If you’re a Catholic veteran and do not belong to Catholic War Veterans, shame on you! To qualify, service in a war is not necessary—only that you have served. Write to them at 346 Broadway, NY, NY 10013.

Those considering the priesthood should not overlook the committed and dedicated work that the Legionaries of Christ are doing. Please write to Fr. William Slattery, L.C., P. O. Box 140, Thornwood, NY 10594. Or call him at 914-749-3916.

Florida has become the first state to put forward a statewide voucher program. Led by Governor Jeb Bush, this program has far-reaching consequences and will be looked at carefully by friend and foe alike. The purpose of the program is to target those students who are attending failed public schools by giving them a chance to go to a private or parochial school.

In New York, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has unveiled plans to spend $12 million on a school voucher program, the funding of which will come from his office.

The Catholic League wasted no time offering its support for the mayor’s plan:

“By supporting vouchers and braving the public school industry, Mayor Giuliani has proven once again that he is prepared to put the best interests of children first, even if it means angering those whose only agenda is to protect a failed monopoly.

“The incredible record that private and parochial schools have in educating the so-called uneducable makes opposition to vouchers morally suspect. No one who truly believes in helping the poor can logically be opposed to school choice anymore. The success of the Children’s Scholarship Fund, announced this week, is one more piece of evidence that school choice is what parents want.

“On March 17, in a full-page ad in the New York Times, dozens of ‘progressive’ activist organizations and labor unions registered their fear that vouchers will succeed. Most interesting to us was the comment that ‘public funds should not be used to send our city’s children to religious or other private schools.’ (Our emphasis.) This is telling: the real fear is that if parents are given a choice, many will opt to send their kids to a Catholic school. The anti-choice crowd needs to explain why this is troubling.

“One reason why Catholic students do so well is because of discipline. And having a dress code means that Nazi kids don’t walk the halls wearing black trench coats. Nor do they show up with their Satanic T-shirts. Come to think of it, they don’t have metal rings hanging from their nostrils either. And yet—given all these restrictions on ‘freedom of expression’—they are all capable of reading their diploma on graduation day.”

Though there have been, and will continue to be, occasional legal setbacks, the future is on the side of vouchers. There is a momentum in the land that cannot be stopped.

Newsweek picked up two quotes by William Donohue on the latest escapades of Sinead O’Connor. Both were printed in the May 10 edition.

“Sinead O’Connor must be hallucinating…Next week, she’ll be a Buddhist monk. The week after, maybe she’ll turn into an Orthodox Rabbi.” William Donahue [sic] of the Catholic League, on the controversial Irish singer who now claims she’s been ordained a priest, in part to repent for ripping up a picture of Pope John Paul II on television in 1992

“If she’s trying to make her way back to the church, this group is the wrong path,” saysWilliam Donohue, president of the Catholic League. “They are a radical, right-wing fringe element [Donohue was referring to a Catholic splinter group in Europe], and it looks like she’s equally nuts.”

To top it off, a BBC reporter who interviewed Donohue literally had to be persuaded that Sinead was not a priest!

On the cover of the May issue of Interview magazine, actress Rose McGowan was shown wearing only a veil and a pearl rosary; at the end of the rosary was a bouquet of roses covering her genitalia. Her arms were extended outward in a manner that resembles the way many Catholics position themselves at the consecration of the Eucharist, and there was a halo effect in the background. Some believed that McGowan, who is engaged to rock singer Marilyn Manson, was impersonating Mexico’s Lady of Guadalupe.

The Catholic League stated its position in a news release:

“We’ve long known that Marilyn Manson is a Satanist and now we know that his bride-to-be is also one. Some Satanists like to blow up schools while others like to target Catholicism. Their hatred runs deep and their maladies are many. We’ll pray for them. We’ll also let Interview know what we think of them.”

In a letter to Ms. Ingrid Sischy at the magazine, William Donohue simply asked, “Regarding our news release on your magazine (enclosed), are you planning on doing a similar cover story using a Star of David instead of a rosary? Please advise.”

You can write to this genius at Interview, 575 Broadway, 5^th floor, New York, New York 10012-3230. Ask her to explain why you shouldn’t be offended.

It is one thing when a newspaper editorializes against hospital mergers between and Catholic and secular facilities, quite another when a purportedly objective news report shows its bias. This is what happened recently when the North Jersey Herald & News did a piece on the subject. It went so far as to say that such mergers “threaten reproductive rights.” Talk about a false alarm.

The fact that our laws permit a person to have an abortion, or to use contraception, does not require private health care facilities to provide these “services.” Does the legal right of an adult to use pornography require every book store to sell pornographic materials? Should a vegetarian restaurant be required to offer meat dishes because people have a legal right to eat meat?

The medical needs of entire communities should not be held hostage to the narrow pro-abortion ideology of a few. And in any event, it is outrageous to read an editorial disguised as a news story. This says volumes on what passes as journalism at the newspaper.

We conveyed our sentiments to the Herald & News and hope our members are on the lookout for such abuses. They don’t happen often, but even once is too much.

A rock band from England, Cradle of Filth, has released a T-shirt in this country that depicts a topless nun masturbating; it also features a vile insult to Jesus, calling him a vulgar name for female genitalia. The group typically sports satanic imagery.

We have written to Mr. Fay Woolven, Manager of Cradle of Filth, 115 Management, England, asking him to withdraw the T-shirt. It would be good if he heard from you, too.

If you want to stay current with what is happening in the Church, then now is the time to subscribe to Inside the Vatican. Write to 3050 Gap Knob Road, New Hope, KY 40052 or call them at 1-800-789-9494 for subscription information.

Congratulations to the magazine on its anniversary.

Dana Lee Dembrow is a member of the House of Delegates in the Maryland state legislature. She is also an anti-Catholic bigot, if her satire in the April 16 Montgomery Journal is any indication.

Dembrow crafted a piece entitled, “The Annapolis ’99 hit parade,” in which she presented mock awards to pieces of legislation that she was obviously less than enthusiastic about. She designated a proposed ban on partial-birth abortion for the “Confused Catholic Conservatism Award,” saying it was “offered by representatives who ordinarily work to restrict government intrusion into private affairs.”

Leaving aside the fact that the destruction of another human being’s life is never a “private affair,” why would Dembrow single out Catholic conservatives? Were Catholic legislators the only ones supporting the partial-birth abortion ban? Or was Dembrow simply resorting to the old pro-abortion strategy of appealing to anti-Catholic bigotry, rather than debating the issue on its merits? We raised these questions in a letter to the editor. Bigotry is bad, whatsoever the source, but it is never worse when it stems from the government.

Notice that some of the responses antedated the ad; these were responses to our appeal letter

SOME LOVED IT

“I believe that your article in the New York Times will assist us in developing and implementing our Polish History Educational Program and may even incite Americans of Polish descent to proactively promote the truth of Catholic Poland’s great sacrifices and contributions during WWII. Thank you.” (Letter, 4/27/99)

“We commend you on your timely and much needed expression on behalf of the “other” victims of the Holocaust.” (Letter, 4/23/99)

“Since I have spent five and half years in German Concentration Camps, of which over four years in Dacau… I feel obligated… to debunk the vicious propaganda that the Church was idle when millions of Jews and others were being murdered.” (Letter, 4/13/99)

“My father won the Virtuti Militari (Poland’s medal of honor) after fighting the Germans for five years. He lost his friends, family and land. The greatest tribute we can give to those who laid down their lives for freedom is remembering.” (Letter, 4/23/99)

“Regarding you ad in today’s N.Y. Times… I say Bravo! At last the Christians are fighting back.” (Letter, 4/23/99)

“You performed a great service in reminding Americans of the other victims of the Nazi holocaust in addition to pointing out to most unaware secular Americans that German National Socialism (Nazism) has no roots in Christianity.” (Letter, 4/26/99)

“The ad was well documented, well written and I wonder how the Abe Foxmans’ of the world are reacting to it.” (Phone Call, 3/26/99)

“I was born Jewish, but my whole life I knew the whole story of what happened in WWII was not being told… I am a retired Army Officer and I want you to know as an American

I am grateful for this profoundly important publication of the truth…” (E-mail, 4/24/99)

“Dear Mr. Donohue: I congratulate you on the very good article placed as an ad in the N.Y. Times…The article is very well balanced and should be made widely known to the American public.” (E-mail, 4/28/99)

“Thank you. It is about time, especially bringing to the attention of the public the suffering of the Polish Catholics during the Holocaust.” (Phone Call, 4/23/99)

“Your strategy is brilliant, your courage outstanding, your impact great… but get ready, you are going to be targeted as an “extremist,” “overly sensitive,” and, I dare predict, an “anti-Semite”…” (E-mail, 4/23/99)

“Happily, the Catholic League has been doing that which other organizations… should have been doing all along. And – it shames me to say this – you, an Irishman, have done more for the Polish Catholics in this matter than anyone else in our country… I thank you and congratulate you, and promise you my prayers and ongoing support.” (Letter, 4/11/99)

“Seeing that article was like a gift – thank you.” (Phone Call, 4/23/99)

“[B]y not remembering or mentioning them in prayer or in sorrow for what they also experienced in those dreaded camps — one can only come away with the feeling that they don’t count for much. Those [five] million non-Jews have no significant value.” (Letter, 4/7/99)

“Many non-Jews perished in the Holocaust, and in fairness to all the victims, this fact should not be ignored.” (Letter, 4/23/99)

“Your article in this morning’s New York Times was not only illuminating and very well written, but it also set in balance some facts of history long overlooked. The attention that has been focused on the Jewish experience under the Nazis has all but obscured the sufferings of others who were also tortured and put to death.” (Letter, 4/23/99)

“Finally the truth! Congratulations on your stunning article… Many of us know this truth but revisionist ‘historians’ have sought to destroy the truth… I personally knew a Catholic priest who was arrested on the steps of his rectory in 1941 in Poland and survived 7 German prisons and 7 concentration camps! I knew other Catholic priests who went through similar experiences.” (Letter, 4/23/99)

“Attempts during the many past years to inform the US public about the fact that millions of Christian Poles as well as gypsies and Soviet soldiers were killed by the German Nazis and that indeed Poles were the first victims of the Nazi genocide, were meeting with Jewish denials and misinformation… The above article will help to correct that…” (Letter, 4/27/99)

SOME HATED IT

“The reasons behind the Holocaust were really not that unique. For centuries, Jews were murdered, raped and tortured by Catholics and Lutherans all across Europe for their faith. The Germans simply created efficiencies of scale on a massive level and harnessed the antisemitism inherent within the respective populations. Poles cannot claim the status of victim since they took special enjoyment and were most enthusiastic in aiding Germans and being a vital part of the roundups and liquidation of Jews… Preach to the choir about how the Catholics are victims and ignore the fact that, in reality, your victims were the oppressors, before, during and after the war… In the end, whether in our lifetime or beyond, the answer to the age old question of “why the evil prosper and the good suffer” will be addressed by God Al-mighty… May the woes of Albania and Bosnia be extended to those who truly deserve such horrors.” (Letter, 4/26/99)

“[Y]ou fail to mention that Polish Cardinal Hlond was one of the worst anti-Semites who stirred up hatred of the Jews, and who sympathized with Hitler. Furthermore, while Pius XII hid some Jews in convents, he failed to excommunicate Hitler, Himmler & other baptized Catholics which would have reverberated among the Catholic parts of Germany & the Reich. What an irony that the Jews who gave Our Lord Jesus Christ to the world became the victims of so-called “Christians.” (Letter, 4/24/99)

“There is an unfortunate history of Jew hatred in Poland as evidenced by the vicious anti-Jewish laws of the 30’s… I am unaware of Pius XII, whom you seek to defend, forthrightly and unequivocally attacking legislation discriminating against the Jews in the 30’s…” (Letter, 4/23/99)

“[Y]our lies, half-truths, distortions and ignorance of much concerning the Holocaust and WWII are depressing. It is because of such pronouncements by your organization that most of World Jewry does – and always will – distrust organized Christianity, which has been the most significant cause of the persecution of Jews since the 5^th or 6^th century.” (E-mail, 4/24/99)

“[I]n vowing “Never Again” your ad ignores the ethnic slaughter in Kosovo… If you had made one clear reference to today’s atrocities, you message would appear less self-centered… in your justification of Christians and the Church you did not once mention Christ. While I have now doubt about the reach of His love, in your text I sense only self-love for your Church and ethnicity.” (E-mail, 4/23/99)

“[I]t is vicious of you to attempt to rewrite history and deny Polish Catholics’ widespread role in the mass murder of Jews.” (E-mail, 4/23/99)

“You didn’t mention “homosexuals” who were killed. Don’t they count? They too were killed by the Nazis… You are a bigot, YOU DESERVE WHAT YOU GET!” (Phone Call, 4/23/99)

“Stop trying to impede on the Holocaust, Jew basher!” (Phone Call, 4/23/99)

“Pope Pius caused Jews to be deported to the camps as families. He made a law not to separate families so they could all die.” (Phone Call, 4/23/99)

“Hitler was trained to hate the Jews by the Catholic Church.” (Phone call, 4/23/99)

“[O]nly 300 priests died in concentration camps in Poland and they died of old age.” (Phone Call, 4/23/99)

“You should not use the word “Holocaust” when referring to people who are not Jews. The Jews made up this word to describe Jewish pain and suffering.” (Phone Call, 4/23/99)

“The ad was wrong to say that Norway collaborated with Nazis – only Quisling did.” (Phone Call, 4/23/99)

“While the tragedy was mainly Jewish, it also was a Christian tragedy for it showed the failure and emptiness of Christian morality and ethics…Jews as young as newborns were simply tortured and murdered in the most sadistic manner by Christians. Only two percent refused to take part in these horrors… The Catholic Church is beyond redemption, and has no moral right to speak of any ethical issue because of their indifference…Every Christian no matter how religious, are among the perpetrators.” (Letter, 4/16/99)

“[Y]ou and your associates have bought the “holocaust” story lock, stock and barrel, we are wondering why you don’t ask the ADL for a substantial contribution for the ad. After all, you are doing yeoman work for the Jews, and most certainly not for true Christianity.” (Letter, 4/12/99)