Catholic League president Bill Donohue offers qualified support for the Obama administration’s decision to promote the sale of fresh Christmas trees by imposing a 15-cent tax on them (the tax is being levied to pay for a PR campaign):

 President Barack Obama’s Agriculture Department got it right when it started to explore new ways to prop up the dying fresh Christmas tree industry. Taxation, of course, is always the hands-down favorite way for the federal government to do business, and no president in American history has shown a greater fondness for taxation than Obama.

The Catholic League heartily endorses this tax: the Christmas tree is a secular symbol, and by taxing them, we will have less of them. But our support is qualified. Obama would be wise to support a tax subsidy for nativity scenes. That would spur sales, thus endearing him to Christians who distrust him, while driving secularists over the cliff. Sounds like a win-win. Just think of it as a stimulus for keeping “Christ in Christmas.”

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:

Yesterday, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) held a press conference in front of the Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph to bring attention to a case involving an Episcopal priest, Bede Parry, who is being charged with molesting young boys while he was studying to be a Catholic priest. Parry was thrown out of the Benedictines of Conception Abbey in Missouri back in 1990; then he left for Las Vegas; eventually he became an Episcopal priest there. The person who knew about his record of abuse and still allowed him to join the clergy of the Episcopal Church was the Episcopal Bishop of Nevada, Katharine Jefferts Schori; today she is the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the U.S., located in New York City

The Kansas City Star, which has been relentless in its pursuit of clergy abuse by Catholic priests, said absolutely nothing about this case today. Is this because it involves another religion? Or is it because it implicates a woman clergyperson, thus getting in the way of the contrived narrative that Catholic bishops have some kind of special “old boy” network that inhibits them from being forthcoming? No matter, to think that the person who is the head of the Episcopal Church in the U.S. is named in a cover up involving the sexual abuse of minors—and isn’t even mentioned in the Star—speaks volumes about its politically driven agenda against Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn.

Then there is the politics of SNAP. Can anyone believe that SNAP would hold a press conference in front of a Jewish synagogue about a case involving the sexual abuse of a minor committed by a minister? So why did it pick the most prominent Catholic cathedral in the Diocese for its press conference, especially when the issue has nothing to do with the Diocese? (Parry was never a priest there—he was an order priest.)

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

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:

This is surreal. The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States, Katharine Jefferts Schori, knew about the sexual abuse activities of a homosexual candidate for the Episcopal priesthood, did nothing about it, and indeed allowed him to become a priest. Today, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) held a press conference outside the Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph blaming members of the Catholic, as well as Episcopal, clergy.

The accused clergyman, Bede Parry, is a former member of the Benedictines of Conception Abbey in Missouri. In the 1970s, he sexually abused young males. He was later kicked out of the Abbey, and after being denied entrance into a Las Vegas monastery, he became an organist at All Saints Episcopal in Vegas. He then sought to become an Episcopal priest. In 2002, he informed the Episcopal Bishop of Nevada at the time, Katharine Jefferts Schori, of his latest (1987) sexual abuse transgression. Shortly thereafter, Bishop Jefferts Schori was told by an official at Conception Abbey about Parry’s past; she was even given damaging psychological records on him. No matter, in 2004, she welcomed him as an Episcopal priest. In July, 2011 Parry resigned from All Saints Episcopal following a lawsuit against him (he is charged with abuse when he was studying to be a Catholic priest).

It is important to note that at no time was Bede Parry a priest in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. Nor is it true that the Diocese is named in the lawsuit. To top things off, Parry is not a Catholic priest. So why is SNAP advising Catholics to “come clean now” when the dirt is not on their hands? Why did it hold a press conference in Kansas City by the Cathedral? Because they hate Bishop Robert Finn? Why wasn’t it in New York City, home to the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States? She’s the issue—not Bishop Finn.

Contact SNAP Director David Clohessy: SNAPclohessy@aol.com

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:

Over the weekend, news broke that a former Penn State football coach, serving under head coach Joe Paterno, was involved in alleged sexual abuse of young boys. Although Paterno immediately notified the Athletic Director, he did not call the cops. David Clohessy, the director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) is now calling for Paterno to be investigated. Yet when Clohessy learned in the 1990s that his brother Kevin, a priest, was a child molester, he covered it up.

The Kansas City Star is working with SNAP, and its lawyers, against Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn. Only once, in a brief story in 2003, did it ever mention that the SNAP director’s brother was charged with molestation; even then it never reported that David Clohessy refused to call the cops. And in a big puff piece on the SNAP director in September, it never mentioned this juicy story. The cover up—and that is exactly what it is—is sickening.

Nor does the Star ever bother to question the spurious lawsuits that SNAP lawyers have been bringing. Isn’t it more than just a little curious that the Catholic Church is being singled out for hundreds of “repressed memory” lawsuits? A Nexis search connecting “repressed memory” with “minister” yields 551 stories; connecting it to “rabbi” yields 71; and though the nation’s teachers vastly outnumber priests, there were 1208 stories on “teachers” and 1855 on “priests.”

Between 2009 and 2010, there was a startling 42 percent increase in false accusations against priests. The data didn’t come as a surprise to California attorney Donald H. Steier. Last year, he testified that “One retired F.B.I agent who worked with me to investigate many claims in the Clergy Cases told me, in his opinion, about ONE-HALF of the claims made in Clergy Cases were either entirely false or so greatly exaggerated that the truth would not have supported a prosecutable claim for childhood sexual abuse.” A really independent newspaper would report such stories. The Star is not one of them—it’s in bed with SNAP.

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

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) announces the latest lawsuit against the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. The diocese, headed by Bishop Robert Finn, knows nothing about it. But attorney Rebecca Randles does: she coordinated the attack with SNAP. Virtually all the cases date back decades, and no one from the Kansas City Star questions any of it. This isn’t an anomaly—it’s the norm.

Randles got her start with Jeffrey Anderson, the most successful Church-shakedown lawyer in the nation. “He’s the man,” she once said. On June 2, they (and another attorney) sued Bishop Finn about a matter he had nothing to do with. Since then, Randles has been on a tear, finding new “victims” at a record pace.

 Randles and Anderson came together 20 years ago to represent David Clohessy (today he is the director of SNAP). After watching the movie “Nuts” in 1988—I’m not making this up—he suddenly “remembered” being molested by a priest decades ago. The lawsuit failed because the statute of limitations had expired.

Randles then made history when she was the first attorney to file suit against a priest in Missouri. It was another one of those “repressed memory” suits where the accuser suddenly recalls being molested decades ago. After first winning, an appeals court threw it out—the clock had run out on such claims. She vowed to push for a new strategy: she argued that the “trigger” for such claims should start when alleged victims “remember” when they were abused. In 2006, her dream came true: the Missouri Supreme Court said that a guy who suddenly remembered being molested 30 years prior could sue. It argued that the clock should begin when the “victims” suddenly “remember” being hit on. Ever since, the suits against the diocese (but not the public schools or any other institution) have never stopped.

Both Anderson and Randles give generously to SNAP, and indeed Randles has been known to pressure her clients to fork over some of their settlement money to her friends. The Star knows all of this, yet it continues the cover-up.

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

Catholic League president Bill Donohue describes the highlights of the new movie, “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas,” which opened today:

• One of the lead actors punches a bishop
• Naked nuns are shown caressing each other in a shower
• Real life homosexual Neil Patrick Harris (playing himself) recounts going to heaven (portrayed as a nightclub) where he sits with two topless women who fondle him. Jesus sees this and calls his “daddy” to get Harris kicked out of the club. Harris then spews an obscenity at Jesus
• Three priests have a pillow fight with a young boy in a dark place known as the altar boy room—they are shown racing after him
• The Virgin Mary is trashed

There’s more—little kids are shown high on cocaine, etc.

As usual, the movie has its apologists. For example, the Washington Post says the film “makes fun of everyone under the sun—Jews, blacks, gays, Koreans, Indians, Mexicans, nuns, Santa, children and Jesus Christ….” Nice to know that mocking ethnic groups is identical to mocking Jesus. But if equality were really being practiced, why did Muhammad get a pass?

It is interesting to note that the actor who plays Kumar (Kal Penn) recently served in the Obama administration as Associate Director in the Office of Public Liaison. Is that where he perfected his Christian-bashing skills?

In any event, the only audience that really might be attracted to this film won’t be able to make it: the urban barbarians are camping out, protesting Wall Street (or something like that).

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the latest circulation figures of the Kansas City Star (the numbers are cited today by the Kansas City blog site JimmyCsays, and are taken from the Audit Bureau of Circulation):

The Star is in free fall: for the first time since before World War II, its daily circulation has fallen below 200,000 (the Sunday circulation is only about 300,000). Circulation numbers are of particular concern to newspaper advertisers—it determines the rates they are charged.

 Because we believe in transparency, and because the Star purports to believe in truth in advertising, I am personally writing today to the CEO’s of the Star’s biggest advertisers letting them know they may be paying too much for their ads. Those advertisers are: Target; Kohl’s; Best Buy; Macy’s; Dick’s Sporting Goods; Dillard’s; Wal-Mart; Cabela’s; Sears; Verizon; and Sprint.

 I will also let the big advertisers know that the data will only get worse. To be specific, between the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, there are approximately 1.5 million Catholics in the Star’s immediate readership area. Once they learn that the Star refused to run an ad by the Catholic League blowing the whistle on the enemies of Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn, more will bail.

I am sharing the ad I wrote with all the CEO’s. After all, they need to know why the Star is imploding so they can make an informed decision on where to park their advertising dollars. And since the holiday season is fast approaching, what better time to reconsider their contract with the Star. Social justice demands no less.

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

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:

Respectable newspapers are expected to be objective, and not become the voice box of activist organizations. This is not true of the Kansas City Star; its relationship with SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) is incestuous.

To take the latest example, on November 1, Judge James Dale Youngs of the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri, dismissed a case brought by SNAP lawyer Rebecca Randles against the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph; Randles never even bothered to respond to the motion to dismiss. But the real story here is why senior Star reporter Judy L. Thomas, who wrote about the initial lawsuit, never told readers about this development.

When this suit was initially filed on March 8, the Star ran a story by Thomas about it on p. 7. And guess who announced it? SNAP. So now that Randles and SNAP look foolish, or worse, why wasn’t this reported? By the way, Thomas made reference to this case several times in the intervening months. Moreover, in the past three months, Thomas cited SNAP 10 times in her stories. So why the cover-up about the motion to dismiss the lawsuit?

The editorial board of the Star has similarly been compromised. On May 21, its editorial on the Fr. Shawn Ratigan case cited SNAP’s criticisms of the diocese. Ten days later, in another editorial, it once again favorably quoted SNAP. Perhaps most interesting was the editorial of June 4 that called for Bishop Robert Finn to resign: one day before, in a news story which named SNAP, it just happened to say that “Some Catholics will gather today and call for the resignation of Bishop Robert Finn….” How cute. First have some local “Catholics” call for the bishop to resign, and then let the brave souls at the newspaper follow suit.

The Star is nothing more than an echo chamber for SNAP.

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

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:

 The SNAP-Star alliance against Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn is a natural: both are anti-Catholic. As evidence of SNAP’s bigotry, click here to read our report on its July conference. As for the Star, consider its infamous 1999 “survey” of priests.

Twelve years ago, the Star did a survey of priests across the nation. They were asked such things as: identify your sexual orientation; discuss whether you have HIV or AIDS; assess how the Church is handling this issue; and explain whether the Church should change its teachings on celibacy and homosexuality. No other religious or secular institution was surveyed. In response, I sent my own survey to a random sample of Star employees, asking questions about their sexual orientation and disease status. At least I admitted that my “survey” was a joke—the Star actually thought itself serious.

The purpose of the Star’s survey was to report that HIV or AIDS was rampant among priests and that the Church’s response was heartless. Expecting that most would disagree with celibacy and the Church’s teachings on homosexuality, the end game would then be realized: this is how the Star expected to manipulate public opinion, putting pressure on the Church to change its teachings.

What a disappointment. Almost 100 percent (99.1) said they either did not have HIV or AIDS, or did not think they had it. Two-thirds said the Church was “caring and compassionate” about priests with HIV or AIDS, and only four percent were critical. Yet virtually all the remarks printed in the Star came from priests who were critical of the Church! Angered by the results, the Star showed even more contempt for privacy rights by combing the death certificates of deceased priests looking for dirt.

By any measure, the Star showed its bias, as well as its necromania.

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

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:

In September, officials at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ended funding to a program operated by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) that helps victims of human trafficking. Their decision followed a lawsuit by the ACLU contesting the right of the USCCB not to refer trafficking victims to abortion and contraceptive services. The USCCB maintains that this entire episode evinces an anti-Catholic bias. The Catholic League agrees.

Many HHS career staffers recommended that the USCCB program be funded; they cited scores by an independent review board. But in a highly politicized ruling, Obama appointees rejected the advice of these veteran civil servants.

It is imperative that others follow the lead of disgruntled HHS staffers and contact the HHS Inspector General’s office with their complaints [click here].

This comes on the heels of several assaults on religious liberty. The administration said Obamacare wouldn’t threaten religious liberty, yet it wants to mandate that Catholic healthcare providers offer sterilization and contraceptive services. It also showed its stripes when earlier this year it decided it would no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act, a bill that defines marriage as being between a man and a woman. And just recently, the administration argued before the Supreme Court that government shouldn’t be barred from policing the hiring policies of any church.

The lust for abortion is so thoroughly ingrained with many in the Obama administration that they will use any means possible to force the pro-life community to accept its radical agenda. They must be resisted. At stake is the right of a world religious body to practice its tenets with impunity. Moreover, the campaign to kill babies in the wombs of women who have already been victimized is doubling down on death.