When I learned that Christopher Hitchens died on December 16, I decided not to issue a statement. It is no secret that we had an on-again, off-again relationship, and given my mixed feelings, I thought it best not to say anything. But when a reporter asked to speak with me a few days later, I elected [...]
Kenneth D. Whitehead The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, popularly known as “Obamacare,” requires individuals to purchase medical insurance and requires most employers to provide such insurance for their employees. Among other things required by the Act, when it is fully implemented, this insurance must henceforth include preventive care for women on a [...]
When it comes to accusations of priestly sexual abuse, the accuser is never publicly identified—he is simply listed as John Doe. But this isn’t enough to satisfy some: they want bishops to publish the names of all accused priests, even if there has never been a conviction, and even if the accused priest is dead. Moreover, [...]
No segment of the population has been inundated with more bogus lawsuits than Catholic priests. The latest one out of Rhode Island is hard to top. A Pawtucket man said he was molested by a member of the New England Province of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart when he was in the seventh grade. But [...]
In a recent column that appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer, columnist Monica Yant Kinney blasted the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. She was furious over the decision by Philadelphia prosecutors to depose Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua at the seminary where he lives instead of in court; the former Archbishop of Philadelphia was asked to testify on alleged priestly sexual [...]
On November 18, Bill Donohue wrote to Michael B. Keegan, president of People For the American Way (PFAW), challenging him to a debate. This was done in response to Keegan’s challenge the day before to Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio: he invited DiMarzio to participate in a public forum on the issue of the Brooklyn Museum of [...]
Recently, the National Football League (NFL) and NBC decided to invite pop star Madonna to perform at halftime during Super Bowl XLVI. This decision was announced almost two months after Bill Donohue wrote to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell asking him not to invite Madonna to perform. Below is a recap of Donohue’s October 11 letter: In [...]
Everyone has compared the Penn State sexual abuse scandal to that of the Catholic Church, and in many respects, such an analogy is warranted. That being said, some correctives are in order. In the case of the Church, most of the problem took place between the mid-1960s and the mid-1980s; almost all of the allegations being [...]
Recently as a New York City superintendent was gathering the garbage, he felt something strange. It was a baby. “When I found the baby,” he said, “I didn’t know if it was real at first. It was so bad.” Not surprisingly, it made him sick. “After what happened, I just stayed in my apartment for a [...]
The anti-Catholic group, Catholics for Choice, recently placed an ad on the op-ed page of the New York Times. We immediately issued a response. “Choice” has no normative value absent an object, but even then it may carry no moral weight. Choosing chocolate over vanilla is a choice without moral consequence. But choosing to abort one’s [...]
