The New York Times has recently published numerous stories looking to tie Pope Benedict XVI with various sex abuse cases; one of those stories focused on an incident that took place in Germany 30 years ago by a priest named Peter Hullermann. At the time, the pope, known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was archbishop of Munich. Regarding how [...]
A week after the New York Times ran a front-page story on Father Peter Hullermann, the newspaper did its best to keep the flame alive. “Pope Was Told Pedophile Priest Would Get Transfer,” was the headline the Times used for its piece on the pope. But all it said was that his office “was copied on a memo” about the [...]
On April 7, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote a piece entitled, “The Church’s Judas Moment.” We couldn’t resist a rejoinder. It is next to impossible for Dowd to write a piece about the Catholic Church without sounding whiny. Always the victim, Dowd is forever put upon by the boys in robes. That she desperately wants to [...]
After reports in Ireland and Germany were published declaring decades-old cases of priestly sexual abuse, an array of articles, surveys and talk-show discussions focused on the need for the Catholic Church to end the celibacy requirement for priests. The implication, of course, is that more heterosexuals, and fewer homosexuals, would therefore be drawn to the priesthood, [...]
In April, two news stories broke on priestly sexual abuse that warranted our comment; one of the stories was published by the Associated Press and the other one by Media Matters. The AP story admitted that “The overwhelming majority of the victims were adolescents. That means very few guilty priests were pedophiles, a term mental health [...]
Every news story and commentary that stated that the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church is widening is factually wrong. The evidence, in fact, shows just the opposite—it has been contracting for approximately a quarter century. Here’s the proof: the John Jay College of Criminal Justice—not exactly an arm of the Catholic Church—has shown repeatedly [...]
Recently the Unites States Conference of Catholic Bishops released its 2009 annual report on priestly sexual abuse and for the most part, the media decided to look right past it. There was a 36 percent decline in allegations of clergy sexual abuse between 2008 and 2009. As usual, most of the alleged offenders are either dead [...]
For years TV producers have been telling Bill Donohue that his critics have implored them to never invite him back on any program. But they always do. While the media are overwhelmingly liberal, they have an obligation to offer different points of view. Hence, their non-stop invitations asking Donohue to speak. The latest attempt to silence [...]
Recently Bill Donohue replied to those who accused him of defending Father Marcial Maciel, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ. Maciel sexually abused seminarians and fathered a child. Below is Donohue’s response: “Many articles have recently been written claiming that a ‘who’s who’ of conservative Catholic intellectuals once defended Father Maciel from charges of sexual [...]
On April 14, Harry Knox, an Obama appointee to the Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, gave instructions to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican’s number-two man. “As pastor,” Knox said of the Vatican secretary of state, “he should be spending night and day seeking to heal the wounds inflicted by the Church on the victims [...]
