“THE VIEW” GIRLS GET ANGRY

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on today’s episode [click here] of “The View”:
Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg and Elisabeth Hasselbeck have been bashing the Catholic Church relentlessly over the past several years, all with the blessings of Barbara Walters, the show’s co-producer. Yesterday, the gals were at it again, this time joined by their new convert, Sherri Shepherd. So I wrote a news release, asking our list of energized Catholics to contact the executive producer, Bill Geddie.
Well, today their lid came off as one after another took to bashing me. Whoopi pleaded that she had made peace with God for her abortions. In all seriousness, I hope she was telling the truth.
Behar tried to convince the audience that somehow she might still be a Catholic. But it’s a little too late in the game to start reclaiming her former status: for years she has bragged that she was “raised Catholic,” and we all know what that means. Shepherd was incoherent, and Hasselbeck, who switched to Protestantism, showed her true colors by telling me to “Go to Hell” on the air. Such a sweet Christian girl.
Bashing me means nothing, so I hope they don’t think their temper tantrum will shut me up. The only way they’ll do that is if they start treating Catholics the way they do Muslims, African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Native Americans, homosexuals, transvestites, Pacific Islanders, dwarfs….
Contact producer Bill Geddie: bill.geddie@abc.com


THE WAR ON CATHOLIC HOSPITALS

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on attempts to force Catholic hospitals to perform abortions:
 
For the past six months, the ACLU has been trying to persuade the Obama administration to force Catholic hospitals to perform emergency abortions. It has written to the Department of Health and Human Services, led by pro-abortion zealot Kathleen Sebelius (the good friend of the late partial-birth abortionist George Tiller), asking them to look into this matter; the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are currently considering action against Catholic hospitals. Now the ACLU, to the joy of the New York Times, is pressing this issue again, citing the case of a Phoenix Catholic hospital, St. Joseph’s, which recently performed an abortion. The nun who approved the abortion has been excommunicated, and the hospital has been stripped of its Catholic affiliation. 
 
The hero is Phoenix Bishop Thomas Olmsted: he stood on firm civil-rights grounds when he ordered sanctions against those who believe that the unborn have no rights which the born need respect. But, of course, the New York Times says the hero is the former Catholic hospital: in today’s editorial, it says the hospital made a “commendable decision” by choosing to abort the baby. Disingenuously, the editorial says, “No one has suggested that Catholic hospitals should be required to perform nonemergency abortions.” Really? Is there anything in the ACLU’s record which suggests it would rally to the defense of Catholic hospitals if the Church amendment (which bars federal agencies from forcing religious hospitals to perform abortions) were repealed? 
 
Where the Obama administration will go with this issue is unclear. But we know that anti-Catholics have been welcome in this administration, and at least one (failed) nominee, Dawn Johnsen, sought to strip the Catholic Church of its tax-exempt status. We stand with brave bishops like Thomas Olmsted, encouraging more Catholics to defend their First Amendment right to religious liberty, while standing fast on the rights of all children.
 


DELIRIUM OVERCOMES “THE VIEW” GIRLS

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on today’s episode of “The View” which featured a discussion about the Catholic Church and abortion:

It is an ugly site: grown women sitting around bashing a religion that none belong to. Though at one time three did: Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg and Elisabeth Hasselbeck are all ex-Catholics. They went bonkers today—the crosstalk makes them look downright delirious—ripping away about the Catholic Church because a nun was excommunicated for allowing an abortion at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix. What they didn’t say was that the nun gave her formal consent to the killing of an innocent child. More important, since none of the panelists are Catholic, it is none of their business anyway.

The fact is (though one would never know it by watching this extended diatribe) the parent organization to this hospital, Catholic Healthcare West, has a long record of flagrantly violating the teachings of the Catholic Church. In other words, the San Francisco-based organization is a serial offender.

Had the non-Catholics focused only on this issue, that would be one thing. But, no, they trotted out miscreant priests, painted the Catholic Church as anti-women, etc. That’s what happens when the bigotry is deeply embedded—one issue is enough to set off an explosion.

Behar is no stranger to Catholic bashing, so it was expected she would join in while the others piled on. Hasselbeck poses as a conservative, but her pathological hatred of Catholicism reveals who she really is. Sherri Shepherd, who usually keeps her mouth shut during these harangues, unwisely spoke up. As for Whoopi, who reportedly has had at least a half-dozen abortions—beginning at age 14 [click here]—it is no wonder she looked the most delirious.

Contact producer Bill Geddie: bill.geddie@abc.com



CHRISTMAS VANDALS ARE BACK

During each Christmas season, our desks are loaded with stories on Christmas vandalism. This year was no different. Here is a list of incidents that came to our attention:
 
• Vandals burned the City of Birmingham’s Christmas tree in Alabama
• The police chief in Middleboro, Massachusetts said he received more reports of theft and vandalism to Christmas decorations than ever before
• In Chicago, a driver plowed through a Christmas display running over the Baby Jesus and decapitating angels from the nativity scene
• A 19-year-old man was arrested in connection with vandalizing homes and Christmas decorations in Hastings, Minnesota. The man covered the displays with swastikas, pentagrams and satanic messages
• The stable used to house a live nativity for a Baptist church was torn down by vandals in Grenada County, Mississippi
• Vandals caused over $500 worth of damage to the nativity scene of a Baptist church in Mount Laurel, Pennsylvania
• Two fraternity brothers from the University of Missouri stole Christmas decorations from homes near campus in Columbia, Missouri. Among the decorations were figures of the Baby Jesus and other nativity scene statuary, wreathes, Christmas trees, etc.
• The van used by Kidz Korna—a charity that gives away thousands of presents to needy children at Christmas—was torched by vandals in Chicago
• Figures of the Baby Jesus were stolen from homes, businesses or churches in the following locations: Red Lion, Pennsylvania; Elon, North Carolina; Atlantic Beach, Florida; Lynchburg, Virginia; Redford Township, Michigan; Easthampton, Massachusetts; Riverton, Utah; Dublin, New Hampshire; Kirksville, Missouri; Fort Collins, Colorado; Middletown, Pennsylvania; Downers Grove, Illinois; Fayetteville, North Carolina; Waterloo, Missouri; Cookeville, Tennessee; Arkansas City, Arkansas; La Marque, Texas


POPE BLAMES PRO-PEDOPHILIA CROWD

In his Christmas address yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI chastised priests who have molested minors, saying it had reached an “unimaginable dimension.” He also tried to put the problem in a broader context, and for this he has been condemned. The pope said, “In the 1970s, pedophilia was theorized as something fully in conformity with man and even with children. It was maintained—even within the realm of Catholic theology—that there is no such thing as evil in itself or good in itself.”
 
Among those condemning the pope is Sinead O’Connor. “Exactly who held the theory that pedophilia was fully in conformity with man and with children? Please give us their names.
 
Catholic League president Bill Donohue answered O’Connor today:
 
You want names? Here they are: Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Louis Althusser, Jean-Paul Satre, Simone de Beauvoir, André Glucksmann, Roland Barthes. All of these French intellectuals—and there are many more—signed a petition in 1977 demanding that all the laws on sex between adults and minors be stricken. Years earlier, in the U.S., Alfred Kinsey justified pedophilia, claiming that “the current hysteria over sex offenders” was detrimental to child development. So did his colleague, Wardell Pomeroy. Moreover, many other writers and activists have expressed a tolerance for pederasty that is extremely dangerous. They include Larry Kramer, Camille Paglia, Allen Ginsberg and John Money. And, of course, NAMBLA is expressly organized to further the cause of man-boy sex. So commonplace is this perversion that some scholars use the term “BLs” to refer to “Boy Lovers.”
 
The Holy Father was not wrong about some Catholic theological circles getting caught up in this insanity. In the 1970s—the pope was right about the decade—under the auspices of the Catholic Theological Society, Anthony Kosnick’s book Human Sexuality was published. Adopted by some seminaries at the time, it sought increased tolerance for every conceivable sexual deviancy. In other words, the pope got it right.
 


REID SHOULD LEAN ON GAGA

Over the weekend, Senate majority leader Harry Reid tweeted Lady Gaga following the passage of the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The Nevada Democrat exclaimed, “We Did It.” He also reportedly cited her in a note about the nuclear proliferation treaty.
 
Bill Donohue e-mailed the following letter to Reid’s office today:
 
I read with interest your communications with your close friend, Lady Gaga. Perhaps you can use your networking skills to service Roman Catholics: Tell her to cease and desist with her nun-bashing antics.
 
In June, Ms. Gaga was seen in a video squirming around half-naked with her half-naked buddies, all the while abusing Catholic symbols. While performing “Alejandro,” she was shown dressed in a glossy-red nun’s habit while flashing the cross and swallowing a rosary. Oh, yes, she was also depicted getting raped by her S&M boyfriends. In August, Gaga donned the nun’s habit again while performing in Tacoma.
 
As the leader of the U.S. Senate, Americans expect you to conduct yourself in a manner commensurate with the status of your position. But now that you have befriended this woman, Catholics expect that you will use your influence to rehabilitate her, with an eye towards treating nuns with the kind of respect she affords homosexuals.
 
Merry Christmas!
 
Contact Sen. Reid’s communications director: jon_summers@reid.senate.gov
 


PRO-ANT CRAWLERS SET TO MARCH

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on a demonstration this Sunday protesting the Smithsonian’s withdrawal of the video showing ants on the crucifix:
The pro-ant crawlers have convened meetings from Los Angeles to London; they have pulled funding from the Smithsonian (e.g., the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation); they have arranged showings of the video in several cities; they have resigned as advisors to the Smithsonian; and now they are ready to take to the streets.
On December 19, there will be a march instigated by the Leslie Lohman Gay Art Foundation protesting the removal of the vile video. It begins at 1:00 p.m. at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and will proceed to Cooper-Hewitt, a Smithsonian institution.
Never having heard of the Leslie Lohman Foundation, I went to its website. And guess what I found on the home page? That’s right—totally naked men. And not just nudity—pornography.
The artist who gave us the ant-crawling video, David Wojnarowicz, died of AIDS. So did his lover, Peter Hujar. Mapplethorpe died of AIDS, too. And now those who adore them are taking to the streets on their behalf.
Think I’ll just watch the Giants—kickoff is at 1:00 p.m.


THE “AMERICAN TALIBAN” CATHOLIC LEAGUE

At last night’s New York Public Library forum on the Smithsonian exhibition, “Hide/Seek,” Smithsonian curator and SUNY-Buffalo professor Jonathan D. Katz said that gays and lesbians were “once again being offered as raw meat” to activists and the Catholic League. He also said of the Catholic League, and those who object to the video showing ants crawling all over the crucifix, “We have an American Taliban that we have not called as such.”
 
Responding is Catholic League president Bill Donohue:
 
Jonathan D. Katz is best known as the king of what is called “Queer Studies,” so it comes as no surprise that he views the world through these lenses. Not that it matters to him, but for the record, when I received a phone call at home the night of November 29 about the video, I did not know then—nor did I know the next day when I wrote a news release—that it was part of a larger gay and lesbian exhibition. All I knew was that the video was housed at the Smithsonian; I saw a clip of it online. Anyone who knows me knows that I don’t go around deciding whether to object to Catholic bashing based on what people do in bed.
 
So I write a news release objecting to the video, asking the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to “reconsider federal funding” of the Smithsonian—knowing that 80 percent of Americans are Christian and 70 percent of the funds for the Smithsonian come from the federal government—and for this the Catholic League is labeled “the American Taliban.” Lucky for Katz we are not: the Taliban put homosexuals in human shredders and throw them off rooftops in Muslim-run nations. We issue press releases. 
 
Katz represents the worst of the artistic community. These self-absorbed “artists” think they have an absolute right to the taxpayers’ pockets without any concomitant responsibilities. Not one of them comes even close to admitting that the vile video might just possibly offend Christians. Which is why their credibility is shot. 
 
Contact Jonathan Katz: jonathandavidkatz@gmail.com
 


MANGER SCENE ERECTED IN CENTRAL PARK

The Catholic League is proud to announce that we have erected a life-size nativity scene in New York’s Central Park [click here]; it is on the corner of 59th and 5th. This year’s crèche is brand new.

We hope those who insist that a nativity scene cannot be displayed on public property take note of our crèche. It is an important cultural marker, and it is entirely constitutional.

We would like to thank Joe Agosta, Mike Goldberg and Ernie Chirico of Cross New York for erecting the crèche.



BEWARE OF CHRISTMAS PARTIES

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the advice [click here] given by the British law firm, BPE Solicitors, on how to handle Christmas parties:
This British law firm offers indispensable advice. “Christmas parties, with their mix of drink, high spirits and merriment, are one of the main potential sources of problems.” Exactly right—this mix is combustible. But what problems are they talking about? “The claims which are most likely to arise are those around sexual harassment, bullying, assault and discrimination.” Prudence dictates that the party be cancelled, but we at the Catholic League are going to risk it and see what happens.
The law firm does not lack for specifics. “Protection from harassment and discrimination relate to unwanted conduct on the grounds of sex, age, disability, gender reassignment, religion or belief, race, marital status and sexual orientation.” Wow. The good news is that the Brits opt for the correct term—sex—which conveys a nature-based reason for sexual differences. The bad news is that they use the term “gender reassignment” when, in fact, it is not gender that is being “reassigned”: the surgery alters one’s anatomy. In any event, we are fortunate not to have any gender reassigned people working at the Catholic League (as far as I can tell, anyway), though I’ve had my doubts about a few recent applicants. Nice to know, too, that “belief” merits the same status as religion. If you can believe it.
The Brits also warn that at the Christmas party, “Muslim employees may feel excluded if the only religion option is an alcohol fueled trip to the pub.” Good thing we don’t hire any—all we do is go to pubs.
Finally, they suggest that employers should “identify areas where staff from other religions might be disadvantaged and then consider how those arrangements could be changed to overcome those disadvantaged.” We don’t have this problem either—we simply order them to convert and be done with it.