The Catholic League is seeking a disclaimer from the director of "The Da Vinci Code," Ron Howard, that would inform the audience that what they are about to see is based on fiction, not fact. An open letter to Howard making this request was published in the March 6 New York Times (see p. 13). What necessitated this [...]
Recent attempts to smear Chicago Archbishop Francis Cardinal George and Los Angeles Archbishop Roger Cardinal Mahony were met with a strong response from the Catholic League. Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea, a psychologist who addressed the bishops in 2002, recently sent Cardinal George a letter saying he might be considered "an accessory to soul murder" because he didn't [...]
The sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church has triggered a rash of draconian bills designed to deal with this and related matters. The states most guilty of trying to subordinate the Church to the state are Colorado, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The Catholic League has been active in opposing the proposed laws in all three [...]
The Respect Life Ministry of the Oakland Diocese recently waged a pro-life PR campaign in BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) trains, but it was literally attacked by local anarchists. One of the ads, "9 MONTHS," called attention to the amount of time the Supreme Court allows abortions to take place. The other ad read, "The Supreme [...]
On Friday, December 2, Bill Donohue received a Christmas card from the President and the First Lady (see below). He was pleased to get the card and was only slightly miffed to discover that it did not say "Merry Christmas." But later in the day he found something out that made him perturbed. Alan Cooperman, the [...]
By all accounts, Samuel Alito is a brilliant, honorable man who is well qualified to be on the U.S. Supreme Court. But he has his enemies, almost all of whom are driven by ideology. There are some, too, who fear that if his nomination succeeds, the high court will be dominated by Catholics. Prominent among Alito's [...]
On November 9, we started a boycott against Wal-Mart, citing discrimination against Christians. On November 10, the world's largest retailer refused to give in to our demands. On November 11, Wal-Mart folded, yielding on all counts. Ergo, we called off our boycott. Over the past decade, Wal-Mart has been the object of a great deal of [...]
Gene Robinson, the Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire, and the first openly gay Anglican bishop, attacked the Catholic Church in November while visiting London. "I find it so vile that they [the Catholic Church] think they are going to end the child abuse scandal by throwing out homosexuals from seminaries. It is an act of violence [...]
We've had a busy time this fall dealing with an eruption of priest-bashing incidents. One of the worst took place in Seattle. After a protracted struggle, we got the apology we initially sought. On September 29, Ken Schram, a commentator for the ABC-TV affiliate in Seattle, KOMO, sarcastically complained about a piece of public art that [...]
In the November issue of the Atlantic Monthly, there is a brief article by Tyler Cabot titled, "The Rocky Road to Sainthood." Of Padre Pio, one of the most revered priests in recent history to have been canonized, Cabot writes, "Despite questions raised by two papal emissaries—and despite reported evidence that he raised money for right-wing religious [...]
