Earlier this month, a group of Hispanics in Houston, Texas protested what they saw as a blasphemous, obscene and racist exhibit at the Redbud Gallery.  The exhibit in question, “Sextablos: Works on Metal,” is a play on the Spanish word, retablo; retablos are Mexican paintings of saints on sheets of tin.  “Sextablos” features many pornographic images, but by far the worst is the one by Michael Thompson that shows a naked woman performing fellatio on Christ nailed to the cross.  A book of the display is also available from Bad Press Books.  The exhibit extends to January.

Catholic League director of communications Patrick Scully called the owner of the Redbud Gallery, Gus Kopriva, to ask him about the exhibit.  Kopriva agreed that it was offensive to him as a Catholic to show Christ receiving oral sex.  Nonetheless, he said, he didn’t have any choice to show part of the exhibit.  He then defended the piece by saying that “the idea is to shock the mainstream establishment—pure shock.”  When asked if he would show an exhibit that ridiculed the Holocaust, he said, “Oh, yes, I would have to.”  He then offered, “Would I accept an exhibit that espoused the KKK?  No.”

Catholic League president William Donohue offered his remarks on this subject today:

“Everyone has a hot button and now we know what offends Gus Kopriva—he doesn’t want to offend African Americans.  But Catholics and Jews, that’s okay.

“To believe that showing a naked woman performing oral sex on Jesus Christ would shock the mainstream establishment demonstrates how out of touch Kopriva is.  Indeed, had he asked someone in the Clinton administration to arrange for a federal grant from the NEA, he surely would have gotten one.  All he had to do was call an intern for some help.”

On Nov. 13, the News Journal of Wilmington, Delaware ran a story on a “nationally known Holocaust educator Jack P. McGough.”  McGough had spoken the day before at the student center on the campus of the University of Delaware (UD) in Newark; he was identified as a professor at UD.  The Jewish Federation of Delaware sponsored his talk, “Where Were the Churches?”  McGough singled out the Catholic Church for being the worst denier of the Holocaust.

Upon reading this story, the Catholic League inquired into the credentials of McGough and then contacted both the Jewish Center and the News Journal.   Patrick Scully, the league’s director of communications, called Sue Shaffer, director of the Jewish Federation of Delaware, and league president William Donohue called Jean Buchanan, city editor of the News Journal.  Both were told the same thing: a) McGough is not a nationally known expert on the Holocaust or on any other historical subject b) he is neither an author, historian nor social scientist and c) he is not a professor at the University of Delaware (UD).  In fact, McGough is a retired executive who teaches continuing education courses at UD’s Academy of Lifelong Learning.

Donohue is angry at all three parties and spoke to this issue today:

“Shaffer admitted she could not identify McGough’s credentials and Buchanan was equally perplexed (she promised to call me on Nov. 27 after investigating this matter but did not; nor did she return another call).  McGough promised to send Scully his resume but then reneged when he found out ‘you’re Donohue’s group.’  As if that matters.

“Shaffer and the News Journal clearly evince a disturbing eagerness to believe the worst about Catholicism.  The newspaper is the worst offender because of its refusal to run a retraction after learning that it had been suckered in by this phony, Jack P. McGough.”

Marilyn Manson’s new CD, “Holy Wood,” is replete with assaults on religion and celebratory comments on violence.  On the cover is a picture of Manson on a crucifix with his jawbone removed; both Circuit City and Best Buy have required Interscope Records to put an alternative cover on the CD.

The new single from the album is called “Disposable Teens.”  Its lyrics include multiple obscenities, along with such poetic fare as “I got a face that’s made for doing violence upon, I’m a teen distortion, survived abortion, a rebel from the waist down.”  On the cover is a depiction of an aborted baby nailed to a cross.  Other songs on “Holy Wood” are called  “Godeatgod,” “Cruci-fixion in Space,” “President Dead,” “In the Shadow of the Valley of Death,” “The Death Song,” “The Lamb of God,” “The Fall of Adam,” “Burning Flag,” “King Kill 33°” and “Count to 6 and Die.”

Catholic League president William Donohue commented as follows:

“‘Holy Wood’ is vintage Marilyn Manson.  Preoccupied with violence and religion, Manson uses infantile expressions to convey his perverse vision of reality.  But reviewers who remark that Manson assaults religion shoot too broadly: it is Christianity that he hates and it is Catholicism that he hates most of all.  Why else would he appear dressed as a bishop with a cross behind him in his video for ‘Disposable Teens’?  And why else would he wear a pope’s miter while performing live?  No, this is a guy at war with Christ and the Vicar of Christ on earth.

“The appropriate response for Catholics is to boycott all Marilyn Manson CD’s and to return any albums that might be offered to any family member as a gift this Christmas.  It would also be an opportune time to explain why this is being done.  As for the Catholic League, we will ask Interscope if there is any reason other than greed that is motivating its promotion of Manson’s ‘Holy Wood.’”

A new movie, “Quills,” which is scheduled for limited release on November 22, is a fictional account of the real-life French maniac, Marquis de Sade; Fox Searchlight is distributing the film nationwide on December 8.  A creative period piece, “Quills” invents a priest-character who bears no resemblance to the priest who attended to Sade in the lunatic asylum.

In real life, Abbe Coulmier was an unattractive, four-foot tall hunchback who remained celibate.  In the movie, he is transformed into a good-looking priest who has a relationship with Sade and is depicted having sex with a dead laundress, played by Kate Winslet.

Catholic League president William Donohue expressed the league’s exasperation:

“There was a time, not too long ago, when Hollywood released family entertainment during the holiday season.  Now we have ‘Quills,’ a movie based on the life of a man so sick they even coined a name after him: sadism.

“In real life, Sade’s writings offered a clear picture of his twisted life.  His fascination with feces, sex with the dead and man-boy sodomy are clinically known as coprophilia, necrophilia and pederasty.  Oh, yes, he liked mutilation as well.  Not surprisingly, Sade hated Catholicism.

“The deformed dwarf priest who worked with Sade, Father Coulmier, is now described by the film’s distributor as ‘sexy and fluid’ and is seen by reviewers as a ‘liberal-minded, good-looking young priest’ with ‘progressive notions.’  Sounds like a cross between James Bond and our favorite hippy priest, Father Ray from ‘Nothing Sacred.’  And, of course, the fictional priest is sexually perverted, quite unlike the real Father Coulmier.  None of this is surprising given Hollywood’s fondness for Catholicism, but it is disgraceful nonetheless.”

On Sunday, the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops will meet in Washington, D.C. for three days.  The National Conference of Catholic Bishops will be greeted with a protest launched by Soulforce, a radical Christian group that seeks to change Christianity’s teachings on homosexuality.  Their goal is to wage a “Stop Spiritual Violence” campaign against the bishops by surrounding them as they proceed to the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on Monday.

Leading Soulforce is Rev. Mel White, a one-time ghost writer for Rev. Jerry Falwell who previously subjected himself to exorcism and electroshock therapy hoping to rid himself of his homosexuality.  He is joined by Rev. Jimmy Creech, a defrocked minister of the United Methodist Church.  They are being supported in this effort by Dignity, a group of homosexuals who reject the Catholic Church’s teachings on homosexuality and are not recognized by the Church.

Catholic League president William Donohue commented as follows:

“It is the politics of intimidation that Soulforce is now using to get Catholics and Protestants to recognize the legitimacy of sodomy.  In an open letter to the Catholic bishops that was released yesterday, Soulforce said ‘the official teachings of the Roman Catholic Church about sexual minorities lead to suffering and death for our lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender sisters and brothers.’  They actually believe this.

“Soulforce is wrong.  Here’s why: Leather Fest 2000 is now being held at the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center in New York City celebrating ‘20 years of pain and pleasure’ by holding workshops on ‘rope bondage, mummification, fisting, flogging, and others.’  In short, this is what kills gays, not talks on abstinence.  And to top it off, on October 20, HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo gave the Center a check for $75,000.  Now if Soulforce were rational, they would be protesting the Center and Secretary Cuomo, not the bishops.”

In yesterday’s edition of the Spokane, Washington newspaper, the Spokesman-Review, a headline was run entitled, “Nazi priest promotes his book.”  The story called attention to a talk and book signing by Rev. Robert Spitzer, president of Gonzaga University, at a local bookstore.  Neither Father Spitzer’s talk nor book has anything to do with Nazism.

Upon learning of this, Catholic League president William Donohue called the editorial office of the newspaper.  When he was told that this was an error and that an apology would be printed in the next edition of the Spokesman-Review, Donohue replied that this was insufficient: nothing less than the guilty party’s termination was acceptable, he said.  Donohue emphasized that this was done intentionally, and he even explained the motive behind the Nazi label by charging that it had been done in response to Father Spitzer’s decision last spring to ban a Planned Parenthood representative from speaking at the Jesuit school.

In today’s Spokesman-Review, there is a story that discloses that a 24 year-old intern copy editor, Robin Moody, was asked to resign from the newspaper at the request of the editors.  Moody is a Gonzaga graduate who was president of the women’s studies club last spring that attempted to bring a speaker from Planned Parenthood to the campus.

Donohue issued the following statement today:

“We flooded the Spokane media yesterday with our news release on the ‘Nazi priest’ story.  We now have confirmation from the electronic media in Spokane that the Catholic League was alone in demanding the termination of the person responsible for this act.  We are delighted with this outcome because anything less would have been a travesty of justice. But we don’t buy the current line that this was a mistake.  On the contrary, Ms. Moody’s decision was as deliberate as it was ideologically driven.  She got what she deserved.”

In “The Region” section of today’s edition of the Spokesman-Review, the president of Gonzaga University, Rev. Robert Spitzer, is called a Nazi.  The Spokane, Washington daily ran a short piece entitled, “Nazi priest promotes his book.”  The story was simply a blurb announcing a talk and book signing that Father Spitzer was doing at a local bookstore.

Rev. Spitzer’s new book is called, Healing the Culture: A Commonsense Philosophy of Happiness, Freedom and the Life Issues.”  He entitled his talk, “The Spirit of Leadership: Optimizing Creativity and Change in Organizations.”  Neither has anything to do with Nazism.

Upon learning of this story, Catholic League president William Donohue called the editor’s office at the Spokesman-Review.  He was told that this was an error and that there would be an apology in tomorrow’s newspaper.  The newspaper’s explanation, found on its website at spokesmanreview.com, is as follows: “At this point we don’t know how the headline got into print.  It was a busy election night and there may have been some confusion over the story that was associated with the headline or some other explanation.”

Donohue isn’t buying any of this:

“I told a spokeswoman in the editorial office that this was no mistake.  In fact, such labeling is in direct response to Father Spitzer’s courageous action taken last spring in banning a representative from Planned Parenthood from speaking on his campus.  I made it clear that branding Father Spitzer a Nazi was intentional and therefore demands strict disciplinary action.  Indeed, nothing short of termination is acceptable.

“I also told her that according to her newspaper’s definition, the Democratic Party consists of Nazis: in 1992 at the Democratic National Convention, pro-life leader Governor Robert Casey was banned from speaking.  It doesn’t matter that she had no comment.  What matters is that the guilty party be canned.”

Last January, the Kansas City Star released a sex survey of Roman Catholic priests that purported to show that priests were dying of AIDS at a rate much higher than the general population.  Now the same newspaper has released new findings, this time saying that more than 300 AIDS-related priest deaths have been documented.

Catholic League president William Donohue commented as follows:

 “In its first sex survey of priests, the Kansas City Star found that 0.5% of priests had HIV or AIDS, 0.4% answered that they may have the disease, and 99.1% said they did not.  Because these data were not on the order of the crisis that the Star wanted to project, it spent the rest of 2000 combing death certificates looking for what it wanted to show.  So now it claims to have uncovered evidence that between 1987 and 1998 there were some 300 cases where priests died of AIDS.  To buttress its claims, it cites Richard Selik of the CDC.

“It is true that Selik said there is a significant difference between the AIDS death rate of priests and the AIDS death rate of other adult males.  However, when I spoke to him yesterday, he made it clear that by ‘significant’ all he meant was that the difference was unlikely to be the result of chance.  He emphasized that nothing else was implied.

“Selik also told me that the Star’s latest data contained at least two limitations: a) the comparisons between priests and the adult male population were not age adjusted, meaning that one group could have had a disproportionately higher number of men in the AIDS-at-risk population and b) the data were culled from just 14 states and therefore may not be representative of the country.  In any event, Selik said that even by theStar’s own data, we’re still talking about two-dozen deaths a year due to AIDS.  This is hardly the stuff of a major crisis given that there are more than 47,000 priests in the U.S.

“In the end, the biggest problem is the Star’s determination to invent a crisis by engaging in necromania.  Quite simply, its agenda is to pressure the Church to change its teachings on celibacy and homosexuality.”

The Catholic League today asked the campaign headquarters of Al Gore to cancel tonight’s ad with Cher that is scheduled to appear on BET.  The league’s request was in response to Cher’s new song, “Sisters of Mercy,” a track that defames the order of nuns by that name.

A Gore spokesman from the vice president’s headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee, Dag Vega, told Catholic League director of communications, Pat Scully, that tonight’s spot was not a planned, public service announcement or advertisement.  Rather, he said, it was an impromptu meeting that was taped by BET.  Vega told Scully that the Gore campaign does not endorse all the views of those who back the vice president.

William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, found the explanation wanting:

“On May 26, Gore’s press secretary, Chris Lehane, trotted out the    George W. Bush stop at Bob Jones, charging Bush with ‘embracing anti-Catholic Bob Jones University.’  Now if Bush can stand accused of embracing the anti-Catholic views of Bob Jones, then it follows that Gore must stand accused of embracing the anti-Catholic views of Cher.

 “The Gore camp is acting like there is no logical nexus between Cher’s anti-Catholicism and his willingness to use her celebrity status to drum up support for his candidacy among African Americans.  Yet if Eminem were to schedule the release of an anti-gay song the day after the election—and Gore had already cut a TV spot with him—there is little doubt that Gore would kill the spot in response to an appeal from gays.  That he plans to go ahead with tonight’s ad shows how defiant he is.

“We will be sure to let Roman Catholics know of the Gore camp’s decision.”

The Catholic League has asked Vice President Al Gore to cancel an ad that is scheduled to air tonight on BET with pop singer Cher; the first of the two-part ad aired last night on BET.  The league’s request is prompted by the soon-to-be released new song by Cher, “Sisters of Mercy.”  The song is explicitly anti-Catholic and is featured on her new CD, “Not Commercial”; it will be available on November 8.

Today’s edition of the New York Post has a story on the nature of the Catholic League’s objections to “Sisters of Mercy”; several TV and radio outlets have done stories on this as well.  A report in today’s Los Angeles Times says that Cher recently taped the “two-part get-out-the-vote appearance with the vice president and the Rev. Jesse Jackson on cable’s BET.”

Catholic League president William Donohue explained the league’s reaction today:

“In the mid-1980s, Tipper Gore led the fight to put warning labels on record albums.  This is apropos given that Cher has herself authorized warning labels on her new CD, ‘Not Commercial.’  Unfortunately, Cher’s warning labels were not meant to warn Catholics of the anti-Catholic lyrics she wrote for ‘Sisters of Mercy.’

“Gore cannot have it both ways.  If he is sensitive to the issue of anti-Catholicism, and if he, like his wife, believes that the recording industry is deserving of more policing (voluntary or otherwise), then he should immediately cancel tonight’s ad with Cher on BET.  To campaign with someone who is planning to stick it to Catholics the day after the election would be the height of hypocrisy.  It would also be unforgivable.

“The Catholic League has communicated its request to a spokesperson in the Gore campaign headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee, and is awaiting their decision.”