by citing the state Constitution. But the Catholic League noted that transit officials throughout the state had no such ban, though they obviously followed the same Constitution.

As the following Annual Report clearly shows, the unfortunate truth in America is that anti-Catholicism and Catholic bashing are alive and well. Only those who are hopelessly bigoted against Catholicism could maintain that this problem has disappeared. The goal of the Catholic League, the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organization, remains the same. It will continue to defend individual Catholics and the institutional Church from defamation and discrimination.

Robert P. Lockwood
Director of Research

March 10
Pro-abortion groups from around the country celebrated a “National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers.” The event was organized by a group called “Refuse and Resist!” On the group’s website, it described a “Christian fascist, fundamentalist morality” that has taken over the country. Joining the group was Catholics for a Free Choice, an anti-Catholic front group sponsored in large part by the Ford Foundation.

April 4
Kanawha County, WV — Science teachers in the Kanawha County school system unanimously approved recommending the purchase of Of Pandas and People, a science book that espouses an “intelligent design” theory on the origins of the universe. Though the American Civil Liberties Union has often stated as policy that the answer to alleged bad speech is more speech, the West Virginia chapter of the ACLU stepped in and advocated that the book be banned. School officials saying, “it wasn’t a book based on scientific reason and analysis” subsequently rejected the book.

April 23
San Francisco, CA — The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group of homosexuals dressed as nuns, once again scheduled events on Good Friday and Easter Sunday in downtown San Francisco. Good Friday saw a fetish fashion show, “Hot Cross Buns” that provided “a chance to get spanked.” On Easter Sunday, events concluded with the annual Easter Bonnet and “Hunky Jesus” contest. The “Sisters” receive tax-exempt status for their anti-Catholic activities, as well as full support from local government officials.

May 8
New York, NY — One hour before the funeral Mass for Cardinal John O’Connor, CNN interviewed Ann Northrop of the gay group ACT-UP and Kelli Conlin, a pro-abortion activist. Northrop stated, “He [O’Connor] was a bigot and he was very aggressive about promoting his bigotry.” Conlin stated that Cardinal O’Connor was unwilling to “open his mind and hearts” to alleged Catholics who were pro-abortion. The credibility of neither women was challenged by the reporter. Northrop was one of the ACT-UP members who broke into St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1989 to disrupt Mass and desecrate the Eucharist. Conlin is a radical pro-abortionist with a long record of anti-Church statements.

May
The website for Women Leaders referred to the Vatican as a “dictatorship.” The group was among those joining in the “See Change” effort to downgrade the Vatican’s status at the United Nations. The group’s advisory board, which included New York Democratic Reps. Nita Lowey, Louise Slaughter and Carolyn Maloney, as well as former New York Rep. Geraldine Ferraro, was abolished when the “See Change” effort drew controversy.

July 1
Virginia — The Virginia chapter of the ACLU sued the state over a new law requiring a moment of silence during which students would be allowed to “meditate, pray or engage in other silent activity.” The Virginia ACLU claimed the moment of silence was a violation of the separation of church and state. Executive director Kent Willis said the law would be constitutional if prayer was not mentioned. In September, the ACLU went into district court arguing that the schools were endorsing prayer by listing it as an option for students. The district court allowed the moment of silence to proceed. The ACLU is appealing that decision.

August
Colorado — When the Colorado Board of Education urged schools to post the words, “In God We Trust,” the ACLU announced it would sue if any schools actually posted the motto that has been on U.S. currency since the 19th century.

August
New Orleans, LA — The Louisiana chapter of the ACLU claimed the new license plates in New Orleans “entangles the state with religion.” The new plates read, “Choose Life.”

August
Chicago, IL — Over the summer, a religious group called Total Living Network decided to distribute more than 100,000 religious book covers to students in Chicago when they returned to class. The group People for the American Way warned school officials not to endorse the practice. The Norman Lear-founded organization complained that an inscription on the book covers listed the Ten Commandments.

September
New Orleans, LA — In reaction to a summer-long drought, Louisiana Governor Mike Foster issued a proclamation asking citizens to pray for rain. The local ACLU affiliate protested against “public officials who want to promote their personal beliefs from an elected perch and turn our country into a biblical theocracy not unlike that of a country called Iran.”

October/November
Michigan — Television advertisements run by “All Kids First,” a Michigan anti-voucher activist organization, showed a child in a wheelchair and stated that “private schools are allowed to reject disabled students.” The advertising was in error as Michigan law bars discrimination against persons with disabilities whether the school is private or public. After the Catholic League contacted virtually every television outlet in the state, the untruthful ads were pulled from many stations.

October 3
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) launched an advertising campaign using a reproduction of the Shroud of Turin, which many Catholics believe to be the burial cloth of Christ. The Shroud was reproduced with the words, “Make a Lasting Impression – Go Vegetarian.” The Catholic League protested the appropriation of Catholic symbols in service to a secular crusade.

October 14
Centereach, NY — Mr. Glenn Spencer of the California-based anti-immigration group Voices of Citizens Together spoke to 200 people at the local VFW. Spencer said the rising number of Mexican immigrants is part of a plan by Mexico to “re-conquer” the southwest United States. He said those taking part in the plan included the Mexican government, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, the Ford Foundation, Citibank and immigrants rights groups.

October 23
New York, NY — Catholics Speak Out — a fringe group of dissenting Catholics with support from non-Catholic donors—published a full-page ad in the New York Times claiming that there is no “monolithic” Catholic teaching on abortion. The Catholic League had its own ad in the Times in response, noting that just “as there are no diverse Catholic teachings on genocide or racial discrimination, there is no legitimate diversity in Catholic teaching on abortion.”

October 24
Washington, D.C. — Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC) released the results of a survey of Catholic voters in which Frances Kissling, CFFC president, claimed that 66 percent of Catholics support legalized abortion and 70 percent believe the Catholic bishops should not use the political arena to advance their agenda. Responding, William Donohue pointed out that in studying the results, the survey actually showed that only 6 percent of Catholics agreed with abortion law as it is accepted today and 61 percent say that abortion should never be acceptable or only in rare circumstances. Most media subsequently ignored the survey.

November 12-14
Washington, DC — Soulforce, a radical Christian group that seeks to change Christian teaching on homosexuality and other issues, disrupted Mass, interrupted a meeting of the bishops, then blocked the entrance to the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception during the annual gathering of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. Joined by Dignity, a group that rejects Church teaching on homosexuality, Soulforce claimed that Church teaching “about sexual minorities lead to suffering and death.”

The Catholic League responded by drawing attention to Leather Fest 2000 in New York. Held at the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center, it celebrated “20 years of pain and pleasure” by holding workshops on “rope bondage, mummification, fisting, flogging, and others.” The Catholic League noted that “this is what kills gays, not talk on abstinence.”

The Catholic League also said that “to disrupt religious services in a house of worship is the kind of thing that Nazis made famous” and concluded that, the protestors “need our prayers, but they also need to spend some time in jail.”

November 29
Baton Rouge, LA — The American Civil Liberties Union threatened to bring legal action against Louisiana Governor Mike Foster over the building of three new prison chapels. The chapels were to be built with private funds. Foster and his wife are co-chairs of the Louisiana Chapel Foundation which is overseeing the construction. ACLU attorney Joe Cook said, “It raises some issues of separation of church and state and favoring one religion. Some of the wardens have made it clear they have a preference for one religion over another—Christianity.”

November 29
Broken Bow, NE — The Nebraska chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union asked the city of Broken Bow to remove a nativity scene from the City Square. ACLU attorney Amy Miller of Lincoln asked Mayor Vaughn Lyne to remove the nativity scene, saying she received a complaint from a Broken Bow resident.

December
Throughout December, activist organizations worked to stamp out the religious significance of Christmas. As December began, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) issued a pamphlet, “The December Dilemma: Guidelines for Public Schools During the December holiday.” The guidelines would severely limit the mention of Christmas in public schools. The Catholic League responded with a parody of the ADL guidelines, called “The December Celebration,” which outlined exactly what is legitimate and permissible in the recognition of Christmas within public schools.

At the same time, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was challenging the erection of Nativity scenes in Lincoln, Nebraska; Lexington, Massachusetts; Lafayette, Indiana and elsewhere.

The Catholic League is does not condone the use of government funds to pay for the placement of religious symbols on public property, but supports the erection of such symbols if done voluntarily with private funding. The Catholic League secured a permit in New York City to erect a Nativity scene in Central Park, as it has done for the last several years. Jews erect a menorah and Muslims place a Crescent and Star.

December 4
Mojave Desert, CA — The ACLU targeted the National Park Service over a Mojave Desert memorial to local men who fought in World War I. The memorial was in the shape of a cross. The ACLU threatened legal action saying, “A cross promotes Christian beliefs over others, which is not the role of government.” The park service promised to remove the cross.

December 5
San Francisco, CA — The Philanthropy by Design charity group held a holiday party featuring entertainment by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The All Design Industry Holiday Party was held at the San Francisco Design Center/Galleria. When a San Francisco designer who is Catholic, complained, she was told the “sisters,” whose entertainment involves ridiculing nuns and Catholic teachings and practices, had performed at other charity events and “were not a problem.”

December 6
Washington County, IN — A settlement between the American Civil Liberties Union and Washington County officials will allow the Ten Commandments to be posted on public property. The settlement allows the commandments to be posted along with other historical documents. The original suit, filed by an Indiana resident, claimed the marker was a shrine in violation of the separation of church and state.

December 8
Allegheny County, PA — Americans United for the Separation of Church and State threatened to sue Allegheny County over a bronze plaque listing the Ten Commandments that has hung silently on the county courthouse since 1918. Robert Bronson of Americans United said the plaque is a violation of the First Amendment because it is outside a government building.

December 11
Topeka, KS — Topeka residents Mary Lou Schmidt and Darlene Stearns filed suit against Shawnee County Treasurer Rita Cline over posters in Cline’s offices that read, “In God We Trust.” Schmidt, who described herself as a pagan, originally objected back in April. U.S. District Court Judge Sam Crow dismissed the case, calling it “patently frivolous.”

He said the two failed to prove they were harmed in any way nor could they prove their own speech rights were violated. Judge Crow said the lawsuit was “so lacking in foundation” that he ordered them to pay Cline’s legal fees.

December 13
Elkhart, IN — A federal appeals court ruled that a Ten Commandments monument on the lawn of an Elkhart municipal building violated laws separating church and state. While lawyers for the city argued the monument had historical significance, the court ruled the freestanding tablet could not be stripped of its “sacred significance.” The original suit, brought by Elkhart residents William Brooks and Michael Suetkamp, was thrown out. It was successfully appealed by the Indiana Civil Liberties union.

December 15
Greenville, KY — An attempt to post the Ten Commandments in the Muhlenberg County Courthouse was threatened by the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky. A nonprofit group asked that the commandments be posted as an historical document. The ACLU of Kentucky had brought similar lawsuits against Pulaski and McCreary counties.

December 18
Fort Gibson, OK — Threatened legal action by the group Americans United for Separation of Church and State led Fort Gibson school officials to advise the band director to change the band’s performance. At issue was a high school halftime show featuring hymns and the band marching in the shape of a cross. An attorney for Americans United wrote to the school board and said the songs performed, including “I Saw the Light” and “Gospel John,” violated the Constitution “because it sends a message to both the members of the band and those who attend the football game that the Christian religion is both endorsed and preferred.” Band director Gordon Macklin said, “I was just a band director looking for some good music.”

December 19
Olathe, KS — The Olathe Public Library stopped the practice of marking books as “suitable for Christians.” Dick Kurtenbach, executive director of the ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri threatened legal action saying the practice violates the separation of church and state as provided in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

December 21
Plattsmouth, NE — The Nebraska chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union announced their intention to sue the city of Plattsmouth in an effort to get a monument of the Ten Commandments removed from a city park. The marker was paid for by the Fraternal Order of Eagles and was originally placed in 1965. The ACLU Nebraska chapter executive director Tim Butz asked the city council to take it down, calling it an illegal “establishment of religion” under the First Amendment.

March 23
New York, NY — The Whitney Museum hosted a display that included a work by German artist Hans Haacke called “Sanitation.” The title was a play on words on the title of the controversial exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum of Art called “Sensation” which featured elephant dung and pornographic pictures on the picture of a female entitled, “Holy Virgin Mary.” “Sanitation” associated New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani with Nazism for protesting the “Sensation” exhibit.

April
Naples, FL — An art exhibit called “Confrontational Clay” was displayed at the Philharmonic Center for the Arts. The exhibit, by curator Judith Schwartz, is heavily supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. It included a piece that featured a toilet, topped by a statue of the Sacred Heart wearing a Mickey Mouse hat. When a museum visitor complained, the CEO of the center apologized and said “it would not happen again.”

April
Oklahoma City, OK — A painting of a pope sporting an eye patch was displayed at the Oklahoma State Capitol. The painting, from a series called “Popepourri” by O. Gail Poole, was eventually removed after state Sen. Tim Pope called it “unchristian.”

April 26
New York, NY — The Irondale Ensemble Project performed Dario Fo’s “The Pope and the Witch” at the Theatre for the New City in New York’s East Village. Newsday described the play as involving “a heroin-addicted, paranoid Pope called John Paul II, along with scheming priests, bumbling nuns and monks, corrupt cops and other assorted worthies from Fo’s stable of demons.” The pope is depicted as advocating birth control and the legalization of drugs. Both the Irondale Ensemble Project and the Theatre for the New City received public money through the National Endowment for the Arts.

When the NEA’s yearly funding was up for debate on the floor of the House of Representatives in Washington, several members of Congress moved to reduce the budget citing the case of “The Pope and the Witch.” When the NEA explained that the “Pope and the Witch” was not specifically funded, the Catholic League noted that the monies received by both organizations supported all their actions. Though the NEA’s budget was not trimmed, an increase requested by its supporters was denied.

April 29 – June 29
Former “Monty Python” comedian Eric Idle toured across the country with his show, “Eric Idle Exploits Monty Python.” Among the acts was one titled “Every Sperm is Sacred” and was sung by three women dressed as nuns and a man in a red cardinal’s cassock. Pictures of sperm interspersed with photos of Pope John Paul II were displayed on a large video screen.

May
Little Rock, AK — The “Confrontational Clay” exhibit moved on to the Decorative Arts Museum at the Arkansas Arts Center. The exhibit still included the piece with the toilet, topped by a statue of the Sacred Heart wearing the Mickey Mouse hat.

June 5 – September 5
San Francisco, CA — The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art hosted an art exhibit featuring the work of Robert Gober. Among his creations was a pile of newspapers ready to be recycled. The top paper was a copy of the New York Times from July 19, 1992. The headline was altered from the original to read, “Vatican Condones Discrimination Against Homosexuals.” The real headline read, “Vatican Condones Gay Rights Limit.” Under the altered headline was an altered advertisement showing Gober in a wedding gown.

July 13 – October 22
New York, NY — New York’s Whitney Museum hosted an exhibition by Barbara Kruger. Among the works by the feminist artist is a picture of John Cardinal O’Connor. The caption under it read, “Pope Fetus I.” A book in the museum’s gift shop titled, “Thinking of You—Barbara Kruger,” contained the same picture with the caption, “Pope Fetus I, poster project, New York, 1990.”

July 30
New York, NY — A new play opened off-Broadway called “Avow.” The play is the work of Bill C. Davis and it centers around a radical priest who refuses to bless a homosexual union. The priest eventually has his celibacy tested when he falls in love with the sister of one of the gay men (she is pregnant out of wedlock). The New York Times described the play as “ridiculing the attitudes of the Catholic Church toward gays, unwed mothers and priestly celibacy.” Another reviewer noted that, “The anti-Catholic humor…drew big laughs.” Davis is the person who authored the anti-Catholic play “Mass Appeal” but had a string of flops until returning to the theme of the priesthood.

August
Norfolk, VA — The city of Norfolk secured from the Chrysler Museum of Art a statue to be placed in a downtown intersection until a permanent display could be funded. But the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater protested and town officials removed the art. The artwork was a statue of St. Francis of Assisi.

October
Providence, RI — “Misgivings,” Dave Kane’s one-man-playing-a-priest-show played in Providence. The Providence Journal-Bulletin said, “…there is no doubt Kane has a lot of issues to take up with the church [sic], and sometimes he is pretty angry.”

October 25
Hollywood, CA — The play “Bare” debuted at the Hudson Main Stage Theatre in Hollywood. The play is about the love affair of Jason and Peter, two Catholic high school students at upscale St. Celia’s Boarding School. Daily Variety describes the plot as “focusing on the senior year dilemmas of the casually confident golden boy Jason, the school’s star athlete and top scholar, who is also nonchalantly enjoying the secretive sexual favors of the deeply introspective friend Peter.”

November
Houston, TX — An exhibit titled “Sextablos: Works on Metal” ran from November through mid-January, 2001 at The Redbud Gallery. The title is a play on “retablos,” which are Mexican paintings of the saints on sheets of tin. Amid many pornographic images, one by Michael Thompson portrays a naked woman performing fellatio on Christ nailed to the cross.

February
Brooklyn, NY — The Morning Star Christian Books and Gift Store in Brooklyn featured publications by the notoriously anti-Catholic publisher Jack Chick. The store had a large display right near the front door that featured booklets such as Are Roman Catholics Christians, Double Cross and The Godfathers. Each was a direct attack on the Catholic Church and the pope.

April 26
Atlanta, GA — A series of tattoo parlors in Georgia and California were going by the name Sacred Heart Tattoo, Inc. The company’s website featured an intermingling of sexual images with images of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Catholic League wrote to the owner, Tony Olivas, asking him to separate the use of his name from that of the holy Catholic symbol.

May
San Antonio, TX — The chauffeured transportation service People’s Express featured a logo for its company that looked nearly identical to the Chi-Rho, the Greek letters representing Christ’s name. The Catholic League wrote to company president Robert Ortega showing him a picture of the Chi-Rho along with an explanation of what it means to Catholics and a request to change the logo.

June
New Orleans, LA — The House of Blues started running a special theme night every Sunday called “Resurrection.” The promotional flyer was full of material patently offensive to Catholics. Each night featured a special performer including Kevin Aviance who sings songs with obscene names while dressed in drag. The Catholic League wrote to the principle owner of the House of Blues chain, actor Dan Ackroyd, asking him to recognize that this theme-night crosses the line from satire to insult.

June 15
The June 15th edition of Booklist, published by the American Library Association, carried a review of a book by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy entitled, The Jesus Mysteries: Was the “Original Jesus” a Pagan God? Reviewer Steven Schroeder admitted that the book was anti-Catholic and that the bigotry displayed by the authors was “distracting” but otherwise wrote a positive review. The Catholic League wrote to Bill Ott, editor and publisher of Booklist, which is relied upon by thousands of librarians in making new acquisitions, to ask if any anti-Jewish, anti-black or anti-gay books had been treated in a similar manner. Ott responded that he criticized Schroeder for his “unfortunate flippancy of tone” and “inappropriate choice” of words.

August
Flat Rock, NC — A restaurant and wholesale bakery named the Immaculate Consumption operates out of North Carolina. In addition to the name —an obvious take-off of the Immaculate Conception—the logo depicted a caricature of the Virgin Mary.

September
The catalog company Fandom makes available different collectibles from movies, TV series, etc. The recent catalog featured the “Buddy Christ” character from the movie “Dogma.” The caption read, “Cover your ass this millennium with the new Buddy Christ Dashboard Statue inspired by the one seen in Kevin Smith’s ‘Dogma.'” It sold for $12.95.

September
The Hamilton Collection offered consumers the Cherished Teddies Miniature Nativity, a nativity scene that substitutes little bears for the people in the traditional nativity scene. The company did not offer a “teddy bear rabbi” for Hanukah or a “teddy bear imam” for Ramadan.

September
The Vermont Teddy Bear Company offered “The Special Edition Nativity Set.” The set featured Vermont Teddy Bears in place of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. The company advertised the set as, “Heirloom-quality teddy bears portraying Mary, Joseph and the Baby Jesus…Sure to sell out by Christmas!”

September 7
Grand Rapids, MI — A Grand Rapids bookstore singled out Catholicism for a special display. Schuler Books and Music had a prominent display of “Catholic School” collectibles. It consisted of items making fun of priests and nuns including: Catholic School salt and pepper shakers, “Sister Sprong”— a mean looking nun on a spring— and other items.

September 22
New York, NY — The Exit Nightclub in Manhattan sent out a flyer promoting a special night at the club. The flyer read, “FREE ADMISSION ‘TILL MIDNIGHT TO ALL LADIES WEARING A CATHOLIC SCHOOL UNIFORM.” Accompanying the free admission offer was a woman coyly dressed in a Catholic school uniform with her blouse unbuttoned and a man dreaming about her.

October
A new fashion group called “Imitation of Christ” is buying old clothes from the Salvation Army and then “crucifying” them by staining and cutting them up. The clothes are then sold as trendy fashion. William Donohue told the New York Daily News that it is “a cheap way to make a fast buck off rather stupid people.”

October
Blue Q Corporation advertised in their catalogue a “Mix’ n Match” refrigerator magnet set depicting a figure of Mary in a prayer-like pose with a magnet of Jesus in a stroller and a Catholic school girl uniform. In a box below the magnet’s description it reads, “If you are not completely satisfied with the tone of this product please accept our humble apologies.” William Donohue wrote to ask if they would sell a Reverend Jesse Jackson Mix’ n Match with a Baby Sambo in a stroller and a Nazi schoolboy uniform. He wrote, “if you think that the above might be offensive, then why do you continue offending Catholics and their beliefs with your magnet set?”

October
In its Inside Borders catalogue for October, Borders — the nation’s largest book chain — had an ad for John Cornwell’s Hitler’s Pope. The ad described Pope Pius XII as “arguably the most dangerous churchman in modern history.” William Donohue wrote to Robert Di Romualdo, Borders chairman, to complain about a patently biased advertising blurb. Borders responded that it had no plans to post the ad again.

October
Milwaukee, WI — Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops of Milwaukee, WI., in advertising Cornwell’s book, referred to Pope Pius XII as “the most dangerous churchman in history.” William Donohue wrote to David Schwartz, chairman of the Schwartz bookshops, asking that such slanderous advertising be withdrawn. Mr. Schwartz responded that he was “appalled to see” the advertisement “which brought a strenuous rebuke from me to my advertising staff.”

October/November
Insight Media offers a catalogue of videos and CD-ROMS for high school and college students. Under its religion sections, it offers fair and sensitive selections on everything from Animism to Voodoo. Under Roman Catholicism, there are two listings: one on the Inquisition, the other on the Church’s “origins and growth into a political force in world events.” Both are negative portrayals of Catholicism. Catholic League members protested and the head of the company announced that his staff would more carefully screen new videos on Catholicism.

October 24
Rockaway, NJ — The Party City chain stores were selling priest and nun costumes for Halloween. There were no signs of any rabbi or imam costumes available.

November
The clothing line Dolce & Gabbana ran an ad in national magazines promoting their latest fashions. The models in the ad were surrounded by religious imagery including statues of the Virgin Mary and Jesus.

December
Berkeley, CA — Bear Basics, a store in Berkeley, offered T-shirts for sale that said “F— Christmas,” though the shirt spelled out the actual obscenity. When the Catholic League inquired, it was informed that there were no similar T-shirts in regard to Hanukkah.

December
The forced secularization of Christmas was evident in numerous commercial businesses and internet shopping guides. While Hanukkah remained properly represented in its religious context, Christmas was consistently reduced to its secular symbols, if not eliminated completely.

At 1-800-FLOWERS.com there were no religious items for Christmas, but a Star of David charm necklace for Hanukkah was featured; the Christmas selection for FTD.com had all secular items but sold Star Shaped Hanukkah cookies; Hallmark’s “Holiday Gifts” selection had no religious items for Christmas, but sold a Silver Menorah Candleholder; Bloomingdale’s had a “Chanukah” Gift Card set but no Christmas Gift Card set; Studiodaedre.com sold a “Chanukah Menorah” but no religious items for Christmas; Altavista.com explained the secular meaning of Christmas but offered a religious interpretation of Hanukkah; Yahoo.com listed six religions under “Religious Holidays,” but only one of them is presented with an “Opposing Views” category— Christianity.

January
Sarasota, FL — The Sarasota County Superintendent of Schools David Bennett was profiled in Sarasota magazine. In the profile, Mr. Bennett was quoted as saying his interest in civil rights started when, as a child in Chicago in the 1950s and 1960s, he heard that the Catholic Church was buying up homes in certain areas so that blacks couldn’t purchase them. He provided no evidence of this charge or explanation for the statement, which appears to have been hearsay around the dinner table when he was growing up.

January
Los Angeles, CA — The University of Southern California’s Fisher Gallery hosted an art exhibit called “Crossing Boundaries.” Among the pieces in the exhibit were “The Source, Virgins and Crosses” and “El Nino’s Wake.” The former is made of 30 crosses and a blank outline of Our Lady of Guadalupe images without Mary; instead, her halo is left to resemble a vaginal orifice. In the latter artwork, it appears the Baby Jesus is naked at a wake.

January
Oregon City, OR — At the Pauling Center at Clackamas Community College art was displayed called “Two Popes Boinking” which featured two men wearing papal tiaras having sex. The Catholic League wrote to the president of the school to complain. The faculty subsequently voted to remove the artwork from the gallery. A panel discussion was held on the controversy that included a representative of the Archdiocese of Portland.

January 26
Blackwood, NJ — A thirteen-year-old honor student at C.W. Lewis Middle School received an assignment in which he was to write about the purpose of spring break. When the student wrote that the original purpose was to give time off for Easter, his teacher objected. The teacher told the student that he was not allowed to write about religion and if he did, he would get a zero. After the Catholic League provided guidance, the issue was satisfactorily resolved. The student was allowed to have his essay graded on its merits.

February
Greenville, SC — Bob Jones University became the center of media attention during the presidential primary season when its anti-Catholic philosophies came to light. On it’s website, the fundamentalist Protestant school referred to Catholicism as a “cult.” It also stated, “The Roman Church is not another Christian Denomination. It is a satanic counterfeit, an ecclesiastic tyranny over the souls of men…the Mother of Harlots…a monstrous abomination.”

March
Walker County, AL — Officials of the Walker County public school system told Kandice Smith, a sixth grader at Curry Middle School in Jasper, that she could not wear a gold cross outside her mandatory school uniform. The girl and her family sued school officials to overturn a policy against such items. The officials said they had an interest in “keeping distractions down” and in cracking down on gang clothing. The school district finally reached an agreement with the family, permitting the student to wear her cross.

March
Springfield, OR — Thurston High School entered a statewide acting competition with the play “The Wool Gatherer.” The play makes reference to a boy and girl whipping each other with rosary beads. Parents complained about this scene and other scenes in other plays entered in the competition including some that were sexually explicit. The sexually explicit scenes were edited out. The anti-Catholic scene remained.

March 8
St. Louis, MO — The Organization of American Historians decided to hold its annual meeting at St. Louis University, a Catholic school. A group of Jewish historians objected to the venue. The group said the crucifixes in the classrooms were symbols of “lethal anti-Semitism.” “To us,” wrote one historian, “it [the crucifix] is a particular potent historical symbol of aggressive, even lethal anti-Semitism.” The historian went on, “If they really want to spare the feelings of Jews,” Christians “shouldn’t display the cross on the outside of their churches, or wear crosses around their necks. Indeed, Christians shouldn’t even have crosses inside their churches, or inside their purses or pockets, because it is the same anti-Semitic symbol, hidden though it is from their Jewish brethren. In fact, the hiddenness [sic] makes it seem even more sinister and sneaky.”

March 14
New York, NY — Channel One Network makes its way into classrooms around the country, including Catholic schools. During the papal trip to the Holy Land, articles by Cindy Lin for the Channel One Network were biased against the Church under the guise of education. She stated that the papal apology was “the first time any pope has made a public plea for forgiveness for the horrors committed by Catholic groups over the centuries.” Another claimed that “the church is said to have treated badly groups such as women, gays, minorities and the poor.”

March 28
Texas — Dena Marks, head of the Texas ADL, equated prayer with hate speech during Court TV’s “Pros and Cons.” The discussion was about a practice in a Texas school district that allowed students to speak to the crowd before a football game, choosing a prayer if they wished. The practice was being reviewed by the U. S. Supreme Court. Marks said, “When it [prayer] excludes certain people, when it excludes the people who aren’t the majority or the people who aren’t saying that prayer, that can also be a trigger for hatred.”

April 12
Poughkeepsie, NY — Vassar College hosted a forum on “Literature, Homosexuality, and Catholicism in the Nineteenth Century,” featuring Richard Dellamora from Trent University in Canada and Ellis Hanson from Cornell. The forum was sponsored by the English Department, the Office of the President and the Queer Coalition. During the talks, Hanson equated Christianity with sadomasochism. Hanson charged the Church with being both homophobic and homoerotic. Dellamora said that the Crucifixion is a symbol of sexual dissidence. In advance of the talks, the Catholic League had contacted the Vassar president’s office to get more information on what would be discussed. The president’s office admitted it didn’t know but said that it didn’t matter what the subject was because President Frances Daly Ferguson supports “free speech and the gay students.”

May
Several college Christian student groups came under fire for their religious beliefs. At Tufts University in Massachusetts the Tufts Christian Fellowship was “derecognized” and lost all funding from the school because the organization would not let a bisexual student hold a leadership position. The group believed homosexual activity was incompatible with their beliefs. Similar restrictions were applied at other schools to prevent Christian groups from maintaining organizations compatible with their beliefs.

Middlebury College in Vermont enacted anti-bias language that said no student may be eliminated from being considered for leadership in any campus groups because of beliefs or identity. And at Whitman college in Washington State, an evangelical group is under fire because a student bylaw says groups are not allowed to consider one sexual orientation superior to another.

May
East Lansing, MI — The State News, the student newspaper at Michigan State University, featured a comic strip called “Fetus X” that regularly ridiculed Jesus.

May 2
Roslyn Heights, NY — The student newspaper of Roslyn High School published its annual April Fools issue May 2—a full month late. Among the articles offensive to Catholics was one comparing a student to Jesus. Following a complaint from Catholic League Long Island chapter president Frank Schroeder, Roslyn High principal Dr. Jason Stoller agreed the edition of the paper “crossed the line” and was particularly offensive at Easter. He then wrote a response that was published in the student newspaper.

June
Claremore, OK — Rogers State University offered an art appreciation telecourse called “A World of Art: Works in Progress.” In the course was a video called “Temple of Confessions.” It featured a depiction of a Madonna with an exposed potbelly dragging a cross into a religious ceremony being led by a priest with two devil’s horns. Cannibalism was also shown. Following complaints from the Catholic League, Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating agreed some of the images were objectionable. School officials responded that the content of the telecourse was a matter of academic freedom.

July/August
Providence, RI — The Brown Alumni Monthly of Brown University printed an analysis of how students substitute the profane for the sacred. In the article, author Ryan Humphrey offered up the usual canard of Pope Pius XII’s “silence” during the Holocaust.

July 27
San Diego, CA — The play “Sheridan” began a run at the La Jolla Playhouse on the campus of the University of California at San Diego, a state school. The play depicts a priest character as cruel and manipulative.

August 1
Miami, FL — The Florida International University publication The Beacon published an article by Steve Coats that charged, among other things, that Pope John Paul was a “doddering old fool”; Catholic priests have been “bum-rushing altar boys for as long as history has been recorded”; the Vatican promotes “homophobia”; Catholicism is to blame for the killing of Matthew Shepard (the Wyoming man who was murdered because he was a homosexual); the pope should “come out of the closet”; the Church is the world’s largest stockholder; and the Church is “evil.”

September
New Hyde Park, NY — A course to be taught in the Herrick School District in New Hyde Park, NY, on the Jews of Italy planned to include a “trial” of Pope Pius XII. After contact from the Catholic League, the superintendent apologized saying it was a mistake to say there would be a trial. The teacher of the course told the Catholic League that there would be a discussion of Pope Pius XII, but no trial.

September
Virginia — The ACLU is appealing after a district court allowed Virginia schools to proceed with a “moment of silence” in public schools. It brought the case because among the actions allowed in the moment of silence would be silent prayer.

October 5
Santa Fe, NM — Officials of the Santa Fe school district threatened to paint over a mural dedicated to the late Cesar Estrada Chavez at the elementary school also named after him. The mural included images of Our Lady of Guadalupe and crucifixes. School officials said the move to cover-up the mural came because of concerns over the separation of church and state.

November
Brooklyn, NY — A large mural adorned a wall used for handball at an intermediate school in a high crime area. A local artist had been commissioned by a neighborhood resident to pay tribute to the 27 youngsters killed in the area. The mural was painted over when school officials discovered that Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary were featured.

November 1
Urbana-Champaign, IL — Catholics for a Free Choice ran an advertisement in the University of Illinois student newspaper, the Daily Illini, that misrepresented Church teaching on abortion. On Election Day, the campus Catholic Newman Center priests and students responded with an ad headlined, “The Catholic Church is pro-life.” The ad was signed by hundreds of students and included the text of a statement on abortion written by the bishops.

November 13
Wilmington, DE — The News Journal of Wilmington ran a story on a talk at the University of Delaware by Jack P. McGough, who was identified as a “nationally known Holocaust educator” and a professor at the University. In his talk, McGough singled out the Catholic Church for being the worst denier of the Holocaust.

In investigating McGough, the Catholic League discovered that he was not a nationally known expert on the Holocaust or any other historical subject, that he is neither an author, historian nor social scientist, and that he was not a professor at the University of Delaware. The News Journal subsequently ran a correction.

November 21
Newton County, GA — The Newton County school board voted to remove the words “Christmas Break” from their school calendar and replace it with “Semester Break.” The change came under pressure from the American Civil Liberties Union which claimed the word “Christmas” constituted “an endorsement of a particular religion.”

December
Cobb County, GA — Durham Middle School principal Linda Clark sent a memo to teachers and staff telling them not to use the word “Christmas” because “it is important that our lessons, discussions and decorations remain religion-free.”

December
Lafayette Parish, LA — Rastafarian students in Lafayette Parish are being defended by the ACLU after they were banned from school for wearing their hair in braids and covering their heads. The ACLU defended them on religious expression grounds. There was no explanation from as to why Rastafarians are allowed religious expression in schools while others are not.

December 1
New York, NY — The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) issued a pamphlet, “The December Dilemma: Guidelines for Public Schools During the December Holiday” which would virtually eliminate the religious context of Christmas from the public schools. The Catholic League responded with a parody of the ADL material called, “The December Celebration” which outlined what is permissible and legitimate in acknowledging the Christmas season within public schools.

December 13
Fishers, IN — Students at New Briton Elementary School were presented with a multicultural understanding of the holiday season that focused on the secular traditions of Christmas —Santa Claus, cookies, elves, stockings, lights, the Grinch, etc.—but made no mention of the religious significance of the season in a memo outlining “Holidays Around the World.” However, on the day set aside for Hanukkah, the religious symbols of the celebration were displayed and explained.

February
Shirley, MA — Inmates in a state prison had their rosary beads confiscated in what prison officials claim was a crackdown on gang-related violence. A court determined the corrections department could “curtail inmates rights in order to achieve legitimate correctional goals.” Prisoners who say their right to worship is in jeopardy are appealing to a higher court.

February 6
Boston, MA — The Massachusetts Department of Corrections had in place an anti-gang policy that resulted in the confiscation of rosary beads from prisoners. Corrections officials said the policy was necessary “to achieve legitimate correctional goals or to maintain prison security.” The American Civil Liberties Union assisted an inmate who sued over the policy.

February 14
Queens, NY — Vice President Al Gore, seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, received an endorsement from Rev. Floyd Flake inside the Allen African Methodist Episcopal Church with Flake saying, “…you read it well: this should be the next president of the United States.” Flake noted that as a non-profit church, it would be against IRS regulations to make such an endorsement. Just weeks earlier, Archbishop Justin Rigali of St. Louis was criticized for imploring Catholics to “elect those who respect the sacredness of life.”

February
Greenville, SC — Governor George W. Bush launched his South Carolina primary campaign with a speech and rally at Bob Jones University, a notoriously anti-Catholic institution. The school’s website referred to the Catholic Church as “the Mother of Harlots” and Bob Jones III responded to criticism that if “there are those who wish to charge us with being anti-Catholicism [sic], we plead guilty.” Subsequently, in a letter to Cardinal John O’Connor, with a copy to William Donohue at the Catholic League, Governor Bush said he regretted not taking the opportunity to separate himself from the anti-Catholic views of Bob Jones University.

February 18
Florence, SC — Republican presidential contender George W. Bush made an appearance at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Florence, asking for the votes of churchgoers. Meanwhile, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Al Gore, both candidates for political office, appeared at the Wilborn Temple Church of God in Christ in Albany, New York.

March 23
Washington, DC — After four months of non-stop controversy, the search for a new chaplain in the House of Representatives came to a close with the selection of Fr. Daniel Coughlin, Vicar for Priests of the Archdiocese of Chicago. An 18-member House committee (9 Republicans and 9 Democrats) presented 3 finalists for the chaplain vacancy to the House leadership.

The top choice of the committee was Fr. Timothy O’Brien, a Marquette University professor. He was deemed qualified by the majority of members of both parties on the committee. Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader Dick Armey bypassed Fr. O’Brien and chose a Presbyterian, the Rev. Charles Wright.

During the selection process, Fr. O’Brien was asked questions that were inappropriate at best, such as whether his Roman collar would be divisive or an obstacle to ministering to congress (the outgoing Protestant chaplain wore a collar for decades). The house leadership—Speaker Hastert and Majority leader Armey—enlisted a number of surrogates to lobby the Catholic League to drop Fr. O’Brien’s cause. At one point Joe Eule, press secretary for a House Member J. D. Heyworth, called to strong-arm the league into folding on the issue. The league held firm.

At one point, aides to Speaker Hastert claimed in the press that the Rev. Bill Graham called the speaker’s office to express support for Rev. Wright. Hours later, Rev. Graham issued a statement saying he did no such thing; he simply wanted the process to be free from politics. In an extraordinary move, Hastert named Fr. Coughlin as the new chaplain, introducing him on the House floor following the withdrawal of Rev. Wright at Hastert’s request.

April 19
New Jersey — Officials of New Jersey Transit, having originally invited a number of groups to perform at the grand opening of a new light rail system, shortly before the event told a Catholic group they could not perform “because of separation of church and state.” A gospel group from a local Baptist Church was allowed to sing.

Fr. Kevin Ashe and his Park Performing Arts Center in Union City complained about the double standard. At first, New Jersey Transit officials said the gospel singers qualified because gospel was “widely accepted as a mainstream category of music.”

After a statement to the press by the Catholic League and subsequent call to the governor’s office, New Jersey Transit issued a full apology to anyone offended, admitted their mistake and asked “the forgiveness of Father Ashe and any other members of the New Jersey community who have been offended by our actions.”

May
Cuero, TX — Inmates at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice-Stevenson Unit who have religious dietary restrictions were routinely given the opportunity to choose meals without pork. The same opportunity was not afforded Catholic inmates who might want to request meatless meals during Lent. The Catholic League wrote to the warden asking that the religious beliefs of all inmates be respected. New directives were issued, effective October 1, allowing inmates the ability to choose a meat-free meal every day.

June
Hartford, CT — The pro-abortion group Catholics for a Free Choice was included on a list of charities eligible to receive donations from the Connecticut State Employees’ Campaign for Charitable Giving. The anti-Catholic group’s listing on the charity list became apparent when the Connecticut Commission for Human Rights and Opportunities ruled the Boy Scouts could not be on the list because they excluded open homosexuals from leadership roles.

July 11
Washington, DC — The legislative body of the District of Columbia, the D.C. Council passed a bill mandating health insurance coverage of contraceptives without a provision exempting Catholic hospitals and employers on religious grounds. During debate on the bill, which passed 13-0, council member Jim Graham called the Catholic Church homophobic and urged his colleagues against “deferring to Rome.”

July 26
Washington, DC — Congressman James P. Moran (D-VA) lashed out at the Catholic Church for its position on homosexuality. Moran was angry that House Republicans placed an attachment to the D. C. Council budget bill that would nullify the controversial contraceptive health care bill.

In offering support for councilman Jim Graham’s objections to the Republican initiative, Moran spoke of his “disappointment, and the intolerance, and yes, the hypocrisy of the Catholic church as an institution towards homosexuality…”

An aide to Rep. Moran subsequently deleted the anti-Catholic statement in the Congressional Record. Moran was told to restore the original language and was informed by Rep. Bill Thomas, chairman of the Committee on House Administration, that he had violated ethics rules, which prohibit such alterations.

August
Boscobel, WI — Two inmates at the Super Max Correctional Institution were being denied a shipment of spiritual books on the grounds that they were contraband. One of the books was written by Mother Angelica of the Eternal Word Television Network. An inquiry showed that just about everything from book to paperclips were deemed “contraband.” After several conversations between prison officials and the Catholic League, an agreement was worked out and the inmates received the materials.

August
Denver, CO — Denver International Airport has an interdenominational chapel used by Christians, Jews and Muslims. On Sundays and holy days of obligation, Mass is celebrated. A brief announcement of the upcoming Mass would be made over the public address 15 minutes prior. Officials cancelled the public announcement after an individual complained saying it was a violation of separation of Church and State.

The local chapter of the ACLU defended the ban, arguing that only Catholic services are announced over the public address system. The ACLU did not mention that the Jews and Muslims preferred not to use the public address system and defended the rights of Catholics to do so. William Donohue stated that this “is a straight First Amendment case that will be won in court if necessary.” On December 5th, airport authorities issued a revised rule that allowed a public announcement of the existence of the interfaith chapel and a number to call for scheduled services.

The Catholic League protested that this was essentially a gag order aimed specifically at Catholics and made under threats from the ACLU.

August 11
Los Angeles, CA — U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez relocated a fund-raiser scheduled for the Playboy Mansion during the Democratic national convention after an all-out effort by the Catholic League to quash the event.

The league originally wrote to Vice President Al Gore asking him to use his influence (Sanchez was his hand-picked vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee) to cancel the event which was scheduled for August 15th, the Feast of the Assumption. The league’s objections were:

· The fund-raiser was held in the name of “Hispanic Unity.” As most Hispanics are Catholic, the Feast of the Assumption was an offensive date to hold the event. The Assumption is the celebration of the ascension of the Virgin Mary into heaven.

· The Playboy Foundation had in the past funded Catholics for a Free Choice—a fundamentally anti-Catholic group.

· The principals of Playboy Enterprises, Hugh and Christie Hefner, had made numerous derogatory remarks against the Catholic Church and its teachings.

After a media blitz by the league, Sanchez relented and moved the fund-raiser to another location.

August 29
Allentown, PA — The book Sammy Keyes and the Sisters of Mercy was on the public library reading list for youngsters at Parkland Community Library. A passage reads, “Now, lots of priests walk around all day acting holy, but when they’re all alone, there’s no doubt about it, they pick their noses and burp and pass gas just like you and me. Not that father Mayhew. Well, okay, maybe he burps now and then but you can bet he says, ‘Excuse me’ to God when he says it.” A review of the book says the protagonist is “pitted against a trio of alleged nuns, who tour the country conning parishes out of their savings.”

October
Norfolk, MA — In April, Andrea Saltzberg Emodi of the Department of Corrections in Massachusetts, issued a directive informing all chaplains that they were to discontinue distributing greeting cards. The Catholic League asked for an explanation. Emodi responded in October that concerns had been raised that certain religions were being favored by the Department’s practice of allowing chaplains to distribute holy cards. Therefore, only “generic holiday cards” will be permitted “in the inmate canteen …and to discontinue the practice of dissemination of holiday cards by specific religions.” Instead of making certain that everyone’s religious rights are respected, the decision was made to disrespect all religious rights.

November 20
Eugene, OR — The city manager of Eugene issued a directive banning Christmas trees from public property as they are considered religious symbols. He justified the ban as “practicing diversity.” The order ignored a 1989 Supreme Court ruling that allowed erecting Christmas trees on public property as they were not deemed religious symbols. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the ACLU and the Interfaith Alliance backed the ban.

November 29
Lexington, MA — Newly enacted Lexington town regulations banned all religious displays from the town’s historic Battle Green. Despite being challenged by the local Knights of Columbus, who in previous years erected a nativity scene on the green, town officials defended their rules in federal court. They successfully argued the regulations were “content neutral”—they applied to any unattended structures, no matter what point of view they express. Town officials eventually agreed to allow a one-time, live nativity performance on the green.

December
Vancouver, WA — Bus drivers for C-TRAN were ordered not to wear hats, vests, or neckties during the Christmas season that depict religious themes, though secular Christmas themes were permissible. When challenged to cite the law requiring such a ban, C-TRAN responded with a section of the Constitution of the State of Washington forbidding public money or property to be appropriated or applied for religious worship. That did not explain how the personal property of a bus driver could be considered public property. Officials in other transit systems throughout the State of Washington had no such restrictions on employees wearing seasonal attire with a religious theme.

December
Greenville, KY — At the demand of the ACLU a court in Muhlenberg County in Greenville asked the attorney general to review the posting of the 10 Commandments as part of a historical display at the county courthouse.

December
Elkart, IN — A federal appeals court in December ruled that a 10 Commandments monument on the lawn of a municipal building in Elkart, IN violated the First Amendment. The local ACLU chapter declared the ruling a victory.

December
Pittsburgh, PA — The ACLU deferred to Americans for Separation of Church and State in filing suit against the posting of the 10 Commandments in Pittsburgh’s Allegheny County Courthouse.

December
Louisiana — Three new prison chapels being built in Louisiana by private funding were challenged by the ACLU as promoting Christianity over other religions.

December
Mojave Desert, CA — A monument to local men who died in World War I in California’s Mojave Desert came under ACLU protest as it was shaped in the form of a cross. The National Park Service, which controls the land, allowed the ACLU to win uncontested.

December
Olathe, KS — The public library in Olathe, Kansas no longer marks books as suitable for Christians after protest from the ACLU.

December
Topeka, KS — The ACLU sued when Rita Kline, the County Treasurer in Topeka, Kansas, refused to remove posters in her office proclaiming “In God We Trust.” District Court Judge San Crow labeled the ACLU’s action “patently frivolous” and ordered the organization to pay for Cline’s legal fees.

Movies

January
The movie “Boondock Saints” portrayed two Irish Catholic twins who decide to go on a killing spree after hearing a sermon at Mass. The sermon is about the results of good men doing nothing to stop evil. The film contains extensive use of Catholic imagery including oversized crucifixes worn by the main characters during their killings.

January 24
Independent filmmaker Tim Disney (the son of Roy and grandnephew of Walt) premiered the movie “Blessed Art Thou” at the Sundance Film Festival. The film is about a monk who is thought to be homosexual because he is visited by the angel Gabriel. Locked up by his superiors, he turns into a pregnant woman. Movie critic Jonathan Foreman reviewed the film saying, “It’s hard to imagine Walt Disney making a movie so likely to enrage Catholics.” He also wrote that the movie was an attack on the Catholic Church, portraying it at odds with true spirituality.

February
The 20th Century Fox movie, “The Closer You Get,” opened and featured a negative portrayal of a priest and the Catholic Church. The Los Angeles Times wrote, “…[the movie] implies unmistakably that Roman Catholicism’s puritanical tradition, which tends to set the flesh and the spirit at war, plays a pivotal part in keeping the villagers emotionally crippled as well as sexually frustrated.”

March 31
Fine Features releases a film called “Buddy Boy.” The movie is about a repressed Catholic who lives with his alcoholic mother; she uses the Catholic religion to make her son feel bad about himself. The New Times Los Angeles writes, the movie “opens with grainy footage of crucifixes and elaborate church altars, then transits to an image of our protagonist Francis…masturbating to a centerfold of two giant breasts.” Fine Features also produced the anti-Catholic movie “Julien Donkey-Boy.”

April 21
The movie “The Virgin Suicides” opened in select theatres in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The story involves five Catholic girls who all eventually commit suicide. Catholic imagery is apparent throughout the film. The New York Times said the movie involves boys who “seek to free the girls from the prison of their strict Catholic household.” The San Jose Mercury News said we learn of a “guilt-racked Catholic [mother] ready to lock girls away like so many story-book Rapunzels.”

November
Fox Searchlight, a division of 20th Century Fox, released “Quills,” a fictional account of the Marquis de Sade. A major character in the movie is a priest, Abbe Coulmier, played by Joaquin Phoenix. In history, Abbe Coulmier was a four-foot tall hunchback, and a celibate. In the movie, he is portrayed as a “liberal-minded, good-looking young priest” who has a relationship with Sade and sex with a dead laundress.

Music

May 13
New York, NY — A singing group called “The Nuns” performed at a New York City nightclub called Click & Drag @ Mother. The group was described in the press as consisting of “lesbian vampire beauties.”

November 8
A new CD released by Cher called “Not Commercial” included the song “Sisters of Mercy” that describes the Catholic order of nuns as “daughters of hell,” “mothers of shame,” “twisters of truth,” and “daughters of war.” Among many offensive lines in the song which E! Online called a “diatribe against nuns,” the Sisters are said to “hide behind pious faces like the guilty always do.” The Catholic League called the song “defamatory” and that “taking a cheap shot at nuns costs nothing in Hollywood and may even be cause for celebration.”

November
A new CD by Marilyn Manson titled “Holy Wood” was released and was replete with anti-Catholic lyrics and songs, including “Godeatgod” and “Cruci-fixion in Space.” Manson appears dressed as a bishop with a cross behind him in his video “Disposable Teens,” and wears a papal miter while performing. When the Catholic League charged that Manson’s music is anti-Catholic, Manson posted on his Internet site the response that, “I can’t possibly be at war with Christ, because your religion killed him and what he stood for. But if you want to be at war with me…bring it on.” In a review of a Manson concert in New York City, Ann Powers of the New York Times noted without disapproval Manson’s anti-Catholic taunts.

November 18
Westbury, NY — Performer Englebert Humperdinck told a joke in the middle of his stage show at the Westbury Music Fair. The joke, involving a priest, nun and a camel, offended audience members to the point where they contacted the Catholic League to complain.

November 27
New York, NY — Rock singer Marilyn Manson, promoting his new CD “Holy Wood,” played the Hammerstein Ballroom. The New York Daily News said, “By the time he finished, 75 minutes later, he had assumed the guise of a fascist leader, a menacing bishop, a towering Christmas tree and an insect-like cripple atop 10-foot crutches.”

Newspapers

January 19
Los Angeles, CA — Columnist M.H. Berg wrote a piece for the Los Angeles Timesabout her problem explaining religion to her daughter. A lapsed Catholic, she described Catholicism as a “magic show with smoky scents and costumes.” She wrote how she resented the exclusion of women from the priesthood as well as the Church’s position on birth control.

January 25
Long Island, NY — Newsday ran the Eternal Gospel Church ad called “Earth’s Final Warning.” The ad, paid for by a splinter group of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, called the Catholic Church the Mother of Harlots in the Book of Revelation and insinuates the pope is seeking to wield undue influence over the U.S. government.

January 26
Daytona Beach, FL — Matt Gowen, staff writer for the Flagler/Palm Coast News-Tribune wrote a column about his trip to a Methodist Church. In describing his experience, he characterized Catholic Mass as “boring” and entailing “munching on a wafer” while being “told to sit still and listen.”

January 30
Kansas City, MO — Beginning in its January 30th edition, the Kansas City Star ran a series of articles claiming an AIDS epidemic in the priesthood caused by the Church’s teaching on homosexuality, the practice of celibacy and the failure of the Church to teach “safe sex” in seminaries.

The series also claimed that the Church was attempting to hide the epidemic and, as a result, priests with the disease died alone and without support. The series was based, in part, on a survey conducted of Catholic priests by the Star and investigation of death certificates of priests which claimed to show that the death rate among priests was four times the general population rate.

An examination of the Star’s survey of priests by Center for Media and Public Affairs, found it fundamentally flawed, based on only a 27 percent response rate. There was also no geographic or demographic balance sought in the responses. Even with this, the Star’s conclusions did not fit the results of the survey. The Catholic League pointed out that the survey data showed exactly one-half of one percent of the respondents have HIV or AIDS.

Only 3.6 percent of the priests responding were critical of how the Church has responded to the problem. Seventy percent of the respondents did not call for a change in Church teaching on homosexuality, while 66 percent did not believe that removing celibacy would be an effective response.

Additionally, the Star’s claim of a higher rate was in error as it compared the death rate to the general population, rather than to adult males. Adjusted accordingly, there was no discernable difference. In addition, the investigation into death rates was flawed as it made national claims based on regional investigation.

The Catholic League charged that the survey and series smacked on an agenda, rather than a serious investigation.

February 2
Boston, MA — Columnist Alex Beam wrote a piece in the Boston Globe about Indulgences titled, “Time has Come to Once Again Indulge Yourself.” The issue was in the news as the Church had announced special indulgences for the Jubilee Year 2000. In the article he wrote, “Catholicism formally abandoned the sale of get-out-of-Purgatory cards in 1567” and “I’m a big fan of the present pope, and generally an admirer of the One True Church. But let’s make one thing clear. Jesus Christ never sold or granted indulgences. Quite the opposite. They were an invention of the 14th century Church bureaucracy, which often used the proceeds to build cathedrals, hospitals—or just line their pockets.”

February 8
Framingham, MA — Columnist Brian Carovillano wrote in the MetroWest Daily Newsabout the overpopulation problem and the Church. In the column titled “The Overpopulation Pope,” Carovillano wrote, “From now on, the blame for resulting deaths from starvation and wars fought over natural resources should be squarely pointed at the Vatican, which continues to dwell in Medieval times.”

February 23
Burlington, VT — Peter Freyne’s column in the newspaper Seven Days started out as commentary on recent protests by Catholic priests against same sex marriages in Vermont. It quickly turned into a tirade against the Church, which he says “…stand[s] against civil rights for gay and lesbian Catholics, Protestants, Jews and Vermonters.” He continued his rant, “Yeah right, like where in the laws of God does it say to run bingo games? Where does it tell the pope to cozy up to Adolph Hitler?”

March
A horrific incident that took place in Montreal, Canada went completely unreported in the United States. Fifteen masked vandals entered Mary Queen of the World Cathedral in Montreal, overturning flowerpots, sticking sanitary napkins—some soiled—to paintings and walls. They denounced the Church’s teachings on abortion, homosexuality and sex education. Not one U.S. newspaper reported on the incident although in the same time period, the New York Times ran a story about the controversy in Montreal and all of Quebec over whether Pokemon cards should be issued in French.

March 14
Vancouver, WA — The Columbian, southern Washington’s largest daily newspaper, ran an ad paid for by the Eternal Gospel Church of Seventh Day Adventists, a splinter group not associated with SDA. The ad identified the Catholic Church as the “WHORE” and the “BEAST,” and charged the Holy Father with breaking down the barriers between church and state. After being contacted by the Catholic League, the paper admitted running it was inappropriate and that it would not run it again.

March 14
Fresno, CA — The newspaper advertisement from the Eternal Gospel Church was run again, this time in the Fresno Bee. After a complaint from the Catholic League and Bishop John T. Steinbock of the Diocese of Fresno, the newspaper responded in a manner unlike any other newspaper that ran the ad and later apologized. Publisher Keith Moyer wrote, “free expression—even when offensive to many or few—is essential to maintaining a free society. It is not the first time the Catholic Church…has been attacked, nor will it be the last. Fortunately, the church has survived and flourished despite its critics—as has the Bee.”

March 20
Los Angeles, CA — Columnist Shawn Hubler of the Los Angeles Times, wrote a piece about the Catholic Church’s opposition to gay marriage. Hubler implied the Archdiocese of Los Angeles was guilty of bigotry for supporting California’s Proposition 22, an anti-gay marriage referendum.

March 30
Houston, TX — Richard Connolly wrote in the Houston Press about a new baseball park in Houston. His column took the form of a joke in which some “memos” he found read: “There is a Catholic Church right across the street from the new stadium. I am reliably told that not only do they offer bread and wine at their services, but apparently there is some kind of floor show involved, a magician who transforms those things into the ‘body and blood of Christ,’ Christ being some kind of prophet dude.” He continues, “At any rate, while I am told the wafers don’t really offer much in the way of taste, could it be any worse than the chips and salsa at some of the so-called Mexican places around town?”

April 4
North Port, FL — A newspaper advertisement strikingly similar to the one frequently paid for by the Eternal Gospel Church of Seventh Day Adventists appeared in North Port Sun-Herald. The sponsor this time was the Sweetwater Seventh Day Adventist Church. It too called the Catholic Church the “WHORE” and the “BEAST,” and charged the Holy Father with breaking down the barriers between church and state.

April 9
Hackensack, NJ — The advertisement from the Sweetwater Seventh Day Adventist Church appeared in The Record newspaper.

April 19
New York, NY — Mike Farragher’s article in the Irish Voice titled, “Irish, Jewish…and Proud Of It!” was about his interfaith marriage. In the article he described how he tried not to have a crucifix at his wedding so as not to offend the Jewish guests. When the chapel had an image of Jesus, he quickly explained that the chaplain “was a huge Bee Gees fan who thought a picture of Barry Gibb…would look good on the altar.” He also suggested “drive-thru” windows so Catholics with children could receive “McSacraments.”

April 23
Portland, OR — The Oregonian newspaper ran an ad Easter Sunday morning paid for by the Sweetwater Seventh-day Adventist Church. The ad was the often seen “Earth’s Final Warning.” The ad claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was the “Whore of Babylon” and that the pope was conspiring with the U.S. government.

When contacted about the ad, the president of the Oregonian Publishing Company, Patrick Stickel, said, “…we think long and hard about censoring anyone.” And “We don’t find this [the ad] graphically displeasing, and we find it easier for readers who don’t like it to turn the page.” Catholic League president William Donohue wrote to Stickel asking if the paper accepts every ad it receives, prints every op-ed piece submitted or would run an ad from an anti-gay group.

April 20-26
Milwaukee, WI — The weekly The Onion featured a section that declared, “Hey kids! The Easter Bunny will be hop-hop-hopping along before you know it! In the meantime, here are some super-fun Easter cards for you to cut out.” The pictures included: a duck wearing a crown of thorns and carrying a cross, Jesus wearing rabbit ears with an Easter basket on his arm, and a crucified Easter bunny with the inscription INRI above his head.

May
Huntsville, AL — The Huntsville Times ran the anti-Catholic ad “EARTH’S FINAL WARNING” put out by the Eternal Gospel Church, a splinter group of the Seventh-Day Adventists. After a protest by the Catholic League, editor Joe Distelheim wrote an editorial explaining why it was a mistake to run the ad in the first place.

May 7
Boston, MA — Boston Herald columnist Margery Eagan, in a piece about her son’s First Communion, decided to include a diatribe against the institutional Church writing, “Clearly the Catholic Church needs better public relations. It needs someone to tell those who got beaten up by nuns, those who have had abortions, those who are continually embarrassed by a hierarchy’s anti-gay rhetoric, or are just plain uninformed that it’s not all about a hierarchy anymore. That in the pews, despite what you read, it’s not endless harangues against sex, women; sex gays; sex birth control; sex, sex and more sex.”

May 24
San Francisco, CA — Scott Ostler’s column in the San Francisco Chronicle featured a section called “Today’s Theological Stumper.” It said, “To all those who believe that letting Jesus into your heart can cure homosexuality, one question: Why doesn’t it work on priests?”

June 2
Munster, IN — The newspaper The Times contained an article by Pat Colander called “Fat Irma’s three great predictions and how they all turned out.” The piece was about an apparition of a woman to truck drivers regarding road construction, road congestion and transportation. It said the Teamsters Union recently unveiled the third secret of “Fat Irma,” a reference to the Church and the apparitions at Fatima.

June 4
San Francisco, CA — The San Francisco Examiner carried an article by Stephanie Salter called “Judging Sister Jeannine: What would Jesus Say?” about the Church disciplining Sister Jeannine Gramick for insubordination as it pertained to her work with gays and lesbians. The article probed into the internal Church matter in the form of a letter to Jesus.

June 4
New York, NY — Michael Lewis wrote a piece for the New York Times Magazine about Lindy Boggs. In describing her work at the American Embassy at the Vatican, Lewis took a cheap shot saying how “…she had clearly learned that a woman in her mid-80s surrounded by men in dresses sworn to vows of celibacy can say whatever she pleases.” No comments about the clothing of other religious people were included in the article.

June 7
Pittsburgh, PA — Mary Jo Kramer wrote a column in the INPGH Weekly about her trip to Lourdes, France. To prepare for the pilgrimage, it was necessary to “smoke a bowl, dress Catholic and ready to meet the Virgin.” She described “nuns with cell phones…Virgin Mary snow domes, lighters, clocks [and] pencil kits.”

June 8
Seattle, WA — The alternative publication Seattle Weekly ran a column by Judy McGuire called “Dategirl” that featured an attack on Catholicism. In the article McGuire wrote in part, “Four years at St. Thomas the Apostle grade school combined with 16 years attending Mass on at least a weekly basis have earned me the right to Catholic-bash. It’s a repressive, hypocritical religion run by mean-spirited men….” It continued, “Nothing makes a girl feel more badass than stumbling home past primly dressed parishioners early Sunday morning, still wearing last night’s sequined skirt (now on backwards)…all the while emitting the delicate (and enticing) aroma of semen, cigarettes, and stale beer.”

June 9 
Philadelphia, PA — Thom Nickels wrote an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer called “Spiritual don’t ask/don’t tell.” In the article he writes, “Why did God create a homosexual orientation and then decide acting on such impulses would be wrong?” and “To be sure, there are many progressive priests and nuns working on the behalf of gays and lesbians…despite Vatican pronouncements.” Catholic League president William Donohue wrote a letter to the editor pointing out many other human impulses have to be repressed and that the Vatican supports ministering to gays and lesbians.

June 29
Washington, DC — The Washington Post ran a feature on Oprah Winfrey in its “Life & Arts” section. It was titled, “Our Lady of Perpetual Help.” The article was accompanied by illustrations of Winfrey similar to the iconography of the Blessed Mother.

July 2
Detroit, MI — Columnist Susan Ager, writing in the Detroit Free Press, questioned the propriety and meaning behind Pope John Paul II having lunch with 200 homeless people. She asked, “Does an expansive lunch…do more for the poor or the conscience of the Catholic Church?” She pointed out that 9 homeless people died in Rome last year “while millions of dollars were spent to spruce up buildings for the holy year 2000 visitors.” She did not point out the city of Rome and country of Italy paid for the improvements which were not requested by the Church.

July 12
Akron, OH — The Akron Beacon Journal ran an ad by the Eternal Gospel Church called “Earth’s Final Warning.” It describes the pope as the anti-Christ and the Church as being “the whore of Babylon” and being in conspiracy with the U.S. government.

August 19
Phoenix, AZ — When the “Earth’s Final Warning” ad appeared in the Arizona Republic.Bishop Thomas J. O’Brien of Phoenix demanded an apology and the Catholic League supported him in this effort. In the August 26th edition, advertising vice president David Alley wrote a sincere apology to readers for running the ad. The Catholic League wrote to Mr. Alley to congratulate him for his “journalistic integrity.”

August 22
New York, NY — The Village Voice featured a book review written by David Bowman. It was a review of The Toy Collector by James Gunn. The review read, in part, “the James Gunn in the novel is a lapsed Catholic. I stopped going to church for a long time, but started again after I met a great priest out of St. Louis who told me I could make up what Catholicism was and believe what I wanted to believe….I gave a reading of The Toy Collector [and] read a passage about heterosexual anal sex. St. Louis is 75 percent Catholic. There has to be one Catholic who says, ‘Listen, I’m a fan of anal sex.'”

August 26
Atlanta, GA — Roger Kintzel of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution apologized to readers for running the anti-Catholic “Earth’s Final Warning” advertisement from the Eternal Gospel Church in the August 26th edition

September
Ft. Lauderdale, FL — The New Times Broward-Palm Beach ran a “Jesus of the Week 2000” contest asking readers to send in images of what they think Jesus would look like in the year 2000. The reviews included: “Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s plane! No, It’s Christ on a kite!” and “Well, you might not want to take that lying down with the lamb thing too far, bub. It’s good to bless the beasts and all that, and maybe a rock-climbing savior who’s into extreme sports would make a good fit for the new millennium.” Another description was, “This week’s contestant, the lovely Heather Cornwell, has us thinking about this Messiah makeover project in a whole new light. To quote Ms. Cornwell, ‘The Jesus of the new millennium is a woman, because what’s more loving and comforting than breasts? I offer you myself as Jesus.'”

September 7
Boston, MA — In a letter to the Boston Globe, Mr. Paul Kelley of Reading, MA tried to justify contemporary anti-Catholicism by writing, “Pius IX’s reliance on reactionary forces to preserve the Papal States, his opposition to unification and republican institutions in Italy, and the illiberal views enunciated in his Syllabus of Errors make understandable anti-Catholic attitudes in America.”

September 8
Frederick, MD — Frederick Post columnist Roy Meachum wrote an article about recent events in the Catholic Church titled, “Unholy Week.” In it, Meachum called the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith “…the old Holy Office of the Inquisition given a more politically correct name.” He accused Catholic officials of saying, “Heaven and its choicest corners were strictly reserved for Roman Catholics. No others need apply, no matter how holy their lives.”

September 17
Springfield, IL — Episcopal minister Tom Ehrich, writing in the State-Journal of Springfield, IL, said of the Vatican document on salvation, “…this puffery by a Vatican inner circle—small-minded institutionalists who find derivative life in milling about a throne—embarrasses millions of hard-working Catholics ….” And, “Second, and sadder, in this glimpse into a dark side of Christianity: the tendency to live for show, the desire for worldly wealth and power, the tendency to value noise over substance, right opinion over servanthood, the past over the present….”

September 18
Toledo, OH — Toledo Blade columnist Patrick O’Gara wrote a piece about recent events in the Catholic Church. O’Gara referred to the pope as “The Man in the Vatican Beanie.” O’Gara also wrote, “Catholics believe Mahatma Gandhi, surely one of the undisputed holy men of recorded history, didn’t make it to heaven because he was a Hindu. Too bad. He could have spent eternity chatting with the corrupt and murderous Borgia popes, who presumably dwell there today.”

September 26
Detroit, MI — The September 26th edition of the Detroit Free Press ran an editorial cartoon by Mike Thompson opposed to school vouchers. While all six cells of the cartoon ridiculed vouchers, in the last cell reference was made to a “Vouch-O-Matic” machine that destroys the Constitution, sucks millions out of public education and blinds the voters. Readers were told, “To Order, Rush Your Tax Dollars To: The Roman Catholic Church.” The Catholic League responded asking why a public policy issue such as school vouchers cannot be discussed without the use of anti-Catholic rhetoric.

October 4
Athens, OH — The Athens Messenger ran the “Earth’s Final Warning” anti-Catholic advertisement from the Eternal Gospel Church. On being contacted by William Donohue, the publisher of the newspaper assured the Catholic League that the advertisement would not run again and ran a statement of regret to newspaper readers.

October 8-9
Baltimore, MD — The Baltimore Sun apologized to readers for running anti-Catholic “Earth’s Final Warning” advertisements in the October 8th and 9th editions from the Eternal Gospel Church.

October 8, November 26
Rockville, MD — The Montgomery Journal ran the “Earth’s Final Warning” hate ads. When first contacted by the Catholic League, the publisher responded that his newspaper was “very liberal.” He conceded, however, that he would not run an advertisement from the KKK and that he would review the matter again and was “leaning toward not accepting such an ad if it was placed again.” The Catholic League also protested placement of the ad in The Journal of Martinsburg, West Virginia, the Austin American-Statesman, and the Des Moines Register.

October 15
San Bernardino, CA — After the Catholic League complained about The Sun publishing the “Earth’s Final Warning” advertisement, the publisher notified the Catholic League that those who were involved in accepting the advertisement had served notice of resignation. He responded that the decision to accept the advertisement was “extremely poor” and that the newspaper “will be careful not to accept such advertising in the future.”

November 2
Boston, MA — Boston Herald columnist Margery Eagan wrote a column about the disciplining of a Catholic nun for carrying out duties reserved for priests. Eagan said the nun was “banished to the gulag.” She suggested, “Perhaps crucifixion is the next logical step.”

November 5
Kansas City, MO — In a follow-up to its series from January 2000, the Kansas City Starclaimed to have uncovered 300 cases where priests had died from AIDS between 1987 and 1998. The Star quoted Richard Selik of the Center for Disease Control as saying there was a “significant” difference between the AIDS death rates of priests and the AIDS death rates of adult males. This was to buttress claims of the original series, that there is an AIDS epidemic among priests caused by mandatory celibacy and Church teaching on homosexuality. When contacted by the Catholic League, Selik stated that by “significant” he only meant that the difference was unlikely to be the result of chance. He pointed out two limitations of the Star survey: the data were culled from just 14 states and may not be representative of the country; and that the study was not age-adjusted between priests and the adult male population.

November 8
Spokane, WA — The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, WA ran a short item in its November 8th issue announcing a talk and book signing by Father Robert Spitzer, the president of Gonzaga University. The headline for the short notice read, “Nazi priest promotes his book.”

When William Donohue called to complain, the response was that it was an “error” and there would be an apology in the next issue. Donohue responded that it was not an error but a deliberate defamation as Father Spitzer had banned a Planned Parenthood representative from speaking on the university campus that past spring. He stated the person responsible should be fired.

The Catholic League contacted newspapers throughout the country and blanketed radio and television stations in Spokane. Within 24 hours Robin Moody, who wrote the defamatory headline, was asked to resign by the newspaper’s editors. Moody had been the president of the women’s studies club at Gonzaga who had invited the Planned Parenthood representative to Gonzaga.

November 11
New York, NY — The New York Law Journal published a photo essay called “Eyewitness.” It was called “Arrest records from an exhibition of police memorabilia, White Plains City Court.” The essay featured mug shots of a nun and a priest. The photographer, Rick Kopstein, refused to return calls seeking the meaning behind the nun and priest being in the essay.

December 7
Milwaukee, WI — The parody newspaper The Onion ran a lead story titled, “Vatican Warns Against Increasingly Healthy Attitudes Towards Sex.” The story read, in part, “Alarmed by rising rates of pleasurable, mutually fulfilling acts of physical love among Catholics, the Vatican issued a statement Monday warning against healthy attitudes towards sex.”

December 8
New York, NY — The Wall Street Journal ran a front-page story on how few women in Mexico and Italy use tampons. The authors of the story acknowledged that the Church has no position on tampons, yet claimed that Catholicism was the reason tampons were not utilized. The authors said that “some priests have spoken out against the product, associating it with birth control and sexual activities that are forbidden by the Church.” When contacted by the Catholic League, one of the authors, Emily Nelson, could not produce the name of any priest who had made such a statement.

Periodicals

January
Ohio — The “Devil’s Advocate” column written by Randy Allen and appearing in theOhio Farmer and The Farmer magazines addressed the recent accord between Lutherans and Catholics. Allen implied the Church has changed its teaching on justification. It also compared Church membership and hierarchy to the USDA. Allen did not similarly ridicule the Lutheran faith.

February
Fodor’s Exploring Italy travel guide contained comments about the Vatican and Catholicism. Included was a joke comparing the typical Italian mother and son to Mary and Jesus. The guide described the Church as “in apparent decline and no longer obsessed with political power.”

February
Harrisburg, PA — Central PA Magazine featured artwork by Robert Gober called “Untitled.” Gober used a New York Times headline and byline and inserted a picture of himself wearing a bride’s dress in an attempt to push his gay marriage agenda. Gober changed the headline of the Times piece from “Vatican Condones Gay Rights Limits” to “Vatican Condones Discrimination Against Homosexuals.” He left intact the name of the Times writer of the original piece, Peter Steinfels. The actual text of the article was not legible in the artwork.

March 12
Slate magazine’s Jack Shafer wrote a piece in response to a column in the New York Times Magazine about anti-Catholicism. Shafer wrote, “If anti-Catholic bigotry exists in America, it might have something to do with the Catholic Church’s past conduct. Just this weekend, His Holiness John Paul II conceded as much when he finally got around to apologizing to the world for 2000 years of Catholic wickedness.” Shafer also compared the pope to Louis Farrakhan: “But tap-dancing away from accountability more beautifully than Farrakhan, the pope absolved the Catholic Church of blame because it is ‘holy and immaculate.'”

April 3
The magazine The Nation ran a piece by Katha Pollitt after the papal apology. In the article titled, “Regrets Only,” Pollitt wrote, “That the Pope decided to acknowledge the historical wrongs of the church shows how weak it has become….The Pope can rail against contemporary Catholics for secularism and religious indifference all he wants, and blame the people in the pews for the actions of the hierarchy, but modernity is stronger than he is: look who is apologizing.”

May
Philadelphia, PA — The Philadelphia Trumpet, a magazine published by the Philadelphia Church of God, had a cover story called “The Next Pope.” The article says the Church is in a period of “unprecedented danger” as reformers try to take power from conservatives. The article also relies heavily on the writings of John Cornwell, author of Hitler’s Pope, including the contention Pope Pius XII was a “fascist sympathizer” who didn’t help the Jews and helped Nazis escape after the war.

June
Bonsall, CA — A magazine called Pagan Revival (subtitled Celebrating 2,000 Years of Cultural Imperialism and Genocide) featured 48 pages of attacks against the Catholic Church. Its cover featured a depiction of hell with the caption, “Happy Birthday, Jesus.”

August
Philadelphia, PA — Philadelphia Magazine ran a piece by Sally Hingston that ridiculed a website run by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The website, called blessme.org, has a question and answer section dedicated to answering sensitive questions Catholic might have about Church teaching, including those about sex. Hingston wrote the site “might wind up on the hit-lists of perverts seeking kinky self-pleasuring tips.”

August
The August edition of Car and Driver did a short piece about Pope John Paul II’s new limousine donated by the auto manufacturer Fiat. The piece said the car “features a sliding hardtop that descends into the trunk so that the Pope can stumble into the back seat without bending over…It is not known yet whether the pope, after every ride, kisses the ground or prays he’ll be reincarnated as Bernie Ecclestone.”

October
The October issue of Premiere magazine mentioned a movie called “Tomcats” and ran a photo from one scene. A man dressed in a tuxedo stands before a priest and an altar boy. He has an obvious erection and the caption below the photo says the groom “gets a lift from some Viagara-spiked wine.”

October
Free American is a magazine published by a patriot/fundamentalist group that hates Catholics and claims a worldwide Jesuit conspiracy. According to Free American, the Jesuits run everything from the CIA to the Israeli Mussad. They caused the French Revolution and controlled Napoleon. Among other things, the Jesuits are also charged with controlling the drug trade.

November 20
The New Republic ran a cartoon to illustrate a feature that had Barbara Bush holding George W. Bush in the pose of Michelangelo’s Pieta. In a letter printed in a subsequent edition, Catholic League president William Donohue noted that “it is obvious you could have made your point without insulting Christians.”

December
The magazine Maxim printed a piece called “Three Reasons to hate…Mother Teresa.” Based on a book by Christopher Hitchens, the piece accused Mother Teresa of “accepting dirty money,” “hiring lousy help” and “ruining Calcutta.”

December 4
Time magazine ran a story on a play written by Karol Wojtyla before becoming Pope John Paul II. The play is called “The Jeweler’s Shop,” and was being performed in Paris. The magazine concluded that “although the poetry-slam style high jinks are adorably dated,” none of Wojtyla’s literary skills could “hold a candle to transubstantiation.”

Radio

January 17
Metairie, LA — Talk show host Robert Namer of WASO radio was discussing celibacy of priests and nuns when he made the statement that he is pretty sure all priests and nuns masturbate. When contacted by the Catholic League following a complaint from a listener, Namer said while he was sorry that anyone took offense, he would not apologize for the statement. A Catholic League representative was allowed air time in a subsequent broadcast.

September 1
Fort Scott, KS — Radio station KVCY aired a show titled, “Heart of the Matter” hosted by Ralph Obdell. Obdell’s guest was “Brother” Bart Brewer. Brewer claimed to be a former Catholic priest who left the priesthood in 1965. The show was replete with anti-Catholic canards. Brewer claimed to be part of a group called Mission to Catholic International—a Protestant group trying to “save” Catholics. Among Brewer’s claims were: Catholics do not believe in Jesus of the bible; Catholics do not read or understand the bible; Catholics are not Christian; Catholics were responsible for killing thousands of Christians in the early days of the Church.

September 2
National Public Radio host Brian Leherer had author Elizabeth Abbott as a guest on the topic of celibacy. During the course of taking telephone calls, the author made the comment that half of Catholic priests are hypocrites because they say they are celibate but are not.

September 14
Boston, MA — Radio host Howie Carr, heard on WRKO in Boston and syndicated around the nation, referred to a minister who molested a little girl. Carr commented that one knew the minister was not a Catholic priest because he was involved with a girl and not a boy.

October 20
New York, NY — Don Imus’ morning radio show on WFAN, syndicated around the country and simulcast on MSNBC cable television, featured a segment by producer Bernard McGuirk. McGuirk, under the character name “Archbishop Edward Egan” spouted a routine in which he makes fun of gays, lesbians, politicians, Broadway plays, performers and other current events.

October 27
Boston, MA — Disc Jockeys “Rocko and Birdsey” from radio station WAAF played what they said were secretly recorded tapes of a Catholic confessional. Station management later said the bit was a hoax and the two were taken off the air before their show ended when they refused to stop the joke. They both returned to the air the following Monday.

Television

January 23
An episode of the Fox Television show “The X-Files” featured a plot where investigators were looking into a religious ceremony in which snakes were used. One character, who is supposed to be Jewish, remarks to another, who is supposed to be Catholic, that he knew a lot of Catholic high school girls who were “expert snake handlers.” In another instance, he tells the Catholic character that handling snakes is no more ridiculous than “your religion’s communion wafer.”

January 31
The CBS program “The Early Show” discussed Catholicism. The on-air staff talked about being scarred for life from attending Catholic school. Weatherman Mark McEwen remarked, “Well the thing with Catholicism—you can do whatever you want as long as you feel guilty about it.” To which co-host Julie Chen replied, “And say three Hail Marys.”

January 31
The CBS comedy “Everyone Loves Raymond” featured a story line in which Raymond goes to church with his family. His father, an usher, is shown gossiping, talking about the women in the church and counting money instead of paying attention. Raymond, during the Consecration, then makes faces, noises, bothers people around —all while the Eucharistic and other prayers can be heard in the background.

March 1
The ABC late night show “Politically Incorrect” featured a discussion about Catholic-owned hospitals with Professor Darlene Kennedy of Regent University. Kennedy remarked that there were several Catholic hospitals that provided contraceptive services. She did not provide the names of those hospitals. Contacted by the Catholic League after the show, Kennedy cited a study from which she got her information mentioned on the show. The study, appearing in the Los Angeles Times, also did not provide the names of the hospitals.

March 7
CBS’ “The Early Show” continued its ridiculing of the Catholic Church during talk between on air staff members. Weatherman Mark McEwen started the conversation by saying he was born Catholic but now “has a problem with it.” News reader Julie Chen joked about being “scarred for life” from Catholic schools with McEwen commenting about being able to do anything and be absolved through “three Hail Marys.”

March 9
ABC’s “Politically Incorrect” featured host Bill Maher and guests Penn Jillette and James Marsters characterizing priests as pedophiles. Guest Rosemary Altea noted she has had the “Immaculate Conception” because she has a daughter and has never had sex.

March 9
The new NBC animated comedy “God, the Devil and Bob” premiered treating religion as mundane and trivial. God was portrayed as a Jerry Garcia look-a-like who regularly drinks beer with the devil as the two fight over the soul of Bob. The network canceled the show after just four episodes when ratings sagged and many affiliates refused to air the show.

March 9
The “Tonight Show” featured a monologue by host Jay Leno that mocked Ash Wednesday. Leno presented a skit about a “tough parish in downtown Los Angeles” in which the priests smokes a cigar and then puts it out on the foreheads of parishioners.

March 19
The CBS television show “60 Minutes” ran a story about Pope Pius XII based on information and an interview with John Cornwell, author of Hitler’s Pope. Among the inaccuracies put forth, unchallenged, by reporter Ed Bradley:
· Cornwell is a practicing Catholic. He wrote in 1991 that he thought humans were better off without a belief in God.
· Cornwell had unprecedented access to Vatican archives despite the fact Vatican records show otherwise.
The show ignored facts such as 860,000 Jews (by Jewish scholars’ estimates) survived as a result of Pius’ efforts.

March 20
The “Early Show” had its third derogatory conversation about Catholicism in less than two months. On this edition, anchor Bryant Gumbel and weatherman Mark McEwen ridiculed the Church about Lenten observances and the sacrament of Confession. At one point, while discussing confession, Gumbel remarked, “…like, no matter what you did, if you had a double murder, he’d give you, like, a Hail Mary…if you like, ate meat on Friday, he’d make you take a trip to Lourdes.”

March 20
ABC’s “Politically Incorrect,” during the pope’s visit to the Holy Land, joked that at the Annunciation, the Archangel Gabriel didn’t tell Mary she was pregnant with Jesus, he showed her his “horn had turned pink.” Later in the show, guest Lisa Ann Walter referred to the reception of Holy Communion as “scraping a dry wafer off of the roof of your mouth.”

March 28
New York, NY — Given the rash of Catholic-bashing on ABC’s “Politically Incorrect,” the Catholic League lodged complaints with Christine Hikawa, ABC’s Vice President of Broadcast Standards and Practices. She replied, “…all religious and ethnic groups are equally treated by the show and probably equally offended.” She offered no evidence to support this claim.

April 5
The Bravo network, despite assurances it would not do so, again aired “The Last Temptation of Christ.” It is considered one of the most anti-Christian movies ever made.

April 25
The FOX network show “Family Guy” featured a conversation between a character and a priest at church. After the character received the Cup, he asks the priest, “Is that really the blood of Christ?” When told that it is he replies, “Man, that guy musta been wasted 24 hours a day.”

April 30
In an episode of “X-Files,” the storyline involved a cardinal who was about to be arrested as he was celebrating Mass. At the end of the program, it was revealed the cardinal had murdered a man and then committed suicide.

May 2
The topic of discussion on CNN’s “Larry King Live” was homosexuality and religion. Among the guests were clergymen from several denominations. Father Richard Rasi was introduced to represent the Catholic Church. He identified himself as a gay priest from the group Dignity. Father Rasi is not listed in the Official Catholic Directory and Dignity is not recognized by the Church. On the show, Father Rasi proceeded to misrepresent Catholic teaching on the subject.

The Catholic League contacted the show to protest the selection of Father Rasi as a guest. Bobby Grossman of “Larry King Live” admitted in June that he was being inundated with complaints after their contact information was published in the Catholic League’s Catalyst. Grossman said although he had never heard of the Official Catholic Directory, he would fax over Fr. Rasi’s resume. It never arrived.

May 19
The “Tonight Show” with Jay Leno featured actor Dennis Franz singing “The Vatican Rag.” Four people dressed as bishops twirled rosary beads and one dressed as the pope danced with Franz. Among the lyrics: “Try playin’ it safer drink the wine and chew the wafer.” And “Two, four, six, eight, time to transubstantiate.”

May 26
A film titled “Picking Up the Pieces” made its debut on the cable station Cinemax. It starred such big names as Woody Allen, David Schwimmer, Kiefer Sutherland and Sharon Stone among others. The Blessed Mother was ridiculed; references to bishops as pedophiles were inferred; priests were money-grubbing hypocrites; comments like “I’m not saying Jesus was a pimp, but he had a ‘ho—Mary Magdalene” were made; Mother Teresa was said to have had “sex slaves”; a priest had sex in the confessional; the Church was compared to a whore; miracles were treated with disdain, etc.

June
Catholic League advisory board member Linda Chavez quit the PBS TV talk show “To the Contrary” after being insulted by host Bonnie Erbe. When Chavez disagreed with Erbe on the issue of gun control, Erbe called her an “an overgrown Catholic Schoolgirl.” After the story was printed in the Catalyst, the producers of “To the Contrary” sent a form letter to Catalyst readers who had written about the show, saying it was Ms. Chavez who had said “nasty and unchristian” things in a e-mail exchange. When The Catholic League contacted the producers for some evidence of such an exchange, Bonnie Erbe replied, “We have nothing to add at this time.”

June
NBC “Today” show weatherman Al Roker was making the television talk show rounds to promote his new book about fatherhood. In doing so he repeatedly told a story about an expensive fertility drug his wife used. He claimed the drug company was a subsidiary of the Vatican and the drug was made from the urine of “menopausal nuns.” He then told a joke about how it would be less expensive to adopt a nun and have her “pee in a cup.” In discussing the Catholic League’s objection to the story and joke on other TV appearances, Roker never re-told the joke to which we objected.

July 8
The Bravo network featured a theme night of movies, showing “The Last Temptation of Christ” at 8 pm and then “Agnes of God” at 10:30 pm. Both are notoriously anti-Catholic films.

July 11
The panelists and host of the ABC show “Politically Incorrect” discussed the gay pride event in Rome held the previous weekend. Panelist actress Heather Thom said the pope would eventually have to apologize for his remarks about the gay event and should throw “a giant oil orgy and just throw everyone into the mix.” Host Bill Maher said there is “nothing more perverted than celibacy.”

July 19
The Comedy Central show “South Park” featured a two-part storyline that included an attack on almost every aspect of the Catholic faith. The basic plot of last week’s show centered around a priest who tells children they will burn in hell unless they confess and “eat the crackers” (read: Holy Communion). During the course of the show, the following attacks on Catholicism were presented:

· The priest is caught by the children having sex with a parishioner in the confessional.
· The priest tells a nun “the Jews crucified our savior. If you don’t go to hell for that, what the hell do you go to hell for?”
· The nun calls the Vatican to see if the priest is right. The pope appears senile.
· Transubstantiation is described as “just plain silly” and the kids wonder whether “Jesus was made of crackers”; they also ask whether “all we have to do is confess our sins and eat crackers” to avoid hell.
· The father of the Jewish boy tells his son “Christians use hell to scare people into believing what they want them to
believe.”

August 8
An edition of “Politically Incorrect” on ABC featured another session of attacks on the Catholic Church and the priesthood. Host Bill Maher stated, “Look, it’s a fact of life. Priests, a lot of times, molest boys, okay? They are celibate and it’s a magnet for homosexual pedophiles.” A guest on the show, actor William McNamara chimed in on the Catholic bashing by saying the Church should allow priests to marry and “give the altar boy’s rectums a break.”

September 18
On ABC’s “Politically Incorrect” actor Jay Mohr said, “The Vatican is some 80-year-old guy who lives in a bullet proof bubble, wears a bib—they got to wipe his mouth. He’s in a diaper and he’s trying to tell me who to have sex with.”

October 10
On ABC’s “Politically Correct” host Bill Maher stated about the Catholic Church: “I believe in God, I just don’t think God would want this enormous silly bureaucracy between him and me.”

October 27
On ABC’s “Politically Correct” a guest said that people celebrate Halloween “like sheep to the slaughter.” Host Bill Maher responded, “Which is the perfect description of religion itself. I mean, what is scarier than drinking the man’s blood every Sunday? That’s not a spooky ritual? ‘Here kids, drink his blood and eat his body.’ Like that’s not pagan? What can be more pagan than that?”

October 30
On UPN’s “Moesha,” the young Moesha dressed like a nun for Halloween and jumped into a man’s arms with her legs wrapped around his waist. The Catholic League registered a complaint with the producers and, after much discussion, our point was acknowledged.

October 31
On NBC’s “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” a Jesus figure was shown trying to exercise to get in shape while tied to the cross.

November 9
On FOX’s “Boston Public,” a show written by David E. Kelley, there was a scene where a football player rumored to be gay explains that he is being recruited by Boston College, a “Jesuit school.” The player fears that if Boston College discovers he is gay he will be rejected solely for that reason.

December 10
The CBS newsmagazine “60 Minutes” aired a segment on the mergers of Catholic hospitals with secular healthcare institutions. The focus of the report was on the unavailability of contraceptive services and abortions at these facilities. Frances Kissling of Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC) was interviewed to present a Catholic opinion and stated that doctors “are no longer gods. Now we have bishops who are gods.” Kissling is a notorious anti-Catholic bigot and on two occasions the bishops of the United states have denounced CFFC for fraudulently posing as a Catholic group.

Internet

February 16
The Internet search engine Excite offered web users the service of typing in words when doing an internet search. When the words “Mother Teresa” were typed and searched, among the matches listed was a profane title for a pornographic website. Excite corrected the offense after being contacted by the Catholic League.

February 16
Salon, the Internet magazine, did a feature on the Fox TV special “Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire.” In describing the finalists, Carina Chocano wrote about one, “…a fiery redhead who must have been Catholic because shame came and bit her in the ass halfway through the proceedings, lending her an anxious, downcast quality….”

March 12
Slate magazine’s Jack Shafer wrote a piece in response to a column in the New York Times Magazine about anti-Catholicism. Shafer wrote, “If anti-Catholic bigotry exists in America, it might have something to do with the Catholic Church’s past conduct. Just this weekend, His Holiness John Paul II conceded as much when he finally got around to apologizing to the world for 2000 years of Catholic wickedness.” Shafer also compared the pope to Louis Farrakhan: “But tap-dancing away from accountability more beautifully than Farrakhan, the pope absolved the Catholic Church of blame because it is ‘holy and immaculate.'”

May 6
The online auction site eBay hosted a number of customers who wanted to sell items related to Cardinal John O’Connor moments after his death. Among the items for sale: the website domain name “cardinaloconnor.com” with a starting price of $500, a photograph of the cardinal with former first lady Rosalynn Carter, a picture of the cardinal with Mother Teresa and a book written by the cardinal and former New York Mayor Edward Koch. The Catholic League’s complaint was with the timing of the auction.

July 17
MensJournal.com featured a piece about British comedian Eddie Izzard. In reviewing Izzard’s act, the article noted that “Izzard often turns to history, seizing its oddities for his own pointed comedic use. He renames Nazi sympathizer Pope Pius XII ‘Shithead Coward Bastard the Twelfth’ and plays a scene in which Jesus hosts the Last Breakfast and his disciples are served Rice Krispies (‘These are my corpuscles’) and orange juice doubles as plasma.”

August 17
On the ABC news website, ABCNEWS.com reporter Sue Masterman ridiculed Catholicism in her report, “Holy Disorder: Kids Are Dressed to Thrill at Vatican Bash.” In her story on World Youth Day, she reported that dogs are not allowed in St. Peter’s: “They have no souls to redeem, the church [sic] decrees, thus access is denied. No holy water for them.” She wrote that priests are hearing confessions “from all youngsters who want absolution from sins they have hardly time to commit.” Noting that Church officials relaxed the dress code at St. Peter’s for the young people she reported: “If God, Jesus, the Virgin Mary, the Holy Ghost are getting to see more than the usual of the flesh which He created in places where the Roman Catholic clergy want it covered up, then it does not seem to be causing much divine offense.”

William Donohue protested to ABCNEWS.com. Within 24 hours Masterman’s story was toned down and two of the offensive statements eliminated entirely.

August 25
A website was started based on the official website of the Diocese of Bismarck, North Dakota. The fake site was a diatribe against the diocese involving a dispute of a house deeded to the diocese. Among the statements on the fake site: “Open Wide the Greed,” “Bismarck Diocese GUILTY of Complicity in the DEATH of Pauline M. Purdy.” The site had blood dripping from the top of the page.

September
At jesus-is-lord website, convents are referred to as “torture chambers” and the site specializes in reproducing anti-Catholic literature from the 19th Century. Jesus-is-lord provides the “anti-Christ” sideshow that stars “the popes of Rome and the great whore of revelation XVII the Roman Catholic Religion.” The only contemporary story is a reprint from the Washington Post‘s wire story on the Kansas City Star series on the alleged AIDS epidemic in the priesthood.

September 6
The internet magazine Slate has a feature in which two people exchange personal “letters” for readers to see. The writers in the feature called “The Breakfast Table” are usually artists, authors or editors. In this particular edition of “The Breakfast Table,” Debra Dickson of the New Republic Foundation and Erroll McDonald, an editor at Pantheon Books exchanged letters touching on Catholicism.

In addressing a recent dictum from the Vatican, Dickerson wrote, “Ooooooh! You’re gonna burn in hell you devil Baptist! Jesus ain’t enuf [sic]—you gotta sniff incense and kneel on those hard wooden thingies.” McDonald responded with a story about how he tried to get married in the Church. Having failed because he could not produce baptismal or confirmation papers, he then tried to have his child baptized. He wrote, “When the priest asked where we were married and we told him, the red-faced drunk was aghast. He would perform the baptism…providing of course, that the requisite envelope with the $200 donation was deftly handed over.”

October
At The Catholic Page (angelfire.com/mn/psychospeak/catholic.html) a “Prince Wally” lists “The Top 10 Reasons Why It Sucks To Be A Catholic” including, “Be an Altar Boy—Read a newspaper.” The author states that Catholics “have too many rules and too much hypocrisy for my taste. That makes them fun to bash.”

October
At Ask Sister Rosseta (rosseta.com) the “Lavender Nun” engages in double entendres and sexual buffoonery. A cartoon rendition of Jesus on the cross is provided that can be dressed in top hat and tails, rabbit slippers, etc.

October 4 
Topeka, Kansas — The Westboro Baptist Church under the Rev. Fred Phelps, operates two web pages that are anti-Catholic, as well as anti-gay and anti-Semitic. On www.godhatesfags.com and www.godhatesamerica.com the Catholic Church is mentioned as a “Fag” Church and Phelps claims that one-third of Catholic priests are gay. He also claims they molest boys and women. A special section on godhatesfags.com is devoted to a “Diary of Another Fag Priest.”

October 18
The internet site jesusdressup.com featured a dress-up game for Jesus on the cross. By clicking a computer mouse and dragging the clothing across the screen, computer users were encouraged to put different outfits on Jesus as he hangs on the cross including and Uncle Sam outfit, a devil’s costume, a crown of thorns, cowboy boots, sunglasses, etc. Also available were signs to place above his head including one that read, “Hang in There, Baby.”

October 21
The Internet website lotsofjokes.com contained a section called, “Religious Jokes.” Most of the jokes involved priests, bishops, nuns, St. Peter, Jesus and the Catholic Church.

October 31
On a Halloween posting on Salon.com a short story is excerpted about a young woman destined for the convent who has a graphic sexual encounter with a young seminarian.

* The following entries, while found in the course of research done in November, were previously available on the Internet

The website www.catholicteens.com features links to other websites that are obscene and pornographic. The site alludes to underage girls, incest, rape and bestiality. The website is registered to Trevor Kurtz of Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada.

On morons.org the Catholic Church is accused of “slaughtering millions” and links are provided to various traditional anti-Catholic sites on the Internet.

At theonion.com, the website for a weekly “humor” newspaper published out of Wisconsin, a “religious archives” headlines stories that read, “Christ announces associate Christ” and “aging Pope ‘Just Blessing Everything in Sight’ say concerned handlers.” One story quotes the pope as saying: “During the Holocaust, the Church stood silently by while six million fellow human beings, guilty of nothing but the murder of Christ Our Lord, descended to the depths of brimstone at the hands of Protestants. Our intervention in that affair could have averted a monumental tragedy, and more important, might have converted the souls of untold multitudes of evil heretics to the Holy Word of God.”

At the website for Jack Chick Company of California (chick.com), a host of anti-Catholic books and pamphlets are sold, including Chick’s original comic book, Alberto. There is also the Death Cookie, a pamphlet describing the Eucharist as a Satanic-inspired ritual rooted in pagan beliefs.

The Harbor Lighthouse website (harborlighthouse.org), produced by the Ankerberg Theological Institute in Nashville, TN., a long series of anti-Catholic features are posted including, “The Spiritual Battle for Truth” by Michael Grendon. Grendon writes that “Satan has been profoundly successful in deceiving multitudes in the name of Christ because his servants appear as ministers of righteousness. They wear priestly garments and religious collars and carry boastful titles such as ‘most reverend,’ ‘right reverend,’ ‘his excellency,’ and ‘Holy Father.'” Articles on the site in Spanish attack Marian devotion.

Cutting Edge Ministry (cuttingedge.org), with advertising sponsors such as Hickory Farms, offers a series of articles that claim that the Mass is witchcraft, the Holy Father is the Antichrist, the crucifix in Catholic circles is a Satanic symbol and that “Roman Catholic teachings are blatant frauds upon the faithful people.”

The Reformation Online website (reformation.org) reproduces 19th Century anti-Catholic materials concerning Vatican and Jesuit one-world “plots” under Pope Pius IX. The website blames Pope Pius IX for concocting the Great famine in Ireland in the 1840s.

Lamb and Lion Ministries was founded in 1980 and is run by a board of 24 trustees “from a variety of Christian fellowships” and is based in McKinney, Texas. Its website (lamblion.com) features an article by a Dr. David Reagan who writes that “(Catholicism) is the ancient Babylonian mystery religion parading in new clothes, worshiping Mary as the ‘Queen of Heaven.'” He claims that the “Whore of Babylon” will “most likely be an amalgamation of the world’s pagan religions, including apostate Protestants, under the leadership of the Catholic Church.”

White Horse Publications is a Hunstville, AL “Christian publishing company devoted to exposing the errors and trappings of a sacramental system of salvation.” The “most prominent manifestation of that error is Roman Catholicism, or Romanism.” It advertises seven books on its website (whpub.com) including “Graven Bread,” a book that calls the Eucharist “a centuries-old practice than amounts to nothing less than idolatry.”

Operated by a minister who claims to have been raised a Catholic, at Just for Catholics website (stas.net/goodnews), Catholics are advised to “reckon yourself an unworthy sinner and a rebel against God….Do not rely on a church, Mary, the saints, a human priest, the sacrifice of the Mass, or an imaginary Purgatory.”

Pro-Gospel website (pro-gospel.org) promises to “untangle Roman Catholics from the dogmatic jungle in which they are held captive.” Catholics who have been “born again” and left the Church are told to “rescue” Catholics who “have been in submission to the controlling, irrefutable dogmas of the Catholic clergy.”

Good News for Catholics is an organization that began in 1981 with the distribution of anti-Catholic literature at the consecration of Bishop Pierre DuMaine of San Jose, CA. On their website (gnfc.org) they describe the Catholic Church as an “unbiblical form of Christianity which has deceived Catholic people.”

At Former Catholics for Christ (geocities.com/heartland/plains2594/) Catholics are told that the Church “is proven to be a practice of white witchcraft.”

December 13
Salon posted an article allegedly written by a 15-year-old girl charging that her school is anti-gay. The piece, “Teens, sex and God” accused the Catholic Church of hating gays and contributing to “intolerant attitudes” that “contribute greatly to teen depression and suicide.”

January
Brooklyn, NY — A new wooden welcome sign at St. John Cantius Church was ripped off the building and smashed into pieces.

January 4
San Jose, CA — Vandals struck a synagogue, defacing the house of worship with a swastika and anti-Semitic graffiti. Only then was it reported that a statue in the town of Carmel was defaced with anti-Catholic graffiti a week prior.

January 9
Brooklyn, NY — A statue of Pope Pius X was dragged from the Knights of Columbus hall, thrown into the gutter and smashed. A note taped onto the mutilated statue read that Pope John Paul II “is Satan who deceives the earth.”

January
Brooklyn, NY — Incidents of vandalism at Roman Catholic Churches in Brooklyn continued, bringing the number to six since last fall. The Catholic League contacted the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office, the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department. To help defray the costs of restoration, the league sent $500 each to St. Jerome’s, Our Lady of Refuge, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Fortunata, Apostles of Infinite Love Convent and St. Rita’s. An arrest was made in the vandalism cases May 16. Police arrested Primus St. Croix of Brooklyn, the spiritual leader of a group of local Rastafarians. He said the attack on the statue of Pope Pius X was motivated in part by a documentary he had seen about Pius XII.

January 27
Comedian George Carlin, saying he was raised a Catholic, promoted his role in the movie “Dogma” in which he played a cynical cardinal. Carlin said, “I always like taking a good, clean shot at the Catholic Church and the movie certainly was that.”

January 27
The Catholic League received a startling amount of text in the “feedback” section of the League website. The message was the phrase, “HAIL HITLER HAIL PIUS.” It was written more than 416,000 times.

January 27
Fort Wayne, IN — A vandal hit St. Paul’s Church in downtown Fort Wayne, damaging statues, stained-glass windows, the altar, crucifixes and candles. Thirty-seven year old Thomas L. Braddock of Warsaw, Indiana was on afternoon leave from a 72-hour detention when he wandered into the church according to police. He faces charges in the incident.

February 14
Buffalo, NY — Father Arthur J. Mattulke of St. Margaret’s Church was beaten with a cross and stabbed with a holy water sprinkler by a man who said he wanted to kill the priest. Fr. Mattulke was assaulted not long after the front doors of the church were opened for morning Mass.

February 27
Spring, TX — The Spring Church of Christ (nondenominational) offered a four-day long series of seminars “investigating what your bible has to say about Catholics.” The lecture titles included “False Miracles of the Catholic Church,” “The Confessional and Its Abuses,” “The Syllabus of Errors of Pius IX.”

March
The Catholic League received e-mail through the league website that read, “Does Cardinal ‘The Criminal’ O’Connor deserve this nation’s highest civilian honor. No friggin (sic) way. He should be sent back to Ireland with all of you Irish criminals.”

April 3
Actor Rupert Everett, in an interview in Salon, talked about religion in general and the Catholic Church in particular. Everett said about his religious education that he has “managed to get myself through the whole hideous guilt the Catholic Church puts you through.” He says he is no longer Catholic because “that’s like being a gay Republican.” And finally, Everett told the magazine he “believes the whole Eucharist and wine turning into the body and blood of Christ thing is a crock.”

May 10
Middletown, NY — Statues outside St. Francis Xavier Church were attacked by vandals. One, depicting the Sacred Heart of Jesus, was dressed up as an American Indian with headdress and bow and arrow. A statue of St. Francis Xavier was dressed as a cowboy with a toy gun taped to the crucifix in his hand.

June
Walterboro, SC — A publication called Overcomer published by the Faith Cathedral Fellowship, Inc. contained a section called “Sister Charlotte’s Testimony.” The narrative read in part, “We are taught that the priests are God’s representatives here on earth and since we are married to Christ, it is quite alright for us to bear the priests’ children. I can remember one night when 28 babies were born in the Convent.” And the article claimed, “All the priests who have left the Catholic faith and all the ex-Bishops who have left the Bishophood (sic) of the Catholic Church agree 90% of the priests are sex perverts.” The article concluded, “We found out after this article was printed that Sister Charlotte was killed by the Catholic Church.”

June 5 – 8
The Catholic League received a barrage of hate mail on its website following an advertisement it placed in the New York Times about the Beijing +5 conference at the United Nations. The hate mail included :

· “You really hated and feared your Mother’s power, eh? that she was able to do what you can never do. You truly hate women, don’t you? You want POWER, you hateful and powerless little person: to CONTROL women’s exercise of power you cannot and will never have.”

· “For some strange reason, which I have not been able to figure out, the Church has it in for women; they have this burning desire to control us. To tell us who we must be (mothers) and where our place is in society (submissive, second-class citizens).”

· “I must add also that I find it appalling that an organization which excludes women entirely from its governing body has any right to tell women how they should treat their bodies or be considered a country. Your ‘sexual ethics’ are a farce, it is time the Roman Catholic Church moved into the twenty-first century.”

· “Your ad was totally offensive, as usual, as you people are offensive.”

· “You should call yourselves the League of Catholic Nazis.”

· “I don’t see that the Holy See has taken care of its people, but everything seems to be aimed at taking care of the princes of the Church, the bishop, the cardinals and the popes.”

July 7
Columbus, OK — Members of the Ohio Bible Fellowship passed a resolution condemning what they called the “false gospels of the Catholic Church.” The fellowship, made up of 15 churches in Ohio, also called the pope “an anti-Christ” and declared Pope John Paul II “heads a church that…is leading millions of people right into hell through false doctrine.” Fellowship leaders said the resolution was in response to the negative publicity received by Bob Jones University when their anti-Catholic teachings were in the media spotlight.

July 8
The Catholic League received feedback through its website regarding the World Gay Pride event held in Rome. The writer said, “John Paul ordered a printed document back in 1987 that said no one, not even the Church, should be surprised when people react violently against Gay (sic) people…So John Paul does not like Queer (sic) people meeting in Rome when he has a Holy Year. It would be well for him to be confronted with his sin of homophobia…[the Catholic League] printed a vicious cartoon accusing gay teachers of molesting their student.”

July 10
Rome, Italy — At the conclusion of the World Gay Pride event in Rome, a concert was held featuring former Spice Girl Gerri Halliwell. While performing, Halliwell according to the Sun newspaper, “cavorted half-naked with a dancer dressed as the pope in front of 70,000-strong Gay Pride crowd in Rome.”

July 14
The Catholic League received feedback through its website about the book Papal Sin by Garry Wills. It read, in part, “…Bishop Ziemann, the buffoon bishop of Santa Rosa, California, who ordained his boyfriend and then when (sic) to bankrupt his diocese to the tune of between $15 and $20 million.”

July 19
The Catholic League received feedback from its website than read, “It strikes me as the ultimate in hypocrisy when a group calls itself the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. What has the Catholic Church done since its inception? I’ll tell you: It’s TAKEN AWAY the religious and civil rights of anyone not willing to join it. The history of the Catholic Church makes Hitler’s Nazis look like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. The Catholic Church has slaughtered far more people in the name of the Lord than the Nazis did in the name of Hitler! And then there are the rapes, sexual abuse, and other physical abuse performed with glee by priests, nuns and others throughout the years in schools and orphanages. It’s evil. I wish I could see the day when it finally all crumbles to the ground and people on earth can once again go about their lives without the stench of Catholicism in their midst.”

July 25
Billerica, MA — Vandals desecrated St. Theresa’s Church before trying to burn it down. Police in Billerica said satanic slurs and anti-Christian messages were spray painted on the outside walls of the church. The phrases included: “Kill you, your God and your daughters,” “Kill the Christians” and “666” among others. There were also pictures of an upside down crucifix. Officials said an attempt was also made to set the building on fire in two places in the rear of the church.

August
North Port, FL — A little girl had been practicing to sing Kum Ba Yah at the North Port Boys and Girls Club talent show. She was barred from singing the night of the event because the song repeats the word “Lord.” Her parents were informed that there might be complaints if children heard a religious song at a non-sectarian event. A camp official warned, “You have to check your religion at the door.”

August 4
Cromwell, CT — Thirty parishioners of St. John’s Church arrived for Mass one morning and found their church vandalized. The phrases “Satan is coming” and “Satan rules” were spray painted on the outside walls. The number “666” was scrawled across the front door.

September – October
The Catholic League received a series of hate messages on the feedback section of catholicleague.org. Among the messages were, “How come you bead-mumblers hate the Jews so much? You must not pay too much attention to what Jesus said. P.S. Dogma was a great movie.” Another wrote, “Dear Pope lovers. I see you defended that worthless creep Pope Pius IX. That figures. Not only was that Pope anti-Jewish and a kidnapper and a terrorist, he was also anti-Protestant. He was anti-freedom. He was a bum as is the current scumbag who wears that long white dress. If you love the Pope, then you can’t love the USA, its (sic) one of the other.”

October 2
Syracuse, NY — Two brothers, ages 9 and 10, were charged with arson for allegedly setting fire to a statue of the Virgin Mary inside Immaculate Conception Church. The brothers were accused of putting lit candles on the lap of the statue. They were caught by a maintenance worker.

October 11
Brooklyn, NY — Primus St. Croix , an illegal alien, pleaded guilty to destroying five religious statues in the Brooklyn, NY diocese. St. Croix was subsequently sentenced to five years probation. The Catholic League secured the help of Senator Charles Schumer of New York for a federal probe of the case under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrance (FACE) act. The law, aimed at protecting access to abortion clinics, also makes it unlawful to intentionally damage the property of a place of religious worship. The day before St. Croix was given probation for desecrating Catholic statues, a man who smeared white paint over a dung and pornography-laden portrait of the Virgin Mary at the Brooklyn Art Museum was told he could face a year in jail.

October 15
Ann Arbor, MI — Footballs fans at the University of Michigan held a special pre-game “baptism” for news fans. Fans dressed up as clergy and nuns. The event was described in the local newspaper: “‘Blessed are those who root for Michigan,’ said six-foot Sister Blue, a.k.a. Jim Manser…Then, decked in a black suit acquired from a Halloween store and a maize and blue block M substituted for a cross, Father M read from a prayer book. Moving right along, Father M listed the beatitudes according to U-M fans: ‘Blessed are those who give up Sundays…”

October 20-21
Chesapeake, MD — Seventy three crosses were planted by Father Thomas Flowers of St. Rome of Lima Church and a local Knights of Columbus council in memory of those aborted. The crosses, erected at a prominent roadside, were all vandalized.

October 23
The Catholic League was inundated with hate mail after the October 23, 2000 ad appeared in the New York Times countering “Catholics Speak Out.” Among the comments received on the feedback section of the Catholic League’s website:

· A non-Catholic from New York wrote accusing the Catholic League of fostering “hate, bigotry, and violence” and
recommended that the Catholic League read Garry Wills’ Papal Sin.

· Patricia von Hippel of New Jersey said the advertisement reminded her of why she left the Church.

· Roger M. Poor called the Catholic League “intolerant,” “narrow-minded,” and “regressive.”

· Roy Hubbard said that if the Catholic League had its way the Church would still be burning Protestants, Jews and heretics.

· An anonymous contributor wrote, “Talk about a paid ad from political propagandists, who elected William Donohue
Pope?”

· Mr. Tom Bunn, a therapist, wrote that while he objects to people who are anti-Catholic, he applauds people who are against what the Catholic League considers Catholic. He wrote that the “dogmatism, intollerance (sic) expressed in this ad is evil, anti-Christian, and against what Christ’s life was about.”

· Joe Miles of Atlanta, GA., who identifies himself as a former Catholic, wrote that the Catholic League ad is “a classic illustration of anti-Catholic bias” and that the Catholic League ad was a “deliberate, calculated lie.”

October 30
Long Island, NY — Rabbi Mordechai Friedman appeared on public access television in Nassau County. He called the pope “a dumb Pollack” among other disparaging remarks. Rabbi Friedman is the same rabbi who called the murder of Yitzhak Rabin, “and act of the almighty” and more recently, saying there is cause to assassinate the “evil” Joseph Lieberman.

October 31
Bucks County, GA — Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in Middletown was struck by vandals at least eight times over the past ten months. The church lost $35,000 worth of windows, doors and lights. Fr. Myron Badnerosky said, “I cannot comprehend why someone would want to do this, unless they had something against God or his Church.”

November
Winona Ryder, the actress who played a Catholic woman out to destroy the Antichrist in the movie “Lost Souls” said that “it’s incredibly abusive to tell children that there’s a devil and that if you do something wrong, you’re going to burn in hell. That’s a horrible thing to tell a child, and that’s my main problem with Catholicism.” The actress, raised by an atheist father and a Buddhist mother on a commune in Northern California, added that, “I don’t believe in the devil; I believe in mental illness.”

November
North Shelby County, AL — Vandals struck Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church breaking windows, furniture and an antique cello. Books were thrown about, property and money stolen.

November 10
Anchorage, AL — At Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, vandals stole the church sound system and two rugs, separated the main altar from its footing, fractured a baptismal basin and smashed a wooden sacristy in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel.

November 14
Clifton, NJ — Explaining that she was protesting the plight of the homeless, Joan C. Boyle burned a cross on the property of St. Brendan Catholic Church. She was charged with desecration of a venerated object under the state’s bias crime statute.

November 18
North County, CA — Self-described missionaries distributed anti-Catholic religious tracts from Chick Publications to North County high school students near their schools. Bill Abbott of the West Coast Baptist Church—not affiliated with other Baptist churches or organizations—said his congregation has 200,000 tracts on hand in 120 versions.

November 18
Eau Claire, WI — The section of the Leader-Telegram newspaper that lists religious services contained an advertisement from the Eau Clare Gospel Center written by its pastor, Dan Stanley. Entitled, “The Gospel,” the ad stated the Catholic Church “has utterly perverted the Gospel…and you that are in Catholicism must flee from it….And let all that name the name of Christ openly expose and oppose this arrogant erroneous claim and teaching by the one they call the pope.”

November 27
Boca Raton, FL — Residents of Boca Raton received a mailing from Cornerstone Publishing entitled “Earth’s Final Warning.” The booklet featured Pope John Paul II and President Bill Clinton on the cover and contained anti-Catholic material regarding the Church’s teaching on nearly every subject.

December
San Jose, CA — In the San Jose Mercury News, Kit Hamilton of the Morgan Hill Community Alliance claimed that the Catholic Church teaches that “AIDS and HIV are God’s curses on people who behave inappropriately.”

December
A group named Inspiration Books East of Lemison, AL published a booklet called What’s Behind the New World Order. The booklet called the Catholic Church “Pagan Rome,” and assaulted every Catholic teaching, the Mass, worship of Mary and the pope.

December 13
Walnut Creek, CA — A controversy dubbed “the Crèche Crisis” erupted at the Rossmoor retirement community. Some members of the 9,000 resident community objected to the tradition of placing a nativity scene at the entrance to the development. Resident Robert Parks said the display was “audacious and presumptuous” and that he “think[s] the crèche violates the sensibilities of many people.”

December 15
Cincinnati, OH — Christmas as a legal holiday was challenged in court by Ohio attorney Richard Ganulin. Ganulin argued before the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals that a national holiday for Christmas violates the constitutional separation of church and state. A lower court had thrown out Ganulin’s case.