January 22, 2025

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde
Episcopal Church House
Mount St. Alban
Washington, D.C. 20016

Dear Bishop Budde:

At the January 21 prayer service at Washington National Cathedral that featured President Trump, you mentioned that “people in our country are scared now.” You singled out people who “may not be citizens or have the proper documentation,” as well as LGBTQ persons. These people “fear for their lives.” You then made a plea to “find compassion.”

Your commitment to compassion is noble, but it is misplaced.

I work in New York City, and I witness daily how many New Yorkers are “scared” and “fear for their lives.” They are afraid of being mugged, beaten, raped and killed, often by people who have crashed our borders, people you refer to as lacking “proper documentation.” They, and in some cases their surviving families, are deserving of compassion. More than that, they are deserving of justice, and that means that illegal alien criminals must be apprehended and deported.

You are right to call attention to violence against LGBTQ persons. They have every right to be “scared” and “fear for their lives.” What you don’t mention is that the people who are most likely to victimize them are people just like them. In other words, it is not heterosexual guys who are beating up on gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender persons—it is people in their own ranks. It is called “intimate partner violence,” and the studies show how prevalent it is among LGBTQ persons.

In 2022, Psycom Pro, a psychiatry resource for clinicians, concluded that “More than half of transgender individuals experience partner violence or gender identity abuse.”

In 2020, seven experts published a study in the American Journal of Public Health on this subject and concluded that “Transgender individuals experience a dramatically higher prevalence of IPV [intimate partner violence] victimization compared with cisgender individuals [those who accept their sex identity], regardless of sex assigned at birth.”

The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence reviewed the literature on this subject and found that “43.8% of lesbian women and 61.1% of bisexual women have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime, as opposed to 35% of cisgender women.” It also found that transgender individuals experienced the highest rate of intimate partner violence.

The Williams Institute, a think tank at UCLA Law, reviewed a number of studies on this subject. One of them found that “31.1% of transgender people and 20.4% of cisgender people had ever experienced IPV or dating violence.” It also said that three studies concluded that the lifetime intimate partner sexual violence prevalence among transgender people ranged from “25.0% to 47.0%.”

Even in sympathetic pop culture magazines, such as Portland Monthly, it is acknowledged that “statistically speaking, the most common perpetrators of violence against trans women are domestic partners.”

In short, misdirected compassion is not virtuous. You need to make a public statement addressing the fallacies of your remarks.

Sincerely,

William A. Donohue, Ph.D.
President

On January 4, President Biden gave the Medal of Freedom to George Soros. It is the nation’s highest civilian award, given to “individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors.” The White House said those who received the award are “great leaders because they are good people who have made extraordinary contributions to their country and the world.”

The truth is that George Soros has done more to destroy western civilization and the United States, in particular, than any single person in the world. An inveterate anti-Catholic bigot, his anti-law enforcement policies have impoverished and punished legions of innocent black Americans. A self-hating Jew, he has been condemned by Jewish leaders in the United States and Israel.

Soros has sought to destabilize America by supporting open borders, welcoming those who have illegally entered the country. His embrace of Black Lives Matter, which has openly said it wants to destroy the nuclear family, is of a piece with his attacks on the criminal justice system. He funded the most radical district attorneys in the nation, the result of which has been a dramatic increase in crime by repeat offenders.

Soros’ Open Society Institute has waged war on Catholics for decades. It funds many dissident organizations, activist groups that falsely claim to be Catholic. They include Catholics for Choice, a pro-abortion, anti-Catholic letterhead funded by the likes of Soros. He was also the money behind Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics United, two front-groups set up by

Clinton aide John Podesta to create a “Catholic Spring” revolution in the Church.

Though Soros is Jewish, he has been accused by the ADL of blaming anti-Semitism in Israel on the Israeli government, and the Jerusalem Post has accused him of weakening support for Israel in the Democratic Party. The editor of the New Republic, Martin Peretz, called him “a cog in the Hitlerite wheel.”

As a young man in Hungary, Soros became a Nazi collaborator. In a “60 Minutes” interview he admitted that he helped confiscate property from Jews. He told Steve Kroft that he never regretted doing so. When asked if this was difficult, Soros said, “Not, not at all.” Stunned, Kroft said, “No feeling of guilt?” “No” came the reply.

Biden has been telling us for four years how much he supports DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion). His decision to honor George Soros, the world’s most influential anti-Catholic bigot, shows what a liar this “devout Catholic” really is.

On November 17, the U.S. Postal Service announced that beginning in 1995 there will be no more printing of the famous Christmas Stamp of the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus. Indeed, there will be no more religious stamps of any kind. For 28 years the Postal Service printed the Madonna stamp but now it thinks that the time has come to issue a picture of an angel instead.

Commenting on this decision was Catholic League president William Donohue:

“The decision to ban religious stamps constitutes censorship, pure and simple. It also represents a meanness of spirit and contempt for the mores of American society. The same government that authorizes public monies for an artist to show his hatred of Christianity by submerging a crucifix in a jar of urine now thinks it unconstitutional to allow religious stamps. Evidently the only religious displays that the federal government finds acceptable these days are those that have been sufficiently blasphemed.

“It does not bode well for liberty when the government embarks on a mission to eradicate from public life every vestige of religious symbolism. There is absolutely nothing in the First Amendment which requires the Postal Service to ban religious stamps, and there is absolutely no evidence that the Postal Service is simply reflecting the will of the people by mandating this prohibition. On the contrary, the decision smacks of the politics of bigotry.

“There are two ways that the government can show neutrality with regards to religious stamps: it can practice tolerance and allow stamps that depict the symbols of a wide variety of religions, or it can practice intolerance and ban them all. Regrettably, it has chosen the intolerant path.

“The Catholic League asks all Americans of good will to join with it in requesting the Postal Service to rescind its decision.”

The Catholic League is the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organization. It defends the right of Catholics—lay and clergy alike—to participate in American life without defamation or discrimination.

On July 5, 1994, Professor Vernon McClean required all students in his Sexism and Racism class to identify their religion on a piece of paper. When the lecture began, Dr. McClean commented that Louis Farrakhan had once called Pope John Paul II a “racist cock-sucker.” Dr. McClean then said that Farrakhan was right. When the mother of one of the students learned about this incident, she wrote a letter of protest to President Arnold Speert. Copies of private correspondence were then distributed by Dr. McClean to his students. No action has been taken against Dr. McClean and no statement admitting wrongdoing has been issued by any college official.

In a statement on this affair, Dr. William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, had this to say:

“What happened at William Paterson College is a serious violation of students’ rights and grave abuse of academic freedom. No professor at a state college has any business asking students to identify their religion. It is even illegal for the U.S. Census Bureau to require Americans to identify their religion, never mind a state college professor. If separation of church and state means anything, it means the right of citizens to insulate their religious affiliations and beliefs from inquiring government agents.

“When the demand for religious identification is juxtaposed with a vicious anti-Catholic remark, the outcome is nothing less than pernicious. If the same vulgar characterization had been made about Martin Luther King, or some other widely revered person, college officials would have been quick to respond. But their silence in the wake of this anti-Catholic statement suggests that Catholic bashing is tolerated at William Paterson College. That this comment was made in a required multicultural course is all the more telling: respect for diversity and tolerance for all religions apparently do not extend to Catholics.

“The classroom distribution of private correspondence was an egregious impropriety. Despite the fact that the woman who complained has a private listing for her home address and phone number, everyone in the Sexism and Racism course was given a copy of her letter, complete with her home address.

“College officials know what has to be done: the school needs to issue an apology and disciplinary action must be taken against Dr. McClean. To do nothing is to sanction illegality, vulgarity, bigotry, a double standard of justice and a flagrant abuse of power.”

The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights is the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organization. It defends the right of Catholics—lay and clergy alike—to participate in American life without defamation or discrimination.

The ABC news broadcast of May 26, 1994 incorrectly reported that the Vatican had accepted “co-responsibility” for the Holocaust. The Catholic League sent the following letter to Peter Jennings, requesting a retraction for the error. Dr. William A. Donohue said of the incident: “It is not certain what led ABC to err in this matter. But what matters most at this juncture is that the error be acknowledged. It would also help, of course, if ABC spent more time verifying its stories before airing them.”

Dear Mr. Jennings:

In the news broadcast of May 26, you erred in saying that the Catholic Church acknowledged co-responsibility and guilt for the Holocaust. What actually happened was that one German lay
theologian had reached this conclusion in his preparatory remarks to the German and Polish bishops. The statement by Hans Herman Henrix was not even approved by the German and Polish Bishops’ Conference, much less by the Church itself. Yet you said that this position emanated “from the heart of the Roman Catholic Church.” Bill Blakemore contributed to the confusion by incorrectly labeling Henrix’s position paper as a “Church document.” As the Vatican pointed out immediately, the draft was “in no way a projected document of the Holy
See.” In light of the above, it is only fitting that ABC News issue a retraction.

Sincerely,
William A. Donohue, Ph.D.
President

The ABC news broadcast of May 26, 1994 incorrectly reported that the Vatican had accepted “co-responsibility” for the Holocaust. The Catholic League sent the following letter to Peter Jennings, requesting a retraction for the error. Dr William A. Donohue said of the incident: “It is not certain what led ABC to err in this matter. But what matters most at this juncture is that the error be acknowledged. It would also help, of course, if ABC spent more time verifying its stories before airing them.”

Dear Mr. Jennings:

In the news broadcast of May 26, you erred in saying that the Catholic Church acknowledged co-responsibility and guilt for the Holocaust. What actually happened was that one German lay theologian had reached this conclusion in his preparatory remarks to the German and Polish bishops. The statement by Hans Herman Henrix was not even approved by the German and Polish Bishops’ Conference, much less by the Church itself. Yet you said that this position emanated “from the heart of the Roman Catholic Church.” Bill Blakemore contributed to the confusion by incorrectly labeling Henrix’s position paper as a “Church document.” As the Vatican pointed out immediately, the draft was “in no way a projected document of the Holy See.”

In light of the above, it is only fitting that ABC News issue a retraction.

Sincerely,

William A Donohue, Ph.D.
President

The April 29th showing of the CBS program “Picket Fences” was a textbook case of anti-Catholicism in the media. The following is a brief summary of the show’s content.

The script is based on the sexually deviant practices of a Catholic priest, Father Gary Barrett. Father Barrett, we are told, has a shoe fetish, one who (according to the distorted perspective of the writers) violated his vow of celibacy by having a sexual experience with a woman’s shoe. Upon hearing of Father Barrett’s fetish, the local mayor asks “He has sex with a boot?” He then goes on TV to warn children that Father Barrett is a shoe fetish priest.

When Father Barrett is confronted by his bishop, he defends himself by saying “How many priests are totally celibate, John?” He adds, “Damn it, John. The Church has allowed pedophiles to keep their cloth. That’s a reason for the paranoia. Because they failed to act swiftly in those cases.”

Discussing masturbation, a boy tells his father that “They [the Catholic Church] say you’re only supposed to let semen out to make babies, nothing else.” Then, in a voice suggesting the boy is quoting Catholic dogma, he offers “Better to plant your seed in the belly of a whore than on the ground. Even during Earth Week. I looked it up. Maybe that’s why Father Barrett used a shoe. So it wouldn’t hit the ground.”

The same boy tells the Jewish attorney who is representing Father Barrett that he wants to become a Jew, because unlike Catholics, Jews who masturbate don’t go to hell. The attorney admits he’s no expert on Christianity but then opines the following: “This idea of complete celibacy. This did not come from Jesus. All his disciples were married. The tradition of celibacy for priests did not come until a thousand years later.” The boy responds, “Well. There’s still gotta be a reason for the rule. Fifty million Catholics can’t be wrong.” To which the attorney says, “People will tell you all kinds of things.”

In another scene, the mayor complains about his alzheimer’s condition and then, in a sorrowful voice, whines to Father Gary Barrett: Do you know the only thing I have, Gary? Prayer. Faith in God—that’s my only chance. Imagine how I feel today to see that my vehicle to God—my priest—touches himself holding women’s shoes. You’re supposed to be my hope. Damn you. Damn you.” There is also a scene where children are showing T-shirts that are being worn locally. One has a picture of a boot with the inscription “I Get a Boot Out of Catholicism,” while the other shows a picture of the sole of a shoe with the legend “Save Soles With Father Barrett.”

The show closes with the parishioners rising to the defense of Father Barrett to keep his parish. Even the mayor and the bishop offer their reluctant support. The boy in the show concludes by saying: “So he’s still the priest. He gets to keep the shoes. Well, then I guess that means it’s not a sin to milk the lizard.”

Dr. William A. Donohue offered the following statement:

“David E. Kelley, the executive producer of ‘Picket Fences,’ continued his Catholic-baiting with this show. The April 29th episode is even worse than the October 28th show. It is clear that Mr. Kelley and CBS think that they can get away with their hatred and bigotry. But the Catholic League is prepared to begin a sustained campaign against the station, the show and the sponsors, and will not yield until Catholics are treated with the same degree of respect that CBS treats African-Americans, Jews and gays.

“CBS will not air reruns of ‘Amos and Andy’ because it offends the sensibilities of blacks. Perhaps someone from CBS can explain why their sensitivity doesn’t extend to Catholics. And perhaps it can be explained what the source of Mr. Kelley’s bigotry is.”

The Catholic League is the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organization. It defends the right of Catholics—lay and clergy alike—to participate in American life without defamation or discrimination.