Catholic League president Bill Donohue addresses the latest scam by PETA:

It would be hard to find an organization in the U.S. which treats animals more unethically than People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). In 2008, as demonstrated by the Center for Consumer Freedom, PETA killed 95 percent of the adoptable pets in its care. Indeed, it killed an average of 6 pets a day last year at its Norfolk, Virginia headquarters, placing only seven in adoptive homes. Between 1998 and 2008, it killed a total of 21,339 cats and dogs. To top it off, despite a budget of $32 million, PETA does not operate an adoption shelter.

Now the animal killers have launched a Christmas campaign that exploits Christian symbols. It features Playboy queen Joanna Krupa: before Thanksgiving it showed a side angle of her naked from the waist up holding a dog and a rosary; she is adorned with angel wings and a halo. The inscription below reads, “Be an Angel for Animals: ALWAYS ADOPT. NEVER BUY.”

Today PETA bares Krupa on a Los Angeles billboard. According to Hollywood.com, she appears “as a winged angel, covered by a carefully-placed crucifix.” Once again, the target is pet stores.

The fact is that cats and dogs are a lot safer in pet stores than they are in the hands of PETA employees. Moreover, pet stores don’t rip off Christian iconography and engage in cheap irreligious scams.

PETA is a fraud. It also has a long and disgraceful record of exploiting Christian and Jewish themes to hawk its ugly services. Those who support this organization sorely need a reality check. They also need a course in Ethics 101.

Contact PETA Executive VP Tracy Reiman: TracyR@peta.org

Mary E. Hunt, who runs a group called the Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual (WATER), has launched a vile assault on the Catholic Church. The pretext of her article is the decision of the Archdiocese of Washington to discontinue its foster-care program; the archdiocese maintains that as a condition of public funding it would have to compromise Church teachings on gay marriage.

In a piece posted on the website Religion Dispatches, Hunt accuses the entire Catholic Church of “bigotry” and says that the Church’s position on gay marriage “is but one among differing Church theologies of sexuality”; she adds that “the hierarchy does not speak” for its members.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue took Hunt to task:

It is one thing to contest the teachings of the Catholic Church, quite another to say that dissident voices are authentically Catholic: there is only one official teaching body of the Catholic Church, and that is the Magisterium (the pope in communion with the bishops). Moreover, just as labor union leaders speak for union members, the Church’s hierarchy speaks for Catholics. Anyone is free to disagree, but they are not free to distort. Hunt is a long-time master of such disinformation.

If anyone doubts that the website itself is corrupt, let them check out the picture that accompanies Hunt’s screed. It shows two men frolicking with a young boy on their laps. One is dressed as a priest.

Contact the website’s managing editor, Evan Derkacz: evan@religiondispatches.org

Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights is filing a formal complaint today with the Michigan Attorney Grievance Committee regarding the anti-Catholic comments made by defense attorney Henry Scharg; it is also pursuing other avenues of redress.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue explains why:

In a Wayne County Circuit Court trial concerning a woman charged with smothering her newborn daughter to death, her attorney, Henry Scharg, has sought repeatedly to malign trial judge Dan Ryan, accusing him of allowing his Catholic religion to color his judgment in the case. Not only has Scharg called into question Ryan’s affiliation with Ave Maria Law School, he has sought to remove the judge from the case.

What happened on March 1, however, was much worse. Scharg was angered over the fact that Ryan was taking vacation time to teach at Ave Maria on Mondays (the fact that Ryan rearranged his Monday schedule this past week to accommodate Scharg undercuts his complaint). In any event, on p. 10 of the transcript from Monday’s hearing, Scharg is quoted as saying, “This is the equivalent to an African-American man being on trial and the judge taking Mondays off to attend Klan meetings.”

Scharg has no business representing anyone. To compare an accredited Catholic law school to a racist terrorist organization is more than despicable—it constitutes rank anti-Catholic bigotry. Indeed, this remark is so egregious as to warrant severe punitive sanctions, if not disbarment. We will do what we can to see that justice is done.

Contact Executive Court Administrator Ronald R. Ruffin: Ronald.Ruffin@3rdcc.org

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:

No, this is not a news release about Rahm Emanuel, though it could have been. After all, he is the pro-abortion Jew who is working quietly to shape the health bill. But I wouldn’t have characterized his lobbying that way. Why? Because to do so would have smacked of Jew-baiting. NPR, however, ran an article today about Richard Doerflinger, the pro-life point man for the bishops, that read, “Powerful Catholic Quietly Shaping Abortion, Health Bill Debate.” The inartful headline marred an otherwise fair piece.

NPR looks innocent next to others. In the past week, Slate.com has questioned, “Whither Ecumenism? Catholics Interfere with a Rival Doctrine.” Newsweek ran a piece entitled, “When Bishops Play Politics: A New Generation Gets Righteous.” Examiner.com used this headline: “Religion Pollutes, Threatens Health Care Reform via Abortion, Catholic Bishops.” And RHRealityCheck.org posted an article beckoning readers to “take a good, hard look at just how the Bishops are cooking it up…Covering-up their real intentions with lofty sentiments about morality and justice while they cook-away, and deal-away, behind closed doors….”

“Jews Interfere.” “When Rabbis Play Politics: A New Generation Gets Righteous.” “Religion [Judaism] Pollutes.” “Rabbis Deal-Away, Behind Closed Doors.” Such bigotry would never be published by any of the aforementioned media outlets.

Now the inevitable. Connie Saltonstall, a Michigan activist, has decided to challenge Rep. Bart Stupak in the Democratic primary; Stupak is leading the fight against abortion coverage in the health bill. Citing his “personal, religious views,” she says it is “reprehensible” for him to “deprive his constituents of needed health care reform because of those views.” (My italics.) You guessed it—Stupak is Catholic.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue offers the Associated Press (AP) some words of advice:

What a fabulous story the AP has today on 30 Catholic priests accused of abuse who were transferred or moved abroad. AP put some money into this investigative report: it spans 21 countries in six continents. Now consider the following:

• In October 2007, AP released a report on sexual misconduct committed by public school teachers and found 2,570 cases over a five year period. In fact, it’s much worse than this. As AP disclosed, “Mostof the abuse never gets reported.” [My emphasis]

• Why does most of the abuse go unreported? “School administrators make behind-the-scenes deals to avoid lawsuits and other trouble. And in state capitals and Congress, lawmakers shy from tough state punishments or any cohesive national policy for fear of disparaging a vital profession.”

• What happens to molesting teachers? “Too often, problem teachers are allowed to leave quietly. That can mean future abuse for another student and another school district.” Indeed, it happens so often it is called “passing the trash” or the “mobile molester.”

• Moreover, “deals and lack of information-sharing allow abusive teachers to jump state lines, even when one school does put a stop to the abuse.

Advice to AP: Do a story on the “mobile molesters,” using the report on priests as a model, i.e., don’t just write an article—name the names of the teachers, principals and school superintendents. Also, track down molesting teachers in Maine where it is illegal to make public the cases of abusing teachers. Go back to California and Hawaii where AP was stonewalled in 2007 from getting hard information on molesting teachers, and this time do your own investigating. For more advice, call my office.

Contact Michael Oreskes, the AP official who oversees investigative reporting: moreskes@ap.org

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on a statement by the National Organization for Women (NOW) attacking the Catholic Church:

NOW is calling on the authorities to investigate sexual abuse in the “male-dominated Catholic Church,” claiming that “girls as much as boys” are victims of sexual abuse. But the female-dominated organization is wrong as usual: homosexual priests, who commit most of the abuse, are not interested in girls. Indeed, the latest data show that the more priests have access to girl altar servers, the more the abusers in their ranks want the males.

It would be good if the female-dominated organization were to issue another news release correcting the record.

Contact: now@now.org

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on recent news releases by American Atheists:

It’s always important for an advocacy organization to advocate something positive, and not simply be positioned against something. American Atheists is a classic example of not getting it right. Everyone knows it is organized to believe in nothing, and while that is a childlike reason for assembly, it is worse to see it pout when groups like the Catholic League are on the march.

The Catholic League wants to honor Mother Teresa by having the Empire State Building light the towers blue and white on August 26. Anthony Malkin, who may also believe in nothing, vetoed our request. Joining him is American Atheists, and a few others associated with nothingness.

Now American Atheists is having a hissy fit over the Catholic League’s objections, joined by many other organizations, over a proposed Comedy Central show, “J.C.”, that promises to mock Jesus and Christians. Actually, the sponsors of nothing are having more than a hissy fit. Here is how the group’s head honcho, Ed Buckner, puts it: “The religious conservatives like the Catholic League are behaving like Islamic fundamentalists in trying to censor what Americans want to read, see, or say about religion.” Lucky for him this is a lie.

If I had a recommendation about how to go positive, I would offer them one. Not for nothing, it’s not easy to do given that they are proud to stand for nothing.

Contact Nothing Staffer Larry Mundinger:mundinger@atheists.org