The gift shop in the Baltimore Museum of Art was selling souvenir postcards featuring a picture of the Andres Serrano “Piss Christ” artwork; it shows a crucifix submerged in a jar of the artist’s urine. A protest by the Catholic League led to considerable media attention, inspiring one local Catholic to buy all 13 remaining postcards. The museum, after being barraged with bad publicity, will not restock the item.

In our investigation of the museum, we found that in the aftermath of 9-11, a decision was made to remove a painting by Christopher Wool entitled “Terrorist”; it was done “out of respect to visitors’ sensibilities.” Doreen Bolger, the museum’s director, explained, “The work hasn’t changed, but our perception of it has.”

Our statement to the media said, “For years we’ve been told by the postmodernists that art has no meaning save what people attribute to it.” But Wool’s contribution proved this to be a lie: they knew exactly what he meant and they didn’t like it. So they banned it. No room for diversity here. However, we charged, “when it comes to dunking the holiest Christian symbol in urine, they withdraw their censorial knife.”

That’s because they don’t care about offending the sensibilities of Christians. And as far as the Serrano hate art is concerned, this gang likes it as much today as they did before 9-11.

We are delighted with the outcome. Thanks to league member Bob Follett for the tip.

In response to a complaint by the Catholic League, eBay, the most famous Internet auction site, expeditiously withdrew a very offensive item from its marketplace.

On September 20, the Catholic League learned that eBay had listed a “Virgin Mary Immaculate Conception Condom” on its website. On the condom was a picture of the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus; the tagline read, “If you conceive, its [sic] a miracle.” On the back of the condom was a picture of Pope John Paul II. “It also includes inside the flap,” said the description of the condom, “instructios [sic] on how to put on the condom (drawings!) showing a certain someone on a cross with a woody and a glove….”

The first thing we did was to verify the accuracy of the report (someone had alerted us to the item on our website feedback page). Then we researched eBay to see if the company had any record of withdrawing items that were deemed to be racist, anti-Semitic, etc. Once we learned that the company had previously pulled some bigoted items from its auction, we asked for equal treatment. An official for eBay said he understood our complaint and wanted to verify it. Once that was done, he said he needed to run this by some other officials. He wasted no time getting back to us saying that the item had been withdrawn from the auction.

William Donohue immediately released a statement to the media commending eBay for acting so quickly and so responsibly. A company official told Patrick Scully, the league’s director of communications, that there are literally thousands of items on their website. Therefore, he said, it makes it difficult to screen every item posted for auction. We have no reason to doubt that this is true.

In his remarks to the media, Donohue commented as follows: “That someone would produce and sell an item like this shows how sick some people are. Just as disturbing is the fact that some other sicko had already offered $8 for it. He, in turn, was outbid by another madman who offered $11.50. But now the Catholic League has spoiled all their fun. We await charges that we are engaged in an Inquisition.”

Two more newspapers have said they will no longer run the anti-Catholic ads sponsored by the Eternal Gospel Church. Both the Idaho Statesman and the Sun in Boca Raton, Florida, have said they are finished with such ads. The ads portray the Catholic Church in a vicious light.

The league registered its first complaint against the Idaho Statesman when the newspaper ran the ad on September 2. We are happy to note that the newspaper had already decided it was not going to run these ads again. President and publisher Margaret E. Buchanan wrote to William Donohue saying, “the Idaho Statesman determined that it would no longer accept this type of paid advertisement.” She added, “There is enough intolerance and prejudice in the world, ads of this type only enflame what already exists.”

Michael B. Kahane is vice president and general counsel of American Media, Inc. This company publishes the Sun (it is also the place where anthrax was found, killing an employee). Kahane wrote to Donohue after the newspaper ran the ad on September 18. He said that when the ad was run, the newspaper had put a disclaimer in it saying the ad did not express the views of the paper. But he hastened to say, “We further wish to inform you that Sun has no plans to accept further advertising from the Eternal Gospel Church.”

In short, the league won.

On October 11, the Associated Press ran a story on Rent-A-Priest. The group is comprised of men who were ordained, left the priesthood and married. Some Catholics who are frustrated with Church teachings hire them to perform weddings, etc. While a married priest is still a priest according to canon law, they are denied the right to give sacraments.

When asked what he thought of the group, William Donohue replied, “We call them ‘Rent-A-Nut.’ It’s set up to appease people who still want to be associated with the Catholic Church even though they don’t want to follow the rules.”

The following is a statement written by Catholic League president William A. Donohue:

On September 11, the Catholic League staff looked out the window and saw the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers collapse right before our eyes.

It was October a year ago that the Catholic League’s national headquarters was relocated to 450 7th Avenue in New York City. We are on the corner of 34th Street and 7th Avenue. East of us across the street is Macy’s department store; south of us across the street is Penn Station. Because we are on the 34th floor of a 45-story building, we are able to look down at Macy’s, Penn Station and Madison Square Garden (located above Penn Station).

Some of our offices face north to Times Square; some face east to the Empire State Building (two blocks away); some face south to the downtown area. My office looks south and west.

I open the office early each morning. As I enter my office, I look out the window and see the World Trade Center right in front of me; our view of the Twin Towers is unobstructed.

Just before 9:00 a.m. on September 11, some of our staff members drew my attention to something unusual. There was a big hole in one of the World Trade Center Towers, not too far from the top. Reports quickly surfaced that a plane had hit the tower. Visibility was fantastic that day thus making it implausible to believe that this was an accident. Flames were gushing out and so was some debris. Then the other tower was hit (some saw the plane go through the building). I looked out the window and saw an enormous ball of fire go sailing into the air. We now knew that this was deliberate.

The office quickly gathered and watched the tower that was just hit crumble right before our eyes. It imploded, going straight down, almost as if pancakes fell one atop the other. Then there was an incredible sight—a gargantuan explosion and burst of smoke filled the air. It reminded us of a World War II movie.

Still standing was the first tower that was hit. At this point we just stared out the window, hardly speaking. But it didn’t take long before we saw the tower collapse. It was like a replay of what we had just witnessed.

Then we learned that the Pentagon had been hit and that a plane crashed near Pittsburgh. We knew we were at war and braced for the worst. Perhaps the Empire State Building just two blocks away would be next. And then, who knows?

Manhattan was closed so we couldn’t get out. Right below us we saw a mass of humanity trying to get out of Penn Station. But it was too late—the police had sealed it off for security reasons. We tried to call our loved ones but the phones were down. Even cell phones failed to work.

As noon approached I did something to break the prisoner-like condition we were experiencing. I said we were going to lunch. So we walked to 38th Street and went to Lazzara’s for pizza.

Lazzara’s had a TV on so we couldn’t escape watching the event continue to unfold. As the waiter came to our table, I had already begun to say a prayer; he joined us. After lunch we went back to the office. Then we learned that some trains were running, so we took a chance and left. Eventually, we all made it home safely.

When I got home, there was a message on my answering machine from a reporter calling for a comment on the terrorism. I simply erased the message.

The next day I was at work at my usual time. The trains were mostly empty but I saw no reason to close our office; some made it in, others did not. Looking out the window was more smoke. But there were no Twin Towers.

Our hearts go out to all the surviving members of those who perished. We are especially grateful to all those police officers, firefighters and ironworkers who worked so bravely and so tirelessly to clear the debris and rescue those trapped below.

Many of these courageous people are often smeared because of a few bad apples in their ranks. It is time we realized that most of them are among America’s greatest heroes. That they are overwhelmingly Catholic is something we’re proud to note.

The terrorists want to paralyze us. But they just don’t get it. They can change our skyline but not our deadlines. As long as we are guided by what Pope John Paul II has said many times—”Be Not Afraid”—the bad guys will never win in the end.

The Catholic League’s presence in the debate on stem cell research was evident in the pages of the New York Times and on TV shows like “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” “Crossfire” and “Imus in the Morning”; Fox News Channel and UPN also carried league commentary on this issue.

When the Catholic League issues a news release, it sticks to issues affecting anti-Catholicism and the rights of Catholics. But when the media call upon the league for an informed Catholic perspective on a contemporary moral issue (as it increasingly does), we are only too happy to oblige them. That’s what happened in this instance. In addition, some of the commentary lodged against the Church’s opposition to embryonic stem cell research got so overheated that it spilled into bigotry, thus providing even more reason for a league response.

Throughout the debates on this issue, we repeated the Church’s position that stem cell research is fine as long as it is done on adults. Stem cell research performed on embryos, however, must be opposed because it is impossible to do the research without killing the embryos.

“Bush Walks Fine Line on Stem Cell Issue” is how we phrased our news release on the president’s decision. We were pleased that he opposed any federally-funded stem cell research that would require the killing of new embryos. We were also pleased with his choice of Dr. Leon Kass to head his Council on Bioethics. But we were not pleased with the president’s statement that human embryos “have at least the potential for life.” As we pointed out, a human embryo is a human life. This is not a religiously-held belief as much as it is a matter of Biology 101: human life begins at conception.

While most of the critics of the Church’s position were not anti-Catholic, there were cartoons and columns in some newspapers that crossed the line. The worst cartoons were the ones by Englehart in the Hartford Courant, Benson in the Arizona Republic and Wright in the Palm Beach Post. Jan Jarboe Russell in the San Antonio Express-News wrote the most offensive article.

But by far the most irresponsible remarks were made by a congressman from the state of Washington, Rep. Jim McDermott. See page 4 for a detailed account of his comments.

On Interstate 5 near Medford, Oregon, is a billboard that reads, “The Pope is the Antichrist.” The Catholic League got involved by joining with local Catholics to protest the sign. A spokesman for the owner of the billboard, Outdoor Media Dimensions, initially said he wasn’t sure whether he would post any more anti-Catholic messages once the contract for the offensive ad expires next spring. Then he changed his mind and said he wouldn’t.

The ad was paid for by Larry Weathers, a member of the Seventh Day Adventist Remnant Ministries (a splinter group of the Seventh Day Adventists); many such ads have appeared since 1993 in the southern part of Oregon. The Catholic League’s strategy was to show the hypocrisy involved: the owner initially said that while he doesn’t endorse the anti-Catholic message, he felt comfortable posting the ad because of his commitment to free speech.

We decided to call the company’s bluff. We contacted Outdoor Media Dimensions with a proposal. We said we were prepared to pay for a billboard along Interstate 5 near Medford that reads, “Outdoor Media Dimensions Sponsors Anti-Catholicism.” “If free speech is their god,” William Donohue said, “they’ll go for it.”

The company’s first reaction was to deny us our request. Then, on the same day they said they wouldn’t renew the contract with Weathers, they said we could put up our sign. We decided not to, having gotten what we wanted.

On June 15, the Catholic League protested an ad placed by Lipton, demanding that it be withdrawn. Just a few hours later, it was.

Patrick Scully, the league’s director of communications, explained the league’s position to Steven Milton, the public relations director of Unilever; Unilever is the parent company of Lipton. The ad, which was published in an “alternative” weekly newspaper, New York Press, showed a man waiting in line for Holy Communion holding a bowl of Lipton’s onion dip. The priest was shown holding up the Host to the first person on line who was about to receive.

The ad, quite obviously, suggested that the man was prepared to dunk the Host in the dip. At the corner of the ad was a picture of the Lipton “Recipe Secrets” box that featured the onion dip.

When Scully called Milton, he learned that many complaints had been lodged against the ad. But since nothing had been done about it, William Donohue decided to issue a news release. Here is what he said:

“The Lipton ad is not poking gentle fun at Catholicism the way some other ads have. Rather, it is demeaning the Eucharist. And there is nothing more central to Catholicism than the belief that the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.

“Unilever is a monster: it has sales of $46 billion—higher than the GNP of many nations—and employs an army of 300,000 persons operating in 88 countries. For the elites at Unilever to allow their ad department at Lipton to insult Catholics like this is the height of corporate arrogance. And stupidity.

“The only way to rectify this problem is to immediately withdraw the ad and discipline the offenders. We’ll give them time to work this out but one virtue the Catholic League is not known to possess is patience.”

We were happy to learn that Unilever quickly and completely issued an apology. More important, they gave us what we wanted and withdrew the ad.

“This was a test, a market test, and it was an error of judgment on our part,” said Milton. “The result is that we have some apologizing to do and we will,” he added. He concluded by saying he was assured “that the ad will not be run again.”

This is an important victory that all Catholic League members can relish.

Readers of Catalyst know that we have been protesting every newspaper ad placed by the Eternal Gospel Church. The ads refer to the Catholic Church as the “Whore of Babylon” and feed every paranoid belief about the Church taking over the world. Unfortunately, those responsible for the ads claim to be part of the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church when, in fact, they are a splinter group of the SDA. Fortunately, an out-of-court settlement has put an end to this deceit.

The settlement bars the Eternal Gospel Church from using the official SDA church name in its anti-Catholic ads. The agreement ends a three-year trademark battle and effectively ends the bad public relations that the SDA has unfairly received in recent years. The Catholic League is happy because it denies the Eternal Gospel Church the kind of legitimacy it wants.

In court documents, the SDA correctly cited the Catholic League’s opposition to the ads placed by the Eternal Gospel Church. The SDA did not want to be perceived as being anti-Catholic and tried to get the splinter group to stop misappropriating its name. But it took a lawsuit, launched three years ago, to get the breakaway dissenters to take the SDA protest seriously.

Meanwhile, we are protesting the decision of the Winston-Salem Journal and theTribune-Star in Terre Haute to run the offensive ad. Even though the clout of the Eternal Gospel Church has been diminished, we will continue to hound them.

The Terrence McNally play about Jesus having sex with the twelve apostles will be performed this summer at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW). The Catholic League entered the fray and immediately drew front-page coverage in local Fort Wayne newspapers. Bob Lockwood, our research director, lives in Fort Wayne and represented the league to the media.

Six state senators from Indiana raised serious questions regarding the propriety of a state-assisted university hosting an anti-Christian play. They are going to drill Chancellor Michael Wartell when he comes before them asking for more funding. Interestingly, the students raised money for the play voluntarily. But that didn’t stop the league from criticizing the arrangement.

In a statement made to the press, William Donohue said, “Here we go again. Taxpaying Christians are asked to support a school that mocks their religion. It matters not a whit that IPFW is not funding ‘Corpus Christi.’ What matters is that this public institution is hosting the play.” Donohue applauded the six state senators who raised objections to what he termed “this abuse of public financing.”

Just as we saw with the situation at Florida Atlantic University, IPFW proudly advertises its commitment to multiculturalism; it even has multiculturalism in its mission statement. Indeed, it has an office of Multicultural Services “to serve as a support system for African American, Hispanic, Native American, International [and] Asian” students. In addition, there is an Islamic Student Association on campus and a “diversity” week that teaches students to be tolerant of homosexuals.

We focused our attention on Chancellor Michael Wartell. Noting that he is casting the issue squarely as an academic freedom matter, we fired back saying that “part of his [Wartell’s] academic responsibilities is the promotion of tolerance for everyone, Christians included.”

Donohue then made his request. “That is why I am asking him to personally sit down with those associated with the play and discuss how hurtful this exercise in free expression really is to Christians,” he said. “After all,” he continued, “IPFW’s mission statement also mandates that the school strive to ‘reinforce ties to the surrounding community.’ That would seem to include Christians.”

Because Chancellor Wartell has not replied to Donohue, we suggest you write to him as soon as possible. Write to him at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, 2101 E. Coliseum Blvd., Fort Wayne, IN 46805.