Catholic League director of communications Susan A. Fani  attended a preview of the Bill Maher movie, “Religulous,” in New York City. In her report to Bill Donohue, it was clear that the documentary was more absurd than hateful.

Bill Maher has been on a crusade smearing Catholicism for many years, sometimes viciously doing so. It was therefore expected that “Religulous” would offer more of the same. But in fairness, this did not happen. As we already knew, Maher’s movie was not going to single out Catholicism for derision—Protestantism, Judaism, Islam and other religions were afforded cheap shots—but what we didn’t know is that he wouldn’t succumb to the kind of slanderous assaults on priests, for instance, that he has made in the past. Nor did we know that he would resist making vile comments about core religious beliefs.

We weren’t the only ones who thought the film was juvenile and poorly done. Rafar Guzman of Newsday called the film, “a nasty, condescending, small-minded film, self-amused and ultimately self-defeating,” full of “cheap shots and vulgar humor.” The AP’s Christine Lemire saw the movie as Maher “preaching to the choir,” and wouldn’t resonate with most people.

But Maher did pack more in his punch against Christianity while holding back a bit on members of the Jewish and Muslim faiths. Roger Moore of the Orlando Sentinel said of Maher, “He’s not quite an equal-opportunity offender. Maher travels to the Wailing Wall but goes awfully easy on the Chosen People…and limits himself to religions with apocalyptic leanings.”

Stephen Holden of the New York Times picked up on Maher’s  tip-toeing around the questions surrounding Jews and Muslims: “When ‘Religulous’ turns from evangelical Christianity to Judaism and Islam, its tone becomes uncertain and its rhythm choppy. An attitude of glib condescension is inadequate to address clashing religions that have turned the Middle East into an ideological cauldron. Jihadism and Orthodox Judaism are red-hot topics that Mr. Maher addresses too sketchily to convey the same authority he brings to Christianity.”

It looks like the public didn’t care too much for the movie either. The film came in 10th after its first weekend out, and dropped to 13th the next weekend.

We took note of what Maher said to Jay Leno on October 8. When asked about all of the fuss the film has caused, Maher said he was told backstage that Bill Donohue wants to fight him. That’s true. Regrettably, Maher still shows no interest.

In any event, it seems that Maher produced a dud, not that we were worried; the Catholic Church has survived far worse.

On the October 8 episode of the Fox program, “Bones,” the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation was ridiculed. The show, which features a female forensic specialist, Temperance “Bones” Brennan, and a male FBI agent, Seeley Booth, began with an exchange regarding a female Protestant minister who was reported missing.

The following is how the conversation went:

Booth: “She’s a pastor. Yeah. Looks like one of those grassroots community churches.”

Bones: “Huh. She was preparing for a sermon.”

Booth: “A pastor with augmentation and veneers.”

Bones: “So?”

Booth: “A spiritual leader shouldn’t be so vain.”

Bones: “The pope sits on a throne. He wears robes worth hundreds of dollars. Isn’t that vanity?”

Booth: “Oh really? You’re going after the pope now?”

Bones: “One pastor gets her teeth whitened, and the other drinks wine on Sunday mornings and tells everyone that it’s been miraculously transformed into blood. Which of those is more outlandish?”

This was not the first time we had ever received negative feedback about “Bones.” We received complaints following episodes that aired on April 19, 2006 and March 28, 2007 but we decided not to make a public protest because we didn’t think the incidents in question were clear-cut cases of bigotry. But for two reasons, this one was different: a) it cuts straight to the heart and soul of Catholicism and b) it was entirely gratuitous.

We issued a news release the day following the show and said:

“It does not matter that non-Catholics may not accept what happens at Mass. What matters is that they show respect. And to just throw this line in while the opening credits are running—about a minister, no less—shows how mean-spirited the writers are. If only they thought of Catholics as if they were an indigenous people, we’d be fine.”

We urged our members to contact Fox Entertainment’s Senior VP for Communications, Scott Grogin, at scott.grogin@fox.com

Anna Quindlen:

·  “I don’t do Catholic guilt. I don’t feel guilty about being at odds with the Church over the things I’m at odds with them over.”

·  “If I were pope for a year, I’d be the second woman pope. The first thing I would do is ordain women because that would lift the Church.”

Cokie Roberts:

·  “My husband, Steve, whom I met in college, is Jewish…We raised our kids as both. How was the Church going to respond to it? How could it say no?  There’s no intersection. It’s ridiculous that the Church would deny a Jewish godparent. The truth of it is, any one of us can baptize a child. It’s just some priest deciding to pull some power game.”

Bill Maher:

·  “I’ve heard the Catholic League’s not a big fan of mine. I won their award for being most critical of Catholics? No one insulted Catholics more than me and no one f***** more kids than the Catholic priests. I’ll take insulting Catholics and they can have f****** kids. How about that?”

Sister Joan Chittister, O.S.B.:

·  “Should you wear the habit? What’s the habit about? And it was a big thing for me, because I loved the tradition and I loved the order and I certainly didn’t want to lose it. I can honestly remember the day I said to myself, ‘Joan, it comes down to this. Are you or are you not a Benedictine in the bathtub?’”

James Carroll:

·  “I worship in the Catholic tradition and honor the Catholic institution, even while much of what I believe would disqualify me from a more rigid notion of what it is to be a Catholic. I don’t believe in the infallibity of the pope, for example.”

·   “My beloved Roman Catholic tradition is full of things I reject.”

Nancy Pelosi:

·  “When my mom asked if I wanted to be a nun, I said I’d rather be a priest.”

·  “My mother thought the most wonderful way to profess your faith if you were a girl was to be a nun.  The nuns were always wonderful, but the power was with the priest. I always thought that the nuns should be able to be priests.”

Frank McCourt:

·  “Every priest must have been trained in suffering and horror.”

·  “Now I believe that when you die there’s nothing—oblivion and memories.”

Susan Sarandon:

·  “I don’t know that there’s a heaven. And there certainly isn’t a hell. God is much bigger than that. I don’t think God is really insulted if you take her name in vain.”

Sister Laurie Brink, O.P.:

·  “Because I teach at the Catholic seminary, I am bound to not advocate women’s ordination and not even talk about it. We are not allowed to talk about some things. This one is a formal no-no. But I trust the spirit to open the hearts and mind of the hierarchy.  She can be very persuasive.”

Dan Aykroyd:

·  “Catholicism is no longer necessary for me to lead my life and lead it in a moral and ethical way. I am extremely ethical, and I am a moral person, but I don’t need Catholicism in my life today.”

·  “I’d embrace gay and lesbian priests, because I don’t believe homosexuality is immoral. I draw the line at bestiality because it’s unfair to the dog or the cat. If the dog or the cat had consciousness, then that’d be OK with me. Sexuality has nothing to do with morality.”

On page 11 of Catalyst, we reproduced the ad honoring the legacy of Pope Pius XII on the 50th anniversary of his death; this ad appeared in the October 9 edition of the New York Times.

On page 10 of Catalyst, we reproduced the ad that ran in the Washington Times weekend edition; the ad called attention to Sen. Obama’s NARAL record and his support of selective infanticide.