On October 19, the CBS program, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, aired a segment that raised the eyebrows of the Catholic League. Printed below is a transcript of the offending exchange.

REVEREND: Your godparents must be very, very special people indeed. You understand they do much more than step in, in case of tragedy.

DR. QUINN: I must admit, Mr. Morel, a sudden death did prompt our decision. Has he spoken to his wife yet?

REVEREND: No, not yet. I’ll offer her a plot in town cemetery but I doubt she’ll take it.

DR. QUINN: Why not?

REVEREND: Because, she’s Catholic.

DR. QUINN: Well I thought we were all Christian.

REVEREND: Well there are some people who could argue that point….

Why this quip was made is not known. But surely the writers didn’t just throw it in without a reason, and surely it was not done to endear viewers to Catholics. We are asking CBS for an explanation.

Rep. Patrick Kennedy apologized on November 1 for saying that “I hope in the near future the [Catholic] Church crawls out of the Stone Age.” Kennedy was referring the Church’s teachings on ordination. But his apology sounded more like a clarification of his position than a really contrite response.

Kennedy said “I regret my choice of words to describe a political belief I hold and will continue to hold that women be allowed to be ordained as priests. I recognize that the Church doesn’t share my views at this time, but I look forward to the day when it will.”

Thanks, Pat. We look forward to the day when you stop embarrassing Catholics.

In the July-August edition of Catalyst, we ran a story about the badgering that a Catholic student experienced during an interview for a scholarship at the University of Virginia. As it turns out, UVA does not have a monopoly on harassing Catholic students during interviews.

After our article appeared, we received a letter from a member who recounted a similar story, this time involving his daughter. He has asked us to keep her name and the offending school anonymous.

During an interview at a mid-Western university, this woman was asked whether she wore a uniform at the Catholic high school she attended. Answering affirmatively, she was then asked whether she agreed with Pat Buchanan’s position on abortion. Again, she said yes. At that, the woman interviewer “proceeded into a diatribe setting out her personal convictions and denouncing” the prospective student. The young woman was not accepted. Fortunately, she is doing well at another university.

So much for tolerance, respect for diversity and all that is dear to the hearts of multiculturalists.

Christopher Durang, the playwright who gave us “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You,” and has now offered us “Sex and Longing,” says that his detractors “claimed that my criticism was anti-Catholic.” He adds that they “confused criticism with bigotry.” Really? If that is true, then it means that the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, the National Conference of Christians and Jews, the American Jewish Committee–as well as the Catholic League–also suffer from confusion, as all of these organizations have branded his work bigoted.

But not to fear, Durang’s “Sister Mary Ignatius” was performed this fall at Fort Hays State University and the State University of New York at Stony Brook (the latter school had a particularly vile advertisement for the play). Durang may be the only one left who thinks his work isn’t anti-Catholic: just ask the students at these two state schools (anyone for separation of church and state?) what they think his message really is.

In last month’s Catalyst, we ran an article about Grimsley High School in Greensboro, North Carolina. We printed a letter from Dr. Donohue to the Superintendent of the Guilford County Schools, Dr. Jerry Weast. At issue was the propriety of assigning a patently offensive book, The Old Gringo.

The final vote by the school board was 6-5 to keep the book. However, before the Catholic League protested, there was not one school board members who was even leaning our way. So scratch this one up as a moral victory for the league. More important, we do not expect to be called upon to deal with Catholic bashing material in this school district again.