At 1:00 pm on Saturday, October 7, a protest march against Pope John Paul II will commence at Bryant Park and proceed to Columbus Circle. Some protesters are already planning to break away from the scheduled route and proceed directly to St. Patrick’s Cathedral; the Pope is scheduled to recite the Rosary there at 3:30 pm.

According to Annie Keating of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL), the planned demonstration against Pope John Paul II “is not anti-pope or anti-Catholic.” However, the Catholic League is in possession of posters and planning documents that show otherwise.

Posters are being placed throughout New York that show a goggle-eyed picture of the Pope (his eyes are replaced with spirals that look like a target), calling for protesters to join the march. The sponsoring organization is the Lesbian and Gay Papal Visit Coalition, which is actually a front for ACT-UP. On one piece of literature, the Pope is labeled “The Foremost Symbol of Religious Superstition, Intolerance and Bigotry.”

From Baltimore, protesters are asking marchers to make “Pope-Go Home” signs and are distributing literature which says, “Show ‘His Silliness’ that the United States is NOT part of the ‘Holy Roman Empire of 1995.”’

Catholic League president William Donohue released the following statement on this development:

“The Catholic League supports the right of all protesters to criticize the Catholic Church on any matter they like, just so long as the dissent does not spill over into insult or disparagement. Regrettably, this has already happened, even though the Pope has not yet arrived in New York.

“Those who are planning to disparage the Pope are ACT-UP, American Atheists and NARAL. It is they who organized a meeting on Tuesday at the Lesbian and Gay Community Center in Greenwich Village, and it is they who have an agenda against the Catholic Church. The Catholic League will monitor these groups as they proceed and will alert the public to their conduct. ”

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

Beginning October 3, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights will broadcast a television show every Tuesday evening from 7:30 to 8:00 p.m. on Telicare, Channel 25. The show, Catholic League Review, will feature guests of varying perspectives and religions. Catholic League president William A. Donohue will be the host and will lead discussions on many timely and controversial issues. Bernadette Brady, the Catholic League’s vice president, will serve as the program’s coordinator, and Donald O’Neil will be the executive producer. It is expected that other channels will soon air the show as well.

The United Artists movie, Showgirls, which opens on September 22, has already been criticized for its indecency and that is why it has received an NC-17 rating. But the movie also contains a scene where vulgar words and behavior are used in reference to Our Blessed Mother. Language such as “The F_ _ _ _ _ Virgin Mary” is used and, in the same scene, a heavy set woman bares her breasts and makes a vulgar reference to the Virgin Mary while doing so.

Having had an opportunity to preview a portion of the movie for the purpose of a TV review on the NBC show Extra, Catholic League president William Donohue released the following comment on the movie today:

“Showgirls is not only a movie that is violent and sexually exploitative of women, it is a movie that insults the Catholic religion. The juxtaposition of indecency and blasphemy is nothing new, but the fact that this movie has already set the record for the most amount of money ever spent to promote an NC-17 rated film makes it all the more disturbing.

“It is bad enough that United Artists is determined to mainstream its filth into neighborhood theaters without also attacking Catholicism. This only goes to show that there are those in Hollywood who not only have no moral standards, they have no respect for religion—especially Catholicism—either. And the fact that screenwriter Joe Eszterhas has urged minors to acquire fake IDs to see the movie proves that their callous agenda includes the exploitation of children as well.

“The Catholic League urges parents to protest the showing of this movie in their neighborhood theaters. If this blasphemous stag movie belongs anywhere, it belongs in back alley theaters normally associated with the 42nd Streets of America.”

The Catholic League 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.