At a Vatican Christmas concert Saturday night, hip-hop artist Lauryn Hill read a lengthy statement blasting the Vatican for the homosexual scandal in the Catholic Church. “God has been a witness to the corruption of his leadership, of the exploitation and abuses… by the clergy,” she said. Hill told the audience to seek blessings “from God, not men,” adding there was “no acceptable explanation for defending the church.”

 Catholic League president William Donohue spoke to this issue today:

“Last year Lauryn Hill stepped onstage at Carnegie Hall and admitted to the crowd that her life was ‘a mess.’ Judging from her latest outburst in Vatican City, nothing seems to have changed. Pathologically miserable, Hill has confessed to taking ‘some lighter fluid and a match and burned everything I had built because the foundation was wrong.’ It is no wonder that in one of her songs, she literally asks God to ‘save me from myself.’

“Hill’s personal problems do not justify her rants against the Catholic Church. After all, Sinead O’Connor isn’t exactly normal, either, and she justifiably paid a price for her stunt on Saturday Night Live when she ripped up a picture of the pope. We expect Hill’s career, already in decline, will continue to head south. Columbia Records should show her the gate.”

On August 1, the Long Island chapter of Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) issued a statement charging Rockville Centre Bishop William F. Murphy with delinquent behavior when he served in Boston. William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, spoke to this issue today:

“The Catholic League has rebutted every charge made by Voice of the Faithful against Bishop Murphy. Indeed, it is our view that any reasonable person who reads VOTF’s charges that appear on its website (votf.org), and then reads our response (catholicleague.org), will conclude that Bishop Murphy is innocent. If anything, the verdict of guilty applies to his accusers—they are guilty of character defamation.

“Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly issued a report on the Archdiocese of Boston that detailed wrongdoing on the part of some bishops who served under Cardinal Law. Though he tried to link Bishop Murphy to the scandal, his effort was in vain. This explains why the section of the 91-page report that is given over to Bishop Murphy is less than two pages long and amounts to nothing. Yet this isn’t enough to satisfy VOTF. That is why it issued an enfeebled statement trying one more time to indict Bishop Murphy. Now Catholic League policy analyst Joseph De Feo has written our report on VOTF and its bogus claims.

“The Boston Globe won a Pulitzer Prize for its work on exposing miscreant behavior in the Boston Archdiocese. It justly earned the award. In its book on the scandal, Betrayal: The Crisis in the Catholic Church, it rightly took some bishops to task for their irresponsible decisions. Not among them was Bishop Murphy. There are precisely five pages in the 266- page volume on Monsignor William F. Murphy: the first three pages where he is mentioned the reference is to Bishop Murphy of Rockville Centre; the last two pages are in reference to another priest of the same name. Regarding the entries on Bishop Murphy, not only is there nothing incriminating, he is credited with removing the infamous John Geoghan!

“It is time for VOTF to call off its witch hunt against Bishop Murphy. Not to do so risks a serious attenuation of its credibility.”

An AP story today says that Rev. Al Sharpton, a Democratic presidential candidate, has announced that he will begin a voter registration drive this summer traveling the country with musicians and religious leaders. Sharpton is known for his campaigning in black churches and has said that presidential campaign of Rev. Jesse Jackson provides a useful model for his bid at the Democratic nomination.

Commenting on this development is Catholic League president William Donohue:

“In 1988, Rev. Jesse Jackson not only campaigned in black churches in Chicago, he literally raised money in them. Will the same separation of church and state zealots who said nothing about this gross abuse of the First Amendment similarly remain silent now that Rev. Al Sharpton has announced he will tour with religious leaders in an effort to get people to register to vote? Sharpton, of course, will take his voter registration campaign directly into the churches.

“Imagine a white, pro-life Roman Catholic priest who is running for president taking his voter registration campaign into Catholic churches—with an entourage of priests in tow. Get it?”

A Pennsylvania radio station yesterday aired an editorial by Mark Marek that lectured Pope John Paul II on Catholic doctrine. WLSH, located in Lansford, Pennsylvania, aired the broadcast that many local Catholics found offensive.

Marek, a former Catholic, took umbrage with the pope for his Holy Thursday statement reaffirming Catholic doctrine on marriage, Holy Communion and other matters. In his remarks, Marek not only challenged the wisdom of these teachings, he accused the pope of “stirring up anger” in the U. S. and abroad. “Instead of issuing a letter promoting peace and words of comfort,” Marek said, “the Vatican boys conjure up this fire and brimstone encyclical that drives another spike into an already weakened Catholic Church.”

Catholic League president William Donohue responded as follows:

“The Catholic League does not object when non- Catholics criticize the Catholic Church for its teachings on subjects that have a public policy impact. But there is a fundamental difference between public policy issues such as hospital mergers and school vouchers and doctrinal matters such as the Sacraments of Matrimony and Holy Eucharist. This is why Mark Marek crossed the line: it is no more the business of WLSH to lecture the Catholic Church on its internal affairs than it is the business of the Catholic Church to lecture WLSH on its internal affairs.

“I have written a letter of protest to WLSH station manager Bill Lakatas requesting an on-air apology by Marek.”

The highest court in Massachusetts, the Supreme Judicial Court, has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a woman who claims she was molested by a Catholic priest more than 40 years ago. In doing so, the Supreme Judicial Court overturned a decision by the state’s Appeals Court that ruled in favor of the woman. Today’s decision by the state’s highest Court said that the statute of limitations had expired. It also said the woman should have filed her lawsuit earlier; she claimed a connection between the abuse and the emotional harm she says she endured.

Catholic League president William Donohue applauded the decision:

“It is impossible to say whether the woman in this case was delivered a morally unjust decision today. But one thing is certain: it would have been legally unjust to convict the accused, Rev. Gerard Creighton. The reason why we have a statute of limitations in law is precisely to guard against cases like this. How is the accused—always assumed innocent— supposed to defend himself against accusations made a long time ago (in this instance several decades ago) when witnesses are dead, memories have faded and personal vendettas may be at work?

“The U.S. Supreme Court will confront this issue directly in a case involving a California law that allows clergy sex abuse charges to be filed after the statute of limitations has expired. Right now there is nothing but confusion: last week a judge dropped a case against the Diocese of Palm Beach on statute of limitations grounds (the case also applied to the Diocese of Rockville Centre). And just this week, the first lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for clergy sex abuse was filed by a man who says he was abused roughly 20 years ago by a priest.

“No one who has fairly watched the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church unfold would maintain that the Church has handled this problem well. But it must be said in equal firmness that the current environment is anything but fair to the Church. We hail today’s decision and look forward to the high court overturning the California law.”

This Sunday’s episode of the ABC show, “The Practice,” uses the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church for script. According to the show’s writer, David E. Kelley, the purpose of this episode is to pose a question to Catholics: “Can Catholics adequately express their rage without quitting the church?”

 Catholic League president William Donohue answers Kelley this way:

“There is not much about The Catholic Church that David E. Kelley likes. We know this because Kelley has been very busy over the years writing scripts that are highly critical of virtually every Church teaching on sexual ethics. Like many former Catholics, Kelley just can’t pack it in and find another home. So he hangs around. His credentials include a series of Catholic-baiting shows he wrote for ‘Picket Fences’ and a slew of crabby shows he’s penned for ‘The Practice.’ Indeed, The very first month that ‘The Practice’ aired, Kelley unloaded on Catholicism.

“To give him his due, Kelley has corresponded with me at some length on this issue and always in a congenial manner. Yet he always returns to dish out more dirt. Now the scandal in the Church has gripped him. Indeed, he has several episodes on this issue scheduled.

“Kelley is not wrong to use the scandal for a script. Nor would he be wrong to use the upswing in syphilis and AIDS among reckless gays as a script. But this is not what interests him. He wants to seize on the less than 1.5 percent of priests who have been guilty of sexual abuse over the last 40 years. The fact that 99.5 percent of priests today are not even being questioned about sexual abuse means noting to Kelley: there is a scandal in the Catholic Church and it is his job to exploit it. That is why he irresponsibly casts a mother who will not allow her son to be baptized because in a few years he might be raped in the confessional.

“Here’s my answer to Kelley’s question: Yes, Catholics can adequately express their rage at The Church’s handling of this problem without quitting. But I have a question for him: can he adequately express his contempt for Catholicism without showing his hand?”

In an interview in Britain’s Guardian newspaper, actor Christopher Reeve accuses President Bush of bowing to Catholic interests on stem cell research. As a result of this alleged obstruction of research, the “Superman” actor says he is unnecessarily confined to a wheelchair; Reeve supports stem cell research and therapeutic cloning. “We’ve had a severe violation of the separation of church and state in the handling of what to do about this emerging technology,” he added.

Catholic League president William Donohue commented on Reeve’s remarks today:

“It is nothing if not slanderous for Reeve to suggest that Catholics are the only ones left who respect the sanctity of human life. While it is true that the Catholic Church leads the way in this just cause, there are many Protestants, Jews and Muslims (as well as non-believers) who feel the same way.

“Human life does not begin at birth. It does not begin at ‘quickening.’ It does not begin at implantation. It begins at fertilization. This is not Catholic opinion. It is Biology 101. Ergo, stem cell research and cloning of all types are immoral.

“Moreover, the line between church and state is not crossed when a president comes down on the same side of an issue that a world religion does. Even to imply as much is invidious: the thrust of this remark is to abet an abridgment of Catholic free-speech rights.

“Reeve sounds more like ‘Stupidman’ than ‘Superman’ when he suggests there is some kind of cabal at work between President Bush and Catholics. The fact that President Bush opposes utilitarian ethics makes him an honorable man and has nothing to do with any alleged conspiracy. Reeve has every right to make his case in favor of embryonic stem cell research and therapeutic cloning, but he has no right to engage in Catholic baiting while doing so.”

Edmond Carmody, Bishop of the Corpus Christi Diocese, has banned both the gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial candidates in the Democratic party from speaking at diocesan churches because of their abortion rights position. The candidates, Tony Sanchez and John Sharp, are Catholics who say they are personally opposed to abortion but nonetheless support a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy

Since 1999, the Corpus Christi Diocese has had guidelines barring Catholics who support abortion rights from speaking at any Catholic institution and from holding church positions. Cathoic League president William Donohue explained why Bishop Carmody’s decision to implement these strictures is especially important now:

“Many’ adversaries of the Catholic Church think that now is the time to strike. They sense a Church on the run, with bishops in retreat. But Bishop Carmody has already proved them wrong.

“Because some clergymen have failed to live up to the Church’s teachings on sexuality doesn’t mean that the teachings are flawed. The teachings put a premium on restraint and it was the failure of all priests to internalize this property that led to the scandal. It wasn’t the message that failed—it was some of the messengers.

“By not backing down to those who say the Church has no business speaking publicly on sexual morality, Bishop Carmody has done the Church a public service. Moreover, he has shown that pro-abortion Catholics have no more right to sell themselves as Catholics than do pro-racist Catholics. These are our house rules. It is also the Catholic contribution to diversity.”

A news release that was labeled a “Joint Statement on ‘Corpus Christi”’ was previously sent today regarding the play that is scheduled to be performed on the Campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) in August. It erroneously said that it was a joint statement between the IPFW and the Catholic League. It is not. It is a Catholic League statement. We regret the error. While working to resolve this issue amicably, there was a miscommunication between Catholic League president William Donohue and IPFW chancellor Michael Wartell. Nonetheless, Donohue and Wartell are pleased they have been able to strike an agreement on this issue.

Brit Hume of Fox News Network reported yesterday that CNN founder Ted Turner stunned CNN employees in Washington when he made an anti-Christian remark on Ash Wednesday. Seeing ashes on the forehead of some workers, Turner said, “What are you? A bunch of Jesus freaks? You ought to be working for Fox.”

The Catholic League contacted the Corporate Affairs department of CNN in Atlanta today for more about this matter But all they are saying is that they cannot confirm, or deny, the validity of the story. The Catholic League finds this position unpersuasive.

Catholic League president William Donohue issued the following statement today:

“Ted Turner is a recidivist. Like all repeat offenders, Turner evinces an animus against a particular portion of the population. For him, it is Christians, whom he despises. That is why he is on record for a) branding Christianity a religion ‘for losers’ b) labeling pro-life Christians as ‘Bozos’ c) insulting the pope with one of his cheap jokes at a pro-abortion meeting and d) blasting Christianity for being ‘very intolerant.’ Now he’s back, this time slamming those who wear ashes on Ash Wednesday.

“On February 17, 1999, the Corporate Affairs department of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., sent me a copy of Ted Turner’s one sentence apology for mocking the pope. The next day, I issued a news release saying that ‘Mr. Turner’s apology is accepted and thus it brings close to this incident.’ But this time Turner can save himself the effort: any apology he might offer will immediately be rejected for its insincerity.

“He may be just as dumb as John Rocker, but unlike the Atlanta pitcher, he occupies a position of significant influence in our culture. That is why we look to his superiors at AOL Time Warner to denounce Turner for his relentless attacks on Christians. Indeed, they might want to take a page from professional baseball and ship Turner off for some sensitivity training.”