The following letter explains the Catholic League’s interest in getting to the bottom of anti-Christian bias in the federal government.

February 19, 2025

Hon. Pamela Bondi
U.S. Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20530-0001

Dear Attorney General Bondi:

I am delighted that President Trump has established a Presidential Commission on Religious Liberty, and that you have been appointed to head a task force on anti-Christian bias. We will do everything we can to assist you in this effort.

The Catholic League has more documentation on this issue than any organization in the nation. We are currently collecting documents for you to make it easier to access our work; we will be sharing this with you when the process is complete. Please see our website, catholicleague.org, for detailed news releases, essays and reports on anti-Christian bigotry.

It would be helpful if you could identify someone with whom we can work with in this endeavor. Please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,

William A. Donohue, Ph.D.
President

Bill Donohue

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel released a report in December on sexual abuse in the Diocese of Lansing. It is seriously flawed, though she received no pushback from the media; they accepted the report at face value. We did not, and with good reason: Nessel’s animus against the Catholic Church is indisputable (see our website for the evidence).

This is the fourth diocesan report on this subject: reports on the dioceses of Marquette, Gaylord and Kalamazoo were previously issued. The Lansing report found that there were 56 diocesan officials who were accused of sexual abuse between the 1950s and the 2010s. Unlike most probes on this subject, this one includes alleged adult victims as well as minors.

The alleged offenders include one male teacher, three religious brothers and 52 ordained clergy (four deacons and forty-eight priests). Of the 56, two-thirds are dead. Of the one still in active ministry, the allegation was found to be unsubstantiated by the diocese.

The report found that two-thirds of the alleged victims were males; a quarter were females; the rest targeted males and females. Most of the cases took place during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

Our review of Nessel’s report found serious mistakes that inflated the total number of alleged victims and deflated the number of male victims.

• The report lists alleged male and female victims as John Doe and Jane Doe, respectively. There were 120 John Does and 42 Jane Does listed. However, there were also 40 other alleged victims in the report who were not listed as either John Doe or Jane Doe. Of the unlisted, 37 were male and three were female.
• The report lists several instances where there is no mention of a John Doe, yet they are still included in the tally. For example, there is no record of John Doe 30 nor of Jane Doe 10.
• In some cases, the report lists Jane Doe where the victim was male. Also, in one case Jane Doe was not a victim, but rather the wife of a male who alleged abuse. In another case, a Jane Doe was a sibling of a John Doe but did not claim she was abused.

Why would the report inflate the total number of alleged victims and deflate the number of male victims? It is obvious to any honest scholar who has covered this issue—to protect homosexuals from scrutiny. For decades now there has been a persistent cover-up of the role that homosexual priests have played in the clergy abuse scandal (see my book, The Truth about Clergy Sexual Abuse). The guilty parties include the media, government officials, educators and activists.

Another serious problem with the report is that it disregards the Diocese of Lansing’s records on abuse cases. Of the 56 accused in the report, only 21 are listed in the Diocese of Lansing’s credibly accused list (Nessel’s report relies heavily on data reported on the website of bishop-accountability.org, which is hardly a reliable source).

Upon investigation, the Lansing diocese found that many of the accusations were not deemed to be credible: It is not easy to substantiate accusations about alleged offenses that took place decades ago. In several cases, the Diocesan Review Board could not find any evidence of abuse. In four cases, the accused passed a polygraph exam. Yet they were still included in the report!

Attorney General Nessel is not interested in curbing sexual abuse. If she were she would stop stalking the Catholic Church and start probing the public schools. That’s where this problem is on-going.

USA Today reporters investigated all 50 states to see how they handle the sexual abuse of students. They gave Michigan an overall grade of “F.” They said its background system was “weak” and was “left to local school districts.” Also, mandatory reporting laws were determined to be “weak.” In terms of transparency, they found “no information online about teacher disciplinary actions and misconduct.” To make matters worse, information on teacher misconduct was “not shared with other states.”

There is plenty here for Nessel to mine. It’s time for her to investigate public school kids who have been abused in the past, as well as those currently being raped by teachers.

Also, since Nessel did not confine her probe to minors who have allegedly been abused by priests and other staffers, an examination of sexual misconduct in the public schools must include an investigation of teachers, administrators and other school personnel who have been accused of molesting or harassing other adults, including the parents of their students.

We are contacting every lawmaker in the state to do what should have been done a long time ago: insist on a probe of sexual misconduct in the public schools. It’s time to stop religious profiling and treat every segment of society equally.

Contact Nessel: miag@michigan.gov

This is the article that appeared in the April 2025 edition of Catalyst, our monthly journal. The date that prints out reflects
the day that it was uploaded to our website. For a more accurate date of when the article was first published, check out the news release, here.

On February 19, we contacted U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi letting her know that we are delighted that President Trump established a Presidential Commission on Religious Liberty, and that he chose her to head a task force on anti-Christian bias. We pledged to do everything we can to assist her in this effort.

In his letter to Bondi, Bill Donohue said the following.

“The Catholic League has more documentation on this issue than any organization in the nation. We are currently collecting documents for you to make it easier to access our work; we will be sharing this with you when the process is complete. Please see our website, catholicleague.org, for detailed news releases, essays and reports on anti-Christian bigotry.”

William A. Donohue

We often hear people say, “I’m sorry, I lied about that,” when, in fact, they never lied; they were merely mistaken. Let me be plain: it is impossible to lie without first knowing the truth. Once we know the truth, we can correct our mistakes, but knowledge of the truth matters little to liars, and this is doubly true of congenital liars. In my career as a professor and as an activist, I have met many inveterate liars, typically men and women who are so bent on winning that the means are justified by the ends, even if it means millions must die.

I am not exaggerating. Eric Hobsbawm was one of the most influential English historians of the twentieth century. He was a Marxist who positively loved communism. In 1994, he was asked a hypothetical question: If communism had achieved its aims in the Soviet Union and China, but at the cost of 15 to 20 million people—as opposed to the well over 100 million deaths it actually resulted in—would you have supported it? He answered with one word: “Yes.”

 When Hobsbawm died last October at age 95, he was lionized in the pages of the Nation, a left-wing magazine that stood with Stalin as he tortured, starved, and murdered the innocent. Hobsbawm, the Nation, and countless professors on both sides of the Atlantic, lied about the mass murders while they were happening in Stalin’s Russia and Mao’s China, hoping that their lies would stop the truth from being known. At least it can be said about Hobsbawm that in his later years he was able to come clean and tell the truth: genocide is ethical if it ends in a communist revolution.

 The liars we deal with at the Catholic League today are not pointing guns at us, but they are willfully distorting the truth about Catholicism, and they do it all the time. Lying is a way of life to them, much like breathing and walking is to the rest of us. Just consider some of the articles in this issue of Catalyst.

 On page 13, in the New York Times op-ed page ad I wrote, I quoted Pope Francis accurately when he said, “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” It is rare to see him quoted accurately. Instead, the sentence is chopped off at the end, so that it appears, “Who am I to judge?” This way the reader is left with the impression that the pope is justifying homosexuality.

 Others are worse. I recently locked horns with Niall O’Dowd of the Irish Central on this issue. He actually said that the pope was referring to the “gay lifestyle.” I showed the proof that he is wrong, but to no avail. He must know that no one in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church is about to justify the “gay lifestyle,” a condition that more closely resembles what noted gay activist Larry Kramer has called a “deathstyle.”

 This edition of Catalyst has much to say about “Philomena,” a movie based on so many lies it is hard to track. Virtually everyone associated with this film has lied about the story of this woman’s life, which includes Philomena Lee herself. I wrote a lengthy analysis of this matter; the article was sent to many in Hollywood, England, and Ireland, as well as to prominent persons in the media. No one has challenged a single sentence I wrote. I have the proof—it’s all documented. No nun stole Philomena’s baby; her son was not sold to the highest bidder; she voluntarily signed a consent form at the age of 22; no fee was charged to the adopting couple in the mid-West; a nun portrayed as being cruel died long before the alleged incident took place; Philomena never went to the U.S. to find her son; she never had a private meeting with the pope; the pope’s personal secretary did not preview the movie, etc.

 Here’s another example, taken from the April Catalyst. After the Bostonians who run the St. Patrick’s Day parade said they would allow an organization of gay veterans to march, with the proviso that they agree not to publicly depict themselves as gay, they had to disinvite them: the group was not a legitimate veterans group, and they planned to wear gay T-shirts. In other words, the gays lied. And in New York, many lies have been told about gays not being allowed to march in the parade; they can, but not under their own banner.

 I can deal with fair-minded people with whom I disagree. Geraldo Rivera, Alan Colmes, and Joe Piscopo, are all gay-rights enthusiasts, but when they learned that gays are not barred from marching in the St. Patrick’s Day parade—anymore than pro-life Catholics are—they all took my side. They are not liars, which is more than I can say for many on their side.

 The worst of them all are those who lie not to protect themselves, but to smear the Catholic Church. That’s why the lead story in this issue is on BishopAccountability.org. What those affiliated with this media outlet did to the pope was not a mistake: it was deliberate, and it was malicious. It gives me great pleasure to expose them to the bishops.

On September 9th, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a “stay” stopping a New York trial court from ordering Yeshiva University to approve a LGBT student group on campus; Yeshiva is an Orthodox Jewish university that seeks to adhere to the Torah.
This raises the question: How are Catholic colleges and universities dealing with the LGBT agenda?
There are approximately 230 Catholic institutions of higher education in America, and according to New Ways Ministry, a dissident Catholic group that rejects the Church’s teachings on sexuality, more than 130 have yielded, in one way or another, to LGBT demands. Here are ten examples.

Boston College

“Student Outreach and Support Services supports gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning students and their allies….”
“Horizon is a group where gay, bisexual, questioning, trans*, queer, genderqueer, and/or other male-identified students can discuss and seek support in a safe space.”
“Prism is a group where gay, lesbian, bisexual, questioning, trans*, queer, genderqueer, and/or other female-identified students can discuss and seek support in a safe space.”
“Pronoun Display and Name Guide – An easy how-to guide for how to add your pronouns to Canvas and Zoom.”

DePaul University

“The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, Queer, Asexual and Ally (LGBTQA) Student Resource Center at DePaul University exists to promote, foster and support a campus environment that is inclusive of people from all sexualities and gender identities.”
“The Annual Drag Show is organized by Spectrum DePaul, an LGBTQ student org on campus.”

Fordham University

“Promote an understanding, acceptance, and appreciation of our lesbian, gay, transgender, questioning (LGBTQ) students that is rooted in Jesuit tradition….”
“The Department of Political Science voted unanimously to adopt the Chosen Name/Pronoun policy confirming that any students who wish to be identified by a chosen name can contact their faculty members via email and request their chosen name and pronoun be used.”

Georgetown University

“The LGBTQ Resource Center, serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning individuals, is the first such Center of its kind at a Catholic/Jesuit institution in the country.”
“While on campus, students may elect to use a chosen name other than their legal name.”
“Georgetown University provides housing to undergraduate students without regard to, and does not discriminate against, on the basis of…gender identity or expression, genetic information….”

Holy Cross

“We strive to provide a safe and affirming community for all LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, asexual/aromantic) individuals. The + is used as a wide signifier of inclusion….”
“The Chaplains’ Office and Counseling Center are excited to invite… students who identify as trans, gender non-conforming, non-binary, genderqueer, genderfluid, agender, questioning, and other members of the community to attend a weekly LGBTQIA+ support group.”

Loyola Marymount University

“Lavender Graduation is an [sic] cultural celebration that recognizes LGBTQIA+ students….”
“You now have the option to add a chosen name, your preferred gender, and pronoun identity to your Personal Information page in PROWL….”

St. John’s University (New York)

“St. John’s University enables students to use a Preferred Name where possible in the course of University’s business and education.”
“Gender-inclusive housing (GIH) is a living option in which two or more students share a bedroom, suite and/or apartment inclusive of their gender identity, sex or gender expression.”

St. Louis University

“Free to {Be} is a student group centered around queer and trans+ students of color (QTSOC).”
“The SafeZone Competency program strives to shed light on the systemic use of heteronormativity and cis-normativity….”

Saint Xavier University

“In addition to the chosen first name, students, faculty and staff may select their personal pronouns from the lists provided in their directory preferences.”
“Personal Pronouns: He/His; She/Her/Hers; They/Them/Theirs (Singular); Ze/Hir/Hirs.”

Santa Clara University

Rainbow Resource Center Mission Statement: “We advocate for those who self-identify within the wide spectrum of sexual orientations and gender identities/expressions and educate the whole program within the context of Jesuit values.”
“Students who wish to update their preferred name should click on the Student Profile tile in their eCampus record….”

Pope Francis has addressed the fiction that we can change our sex, calling it gender ideology. He has specifically said that it is “demonic.”
It would be instructive to know what the presidents of these queer-friendly Catholic colleges and universities would do if they learned that these LGBTQIA+ organizations held a forum to denounce the pope for his remarks.
None of what these Catholic schools are doing is required by law—Title IX provides for religious exemptions. It is all voluntary. This is the state of Catholic higher education in America today.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the declining Catholicity of Catholic colleges and universities:

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a “stay” stopping a New York trial court from ordering Yeshiva University to approve a LGBT student group on campus; Yeshiva is an Orthodox Jewish university that seeks to adhere to the Torah.

This raises the question: How are Catholic colleges and universities dealing with the LGBT agenda?

There are approximately 230 Catholic institutions of higher education in America, and according to New Ways Ministry, a dissident Catholic group that rejects the Church’s teachings on sexuality, more than 130 have yielded, in one way or another, to LGBT demands. Here are ten examples.

Boston College

“Student Outreach and Support Services supports gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning students and their allies….”

“Horizon is a group where gay, bisexual, questioning, trans*, queer, genderqueer, and/or other male-identified students can discuss and seek support in a safe space.”

“Prism is a group where gay, lesbian, bisexual, questioning, trans*, queer, genderqueer, and/or other female-identified students can discuss and seek support in a safe space.”

“Pronoun Display and Name Guide – An easy how-to guide for how to add your pronouns to Canvas and Zoom.”

DePaul University

“The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, Queer, Asexual and Ally (LGBTQA) Student Resource Center at DePaul University exists to promote, foster and support a campus environment that is inclusive of people from all sexualities and gender identities.”

“The Annual Drag Show is organized by Spectrum DePaul, an LGBTQ student org on campus.”

Fordham University

“Promote an understanding, acceptance, and appreciation of our lesbian, gay, transgender, questioning (LGBTQ) students that is rooted in Jesuit tradition….”

“The Department of Political Science voted unanimously to adopt the Chosen Name/Pronoun policy confirming that any students who wish to be identified by a chosen name can contact their faculty members via email and request their chosen name and pronoun be used.”

Georgetown University

“The LGBTQ Resource Center, serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning individuals, is the first such Center of its kind at a Catholic/Jesuit institution in the country.”

“While on campus, students may elect to use a chosen name other than their legal name.”

“Georgetown University provides housing to undergraduate students without regard to, and does not discriminate against, on the basis of…gender identity or expression, genetic information….”

Holy Cross

“We strive to provide a safe and affirming community for all LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, asexual/aromantic) individuals. The + is used as a wide signifier of inclusion….”

“The Chaplains’ Office and Counseling Center are excited to invite… students who identify as trans, gender non-conforming, non-binary, genderqueer, genderfluid, agender, questioning, and other members of the community to attend a weekly LGBTQIA+ support group.”

Loyola Marymount University

“Lavender Graduation is an [sic] cultural celebration that recognizes LGBTQIA+ students….”

“You now have the option to add a chosen name, your preferred gender, and pronoun identity to your Personal Information page in PROWL….”

St. John’s University (New York)

“St. John’s University enables students to use a Preferred Name where possible in the course of University’s business and education.”

“Gender-inclusive housing (GIH) is a living option in which two or more students share a bedroom, suite and/or apartment inclusive of their gender identity, sex or gender expression.”

St. Louis University

“Free to {Be} is a student group centered around queer and trans+ students of color (QTSOC).”

“The SafeZone Competency program strives to shed light on the systemic use of heteronormativity and cis-normativity….”

Saint Xavier University

“In addition to the chosen first name, students, faculty and staff may select their personal pronouns from the lists provided in their directory preferences.”

“Personal Pronouns: He/His; She/Her/Hers; They/Them/Theirs (Singular); Ze/Hir/Hirs.”

Santa Clara University

Rainbow Resource Center Mission Statement: “We advocate for those who self-identify within the wide spectrum of sexual orientations and gender identities/expressions and educate the whole program within the context of Jesuit values.”

“Students who wish to update their preferred name should click on the Student Profile tile in their eCampus record….”

Pope Francis has addressed the fiction that we can change our sex, calling it gender ideology. He has specifically said that it is “demonic.”

It would be instructive to know what the presidents of these queer-friendly Catholic colleges and universities would do if they learned that these LGBTQIA+ organizations held a forum to denounce the pope for his remarks.

None of what these Catholic schools are doing is required by law—Title IX provides for religious exemptions. It is all voluntary. This is the state of Catholic higher education in America today.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on a U.N. report on religious freedom:

A recently released United Nations report on religious freedom that was presented to the Human Rights Council deserves a sharp rebuke. While appearing reasonable at different junctures, the report is nothing but a frontal assault on religious autonomy and religious freedom. No wonder it was criticized by senior Vatican officials.

The report by the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief, Ahmed Shaheed, is more than tendentious: it is a polished ideological attack on our most foundational human right. Indeed, the report reads like a manifesto for LGBT rights. It is not the business of the United Nations to impose its secular, and indeed troubling, vision of sexuality on religions around the world.

One of its most glaring problems is the decision to link cases of violence committed in the name of religion—which are properly condemned—with instances of non-violent beliefs and practices that are seen as problematic by militant secularists. The conflation of violent acts with non-violent “discriminatory” ones is not persuasive. Indeed, by bundling inexcusable behaviors with wholly defensible religious precepts, the report shows its unmistakable bias.

For example, it is one thing to condemn the Islamic practice of stoning adulterers, quite another to lump this barbaric act with the imposition of “modest” dress codes. Similarly, when religious bodies hold to traditional moral beliefs on sexuality, they are entitled to have their convictions respected, not chastised.

It also makes no logical sense to conflate laws which criminalize persons on the basis of their sexual orientation, which is indefensible, with laws that restrict abortion, which are eminently defensible. Worse, it is outrageous for the Human Rights Committee to cite conscience laws, as observed in the United States, as problematic. Such laws are integral to religious liberty.

Another objectionable tactic is to treat nations that criminalize homosexuality with the same brush as nations that object to homosexuality being promoted in their sex education textbooks. The latter is noble. Is the United Nations so thoroughly in the grip of the LGBT community that it can’t see the difference between the two?

The report embraces “gender ideology,” namely, the bizarre notion that one’s sex is not rooted in nature. It goes further by criticizing nations such as Poland, with its vibrant Catholic community, for rejecting this madness. In doing so, the international forum discredits itself. It should not bend to ideological whims, especially when they are based on politics, not science.

At least the report does not seek to hide its mentors. It mentions its reliance on feminists and those who work with “LBGT+” persons (it does not say who the + people are). It also cites, positively, the work of a United States organization, the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. They gave away the store on that one.

The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice is not only a rabid pro-abortion group, it is virulently anti-Catholic. It endorsed the Freedom of Choice Act, which the Catholic League successfully fought. This was the most radical piece of abortion-rights legislation ever proposed (the Obama administration was behind it). It would have jeopardized the right of Catholic hospitals and doctors to refuse to perform abortions.

The most serious flaw in this seriously flawed document is its attack on religious autonomy. It makes an obligatory statement saying that “religious organizations are entitled to autonomy in the administration of their affairs,” only to effectively undercut this pledge by taking issue with religious norms it finds objectionable. In fact, it cites objections to religious strictures made by feminists, as if religious bodies ought to defer to them.

Its most aggressive assault on religious liberty is the contention that religious dissidents should be on a par with religious leaders. This is what the report means by saying “religious communities themselves are not monolithic.” It even goes so far as to say that the rights of dissenters must be afforded “an enabling environment.” Maybe a big sign on church property that says “Welcome Mutineers” might work.

The sages who wrote this report should practice what they preach. They can begin by inviting me, as one of their dissenters, to join their forums, permitting me to checkmate their grandiose proposals. After all, we’re all equal. Aren’t we?

Contact Shaheed’s U.N. office: freedomofreligion@ohchr.org

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on court proceedings against those who vandalized a statue of St. Serra:

On December 11, five persons will be arraigned in Marin County, California for destroying a statue of Saint Junípero Serra at Mission San Rafael on October 12. Serra was an 18th century priest who did more to defend the rights of American Indians than any other person. A petition defending the thugs has been sent to District Attorney Lori Frugoli.

On October 29, I wrote to D.A. Frugoli in support of San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s call for justice. He said “this attack on a cherished religious symbol on our own church property is not a minor property crime, but an attack on Catholics as a people.” I seconded Cordileone’s plea that Frugoli apply the full measure of the law against those responsible for this vicious anti-Catholic crime.

One of the principal defenders of this obscene petition is a woman called Morning Star Gali, an American Indian. She justifies the violence by saying this is “an opportunity” for the Catholic Church “to rectify issues of the past and the violence that the church is responsible” for. She is the project director for Restoring Justice for Indigenous Peoples.

Gali is a left-wing extremist funded by—you guessed—George Soros. She suffers not only from a moral disability, she has a poor command of history.

Her moral disability is evident in her audacious claim that the Catholic Church is responsible for oppressing Indians. It was the Spanish colonizers who mistreated Indians, and it was the Church that did what it could to mitigate this injustice. It must also be said that the Indians were very good at killing each other, thus Americans today do not need to be lectured by their descendants about oppression.

Gali, and those like her, need to stop perpetuating the myth that American Indians are an “indigenous” people. They are not. As defined by the Cambridge Dictionary, “indigenous” means “naturally existing in a place or country rather than arriving from another place.” The ancestors of American Indians arrived from Asia. Ergo, they are no more indigenous to America than any other immigrant group.

D.A. Frugoli should treat this incident as a hate crime, and not as a political act.

Contact Frugoli: lfrugoli@marincounty.org