The cover story of the summer edition of Human Rights, the American Bar Association journal of the Section on Rights and Responsibilities, featured a discussion regarding the implications of hospital mergers between Catholic and secular institutions. But it was not the article that the Catholic League objected to (flawed though it was), rather it was the cover [...]
The May fund-raising letter of the Washington-based Population Institute referred to the Holy See as the "anti-contraceptive gestapo." The statement, made in reference to the Holy See's teachings on marriage and the family, was designed to mobilize members against the Vatican's position at the upcoming U.N. event in Beijing, the Fourth World Conference on Women. Werner Fornos, [...]
The June 4 episode of the CBS show "The Wright Verdicts" was the most bigoted portrayal of Catholics and the Catholic Church to have appeared on any television program thus far in 1995. Every possible negative stereotype was used to convey the message that the Catholic Church is a despicable organization. Here is a partial list [...]
The April cover of the New Yorker magazine showed a crucified Easter Bunny in a business suit superimposed on an IRS tax form. According to the artist, Art Spiegelman, the drawing was meant to show how conservatives view tax cuts as an "article of faith." When Catholic League president William Donohue was contacted at home by [...]
On May 2, Catholic League member Paul McCarthy of Massachusetts submitted a resolution to be presented at the November meeting of the Walt Disney Company. McCarthy, who owns 22 shares of Disney stock, asked shareholders to ratify a resolution that calls for the establishment of a religious advisory committee. The resolution stated that films which express [...]
The movie "Priest," produced by the BBC and released by Miramax, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company, provoked the Catholic League to lead a storm of protest against the film and Disney (see "Something Stinks in the Magic Kingdom: “PRIEST”' for an analysis of the movie). The movie is arguably the most anti-Catholic movie ever made; that, [...]
On March 10, the Associated Press (AP), in a story on a court ruling upholding a law barring doctors from engaging in assisted suicide, disclosed that federal appeals court judge John T. Noonan was a Catholic. Dr. Donohue sent a letter to AP executives asking, "Why does AP think it important for the public to learn [...]
On February 24, Fort Lauderdale's Sun-Sentinel yielded to pressure from the Catholic League by issuing an apology and a pledge not to run any more anti-Catholic ads. The League raised objections on February 23 regarding the February 9 publication of a four-page ad that had been paid for by a Seventh Day Adventist splinter group. It [...]
The Catholic League's 1994 Report on Anti-Catholicism has just been published. It is the first time that the League has issued what it expects will be an annual publication. The need for such a report is clear to all Catholic League members, even if it is not so clear to others. Listed in the report are [...]
On January 22, the CBS program "60 Minutes" aired a segment on the Catholic dissident group Call to Action. The segment covered a Call to Action conference held in Chicago in November, 1994, treating viewers to comments from the most alienated portions of the Catholic community. In the wake of the show, the headquarters of the Catholic League was deluged with phone calls and letters, all of which asked [...]
