Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, in the heart of San Francisco’s gay Castro community, was vandalized over the weekend by opponents of Proposition 8, the California resolution passed by voters in November that rejected gay marriage. Swastikas were painted on the church and the names Ratzinger (referring to Pope Benedict XVI) and Niederauer (the San Francisco Archbishop) were scrawled besides the Nazi symbol.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue is asking Catholics nationwide to respond to this incident:

“In the wake of Proposition 8, innocent persons have been assaulted, churches have been vandalized, a white substance resembling anthrax was sent to the Knights of Columbus and to Mormon temples, supporters of traditional marriage have been branded Nazis, African Americans have been called the ‘N-word,’ houses and cars have been trashed, etc. Unfortunately, most of those in the gay community have been silent about these acts.

“Part of the blame for the latest attack goes to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Both Newsom and the Board have shown nothing but contempt for the First Amendment rights of Catholics. When crucifixes are sold as sex toys and Catholic sensibilities are assaulted by naked men in the street at the annual Folsom Street Fair, they say nothing. When gay men dressed as nuns show up at Mass—at the same church—they say nothing. But the Board was quite vocal about condemning the Catholic Church in 2006, something which led to a lawsuit triggered by the Catholic League and the Thomas More Law Center.

“For those who love to write about ‘root causes,’ let them ponder the guilt of these public officials. Moreover, leaders in the gay community show no leadership when it comes to denouncing incivility committed in the name of gay rights. This has got to end.”

Contact Mayor Gavin Newsom and ask him to finally condemn gay assaults on Catholics and other people of faith: gavin.newsom@sfgov.org 

In the August 14 New York Daily News, there was an article seeking to debunk various myths about the health care bills. Unfortunately, the two reporters were guilty of floating the myth that “None of the bills working their way through Congress provides any federal funds for abortion.” Thus did the Daily News join a list of other media outlets that disseminated this nonsense; AP had the decency to reverse itself.

Abortion is in the bills. Here’s the proof: Amendments to explicitly exclude abortion from the bills have been sponsored by Rep. Bart Stupak, Rep. Joe Pitts, Rep. Eric Cantor, Rep. Sam Johnson, Sen. Mike Enzi and Sen. Orrin Hatch. In every case, they lost. When Rep. Pitts asked Committee Counsel about whether the amendment by Rep. Lois Capps would allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to cover abortion in the public plan, he was told it did. And since HHS head Kathleen Sebelius supports partial-birth abortion, is there anyone in his right mind who thinks she would balk at authorizing abortion? On Aug. 10, when Rep. Zoe Lofgren was specifically asked about this subject, she said, “Abortion will be covered as a benefit by one or more of the healthcare plans available to Americans, and I think it should be.”

Let’s be frank: abortion is no more mentioned specifically in these bills than appendectomies are, but because both are legal, both are understood to be included. That is why attempts to exclude abortion were made. That they failed should settle the issue. Yet the following pro-abortion groups continue to lie and say abortion isn’t covered: NARAL, Planned Parenthood, Center for American Progress and People for the American Way.

Interestingly, MoveOn.org fired e-mails all over debunking five myths about the bills. It was correct on all five. Noticeably absent from its list is abortion. That’s because they know it’s in the bills.

Activist Organizations

January 3
San Francisco, CA – Opponents of Proposition 8 vandalized Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, in the heart of San Francisco’s gay Castro community; the California resolution, passed by voters in November 2008, rejected the legalization of gay marriage. Swastikas were painted on the church and the names “Ratzinger” (referring to Pope Benedict XVI) and “Niederauer” (referring to San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer) were scrawled beside the Nazi symbols.   January 12 The ACLU filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) over its partnership with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to fight human trafficking. The ACLU filed suit because the USCCB does not use the money received from HHS to provide emergency contraception or abortion.  The ACLU claimed that the bishops were imposing their religious beliefs on victims of human trafficking by denying them access to services that the Church considers immoral, thereby making the government’s involvement unconstitutional.

January 14
Americans United for Separation of Church and State told a federal appeals court that a “Christian cross is not an appropriate symbol to memorialize deceased veterans of many different faith perspectives and should not be displayed on government property.”

The case, Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America v. City of San Diego, concerns the Mt. Soledad cross that is displayed at a public veterans’ memorial. Joining Americans United on the brief were: Hadassah; the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Inc.; Interfaith Alliance; Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers; Military Religious Freedom Foundation; Progressive Christians Uniting; and the Unitarian Universalist Association.

January 16
Ouachita Parish, LA – Americans United for Separation of Church and State issued a press release claiming that a public school would be violating the Constitution if it sponsored a field trip to a Christian event called “Just for Jesus.” The organization told the school officials to “stop meddling in the religious lives of students.”

February 4
Madison, WI – The Freedom From Religion Foundation said that two governmental bodies in Wisconsin had to cease opening meetings with prayer.

February 5
The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) issued a statement titled “Nothing fails like prayer” in response to President Barack Obama’s appearance at the National Prayer Breakfast. The organization took umbrage with the president’s words: “Responsibility for the well-being of people…requires a living, breathing, active faith.” FFRF claimed that with these words the president was “broadening an entanglement between church and state.”

The organization claimed that, “Nothing fails like prayer. Is there a greater confession of human failure than turning to prayer?” FFRF went onto say, “to hear our new president laud prayer as if prayer accomplishes something, is most disappointing.” The group also called prayer the “ultimate non-action, the ultimate cop-out.”

March 12
A supporter of Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) lashed out at the Catholic League because of our opposition to a bill in Connecticut that called for a restructuring of the Catholic Church. In the message, the supporter said, “VOTF is fighting to correct the many scum bag bishops who still exist.”

April 8
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation called for the court martial of the Army’s chief of chaplains for designating a day of fasting and prayer for chaplains. Foundation president Mikey Weinstein said, “This represents a perfect, quintessential example of the fact that our United States military has become infused, essentially, with the Christian mirror image of the type of Islam that is pushed by al-Qaida and the Taliban.”

April 12
San Francisco, CA – The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence celebrated their 30th anniversary at a gala event at which some of the men danced naked. The notoriously anti-Catholic group was given a proclamation from the California state senate by State Sen. Mark Leno.

The group also held its “Hunky Jesus” competition in which men dressed as Jesus in some of the most disgusting ways imaginable.

June 7
Santa Rosa County, FL – Nearly 400 graduating students at Pace High School stood and prayed the Lord’s Prayer in an act of defiance against the ACLU; the activist organization had previously filed a lawsuit against the school because of an alleged prayer by a coach at an award ceremony.

The ACLU contended that something should have been done to prevent the students from reciting the prayer at graduation.

June 24
Americans United for Separation of Church and State asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to “terminate or investigate nine federal grants awarded to faith-based groups that proselytize and that discriminate in hiring.” Among the groups  Americans United asked to terminate were those that provide assistance to at-risk youth, several providing drug-prevention programs and another that assists the poor.

This was just another attempt by the activist group to completely gut the faith-based system.

June 27 & 28
San Francisco, CA – The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence dishonored Archbishop George Niederauer with a “Pink Brick award” during the San Francisco Pride Celebration and Parade. This was the second time the archbishop received this award; it is given to the person or organization that the anti-Catholic group deems to have caused the most harm to the homosexual community.

July 13
The Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates in response to a prayer that was recited at a D-Day commemoration. The Foundation was upset that the chaplain invoked the name of Jesus in his prayer and said that he “overstepped the decorum required of military chaplains speaking to general audiences.”

In the letter, the Foundation urged Gates to issue new guidelines for military chaplains and staff so they “may not abuse their positions to proselytize, recruit for religion or promote sectarian doctrine on military time.”

July 14
Washington, D.C. – The Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a federal lawsuit to stop the engraving of the phrase “In God We Trust,” and the Pledge of Allegiance at the Capitol Visitor Center.

August 18
In an article found on the Huffington Post, Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, ripped the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. She said, “Seems that, if the U.S. Conference had its way, the national health care system would make American women second-class citizens and deny them access to benefits they currently have.”  In addition, she said that abroad the bishops’ “hard-line opposition to women’s rights also endangers millions of women around the globe.”

August 31
Petoskey, MI – The Petoskey Board of Education reversed its decision to use the term “Christmas break” rather than the “Winter holiday break” on its school calendar. The decision came a week after the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter claiming that by changing the name to “Christmas break,” the board “alienates all non-Christian and non-believing school children.”

September 27
San Francisco, CA – The 26th annual Folsom Street Fair was held and did not have the anti-Catholic items that it carried in 2007, sparking our boycott of Miller Brewing, a sponsor of the event. Even though the event lacked the items, it still featured a cage dancer in front of St. Joseph’s Church. Also, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence—as they have done for several years—worked the door for the fair “helping to greet people and collect much-needed funds for charity.”

September 30
The Center for Inquiry, an atheist organization, launched the first International Blasphemy Day. It chose the day which marked the anniversary of the 2005 publication of the Danish cartoons that so inflamed Muslims worldwide.

Billed as a free speech event designed to oppose such things as a Muslim-sponsored U.N. resolution banning criticism of religion, the day drew the support of people like PZ Myers; the professor at the University of Minnesota known for intentionally desecrating a consecrated Host. Myers said the day was established to “mock and insult religion without fear of murder, violence, and reprisal.”

Bill Donohue told the media: “They are all such phonies. The stated purpose of Blasphemy Day has nothing to do with any religion but Islam, yet there was not one scheduled event insulting Muslims. We can only guess why. So the religious haters showed once more that it is Christians, especially Catholics, that they want to bash.”

In Washington, D.C., artist Dana Ellyn exhibited her painting, “Jesus Does His Nails,” a portrait of Jesus polishing a nail jammed into his hand. In Los Angeles, there was a film about a gay molesting priest and another about a boy who is so angry about being sent to bed that he asks God to kill his parents. Also, American Atheists conducted “De-Baptisms” in New Jersey.

October 7
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on the constitutionality of a seven-foot cross placed on public land in the Mojave National Preserve in California. We said that the cross should be allowed on the land.

In 1892, the same court ruled that “this is a Christian nation.” Ever since, radical secularists have tried to stamp out this reality, holding that it excludes non-Christians. It does, and that is because the country’s founding was not the work of non-Christians.

That same day the New York Times carped over the cross. Defensively, its editorial began by saying that this case leads to such overheated charges as, “There is a war against Christianity under way; or civil liberties groups are trying to turn this into a secular nation.” Both accusations are accurate. Consider who is bringing the suit against the World War I veterans who first erected the cross in 1934, the ACLU—an organization marked with an anti-Christian animus since its founding in 1920.

October 14
Montgomery County, MD – Feminists from Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and the National Organization for Women (NOW) opposed the bid of Holy Cross, a Catholic hospital, to run a new medical facility due to its opposition to abortion. These feminists claimed that if Holy Cross won the bid, rather than Adventist HealthCare which is run by the Seventh Day Adventist Church, “indigent citizens” would be harmed because of the Church’s restrictions on abortion. One member of NOW said that Holy Cross “should get out of the way.”

October 31
Sarasota, FL – At the Halloween party for the Planned Parenthood of South West and Central Florida, a male staff member came dressed as a pregnant nun. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune, which is owned by the New York Times, lauded the party as saying, “This event has set the standard by which all Halloween parties will be measured.”

November 5
American Atheists called for an IRS investigation into the actions of Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio. The reason for calling the investigation, American Atheists said, was that Bishop DiMarzio praised State Rep. Vito Lopez for defeating a bill that would have treated sex abuse in public and private institutions differently.

November 18
Enfield, CT – Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the ACLU demanded that the Enfield Public Schools stop holding their graduation at a Christian church and to hold them at a secular location instead.

A lawyer for Americans United claimed, “Students and their families should not have to choose between attending graduation and being subjected to proselytizing religious messages.”

November 20
Washington, D.C. – A homosexual website, ChurchOuting.org, was launched with the intent of publicly disclosing the gay priests serving in the Archdiocese of Washington. The goal of this outing was to intimidate gay priests, as well as heterosexual priests who may be “romantically involved,” into voicing objections to the Church’s opposition to gay marriage.

The initiative was the work of Phil Attey, self-described as a “Liberal-Gay-Ardent Obama Supporter”; he was active in the Obama Pride Metro-DC campaign. According to a news report, “Attey is going to approach priests he thinks are gay, and warn them that they better stop lobbying against gay people, seeing how gay they are…or…else?”

Catholic priests were also being pressured to sign the “Declaration of Religious Support for Marriage Equality,” a statement by Clergy United for Marriage Equality. The statement, while it was not one we support, was respectfully written. Accordingly, we wrote to members of the Steering Committee of this group and asked that they disassociate themselves from this attempted hijacking of their effort.

on misrepresentations in Dan Brown’s novel The Da Vinci Code

(Catalyst 3/2004)

The Dan Brown book, The Da Vinci Code, is a best-selling work of fiction that discusses a real-life Catholic organization, Opus Dei. To help separate fact from fiction, we asked officials at Opus Dei to write a short article on this subject. Herewith their reply.

Founded in 1928 by St. Josemaría Escrivá, Opus Dei (Latin for “work of God”) has a mission of spreading Christ’s teaching on the universal call to holiness. A personal prelature, it works in dioceses around the world, with the approval of local bishops. Opus Dei has been the subject of several myths, made popular recently by the Da Vinci Code.

Myth: Opus Dei has a political agenda.
Fact: The only thing Opus Dei has to say about politics is what the Church says, and many of the Church’s social teachings leave room for different opinions on concrete political questions. In these opinionable matters, Opus Dei members make their own decisions just like other faithful Catholics. But you won’t understand Opus Dei until you realize that politics—whether civil or ecclesial—just isn’t its institutional focus. Opus Dei’s focus is on providing spiritual guidance to help people deepen their faith and integrate it with their daily life.

Myth: Opus Dei is a secret society.
Fact: The Opus Dei Prelature publishes the names of all its priests and all its international and regional directors. Like dioceses and parishes, it does not publish lay members’ names. Neither do health clubs for that matter, and people surely deserve as much privacy in their spiritual affairs as they do in medical matters. Members, however, are more than happy to tell you of their membership and what Opus Dei is all about.

While we’re at it, we can confirm that the Pope’s spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, is a member, but we would like to dispel once and for all the rumors that Louis Freeh, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Mel Gibson are members.

Myth: Opus Dei brainwashes, coerces, or pressures members and potential members.
Fact: Opus Dei has complete respect for people’s freedom. It’s ludicrous to think that the Pope and bishops worldwide would support an institution that didn’t. In this era of relativism, there are plenty of people who will call teaching the faith, giving spiritual guidance, and being a Christian witness “brainwashing,” “coercion,” and “recruiting” or “proselytism.” Nowadays consenting adults are free of criticism for doing almost anything—anything apparently except trying to help people grow in their faith and practice it in their daily life.

Myth: Opus Dei makes its members practice dangerous corporal mortifications.
Fact: Each Lent, the Church reminds people that sacrifice is part of the spiritual life. To help its members follow this teaching, Opus Dei encourages them to make small sacrifices, such as persevering in their work or listening to those in need. The Catholic tradition also includes other penances, such as fasting and the use of a cilice or discipline, as means for deepening one’s union with Christ. Many saints, including Opus Dei’s founder, St. Josemaría Escrivá, have practiced such penances in a heroic way. Some celibate members of Opus Dei and of other Church institutions freely follow some of these customs, though in a mitigated way. They do so subject to the advice of their spiritual director and in a way that is never harmful to their health, completely unlike the Da Vinci Code‘s distorted representation. These kinds of sacrifices are certainly not a focus in Opus Dei, which emphasizes integrating faith with the activities of everyday life.

Myth: Opus Dei’s status as a “personal prelature” cuts it loose from oversight by the bishops.
Fact: Like a diocese, a personal prelature is overseen by the Holy See. Additionally, Opus Dei receives permission from local bishops before starting apostolic work in their dioceses and keeps diocesan bishops informed about its activities. The guidance it offers its members pertains only to matters connected with its mission, which is educating people about the universal call to holiness and helping them fulfill this call in their daily life. The members of the prelature remain members of their diocese and are subject to their local bishop just like other Catholics.

Myth: With all the criticism, Opus Dei must be doing something wrong.
Fact: Every successful organization has its critics, from Coca-Cola to the Catholic Church itself. As for Opus Dei’s critics, anyone who does not believe in Christ, the Church’s teachings, or loyalty to the Pope could easily have “issues” with Opus Dei, since it accepts all these things. It’s also common that an organization’s critics have personal reasons for misinterpreting things—even with good intentions. What’s more relevant than the criticism is the fact that millions of people around the world know and love Opus Dei, including the Pope and a great number of bishops. This is because Opus Dei gives so much help to ordinary people who want to connect their faith with daily life.

For further information, contact the Opus Dei Information Office at info@opusdei.org or (212) 532-3570.

On January 29 and 30, New York City’s Carnegie Hall will be home to “Jerry Springer: The Opera in Concert.” The production is ostensibly a spoof on the television chat show of which Mr. Springer is host. On his show, Springer trots out America’s unfortunates and questions them about their family problems, sexual deviancies and emotional plagues. Tensions often flare between the guests, resulting in fisticuffs and occasional assaults with folding chairs.

The musical to run at Carnegie Hall surpasses the original in its vulgarity and obscenity. It also adds as much trashing of Jesus and the Blessed Mother as can be crammed into 120 minutes. The musical is set partially in Hell, thus opening the story up to include a “conflict resolution” segment between Jesus and Satan. A few of the “highlights” include: Jesus, fat, effeminate and wearing a loincloth, is accused of being a homosexual, to which he replies, “actually, I am a bit gay”; Eve, angry at being cast out of the Garden of Eden, reaches under Jesus’ loincloth and fondles Him; the Virgin Mary is described as being “raped by an angel, raped by God”; Jesus sings, “I am Jesus, son of man, son of Mary, son of God. So…do not f–k with me.”

All of this occurs among such story-lines as a man becoming sexually aroused by dressing up in a diaper and having his girlfriend treat him like an infant (the choir shrugs off this deviancy, suggesting, “For some morning Mass, for others hairy a–”), and a mother, wearing an oversized crucifix, informing her stripper daughter that she wishes the girl had died at birth. The musical’s twisted moral is summed up in a speech given by the character of Jerry at the end: “Energy is pure delight. Nothing is wrong and nothing is right. And everything that lives is holy.”

We’ve long noted that blasphemy often follows obscenity, and Jerry Springer’s television show has given the musical’s writers much material with which to work. What is unusual, however, is that Carnegie Hall would provide this vile production with a home. The hall’s board and staff recently renewed its mission to “present the finest artistry” on its three stages. If “Jerry Springer: the Opera in Concert” is considered among the finest musical works in the entire city of New York, our society is in trouble for sure.

Let Sanford I. Weill, Chairman of the Board of Carnegie Hall, know what you think of his once-great institution wallowing in such filth. Write to him at 881 Seventh Avenue, New York, New York 10019-3210 or e-mail publicaffairs@carnegiehall.org.

Much to its surprise, the Catholic League recently learned that left-wing activist and billionaire George Soros is the man behind two ultra-liberal Catholic groups, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics United. Both organizations claim to be pro-life while supporting mostly pro-abortion candidates for public office.

In 2003, after Soros (who is Jewish) blamed Jews for anti-Semitism, the ADL branded his comments “obscene.” Two years later, the Catholic League accused him of anti-Catholicism: His group, MoveOn.org, posted a picture of a smiling Pope Benedict XVI holding a gavel outside the U.S. Supreme Court, along with the following inscription: “God Already Has a Job…He does not need one on the Supreme Court.”

Now we have found out that this same bigot is connected to two apologists for abortion rights, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics United.

In 2006, Soros’ Open Society Institute (OSI) gave Catholics in Alliance $100,000 (double the amount he gave in 2005), and in the same year Catholics in Alliance listed Catholics United on its 990 as an organization with which it has a formal relationship.

John Podesta, who runs the Soros-funded organization, Center for American Progress, and has been appointed to run President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team, admits that he works closely with Catholics in Alliance and Catholics United. The Center for American Progress is also the sponsor of Faith and Public Life.

Why would any Catholic organization take money from a man like Soros? Because legitimate sources of revenue aren’t available? And why would Soros have any interest in funding Catholic groups? He doesn’t give the Catholic League any money, and if he offered, we would refuse it.

The reason Soros funds the Catholic Left is the same reason he funds Catholics for Choice, the pro-abortion group that has twice been condemned as a fraud by Catholic bishops: they all service his agenda, namely, to make support for abortion rights a respectable Catholic position.

Just before we exposed the Soros-Catholic Left nexus, Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput accused Catholics in Alliance and Catholics United as doing a “disservice” to the Catholic Church. He was right. Bill Donohue then told the press, “And now we know what really makes them tick.”

It didn’t take long before the Catholic Left struck back. Chris Korzen of Catholics United replied by saying that OSI also funds Catholic Charities, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Catholic Legal Immigration Services (CLIS), thus making them morally equal.

We found Korzen’s argument fallacious and explained why. Unlike the three Catholic organizations cited by Korzen, Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance are apologists for abortion rights. “Their passion for abortion rights is so strong that they refuse to endorse the legal ban on partial-birth abortion,” Donohue said.

Donohue continued as follows: “So scandalous is their work that they were singled out by Archbishop Charles Chaput for doing a ‘disservice’ to the Church. He said they have ‘confused the natural priorities of Catholic social teaching, undermined the progress prolifers have made, and provided an excuse for some Catholics to abandon the abortion issue….’ Chaput would never say that about the three legitimately Catholic social service groups.”

Catholic Charities, CRS and CLIS have been around for decades. All receive tens of millions of dollars from government, foundations and individuals, and it is a sure bet none has a clue who OSI is. The two discredited Catholic groups were founded after their pro-abortion hero, John Kerry, lost the election in 2004. More important, two years ago Catholics in Alliance received nearly 10 percent of its money from OSI. And it is a sure bet that its officials know exactly who is behind OSI.

The bottom line is this: When it comes to social welfare causes, Soros  gives money indiscriminately. But when it comes to abortion, he prefers to give to pro-abortion and anti-Catholic groups like Catholics for Choice. Now he likes to give to Catholic abortion apologists as well. “Thus,” said Donohue, “Korzen’s moral equivalency argument fails miserably.”

If further proof were needed about these organizations, consider that the left-wing National Catholic Reporter favorably quoted Pew researcher John Green lumping Catholics in Alliance (and Pax Christi) with the notoriously anti-Catholic group, Catholics for Choice (previously Catholics for a Free Choice). No self-respecting Catholic organization would ever allow such a comparison to be made. It made sense, then, for Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph to brand Catholics in Alliance as a group that “has its priorities backward.”

Regarding Catholics for Choice, its president Jon O’Brien, told the Washington Post that “In Catholic theology there is room for the acceptance of policies that favor access to the full range of reproductive health options, including contraception and abortion.” This, of course, is a lie.

Adding to the deceit was Kathleen Munley, a professor at Marywood University in Pennsylvania. A member of Catholics for Obama, she defended Obama’s pro-abortion record, noting that there was “an undercurrent of racial bias” to some of Obama’s critics. To make her point, her group took out full-page ads in newspapers reminding Catholics of the wisdom of the Church’s teaching on racial tolerance. Nothing was said regarding the Church’s teaching on abortion.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue exposes the nexus between George Soros and two left-wing Catholic groups, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics United:

“In 2003, after left-wing mogul George Soros blamed Jews for anti-Semitism, the ADL branded his comments ‘obscene.’ Two years later, I accused him of anti-Catholicism when his group, MoveOn.org, posted a picture of a smiling Pope Benedict XVI holding a gavel outside the U.S. Supreme Court, along with the following inscription: ‘God Already Has a Job…He does not need one on the Supreme Court.’

“Why is this relevant? Because this same bigot is connected to two apologists for abortion rights, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics United. In 2006, Soros’ Open Society Institute gave Catholics in Alliance $100,000 (double the amount he gave in 2005), and in the same year Catholics in Alliance listed Catholics United on its 990 as an organization with which it has a formal relationship. John Podesta, who runs the Soros-funded organization, Center for American Progress, admits that he works closely with Catholics in Alliance and Catholics United. The Center for American Progress is also the sponsor of Faith and Public Life.

“Why would any Catholic organization take money from a man like George Soros? Because legitimate sources of revenue aren’t available? And why would Soros have any interest in funding Catholic groups? He doesn’t give the Catholic League any money, and if he offered, I would refuse it.

“The reason Soros funds the Catholic Left is the same reason he lavishly funds Catholics for Choice, the pro-abortion group that has twice been condemned as a fraud by Catholic bishops: they all service his agenda, namely, to make support for abortion rights a respectable Catholic position. On October 17, Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput accused Catholics in Alliance and Catholics United as doing a ‘disservice’ to the Catholic Church. He’s right. And now we know what really makes them tick.”

Gianna Jessen and Jill Stanek of BornAliveTruth.org have released a video that features an appeal by Jessen to Sen. Barack Obama asking him to support health care for infants who have been born alive following a botched abortion. Jessen is a 31 year-old who survived a saline abortion; Stanek is the nurse who blew the whistle on infants being allowed to die in a utility room following induced-labor abortions (she was fired from Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois for doing so).

When Obama was in the Illinois State Senate, he blocked all legislation designed to provide health care for infants who survived an abortion. The language of the Illinois bill, in its final version, was identical to the language of the federal bill that was passed unanimously and signed into law by President Bush. Though that bill made it clear that nothing in the legislation could be construed to overturn Roe v. Wade, it still wasn’t enough to satisfy Obama.

To see this 30-second video, click here.

On May 15, Catholic League president Bill Donohue appeared on “Fox and Friends” saying there had been a media cover-up of this issue. He now sounds off about this classic video:

“Abortion is not just another issue for Catholics. As Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput has said, it is a ‘foundational issue.’ Amazingly, the issue that this video addresses is beyond abortion—it is infanticide. Why Obama, who advocates universal heath care, would exclude babies who survive an abortion from his plan is mind-boggling. Guess the politics of inclusion draws a line when it comes to these kids.

“Moreover, if anyone wants to continue to deny that abortion involves human life, let him take a good look at Gianna Jessen: She is living proof that the entire pro-abortion agenda is based on a lie. Perversely, those who support ‘choice’ are the very ones who continue to deny the Jessens of this world that very right. And there are millions of such Jessens.”