On July 21, 1994, a pro-life sign that sits on the property of the Church of the Holy Child in Staten Island, New York, was defaced by an anonymous band of anti-Catholic bigots. The sign, which sits on the corner of Arden and Amboy Road, reads “Abortion Stops a Beating Heart.” It was paid for through donations raised by the Respect Life Committee of the church and has been posted for at least six months.

The pastor, Msgr. John D. Burke, has received several anonymous phone calls ordering him to remove the sign. Inscriptions have been made on the sign and an anti-Catholic poster was taped to it.

The poster accuses the Catholic Church of holding “vast economic and political resources” that are used by its “undemocratically chosen hierarchy” to enforce “its archaic views” about “abortion, women’s rights, homosexuality and contraception.” It says that “‘free speech’ in America is NOT free,” and criticizes the Catholic Church for not supporting abortion in the Health Care Reform bill.

It also says that “We have chosen to use this sign to say: STOP IMPOSING YOUR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS ON THOSE WHO DO NOT SHARE THEM.” It ends with the following: “STOP ABUSING AND RESTRICTING WOMEN IN THE NAME OF GOD.”

Dr. William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League, had this to say about the incident:

“When the property of any house of worship is defaced, it should be condemned by persons of every faith. What makes this particular defacement so odious is the motivation by anonymous bigots. The was not the act of drunken youths, but the work of politically infused extremists. They hate the Catholic Church because the Church doesn’t yield on its positions. By citing abortion, women’s rights, homosexuality and contraception, the bigots bared their hand: this is clearly the work of those who think that freedom means emancipation from constraint. Instead of looking at the moral debris that this conception of liberty has wrought, the libertines pursue their agenda with characteristic fanaticism. And it is this fanaticism that explains their hatred of the Catholic Church.

“The Catholic League pledges to work cooperatively with the police in finding the guilty parties.”

The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights is the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organization. It defends the right of Catholics—lay and clergy alike—to participate in American life without defamation or discrimination.

On July 5, 1994, Professor Vernon McClean required all students in his Sexism and Racism class to identify their religion on a piece of paper. When the lecture began, Dr. McClean commented that Louis Farrakhan had once called Pope John Paul II a “racist cock-sucker.” Dr. McClean then said that Farrakhan was right. When the mother of one of the students learned about this incident, she wrote a letter of protest to President Arnold Speert. Copies of private correspondence were then distributed by Dr. McClean to his students. No action has been taken against Dr. McClean and no statement admitting wrongdoing has been issued by any college official.

In a statement on this affair, Dr. William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, had this to say:

“What happened at William Paterson College is a serious violation of students’ rights and grave abuse of academic freedom. No professor at a state college has any business asking students to identify their religion. It is even illegal for the U.S. Census Bureau to require Americans to identify their religion, never mind a state college professor. If separation of church and state means anything, it means the right of citizens to insulate their religious affiliations and beliefs from inquiring government agents.

“When the demand for religious identification is juxtaposed with a vicious anti-Catholic remark, the outcome is nothing less than pernicious. If the same vulgar characterization had been made about Martin Luther King, or some other widely revered person, college officials would have been quick to respond. But their silence in the wake of this anti-Catholic statement suggests that Catholic bashing is tolerated at William Paterson College. That this comment was made in a required multicultural course is all the more telling: respect for diversity and tolerance for all religions apparently do not extend to Catholics.

“The classroom distribution of private correspondence was an egregious impropriety. Despite the fact that the woman who complained has a private listing for her home address and phone number, everyone in the Sexism and Racism course was given a copy of her letter, complete with her home address.

“College officials know what has to be done: the school needs to issue an apology and disciplinary action must be taken against Dr. McClean. To do nothing is to sanction illegality, vulgarity, bigotry, a double standard of justice and a flagrant abuse of power.”

The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights is the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organization. It defends the right of Catholics—lay and clergy alike—to participate in American life without defamation or discrimination.