Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:

Everyone and his brother is comparing the Penn State sexual abuse scandal to the Catholic Church’s own problems, and in many respects, such an analogy is unfortunately warranted. But some correctives are in order, and some analogies not being discussed need to be made.

No institution where adults regularly mix with youngsters is immune to this problem. In the case of the Catholic Church, most of the problem took place between the mid-1960s and the mid-1980s; almost all of the allegations being reported today extend back decades. Therefore, the popular Penn State-Catholic Church analogy seems a bit dated. Why not discuss Penn State’s most salient rival, namely, the public schools? That’s where “passing the trash”—moving molesting teachers to new school districts—is still a major problem.

Planned Parenthood is notorious for covering up cases of statutory rape, yet no one is fingering them. That’s because they have the support of many in the media, most of whom are pro-abortion.

“Occupy Wall Street” gatherings are rife with sexual assault, and in cities like Baltimore, the protesters are told, by directive, that “we do not encourage the involvement of the police in our community” about such matters. A woman in New York who was almost molested said she knew of cases of rape going on in Zuccotti Park, but that “We don’t tell anyone. We handle it internally.” So why no analogies to the “OWS” campers?

It’s commonplace to blame “all male hierarchies” for the abuse. But just last week the top Episcopal bishop in the U.S., a woman, was cited for welcoming a known child molester into the clergy. Why the media blackout? Similarly, why isn’t anyone talking about the Penn State issue, and the one at the Citadel, as involving homosexuality? Male-on-male sex, involving mostly postpubescent guys, constitutes most of the abuse on both campuses. But everyone is afraid to mention the obvious. Better to blame the Vatican.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:

Nowhere in the U.S. Constitution does it mention sexual rights, but it does cite religious liberty. To be sure, the courts have granted a generalized right to privacy (also not mentioned in the Constitution) that covers sexual rights. Still, such newly crafted rights cannot legitimately trump the two religious-liberty protections explicitly stated in the First Amendment. Yet the Obama administration seems to think otherwise.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), spoke eloquently yesterday about the need to safeguard religious liberty. Another sign that the bishops are taking new threats to religious rights seriously is the formation of a new Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, chaired by Bridgeport Bishop William Lori. What’s driving the concerns are such sexual issues as abortion and homosexuality.

The USCCB has filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking to uncover why the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) dismissed the findings of an independent review board that deemed acceptable a USCCB program to combat human trafficking. Moreover, 27 U.S. senators have asked the Obama administration to explain its unprecedented denial of this grant. We know the conclusion—HHS denied the grant because the Church opposes abortion as a way to “help” women in need—but we would like to know more about its reasoning. Furthermore, HHS is trying to force Catholic hospitals to cover sterilization and contraceptive services, allowing an “exemption” that is nothing more than a Hobson’s choice.

This attack on religious liberty is not limited to the federal government. In places like Massachusetts and Illinois, Catholic social service agencies have been forced to drop their adoptive and foster care programs because they refuse, on religious liberty grounds, to include homosexual parents.

This is the most determined onslaught on religious liberty we’ve seen in decades, and all of it is driven by a debased understanding of sexual freedom.

Today, over 100 Protestant churches in the Kansas City, Missouri area are being sent copies of the Catholic League ad that the Kansas City Star refused to run on October 30.

This is the fourth segment of the Kansas City area to receive the ad that the Star would like to censor. Previously, we hit 1) every Catholic church, as well as all the nuns, order priests and brothers, 2) every Catholic lay organization and 3) all Catholic schools and colleges. To read the ad, click here.

Contact Star publisher Mi-Ai Parrish: mparrish@kcstar.com

Today, all the Catholic schools and colleges in the Kansas City, Missouri area are being sent copies of the Catholic League ad that the Kansas City Star refused to run on October 30.

This is the third segment of the Kansas City area to receive the ad that the Star would like to censor. Previously, we hit 1) every Catholic church, as well as all the nuns, order priests and brothers and 2) every Catholic lay organization. To read the ad, click here.

Contact Star publisher Mi-Ai Parrish: mparrish@kcstar.com

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on an article posted yesterday on the website of the Kansas City Star:

The Star continued with its lies against the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph with a column by Barbara Shelly. Regarding the behavior of Fr. Shawn Ratigan, she writes of “hundreds of explicit images of children” found on the priest’s laptop last year. What she didn’t say is that none of the photos were pornographic. And while a police officer and an attorney were called immediately (the pictures were disturbing), no formal complaint with the authorities was made. That’s because no one calls the police about something that is not criminal. The Kansas City Star disturbs me. Should I call 911?

Shelly then says, “Not until five months later, when more disturbing images turned up, did officials alert the police.” Wrong again: no new photos triggered anything. What happened is that the cops were called even though there was no complainant and no crime had been committed; they were called because Ratigan violated an internal diocesan stricture limiting his movement. Had the Diocese acted like other institutions, no one would even know about this issue (it would have been handled internally the way the Star handles matters that are unethical, but not criminal).

Shelly is also wrong to say that this case involves child abuse: no, it involves the possibility that someone may have been abused. If Shelly were right, she would be able to identify the victim. She can’t.

Shelly is also wrong to make reference to Ratigan as a pedophile. In fact, he was officially diagnosed as suffering from depression, and was explicitly deemed not to be a pedophile. Moreover, most of the acts committed by miscreant priests were homosexual in nature, so once again Shelly fails to tell the truth. The lies just keep on coming, and we will correct every one of them.

Contact Shelly: bshelly@kcstar.com

Catholic League president Bill Donohue speaks to the latest developments regarding its battle with the Kansas City Star:

Yesterday, I was joined by Catholic League staff members and scores of Catholics from Kansas City (we never contacted any of them—they showed up after reading our news release on the event) at a press conference outside the Kansas City Star. We were delighted with the response: our goal is to energize the Catholic community in defense of Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn, and to educate everyone about the agenda of SNAP (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests) and its lawyers.

The SNAP-driven agenda to target Bishop Finn, aided and abetted by the Star, is one of the most startling examples of an activist organization pairing with a newspaper for political purposes. Indeed, the Star-SNAP alliance smacks of corruption.

Earlier this week, we mailed a few copies of the ad to nearly 100 Catholic churches in the area; nuns, brothers and order priests were also sent copies. We hope the pastors will make copies and distribute them to their parishioners this weekend. An informed public is what we need.

Today, we are mailing copies of the ad to every Catholic lay organization in the area. We feel confident that they will also distribute copies to their family and friends.

Next week we will continue our campaign to blanket the entire Kansas City, Missouri area with the ad the Star doesn’t want the public to read. We’re like a bad migraine—we’re not going away.

Contact Star publisher Mi-Ai Parrish: mparrish@kcstar.com 

Catholic League president Bill Donohue responds to comments by Arnold Lehman, the director of the Brooklyn Museum of Art (BMA), about the “Hide/Seek” exhibit which opens November 18:

For Arnold Lehman, there is no such thing as anti-Catholic art. Catholics who disagree are apparently too stupid to appreciate the complexities of these masterpieces. For example, in 1999 Lehman said it was not anti-Catholic for an artist to smear elephant dung and pornographic pictures on a portrait of Our Blessed Mother (he loved the “Sensation” exhibition). Now he says that a video featuring large ants crawling all over Jesus on the Cross is actually a statement about “human suffering and death.” Guess us stupid Catholics missed that one, too.

Better yet is John Tamagni, the chairman of BMA’s board. In response to a letter by Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, who properly asked the video to be pulled, Tamagni said, “nothing in the exhibition was meant to be offensive.” This would include such spectacular fare as full frontal male nudity; scenes of naked men kissing; sado-masochistic images; and photos of AIDS-ravaged corpses. Perhaps they were meant to ennoble. Guess us stupid Catholics missed that one, too.

The fact is that the artist who made the vile video died of self-inflicted wounds: he died of AIDS. The homosexual, David Wojnarowicz, hated the Catholic Church (had he lived by its teachings, he would not have self-destructed). He once referred to Cardinal John O’Connor as a “fat cannibal,” and labeled the Catholic Church a “house of walking swastikas.” Sounds like the words of a bigot. But perhaps I’m too stupid not to understand that they were really meant to endear the artist to the Catholic community.

Contact Lehman:  Arnold.Lehman@brooklynmuseum.org

On November 18, the Brooklyn Museum of Art will host “Hide/Seek.” Included in the exhibit will be the video that the Catholic League protested last year when it was shown at the Smithsonian. The video, which features large ants running across the body of Jesus on the Cross, was pulled from the Smithsonian after we protested.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue released the following remarks today:

The anti-Catholic exhibit is being sponsored by the most anti-Catholic foundation in the United States, the Ford Foundation, and it is being shown in New York’s most anti-Catholic museum, the Brooklyn Museum of Art. For decades, the Ford Foundation has given lavishly to Catholics for Choice, an anti-Catholic front group that has twice been condemned by the bishops’ conference as a fraud; it has no members. The Brooklyn Museum of Art was home to the “Sensation” exhibit in 1999 that featured elephant dung and pictures of female genitalia inserted on a portrait of Our Blessed Mother; I led a demonstration in front of the Museum.

Last year I exercised my First Amendment right to free speech by objecting to the video at the Smithsonian exhibit. Those who liked the anti-Catholic “art” lied about me by saying I called for the video to be censored. What they really wanted to do was silence me. They failed.

For two reasons, we will not stage a demonstration outside the Brooklyn Museum of Art: a) we won the big prize when Smithsonian officials voluntarily bowed to public pressure and withdrew the vile video, and b) the video has been shown many times since at other venues across the nation (we are not in the business of chasing dog and pony shows).

We are still waiting for the bigots to cut a video showing ants running all over Muhammad’s body, or maybe that of Martin Luther King’s. Then they can tell Muslims and blacks that they just don’t understand the benign message behind the video. Good luck.

Contact the Museum’s director, Arnold Lehman: Arnold.Lehman@brooklynmuseum.org

The president of the Catholic League, Bill Donohue, along with Vice President Bernadette Brady and staff members Don Lauer and Alex Mejia, are holding a press conference today at 11:00 a.m. in front of the Kansas City Star (at the corner of Truman and McGee).

The purpose of the press conference is to expose the anti-Catholic agenda of the three parties who are working together against Bishop Robert Finn: SNAP; SNAP lawyers Jeffrey Anderson and Rebecca Randles; and the Kansas City Star. Donohue will also outline the Catholic League’s campaign to blanket religious and secular organizations in the area with copies of the full-page ad that the Star rejected for political reasons.

A short Q&A will follow Donohue’s talk. All media outlets are welcome.

Who: Catholic League president Bill Donohue; Vice President Bernadette Brady; Staff Member Don Lauer; Staff Member Alex Mejia; local Kansas City Catholics

What: Commence a campaign to blanket religious and secular institutions with copies of a $25,000 ad turned down by the Kansas City Star exposing the anti-Catholic  agenda of SNAP and its lawyers against Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn. The Star-SNAP alliance will also be addressed, along with related matters.

When: Thursday, November 10, 11:00 a.m.

Where: Outside the Kansas City Star at Truman Rd. and McGee St.

The full-page ad on SNAP and its anti-Catholic lawyers that the Kansas City Star rejected—without explanation—can be read in today’s edition of the Northeast News, a weekly newspaper that serves the northeastern community of Kansas City, Missouri.