Bill Donohue comments on the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ announcement of the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards nominations:

Few TV programs in recent years have been as thoroughly anti-Catholic as FX Channel’s “American Horror Story: Asylum.” This show, which leads the pack with 17 Emmy nominations, depicted a Catholic home for the criminally insane run by sadistic and libidinous nuns. The plot is sinister. Characters include a nymphomaniac, a lesbian, a degenerate bully, a serial killer, and a doctor who enjoys torturing patients. What a bunch!

When the Catholic League tried to put an ad critical of the series in The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, the ad was rejected outright. [To see the ad, click here.] This should have come as no surprise. Hollywood’s hatred of Catholicism is almost pathological. Indeed, it extends even to the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

What other group receives such treatment? Once again, TV has sunk lower than we ever thought possible. Talk about crazy!

The Catholic League’s booklet by Bill Donohue, Myths of the Magdalene Laundries, is now available for free online [click here]. Based on the McAleese Report, the Irish government study that was released in February, the booklet examines the origins of the many myths that have surfaced about these Catholic-run facilities in Ireland.

Bill Donohue comments on a report issued by the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child:

Last month, both Israel and B’nai B’rith International blasted a totally politicized report by the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child that condemned Israel for its treatment of Palestinians. Now the disgraced Committee has attacked the Holy See: it is demanding that the Vatican turn over every document it has on priestly sexual abuse, and wants to know what the Catholic Church has done about discrimination between boys and girls; it is concerned about sexual stereotypes in school textbooks.

The Committee should be dissolved—its moral authority is shot. Of the 18 nations that comprise this entity, Freedom House rates half of them either “not free” or “partly free.” To see what the U.S. State Department says about ten of these nations, click here. In other words, at least half of these nations have a record of oppressing its own people, many in ways that are positively shocking. And they have the audacity to point fingers at the Holy See?

If discrimination in school textbooks is a serious issue for this Committee, perhaps it can demand that one of its members, Saudi Arabia, stop depicting Jews as pigs and Christians as the enemy. When Muslims can freely convert to another religion without fear of being legally killed for doing so, then reasonable people may listen to what this body says. These member states have a lot of house cleaning to do, and the sooner they attend to their human rights abuses, the better.

Bill Donohue comments on Pope Francis’ crackdown on sex abuse:

As Pope Francis proved today, he has no stomach for child exploitation, or for any type of sexual abuse. His decision to revise the norms affecting these crimes, complete with more stringent penalties, is a welcome tonic. However, he does not need to be congratulated for this initiative—he needs to be supported by those in a position to do so.

Child sexual abuse is a serious worldwide problem. It affects every secular and religious organization where there is sustained interaction between adults and children. In the West, it is aided and abetted by a sick culture bent on eroticizing youth. From advertisements in magazines and on billboards, to TV shows during the day and in the evening—to say nothing of music videos and the movie industry—we are inundated with hyper-sexualized portrayals and images, the result of which is a morally debased milieu.

When it comes to racial tensions, many are quick to point to the “root causes” of poverty and injustice. But these same persons show little or no interest in addressing the “root causes” of child sexual exploitation. As we recently saw in the debate over gun control, those who were screaming the loudest for stricter gun laws were typically silent on the role Hollywood plays in fostering violence in our culture. The same is true about sexual exploitation—there is a reluctance to get Hollywood to do something about its role in furthering this problem.

The Catholic Church had a problem with priestly sexual abuse in the 1960s and 1970s, but today it has the cleanest record of any institution. Currently, child sexual abuse is a problem in places like Hollywood, Indian reservations, the Orthodox Jewish communities, the public schools, and, of course, in the home (boyfriends and stepfathers are the worst offenders). Wherever it exists, it must be stomped out. Thank God Pope Francis is leading the way.

Bill Donohue supports the effort led by Family Research Council (FRC) president Tony Perkins to secure religious liberty for members of the armed forces:

Yesterday, Tony Perkins and a coalition of allies urged support for Rep. John Fleming’s military religious freedom amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. The Catholic League joins with them. But we are doing more than that: I am calling attention today to the way Mikey Weinstein, the president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, has smeared Evangelicals.

In a report released yesterday, FRC detailed some of the irresponsible comments made by Weinstein, the man who has been leading the fight to censor religious speech in the military. Last month, we prepared our own report: to read “Mikey Weinstein’s Inflammatory Rhetoric,” click here.

Weinstein’s crusade against Evangelicals rests on the premise that they are victimizing Catholics. This is bunk. As president of the Catholic League, I would know if Catholics in the military were being badgered by Evangelicals, but not one Catholic in the nation has ever called our office to register a complaint.

In 2005, following complaints by Weinstein, a report was released on religious liberty at the United States Air Force Academy. It found no “overt religious discrimination.” Weinstein was not happy. After reading the report, I noted that if Weinstein were correct, it would logically mean that Catholics, who are 30 percent of the student body, should be feeling the pinch of “heavy-handed proselytizing efforts.” Yet the report did not cite a single Catholic who ever complained.

On June 10, 2013, I sent Weinstein a letter [click here] asking him to provide evidence for his remark that he represents “over 33,000 members of the U.S. military,” and that “96 percent” are Catholics. He has not replied. That’s because it is simply not true. If 96 percent of his “clients” are Catholics, and if they are blasting Evangelicals for discriminatory behavior, the Catholic League would know about it.

Mikey Weinstein is smearing Evangelicals, fabricating a “crisis” in the military, seeking to divide people on the basis of religion, and threatening the religious liberty of men and women in the armed forces and in the military academies.

We are proud to promote Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan’s new e-book, “Praying in Rome: Reflections on the Conclave and Electing Pope Francis,” published by Image. For further information please click here.

Bill Donohue comments on an editorial in today’s Los Angeles Times:

The Los Angeles Times says the bishops have nothing to fear about the effects of same-sex marriage, and are needlessly raising red flags over the Health and Human Services mandate. It is twice wrong.

The editorial tells Catholics to take comfort in the fact that “the Roman Catholic Church can’t be required to…ordain women despite laws against sex discrimination,” and should therefore not fret over alleged threats stemming from gay marriage. This is a remarkable statement: the Obama administration tried to do just that by telling religious employers what they can and cannot do in hiring and firing decisions, but it lost in the Supreme Court in the Hosanna-Tabor decision. Should Catholics celebrate because Obama lost?

At the heart of the editorial’s objections to the two positions staked out by the bishops is the conviction that there is a profound constitutional difference between a church and a religious-affiliated institution. In a strict theological sense, of course, there is a difference between the work of a parish and the work of a Catholic non-profit that serves the poor. But the latter does not lose its Catholicity because it does not discriminate against non-Catholics.

The editorial says that “if a Catholic university or hospital employs and serves non-Catholics,” they must provide the same services to married gay couples as they do married straight couples. It also contends that it makes sense to draw a distinction between churches and “religiously affiliated schools and charities that serve and employ people of all faiths.”

In other words, because Catholic non-profits are catholic—they serve everyone regardless of biological or social status—they should now be penalized. Perhaps if Catholic hospitals were to put up signs saying “No Protestants, Jews, Muslims or Atheists Welcome,” the Los Angeles Times would congratulate them.

There is a better way: the Obama administration should respect the First Amendment rights of Catholic institutions. By doing so, it would allow them to fulfill their proud tradition of serving non-Catholics.

Bill Donohue comments on pro-abortion supporters in Texas:

While pro-life protesters were singing “Amazing Grace” yesterday in Austin, pro-abortion fans were screaming “Hail Satan!” (A video of this scene is available on TheBlaze.)

It would be unfair to say that all pro-abortion supporters would support this obscenity, and indeed most would not. Among hard-core activists, though, there are no doubt more than just a few who feel comfortable with invoking Satan’s name in behalf of their cause. Here’s why I say this.

There are writers and activists who support more than abortion rights—they hail it as a positive good. For example, the book by women’s studies professor Patricia Lunneborg, Abortion: A Positive Decision, boasts how abortion liberates women. The volume, Abortion is a Blessing, by militant atheist Anne Nicol Gaylor, sees abortion as a sacred right. So does French author Ginette Paris: her book, The Sacrament of Abortion, tells us exactly where she is coming from.

Catholics reach out to young pregnant women who have made the wrong decision, and indeed the Catholic Church has a program, “Project Rachel,” that serves them in many ways. Moreover, when someone in the pro-life community acts in an offensive way, he is quickly condemned. By contrast, there are pro-abortion fanatics who draw their inspiration from Satanic forces. Worse, many of those in the pro-abortion community are quite content to stay silent about such offenses.

Perhaps the time has come for a mass exorcism.

Bill Donohue comments on the reaction by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to the public disclosure of Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s deposition regarding his tenure as the Milwaukee Archbishop:

Many of the bishops in the Catholic Church have made public the names of suspected sexual offenders. By contrast, there is not a single institution, secular or religious, that has done likewise. To be sure, this brazen honesty has persuaded fair-minded people to applaud such efforts, but others, less kind, see this as an opportunity to exploit. For example, today’s Journal Sentinel features the pictures of 45 priests who at one time or another had substantiated allegations made against them. This is pure hype: it was Archbishop Dolan who posted the names of these priests 9 years ago. Where are the pictures of alleged sex offenders in non-Catholic communities? Where is the same level of scrutiny?

Today’s Journal Sentinel says the bishops’ conference adopted a charter in 2002 that addresses the sexual abuse of minors. “How effective that charter has been is a matter of some debate.” Nonsense. There is no debate: in the past six years, the average number of credible allegations made against over 40,000 priests is exactly 7.0. If the Journal Sentinel knows of any institution with a comparable record, it should say so. Its comment about a 2011 grand jury report in Philadelphia failed to mention the 20-plus errors that have been found, to say nothing about the veracity of the principal accuser: he is a congenital liar, school dropout, thief and drug addict.

No one disputes the timeline of the scandal—the mid-60s to the mid-80s—so it makes one wonder whether those who continue to harp on this issue are motivated by something other than the wellbeing of minors. Not only are current cases of such abuse being ignored in non-Catholic communities, few are touting the reforms made by the Catholic community as a model for others.

I know Cardinal Dolan: he is an honest, courageous, brilliant man of faith. He did not create this problem; on the contrary, he is among those who sought to fix it.

Bill Donohue comments on the deposition by Cardinal Timothy Dolan that was released today regarding his tenure as Archbishop of Milwaukee; the deposition was taken in February:

Under questioning by Jeffrey Anderson, an activist lawyer, Cardinal Dolan gravely disappointed the enemies of the Catholic Church: they were denied their “gotcha” moment. Indeed, pint-sized Anderson didn’t lay a glove on the big guy.

Boring. That is the most accurate word to describe the deposition. Here is a list of the topics that Anderson pursued: the statute of limitations; a public list of accused priests; the process of handling deceased and elderly priests; laicization; false and substantiated allegations; compensation for priests let go from ministry; cemetery funds; parish finances; the scope of an archbishop’s authority; the effect of the scandal on Catholics.

In short, there was nothing new—it was another fishing expedition conducted by a man who believes there should be one standard for the Catholic Church, and another for the rest of the world.

Cardinal Dolan was, as always, honest and courageous. I wish I could bill Anderson for the agony of having to read his boring pursuit.