On March 22, the Miami Herald ran another one of those anti-Catholic ads that some in the ranks of the Seventh Day Adventist’s like to publish. The ads are replete with attacks on the pope and Catholicism, in general. Rev. Thomas Wenski, Archdiocesan Director of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami, alerted the league to this issue and took it upon himself to direct his concerns to the newspaper’s publisher, David Lawrence. The league did likewise.

Father Wenski told Dr. Donohue that his discussion with Mr. Lawrence was encouraging, albeit it was not conclusive. Donohue wrote to Lawrence asking him not to accept such advertisement again. The league is awaiting a response.

The following is a letter by William Donohue published in the New York Times on April 8, 1997:

I’m not sure I understand Naomi Wolf (“Pro-Choice and Pro-Life,” Op-Ed, April 3). She defends abortion yet admits that “it involoves the possibility of another life.” So why not err on the side of caution?

If I drove down a street full of children playing and saw a large cardboard box in my path, would it not make sense to assume that if I ran over it I might take the life of an innocent person? And would not the right choice be evident to everyone?

A musical comedy, “Gunnin’ for Jesus,” features a gay alcoholic priest and a person imitating country singer, Tammy Faye. The woman dresses like the real Tammy Faye and is covered with mascara, green eyeshadow and the like.

It is striking that instead of pairing Tammy Faye with a Protestant evangelist like her ex-husband, Jim Baker, the play pits her with a priest. In one review of the play, it boasts that Tammy Faye sings “sacrilegious songs.” Another review delights in reporting that “Father Sullivan” is “outrageous enough to have the whole Catholic Church come down on him (if word of this Off-Off Broadway act ever reaches the powers-that-be.)”

The play was performed at the John Houseman Studio Theater in the Times Square area. It was vintage Times Square fare.

A New York Presbyterian pastor offered a “sincere apology” for running a radio ad that the league protested.

The ad, played on a classical radio station in New York, ridiculed Catholic behavior at Mass and made a pitch to listeners to come to his church instead.The ad began this way: “I love the Roman Catholic priest who walked to the podium and said, `The Lord be with you.’ And the people immediately responded, ‘And also with you.’ But one day that priest walked to the microphone, which wasn’t working properly. He tapped it and no sound came out. So he said, ‘There’s something wrong with this microphone.’ And the people replied, ‘And also with you!’”

While the joke wasn’t sacrilegious, what bothered the league was the next statement wherein the pastor invited people to come to his services as an alternative. Upon learning of the league’s objection, the pastor pulled the ad and said, “I’m so sorry for any misunderstanding that this may have caused you or others of the Roman Catholic faith.” He added, “Please accept my apology in the ecumenical spirit in which it is given.”

The league is pleased with this statement and considers the case closed.