The Forward is a well-written Jewish weekly published in New York. In the February 16 edition, there was a piece about faith-based programs that quoted Rabbi Sherwin Wine. Rabbi Wine was critical of the Bush administration’s effort to fund faith-based social service programs. This was fine but in doing so he took the occasion to criticize President Bush for saying that “the foundation of morality in this country is religion.”

Upon reading this remark, William Donohue wrote a letter defending Bush on this matter. The Forward published it in its March 9 edition. He argued that Bush’s comment was “hardly a partisan or novel idea—it is simply the truth.” He then took Rabbi Wine to task:

“Rabbi Wine may find this objectionable but if so, he ought to tell us what morality ought to be grounded in, if not religion. Personal choice? Not only would this deny the validity of a moral order (morality is a social construct, not an individual property), its implications are monstrous. Isn’t this exactly the social soil that makes genocide so palatable? If we’re left with ‘different strokes for different folks,’ God help those who are on the receiving end of those whose stroke it is to strike out in anger against the innocent.”

Donohue ended by saying, “In short, a society grounded in Judeo-Christian precepts is infinitely preferable to one rooted in relativism.”

There’s a feminist website by the name women.com that ran an ad in Redbook that we found objectionable. In the March edition, they posted an ad that mentioned how 41 women out of 100 believe a woman will be president within 10 years, etc. The listing we protested was the comment that for every hundred women, “.5 carry an insurance policy against immaculate conception.”

We wrote to Marleen McDaniel, CEO of women.com, letting her know what a lame attempt at humor it was. We also educated her with regard to the real meaning of the Immaculate Conception. Lou Giovino, who handled this one, closed by saying, “If you are going to insult and lampoon Catholic doctrine you can at least have the decency to get it right.”

The number of serious Catholics who made it in Hollywood is not a huge figure, which is why reading about the life of Loretta Young is so refreshing. She found in Catholicism a resource that proved to be invaluable, and now it is nicely captured in an authorized biography by Joan Wester Anderson, Forever Young.

The life of this beauty radiates on every page. Anderson shows how Young’s enduring faith carried her through life, making her a woman of rare courage and conviction.  Forever Young is published by Thomas More. Order a copy from your local bookstore or call the publisher at (877) 275-4725. It sells for $21.95.