On the home page of the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) website, democrats.org, there is a link to organizations of interest.  Last week, under the “Catholic” heading, there was one group listed, Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC).  After syndicated columnist Mark Shields mentioned this as his “Outrage of the Week” on last weekend’s edition of the CNN show “The Capital Gang,” the DNC added another Catholic source to its “Catholic” listing: catholic-USA.com.

Catholic League president William Donohue spoke to this matter today:

“I have written to DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe imploring him to ‘act quickly and decisively by removing Catholics for a Free Choice from the DNC’s links of interest organizations.’  The very fact that this group was the only Catholic listing on its website until this week is mind-boggling: it suggests that the DNC believes its Catholic base is led by Frances Kissling.  That it added a legitimate Catholic website to its listing only complicates Mr. McAuliffe’s problem: if CFFC were an authentic Catholic group, it would have been named in the umbrella Catholic source, catholic-USA.com (e.g., there are scores of bona-fide Catholic groups posted there, including the Catholic League).  Ergo, the DNC knows CFFC is bogus yet continues to provide cover for it.

“It is flatly wrong to tag CFFC as merely a ‘pro-choice’ group of ex-Catholics.  Kissling has openly admitted that it is her goal to ‘overthrow’ the Catholic Church.  That is why she works so hard to subvert the Church by attempting to get the Holy See kicked out of the U.N.  Twice the U.S. bishops have condemned CFFC as a fraud, yet the DNC amazingly gives legitimacy to this anti-Catholic front group.

“If the DNC thinks the Catholic League gave George W. Bush a hard time over speaking at Bob Jones University, it hasn’t seen anything yet.  Bob Jones is small potatoes next to Kissling’s hate group.”

The “O’Reilly Factor” show that aired last night on the Fox News Channel saw host Bill O’Reilly blast Pope John Paul II for not meeting with the victims of priestly sexual molestation.  O’Reilly complained that the pope would not even allow 30 minutes to meet with the survivors.

He also said he could not believe that Jesus would have acted this way.  The Church, he offered, has lost its moral authority and will not recover in his lifetime.  O’Reilly maintained that by not meeting with the victims, the pope showed a “lack of compassion.”  Nothing less than a “reform” pope will resolve the problem, he said.

Catholic League president William Donohue commented as follows:

“Because Pope John Paul II did not meet with sex abuse victims while in Toronto, Bill O’Reilly has concluded that the pope is lacking in compassion.  Nothing short of a ‘reform’ pope (whatever that means) will rescue the Catholic Church.  This is madness.

“O’Reilly is the only public person in the United States to register this complaint.  Not one editorial from the establishment press made this criticism.  Not one morning TV news commentary, or evening news statement, took the pope to task for not meeting with the victims.  Not one victims’ group adopted this line.  Not one activist organization, or pundit, took this position.  Just Bill O’Reilly.

“‘His [the pope’s] remarks were striking in several ways.  The word shame represented stronger, more personal language than the pope had used this year about sexual abuse by priests.  Equally significant were the context and setting of the pope’s brief discussion of the issue.’  This was written by Frank Bruni of the New York Times.  It is a wonder Bill O’Reilly didn’t see what Bruni did.

“The bishops met with representatives of victims’ groups.  And Gov. Frank Keating, who heads the oversight panel, has scheduled a meeting with them.  But this isn’t good enough for Bill O’Reilly—he demands that the pope rearrange his trip so the media circus can ensue.”

The French playwright Jean Genet penned “Saintete” in the 1950s and it is now being performed in New York as “Elle.”  The play recently opened at the Zipper, an off-Broadway site, and will close July 31.  The play thrashes the papacy in particular and Catholicism in general.  Catholic League president William Donohue took note of the literary reaction to Genet’s work:

“Jean Genet was a direct descendant of the Marquis de Sade.  Which is to say he was a pedophile, homosexual, sado-masochist, pervert and prostitute.  He was also a convicted felon.  When not engaging in buggery, he was known to practice burglary.  He also wrote plays and had sex with Sartre.  This made him a hero in literary quarters.  His latest admirer is Ben Brantley of the New York Times.

“Brantley calls the play ‘richly theatrical entertainment.’  His colleagues at the New York Post and the Daily News, Donald Lyons and Robert Dominguez, respectively, were not impressed.  But Brantley was.  What he likes about the play is that it is ‘an impeccably vulgar production’ that will force the ‘blasphemy police [to] bring out their brass knuckles.’

“Brantley’s half right.  It is true that the Catholic League is the blasphemy police (he didn’t say we were but we know what he was thinking) and it is also true that we possess brass knuckles.  But he’s wrong in assuming we will use them on this occasion.  That’s because the play is not ‘impeccably vulgar’—it is merely vulgar.  In short, when vulgar plays that attack Catholicism are deeply flawed productions—as is the case in ‘Elle’—we do not reach for our weaponry.  Not even when the author of the play is a pedophile, homosexual, sado-masochist, pervert, prostitute and thief.  Those may be truly stellar qualifications in the literary world, but they are not persuasive enough to clear the bar at the Catholic League.  We have higher standards.  We have to: We answer to a higher source.”

The Family Policy Network, a Virginia-based activist organization, has filed suit in federal district court challenging the right of the University of North Carolina to require incoming freshmen to read selections from the Quran.  The organization holds that the book, Approaching the Qur’an: The Early Revelations, should not be assigned summer reading because it infringes on the students’ First Amendment right to religious freedom.  After the initial protest, the university agreed to make the reading optional (requiring students who object to write a one-page paper stating their objections), but this only infuriated the Family Policy Network.

Catholic League president William Donohue spoke to this issue today:

“There is a fundamental difference between indoctrination and education.  It is the difference between proselytization and illumination.  It is one thing to demand that students accept the teachings of a world religion, quite another to understand them.  This is why the University of North Carolina is wholly within its rights in requiring students to read selections from the Quran: no one is being forced to yield his conscience to the Islamic faith.

“Professors who teach a course in Comparative Religions may rightly require students to read portions of the Old and New Testaments.  They may decide to assign the Torah or selections from the Catholic Catechism.  But according to the logic advanced by the Family Policy Network, this would negate the First Amendment rights of students.  They have it backwards: the First Amendment rights of students are abrogated when they are denied their free speech rights to read the actual teachings of world religions.

“When the University of North Carolina made the reading optional, the response from Family Policy Network president Joe Glover was to liken this to ‘something you’d see in Nazi Germany.’  This kind of hyperbole is the mark of a zealot.  We’ll be glad when the university wins in court.”

Catholic League president William Donohue comments today on the beginning of World Youth Day in Toronto:

“In addition to the hundreds of thousands of young people assembled in Toronto to enthusiastically greet the Holy Father, a motley crew of malcontents has slumbered their way there as well.  Consider the following.

“Joanna Manning, a former nun still reeling over her inability to become a priest, is the spokesman for Challenge the Church, a group (which comprises non-Catholics) that is organizing Alternative World Youth Day.  Manning likes condoms.  So much so that she and her fellow condomaniacs have already tried to distribute 10,000 condoms to the kids attending World Youth Day.  That they didn’t succeed is unimportant: what matters is that they still refuse to distribute condoms with warning labels on them (‘The Surgeon General warns that the holes in condoms are larger than the HIV virus’ would be appropriate).

“Rosemary Ganley is in Toronto as well.  Her intellectual insights into World Youth Day are profound, opining on everything from the ‘authoritarian’ nature of the Vatican to the merits of abortion.  She is the leader of the Coalition of Concerned Canadian Catholics.  It is not a source of comfort to her that only 100 Canadians have joined her outfit.

“Tonight Mary Rammerman says Mass.  Or at least she will pretend to say Mass.  She hails from Rochester, NY.  In the 1990s, she partook in many make-believe Masses while dressed in priestly garments giving communion.  The priest who allowed this was charged with schism and then ‘fired.’  But Mary believed then, as she believes now, that she’s a priest.  Why she hasn’t become a bishop remains a mystery.

“Finally, the anti-globalization nuts are on hand.  They’re angry—angry at the globe.  It’s too big.  So is the Vatican.  ‘I’m angry therefore I am,’ is their signature.  It should be quite a show in Toronto.”

The Catholic League recently learned of two anti-Catholic lectures that were scheduled at Pierce Community College in Los Angeles as part of the Encore/Oasis continuing education program.  A lecture titled “The Sex Lives of the Popes” was scheduled for August 5, while “Crime and Immorality in the Catholic Church” was to take place August 12.  Both lectures were to be given by Charlotte Poe.  Ms. Poe has no academic credentials and is described in the Pierce catalog as a “Freethinker,” a group hostile to religion in general and Catholicism in particular.  Catholic League president William Donohue wrote to the sponsors of the Encore/Oasis program regarding these lectures.  They were subsequently cancelled.  Donohue spoke to the situation today:

“The first lecture is based on a book by Nigel Cawthorne who has been described as a journalist who appears to specialize in the sensational.  The second lecture is based on a book by Emmett McLoughlin, a former Catholic priest who has made a name for himself denouncing the Catholic Church.

“Further, other lectures in the program are presented by qualified academics and do not attack other religions.  Right below the two Catholic-themed lectures is listed ‘Introduction to Islam,’ taught by a professor of theology at Boston College.

“These lectures were as indefensible as one called ‘Sex Lives of Prominent Rabbis’ taught by someone with no academic credentials and who belonged to an anti-Semitic organization or one called ‘Crime and Immorality in Islam—from Muhammad to 9-11’ taught by someone with no academic credentials and who belonged to an anti-Muslim organization.   The sponsors of the Encore/Oasis series realized this, apologized and cancelled the lectures.  We appreciate the fact they acted quickly and responsibly. It should be noted the Catholic League never asked for the lectures to be cancelled.”

The August edition of Jane magazine—out on newsstands this week—features a satirical article about how people can use the same tactics as pedophile priests to have casual sex. Titled, “How to get laid like a priest,” the article contains a disclaimer that asserts it is targeting only pedophile priests, not the Church in general.  The accompanying photographs show a storefront and a display counter of a sex shop that have Catholic imagery added, including a priest blow-up doll.  Catholic League president William Donohue commented on the article today:

“Despite the disclaimer, the article, written by Jeffrey Johnson, is nothing short of an attack on the Catholic faith.  Holy Communion, Confession, Baptism and celibacy are all targeted for ridicule.  Of Our Blessed Mother he writes, ‘The Bible is full of stuff about seas parting, water turning into wine and women getting pregnant without penetration—topics that, if mentioned on daytime TV, would get you taunted by the audience.’  He describes the crucifix as an image ‘of a nude bearded dude nailed to a couple of pieces of driftwood.’  None of this has anything to do with pedophile priests.

“Indeed, if Jane wanted to satirize the scandal in the Church, it could have done so by attacking homosexual priests who are responsible for 82% of the cases.  But that would have evoked cries of homophobia from those in the social pages where editor-in-chief Jane Pratt can usually be found.  Instead, Johnson seizes on the few cases of pedophilia and uses them as a guise to attack the entire Church.

“Johnson writes in the disclaimer that pedophile priests are ‘the scum of the universe.’  We agree with that assessment.  But the rare cases of pedophilia in the priesthood don’t give Jane a license to attack the tenets of the Catholic Church.”

Comedy Central has been promoting tomorrow night’s episode of “South Park” for over a week.  It boasts that this is one “the Catholic Church doesn’t want you to see.”  The show will target the sex abuse scandal in the Church.  A promo for the show has a bishop, standing in front of the pope, complaining, “we’ll never be able to have sex with boys again.”

Catholic League president William Donohue commented as follows:

“One the biggest myths in Hollywood is the notion that ‘South Park’ creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker have the guts to take on controversial subjects.  Already, some pundits are congratulating Stone and Parker for doing an episode on the scandal in the Catholic Church.  But the way Stone and Parker have decided to approach the subject shows cowardice, not courage.

“The promo is dishonest.  The scandal in the Church is not about priests having sex with prepubescent boys.  It is about priests having sex with postpubescent young men.  The former is called pedophilia and the latter is called homosexuality.  So if Stone and Parker really had guts, they would do a show on gay priests.  But, of course, like so many other intellectually dishonest elites in our society, they will go to any length to protect homosexuals.

“It is worth noting that in a recent survey conducted by the Washington Post—extending back four decades and covering 60,000 priests—it was disclosed that less than 1.5 percent of the priests were involved in sexual misconduct with minors.  It is also worth noting that the 2 percent of our society which is homosexual accounts for over half the AIDS cases in this country.  Now if the statistic on priests merits an episode on ‘South Park,’ it is fair to ask why the figures on gays and AIDS don’t merit a whole season of fun?  But like I said, Stone and Parker are cowards, and that explains why they’ll never air a show on the homosexual contribution to AIDS.”