Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the Mother Teresa rally:

A estimated crowd of well over 3,000 turned out last night to protest the decision by Empire State Building owner Anthony Malkin not to light the towers blue and white for Mother Teresa. The speakers were exceptional, representing five faith communities and many ethnic affiliations. The NYPD, as usual, was fantastic.

Next week we will post some pictures of the event. We accomplished what we wanted and we are very proud of the overwhelming support we received from many quarters. This was truly a night to remember.

The Catholic League rally to protest the decision by officials from the Empire State Building not to honor Mother Teresa on the 100th anniversary of her birthday will begin tomorrow, August 26, at 6:00 p.m. The staging area for speakers will be at 34th and 5th, but everyone is being asked by the NYPD to enter at 34th and 6th, and then work their way up the street.

There will be a spot for the media cordoned off right near the staging area. There will be many speakers, beginning with Jackie Mason and ending with Curtis Sliwa.

The following are confirmed speakers for Thursday’s rally:

Bill Donohue, president, Catholic League
Comedian Jackie Mason
Attorney Raoul Felder
Dr. Uma Mysorekar, president, Hindu Temple Society of North America
Joe DioGuardi, president, Albanian American Civic League
New York State Senator Ruben Diaz
New York State Senator George Maziarz
Rev. Michel Faulkner, president, The Institute for Leadership
New York City Councilman Vincent Gentile
New York City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr.
New York City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez
Esad Rizai, president, Albanian American Society Foundation
Beth Gilinsky, president, Jewish Action Alliance
Lionel, PIX news commentator
Hon. Patti Ann McDonald, Mayor, Malverne, Long Island and wife of NYPD Detective Steve McDonald

Deacon Kevin McCormack, co-host of “Religion on the Line” WABC
Curtis Sliwa, founder, Guardian Angels

The rally begins at 6:00 p.m., August 26. Enter on 34th Street and 6th Avenue, and please wear blue and white.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on what is taking place on August 26:

In honor of the 100th anniversary of Mother Teresa’s birthday, there will be celebrations the world over. From St. Peter’s Cathedral in Belfast, Ireland to the Hutchinson Metro Center in the Bronx, blue and white (the colors of the Missionaries of Charity) will shine brightly. Billboards in Times Square will shine blue and nearby Hoboken will feature posters of Mother Teresa in several venues. Miami’s entire skyline will be cast in blue and white, featuring the iconic Miami Tower. Brooklyn’s Borough Hall will be aglow in blue and white, as will the USS Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.

The Peace Bridge between Buffalo and Fort Erie, Ontario will light up, as will Buffalo’s Electric Tower. Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas is on board as well. Moreover, we are hearing daily about events throughout Europe, including memorial initiatives from Switzerland to Bulgaria. Albania, Mother Teresa’s birthplace, is pulling out all the stops.

Moreover, Catholic churches all over the nation are celebrating Mass in honor of Mother Teresa, and many are sporting blue and white ribbons. Furthermore, Resolutions honoring her have been passed by city councils, state legislatures and Catholic organizations.

In lone contrast to these tributes is Anthony Malkin, owner of the Empire State Building: he has decided not to light the towers blue and white for Mother Teresa. As a result, there will be a rally outside his trophy edifice on Thursday, starting at 6:00 p.m. It promises to be quite an event.

Click here to find out more about the rally.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on Day 50 of the protest campaign on behalf of Mother Teresa:

Today I am writing to every parish in the Dutchess County, New York informing them of our protest demonstration at 6 p.m. on August 26 outside the Empire State Building on 34th Street and 5th Avenue.

The rally is being held to protest the decision by Anthony Malkin, the owner of the storied building, to deny a tribute to Mother Teresa: our request to have the towers shine blue and white, the colors of her congregation, on August 26th, the 100th anniversary of her birthday, was originally denied without explanation, and was later denied on appeal by invoking a “policy” that prohibits honoring religious individuals or institutions. If this were in fact true, then (a) they would have said so from the beginning (instead they told me the application looked fine), and (b) they would not have honored Cardinal O’Connor when he died; Pope John Paul II when he died; the Salvation Army; and Rev. Martin Luther King.

Yet the same persons who chose to stiff Mother Teresa decided to honor the Chinese Communist revolution last year, even though 77 million innocent men, women and children were murdered under Mao Zedong. By contrast, the U.S. Postal Service is honoring Mother Teresa with a commemorative stamp.

Everyone is being asked to pass the word about our demonstration and to join us on August 26. They are also being asked to write to Anthony Malkin. His address is Malkin Properties, One Grand Central Place 60, E. 42nd St., NY, NY 10165.

Contact Daniel Hernandez: daniel.hernandez@edelman.com

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on a piece by Tim Padgett that appeared yesterday on the website of Time:

The Catholic Church decides to maintain its policy against women priests. Those who are Catholic and don’t like it, can always join any one of the mainline Protestant denominations that allow for women clergy: given that their numbers are fast going south (while Catholicism continues to grow), they would be glad to get new recruits to help stop the bleeding. Those who are not Catholic should mind their own business.

Tim Padgett says he is Catholic, so that gets him in the door. But one wonders why. Why would he belong to a voluntary organization that has a “malicious” and “misogynous declaration” that is evidence of its “increasingly spiteful rhetoric of bigotry”? Why would he want to stay when it is “represented by a bunch of homophobes wearing miters”? Is he a phony or a masochist? Either way, he is surely not being intellectually honest with himself.

We are accustomed to this kind of rant on blog sites. Unfortunately, we are now becoming accustomed to it at Time: the hit job it recently did on Pope Benedict XVI—it was the cover story—showed how violently it has turned on the Catholic Church.

If I wanted to nudge an organization I belong to, enticing it to make reforms, I would use diplomacy. Instead, today’s Catholic dissidents resort to bombast and vitriol, using a sledgehammer to get their point across. And they wonder why no one is listening.

Contact the managing editor, Richard Stengel: richard_stengel@timemagazine.com

The following letterheads have signed a statement affirming the decision by officials from the Empire State Building not to light the towers on Mother Teresa’s centenary:

Catholics for Choice
Call to Action
Chicago Women-Choice
DignityUSA
FOSIL
National Coalition of American Nuns
New Ways Ministry
Roman Catholic Womenpriests—USA
Take Back Our Church
Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual
Women’s Ordination Conference

Catholic League president Bill Donohue responded this way:

If all the dues-paying members of these organizations were assembled together in one spot, they would easily fit into a phone booth. No matter, these ex-Catholics are so pro-abortion that they are now on record of wanting to deny Mother Teresa a tribute on the 100th anniversary of her birthday.

The good news is that the Catholic League will lead a rally on behalf of Mother Teresa on August 26, right outside the Empire State Building. We have the support of people from all over the world, and from all the world’s religions. Indeed, I will meet today with the Most Rev. A.A.S. Durairaj SVD, the Bishop of Khandwa, India; like all the other bishops from India that have contacted us, he supports our campaign to honor Mother Teresa.

Even those who are not pro-life are on our side, which just goes to show how extreme the dissenters are. But as long as they remain marginalized, they are of no historic moment.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue explains why both the House and Senate health care bills are inadequate:

While the House bill is better than the Senate bill on the issue of federal funds for abortion, neither adequately provides protection for the conscience rights of health care workers. It is important to recognize that one of the issues which hurt Martha Coakley in Massachusetts was her adamant rejection of conscience rights: she effectively told Catholic doctors and nurses that they either perform abortions or look for another job. This didn’t go over big with Catholics, as well as with many others, in the Bay State.

President Obama told the graduating class of the University of Notre Dame that he fully supports conscience rights for health care workers. That won him great applause. But there is no evidence that he is working to secure these rights in either the House or Senate bill. He invoked the name of Rev. Martin Luther King the other day in pushing for health care reform, but he never cited what King had to say about conscience rights.

King strongly believed that “an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.” King’s plea, which is an application of Catholic teaching on natural rights, needs to be heeded by Obama and the Congress. Rather than forcing Catholic health care workers to break the law—which they most certainly will do, if pushed—it would be much more prudent to simply guarantee their conscience rights in these bills.

King understood how important these rights are. It’s time those who lean on his legacy adopted them as well.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on Day 70 of the protest campaign on behalf of Mother Teresa:

One week from today, on August 26, the Catholic League is holding a rally to protest the decision by officials from the Empire State Building not to light the towers blue and white on the 100th anniversary of Mother Teresa’s birthday. The rally will feature speakers who are Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Hindu and Muslim, as well as celebrities and government officials from both parties.

The rally begins at 6:00 p.m. Please enter at 34th Street and 6th Avenue, and remember to wear blue and white.

Click here to see Donohue’s video discussing important information about the event.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on Day 69 of the protest campaign on behalf of Mother Teresa:

Today I am writing to every one of our Hindu, Muslim and Mormon allies in the Tri-State area informing them of our protest demonstration at 6 p.m. on August 26 outside the Empire State Building on 34th Street and 5th Avenue (enter at 34th and 6th).

The rally is being held to protest the decision by Anthony Malkin, the owner of the storied building, to deny a tribute to Mother Teresa: our request to have the towers shine blue and white, the colors of her congregation, on August 26th, the 100th anniversary of her birthday, was originally denied without explanation, and was later denied on appeal by invoking a “policy” that prohibits honoring religious individuals or institutions. If this were in fact true, then (a) they would have said so from the beginning (instead they told me the application looked fine), and (b) they would not have honored Cardinal O’Connor when he died; Pope John Paul II when he died; the Salvation Army; and Rev. Martin Luther King.

Yet the same persons who chose to stiff Mother Teresa decided to honor the Chinese Communist revolution last year, even though 77 million innocent men, women and children were murdered under Mao Zedong. By contrast, the U.S. Postal Service is honoring Mother Teresa with a commemorative stamp.

Everyone is being asked to pass the word about our demonstration and to join us on August 26. They are also being asked to write to Anthony Malkin. His address is Malkin Properties, One Grand Central Place 60, E. 42nd St., NY, NY 10165.

Contact Daniel Hernandez: daniel.hernandez@edelman.com