Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on an investigation of the Catholic Church by WCPO Cincinnati:

The ABC affiliate in Cincinnati, WCPO, recently launched a three-month investigation into Ohio’s Catholic dioceses and religious orders seeking to learn how they track priests and brothers who have been accused of sexually abusing minors.

The “I-team” did not investigate any other religious body in the state, nor did it launch a probe of any secular institutions. Yet it is precisely in the public sector where most of the sexual abuse is taking place.

What did it find? It compiled a list of 92 priests and religious brothers who were accused of sexual abuse by one source or another. From the interactive report online, we learned that 60 (65%) are dead.

In its four-part series, it offers a short anecdote of 16 priests and one brother. We did our own tally and here is what we found.

• 7 priests are dead
• 4 have been laicized
• 1 has been removed from ministry
• 1 is awaiting trial
• 1 has been permanently suspended
• 1 is on administrative leave
• 1 has an unknown status
• The one brother is dead

In other words, they are either dead or are inactive. If this were the conclusion of a probe of the public schools, it would be the end of the story. But because it is the Catholic Church that has been selectively put under the microscope, it isn’t.

In fact, in the Overview, the report even admits that an indictment of a priest in August was the first time in nearly a decade—in the Tri-State area—that a member of the clergy has had an accusation made against him. It would be helpful to know how many public school teachers in the Tri-State area have been accused of sexual abuse in the last decade. But apparently the WCPO I-Team has little interest in finding out.

The report correctly notes that the Catholic Church isn’t required by law to supervise priests who are no longer in ministry. What it should have said, to be more accurate, is that no institution is required by law to track, never mind supervise, any former employee who was terminated because of sexual misconduct. Not even at WCPO.

So what’s the big deal? Shaming. Shaming the Catholic Church—that’s what this contrived story is all about. Take, for example, how the report handles the case of Rev. Daniel Pater.

Pater was bounced five years ago by the Vatican for sexually abusing a teenager. But a month after he was fired, he took a job as the director of music for a small Episcopal Church in Lincoln Heights. WCPO finds this scandalous. Guess who it blames? The Catholic Church. Why didn’t the Protestant church ask Pater about his background? Isn’t it up to the prospective employer to do some digging? Since when does the burden fall on the organization that kicked the guy out? This is bunk.

What is driving this report is the desire to suspend the statute of limitations for these crimes, allowing alleged victims to sue even if the offense occurred in the 1940s. And as we have seen in other states where this game is played, the law either does not apply to the public schools, or if it does the steeple-chasing attorneys have no interest in fighting the bureaucracy: they prefer to squeeze the Catholic Church, for reasons both financial and ideological.

It is the family where most sexual abuse of children takes place. Yet no one—not a single attorney—will publicly state that he is available to represent those women whose live-in boyfriend, or the stepfather, has raped their son or daughter. That’s because the rapacious lawyers go after the big bucks, hoping to sink the Catholic Church.

“Some may accuse us of revisiting accusations from decades ago that were painful to Catholics,” WCPO says. “But our motives are simple: to ensure that the public has more complete information on priests who have been credibly accused of child sexual abuse than local Catholic Church leaders had been willing to provide.”

This is wholly unpersuasive. The predicate is false: The sexual abuse of minors is taking place right now in the public schools and universities, yet the reporters are not providing the public with “more complete information” on teachers and professors.

In December 2016, USA Today released a study of all 50 states grading them on how they handle sexual abuse in the public schools. On the measure of “Sharing misconduct information,” the Ohio public schools received an “F.” In 2017, AP studied the same issue and found that in Ohio, “The state education department did not collect information on sex assaults in schools.”

In other words, the public schools in Ohio are an utter disgrace in handling this issue. If they don’t collect information, and don’t share whatever they know about their molesting teachers, it stands to reason that they don’t track, much less supervise, them.

Ohio’s problem with sexual misconduct extends to the university level.

In 2018, it was reported that “Ohio University has more rapes and sexual assaults in general than similar schools in Ohio.” This was the finding of Clery Act reports.

In 2019, AP noted that “An Ohio State team doctor [Dr. Richard Strauss] sexually abused at least 177 male students over nearly two decades, and numerous university officials got wind of what was going on but did little to stop him.” The report, which was issued by the university, said that “Ohio State personnel knew of complaints and concerns about Strauss’s conduct as early as 1979 but failed for years to investigate or take meaningful action.”

There is plenty of rich material on sexual abuse in Ohio’s public schools and public universities, never mind what is going on in the Tri-State area. The only thing lacking is the will, and the courage, to launch a probe.

Contact Craig Cheatham, executive producer and chief investigative reporter: Craig.Cheatham@WCPO.com

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on Bishop John Barres’ defense of accused priests:

No institution in the nation publishes the names of employees accused of sexual misconduct except for some dioceses in the Roman Catholic Church. They don’t do it in Hollywood, the media, the public schools, or in any other religion. Just some Catholic dioceses. One diocese that refuses to go along is the Diocese of Rockville Centre on Long Island.

It is also challenging a portion of the New York State Child Victims Act: it maintains that the suspension of the statute of limitations that the Act entails is a violation of the due process clause in the state constitution.

Bishop John Barres is certainly concerned about the welfare of those young people who have been sexually abused: He has made good on efforts to institutionalize compensation for them. But he is also concerned about the rights of the accused, which is why his diocese is challenging the Child Victims Act.

On November 18, News 12 Long Island ran a news clip about “some demonstrators” who showed up on Sunday outside St. Agnes Cathedral, home of the diocese, to protest the court action taken by Barres. How many were “some”? Two. That’s right—two demonstrators showed up. One of them, Robert Hoatson, is an embittered ex-priest from New Jersey who hates the Catholic Church. So this is what passes as news?

Kudos to Bishop Barres for standing up for the rights of the accused, as well as for the welfare of victims.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the results of a new survey on religion conducted by the Pew Research Center:

The Pew Research Center has released a survey on religion’s role in society that covers a wide range of issues. Of particular interest to the Catholic League are those Americans who are religion-friendly versus those who are not.

The majority of Americans believe that churches and religious organizations (a) do more good than harm (b) strengthen morality in society, and (c) mostly bring people together. That is a good sign. But this is not true of Democrats in general, and of white Democrats, in particular.

While a majority of Republicans (71%) believe religion does more good than harm, only 44% of Democrats believe this is true. Republicans are also more likely to see religion as an agent that strengthens morality (68%) versus only 41% of Democrats. Does religion mostly bring people together? Yes, say 65% of Republicans; just 39% of Democrats feel this way.

When broken down by race, it is clear that white Democrats differ sharply with black Democrats. Regarding the issue of religion doing more good than harm, 57% of blacks say this is true while only 39% of whites agree. The majority of blacks (52%) contend that religion strengthens morality in society and that it mostly brings people together. Just a third of whites think this way about these two issues (35% and 32%, respectively). Hispanics fell in between on these matters.

It is striking that a plurality of white Democrats see religion as mostly pushing people apart (36% feel this way as opposed to 32% who think religion brings people together). Only 21% of black Democrats maintain that religion mostly pushes people apart.

The relative hostility on the part of Democrats to religion—largely driven by whites—is not lost on the public. When asked if the Republican Party is generally friendly toward religion, 54% agreed but only 19% said the Democratic Party was. Which professions are the most unfriendly to religion? University professors and news reporters and news media.

It is hardly a secret that the vast majority of professors and reporters are Democrats and that they are not exactly known for being religion-friendly. This bias shows up in many ways in public life, and indeed it even colored the narrative of those who wrote the Pew report.

For example, in the graph on the subject of who is religion-friendly (p. 9), the headline reads, “Just Over Half of Americans Say GOP Is Friendly Toward Religion.” Surely a more startling headline would be “Less than 20% of Americans Say the Democrats Are Friendly Toward Religion.”

Who do Americans trust, as measured by ethical standards? Medical doctors (87%), police officers (70%), and religious leaders (65%) garner a strong majority. Bringing up the rear are journalists (45%), lawyers (44%) and elected officials (26%).

Finally, most Americans are satisfied with the amount of political discussion in sermons. But they are not trusting of the clergy’s advice when it comes to issues they have no expertise in, such as global climate change (only 13% say they have a lot of confidence in their clergy providing useful guidance in this area).

What accounts for the perception that white Democrats, professors and reporters are so unfriendly to religion? Ideology. They are mostly secularists who discount the benefits of religion in society, trusting their own moral code instead. That, however, raises all kinds of potential problems, not only for others, but for themselves as well.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on a religious liberty bill in Ohio that is promising:

By a margin of 61-31, the Ohio House voted for a bill this week that would secure religious liberty for public school students; it now goes to the Senate for approval

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Timothy Ginter, allows the board of education in each school district to provide for “a moment of silence each school day for prayer, reflection, or meditation upon a moral, philosophical, or patriotic theme.” It also prohibits teachers from mandating that students participate.

Also permitted are classroom activities of a “moral, philosophical, or patriotic theme.” However, no student must be required to participate in such activities if he has a religious objection.

Finally, students cannot be prohibited from “the free, individual, and voluntary exercise or expression of the pupil’s religious beliefs in any primary or secondary school.”

The ACLU of Ohio is worried that if the bill becomes law, teachers may not penalize students who hold to a creationist perspective on the origins of the universe. One lawmaker, Rep. Phillip Robinson, said, “We already have religious freedom protected at the federal and state level.”

The ACLU fear is unfounded. This may come as a shocker to the civil libertarians, but Catholic school students in their science classes are expected to master the science curriculum approved by their state. Catholic school students do not mistake Genesis for Science 101, or vice versa. If this is not a problem for the Catholic schools, it will not be a problem for the public schools.

Rep. Robinson no doubt believes we should have laws that bar racial discrimination at the local level, and not just at the federal and state level. Why, then, does he think we may not need laws barring religious discrimination at the local level?

This bill would not be necessary were it not for the machinations of militant secularists seeking to eliminate the most elementary examples of religious expression in the schools. The ACLU is a case in point. To cite one of many examples, its efforts to ban school performances of “Jesus Christ Superstar” is exactly why we need more protections for religious liberty.

We hope the Ohio Senate affirms the First Amendment rights of students and passes this bill.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on recent attacks against the Salvation Army:

No organization, religious or secular, does a better job of helping the poor and the homeless at Christmastime than the Salvation Army. This year it is coming under attack by homosexuals and the sexually confused, arguing that it is not supportive of their politics. It is not supposed to be. The Salvation Army is a Christian charity.

The attacks started when a singer, Ellie Goulding from England, threatened not to sing at a Dallas Cowboys halftime show on Thanksgiving Day: she is demanding that the Salvation Army pledge to support the homosexual cause. Thus would she deprive the needy of support unless her ideological goals are met.

We encourage all Catholics to give more to the Salvation Army this year than ever before. Send a message to those who would deny the poor a decent Christmas, all in the name of their selfish agenda.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on a victory in Wisconsin that atheists are deploring:

By a vote of 64-30, the Wisconsin Assembly has voted to call the Christmas tree in the state Capitol rotunda a Christmas tree. The governor, Tony Evers, wanted it called a “holiday tree.” He failed to say what holiday—which means “holy day”—it represents. Now he knows.

The Assembly also voted to adopt a resolution recognizing Thanksgiving week as National Bible Week.

The Christian haters at Freedom From Religion Foundation were appalled by both decisions.

It was Evers’ predecessor, Scott Walker, who, in 2011, called the Christmas tree a Christmas tree; it previously had been known as the “holiday tree.” Evers wanted that name back, but now he has lost.

Why would Evers want to insult Christians at Christmastime? One website which features his bio says that his religion is “Not Available.” We can only guess what that means. We know of no people of faith who believe that it is okay to intentionally allow a baby to die who survives a botched abortion. Evers does.

His official bio says “the governor believes in bringing people together to solve the problems facing our state.” Is that what he did in June when he divided the people by putting a homosexual “Rainbow Pride Flag” over the State Capitol? It led to a petition of 10,000 residents who objected.

Evers has a history of anti-Catholicism. Before he became governor, he was the Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction. In that role he sought to deny Catholic students who attended an independent Catholic school transportation, even though the school was affiliated with the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. He was sued for his bigoted stunt.

Organized atheists are a menace to the First Amendment. Kudos to the Wisconsin lawmakers who stood up to these bullies, and to their lackey, Tony Evers.

Contact Maggie Gau, Evers’ chief of staff: maggie.gau@wisconsin.gov

Bill In The News (Breitbart):

Australia’s High Court announced its decision Wednesday to hear an appeal of Cardinal George Pell, who was found guilty in late 2018 of sexually abusing a choirboy in the mid-1990s.

Reacting to the decision of the High Court, Catholic League President William Donohue said that Pell had received a “measure of justice” and that there is still “a glimmer of hope that justice will triumph in the end.” READ MORE HERE

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the latest news regarding Cardinal George Pell’s ordeal:

Australia’s highest court has given Cardinal George Pell a measure of justice by agreeing to hear his appeal. Convicted in December of molesting two choirboys in the 1990s, his case will now get a final hearing in the early part of 2020.

Pell has been defamed, wrongly convicted, and unjustly sentenced to solitary confinement. More than 20 witnesses took his side: they never saw anyone break ranks from a procession of choristers, altar servers and clerics to be with Pell in the back of a church, the supposed location of the abuse.

One of the two boys allegedly abused by Pell died of a drug overdose, but not before telling his mother—on two occasions—that Pell never molested him. So if he was not abused, neither was the complainant: they were allegedly abused at the same time and in the same place.

Keep Cardinal Pell in your prayers this Christmas season. There is still a glimmer of hope that justice will triumph in the end.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on a lengthy story in USA Today about accused priests who are no longer in ministry:

USA Today is on a tear against the Catholic Church. Last month it published a 3700-word-story on efforts by the bishops to fight discriminatory legislation. Now it has unloaded again, this time indicting the Church in a 6226-word-story for not tracking former priests accused of sexual abuse.

The newspaper must be vying for a Pulitzer. Why else would it invest a ton of money employing 39 reporters to investigate alleged wrongdoing by the Catholic Church over the last nine months, “wrongdoing” that is routine for every organization? What it found is hardly startling.

USA Today says that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) does not track former priests accused of sexual abuse. That is correct. Neither does USA Today have a GPS tracking system to locate the whereabouts of former employees accused of sexual misconduct. That’s because no employer is required to do so by law. So why is it so stunning to learn that the USCCB plays by the same rules as everyone else? Unless, of course, the name of the game is to shame the Church?

The reporters found a priest who was accused of sexual abuse in the 1970s, and was later named in a settlement with the Miami Archdiocese. He is now 85. Is there more to this story? Nope, that’s it.

Philadelphia has a Child and Family Therapy Training Center which offers clinical programs, workshops and courses. One of the faculty members who worked there was a former priest accused of sexual abuse.

Now whose fault is it that the Center didn’t know of accusations against him? Why did they employ him to give lectures on sexual abuse? When his former boss was asked about him in 2015, she said he told her about the accusations, denied they were true, and she believed him. She said he was a “terrific teacher.” He is currently a licensed marriage and family therapist. Why didn’t the newspaper contact his employer for an interview? It had more than three dozen reporters on the story.

The news story opens with John Dagwell. He is a former Catholic brother who plead guilty in a criminal case in 1988 for molesting a student. “Despite his past,” the news article says, “Dagwell was never required to register as a sex offender.” With good reason—he didn’t have to. Later in the story it is reported that there was no federal law requiring sex offenders to register at that time. So why the early drama about him not registering? In fact it wasn’t until 2006 that the Congress passed such a law; it wasn’t upheld by the Supreme Court until this past June.

Here’s another gem. A layman at a Catholic high school entered into a settlement agreement in 2013 with former students claiming abuse. The reporters quote a real estate agent who lives near him saying she can’t believe his name doesn’t show up in Florida’s sex registry. Maybe that’s because he was never found guilty. Didn’t this occur to the reporters? Do they know what the law says?

According to FindLaw, a trusted legal online source, the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act makes it a federal crime “to knowingly fail to register with a state’s authorities, or to fail to update registration at specified times, in accordance with the law’s requirements.”

In other words, it is up to the convicted—not the accused or the former employer—to register. Knowing this to be true, why didn’t USA Today make this plain? Let me guess: To do so would have imploded its story.

The newspaper could have written a similar story on virtually any organization, but instead it chose only one. It needs to explain to Catholics why.

Contact the editor-in-chief, Nicole Carroll: nicole@usatoday.com

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on a report released this week on a conference on clergy sexual abuse:

On June 14-15, over 50 persons, most of whom were Catholic, assembled at Georgetown University for an event titled, “National Convening on Lay Leadership for a Wounded Church and Divided Nation.” It was organized by the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, headed by John Carr and Kim Daniels. The issue before the gathering was the clergy sexual abuse scandal. A report on the proceedings was released this week.

The report aptly noted that “The Church’s moral credibility has been seriously wounded by the abuse crisis, and bishops no longer possess the moral standing they once enjoyed in public life.” It could also be said that the intellectual credibility of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life has been seriously wounded by this venture. To say that nothing of any substance was accomplished is perhaps the kindest thing that could be said about it.

The report lists 10 recommendations on how to address clergy sexual abuse, most of which are pedestrian. How creative is it for the report to list such things as “Focus on Gospel mission and build unity”? Another ground-breaking suggestion is, “Be both humble and bold.” A real throw-away line is the advice to “Build partnerships and enhance collaboration among clergy and laypeople.” More vagueness is evident in their recommendation to “Develop a national collaboration among ministries.”

Such platitudes mean zero if not operationalized. How are these nebulous outcomes to be achieved? That’s where the rubber meets the road. It’s like having a convention on crime and concluding that everyone needs to be more vigilant. Swell.

Most of the report centers on three issues: clericalism, diversity, and the laity, none of which has anything to do with why young males were abused by priests. The rights of accused priests were not mentioned.

Ever since the Vatican summit earlier this year, clericalism has emerged as the number-one talking point in establishment Catholic circles. Clericalism may have something to do with why some bishops were enablers, but it is of no explanatory value understanding why priests abused young males. Invoking clericalism is a dodge: its purpose is to direct the conversation away from the molesting priests. That way the subject of homosexuality can be skirted.

This is so thoroughly dishonest. If 81 percent of the victims were male and 78 percent were postpubescent, that means that homosexual priests are responsible for most of the problem. This does not mean that all gay priests are molesters—they are not—but it does mean that gay priests are responsible for most of the abuse.

It is commonly said that many of the priests who engaged in gay sex with their victims did not identify themselves as gay. So what? It would be like saying that an Irishman who has a drinking problem is not Irish because he thinks he is an Italian. What matters is that just as the Irish are overrepresented among alcoholics, gay priests are overrepresented among sexual abusers. To pretend otherwise is deceitful.

Similarly, diversity has absolutely nothing to do with clergy sexual abuse. Having more minorities and persons from different economic strata participate in the affairs of the Church are worthy goals, but so is combating spousal abuse. Recommendations that are unrelated to the problem are positively useless.

There is great irony in a conference of lay Catholics saying that terms like “Your Eminence” and “Your Excellency” need to be retired—they smack of clericalism—while demanding a greater role for themselves. This reads like a textbook power grab. Lay clericalism is hardly less of a problem.

Any recommendations to curb clergy sexual abuse that do not address the link between dissidence and abuse is absurd. Where do they think the Paul Shanleys of the Church got their ideas, and the brazenness to act on their worst impulses? From orthodox Church teachings on sexuality?

Of course the organizers of this event don’t see the link between dissent and abuse: they work for Georgetown University, home to two pro-abortion student groups. That they singled out the National Catholic Reporter for praise—it rejects the Church’s teachings on sexuality—shows how utterly clueless they are.

Even worse, Carr and Daniels welcomed as participants some who have worked tirelessly to undermine the Church. One of the moderators, in fact, is a man who taught the secular media how to subvert the bishops during their “Fortnight for Freedom” events. His name is John Gehring, a tool of George Soros.

Why was Terrence McKiernan chosen to be at the event? Are Carr and Daniels aware that he has lied about Cardinal Timothy Dolan, accusing the archbishop of New York of hiding 55 predatory priests? When asked to reveal their names, he cannot do so. I know—I’m the one who has called him out for his smear.

Alexia Kelley is another curious invitee. What did they expect that a person who worked for Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good would bring to the table? This discredited and defunct organization, another Soros entity, showed up in the infamous Wikileaks document as an institution created for the express purpose of undermining the Catholic Church.

After reading this report, I am having second thoughts about awarding the laity more power. Consider what Michael Sean Winters of the National Catholic Reporter had to say about this subject.

He warned his fellow left-wing Catholics that “if there were elections for lay leaders, it is more likely than not that Bill Donohue and George Weigel and Raymond Arroyo would win at the Catholic polls.”

Let’s start the early voting now.

Contact: john.carr@georgetown.edu