On November 15, Fox 2 pundit J.C. Corcoran slammed St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke and subsequently contacted the police when someone complained about his screed. We called Fox 2 news director Kingsley Smith for his position and learned that he stood by Corcoran.

Corcoran opened his remarks by saying he was not a practicing Catholic, admitting that “many years ago I gave up on religion basically because I thought it was silly.” Here is an excerpt of his remarks about Archbishop Burke and the Catholic Church today.

“Burke is old school, but I’m not convinced old school works right now. Too many things have changed. What I see, again from the outside, is the Catholic Church pretty much at the end of its public relations rope. The sex scandals continue to mount, the flock is thinning, and young men and women aren’t exactly knocking down the doors of seminaries and convents trying to get in. And locally, instead of a respected spiritual leader in the community, you have a guy who’s been stomping around, alienating, threatening, intimidating, excommunicating and carrying on since the day he got off the plane from Wisconsin.”

Catholic League president Bill Donohue responded as follows:

“They have some serious problems at Fox 2 in St. Louis. They have a commentator whose insulting remarks are matched only by his ignorance of his former religion, and they have a news director who is equally irresponsible. Contacting the cops about a Catholic woman who merely registered a complaint suggests that thuggery is another quality of the Fox affiliate. Perhaps they’ll call a SWAT team about my statement.

“We are blanketing the media outlets in St. Louis—print and electronic—letting them know about their colleagues at KTVI. To say that Corcoran and Smith are unprofessional is an understatement—they are disgrace to journalism and should be disciplined for their unethical behavior.”

Contact ktvinews@foxtv.com