Bill Donohue comments on a petition drive against Bishop Robert Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph:

Approximately 100,000 persons have signed a petition demanding the resignation of Bishop Robert Finn. It’s a phony exercise.

The petition is found on the website of change.org, home to mostly left-wing activists. Anyone can sign it—you don’t have to be Catholic or from Finn’s diocese. For example, almost 7,400 signatures were sent to the diocese, and all but approximately 150 were from outside the area. Of the signatories online, activists from foreign countries have signed. In short, there is no grassroots rebellion against Bishop Finn.

We know who Bishop Finn’s enemies are: the Kansas City Star and the National Catholic Reporter (both are located in Kansas City, Missouri). They are the real source behind this phony petition drive: Both have been beating the drum calling for Finn to resign. It is not child sexual abuse that angers them, it is where it takes place and under whose purview it is.

There has been an ongoing story in the Orthodox Jewish community of rampant child sexual abuse, intimidation of victims, and a refusal to cooperate with the authorities, yet the Star has never covered this issue and the Reporter has largely ignored it (both publications carry national stories, not just local ones).

Similarly, at the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation in North Dakota, child rapists abound and kids are being murdered, yet neither the Star nor the Reporter have anything to say about it. That’s because they are too busy focusing on twisted clergy who take crotch-shot pictures of children fully clothed.

For the past decade, the most important goal of anti-Catholics has been to bring down a bishop. That’s what is behind this petition drive.

Bill Donohue assesses the reforms that were authorized ten years ago when the bishops assembled in Dallas:

Tomorrow the bishops will meet in Atlanta, ten years after they instituted reforms to combat the sexual abuse of minors. Though there is room for honest disagreement on why the problem has abated—it has almost disappeared—it is indisputable that the Catholic Church has the best record of any institution today regarding this matter, religious or secular. In the last three years, there has been an average of 7 new credible accusations made against over 40,000 priests.

Millions of employees and children have gone through programs to combat this problem. The “zero tolerance” policy that was adopted has won much praise, though in practice it has had a deleterious impact on the rights of the accused. Moreover, spurious accusations abound. For example, one week ago today an allegation was made in Montana against a nun who was said to fondle a boy in 1943, two years before the end of World War II.

Two years ago we investigated which entities in the media, education, and religion had adopted a “zero tolerance” policy for handling cases of sexual abuse: we found few that did, and none that had anything analogous to the Dallas reforms.

Today attention has turned to the public schools where sexual abuse is still rampant, as well as to elite private schools such as Horace Mann in the Bronx; the Orthodox Jewish community is currently facing dozens of cases. Still, it is old cases involving priests that garner most of the press: in Philadelphia, Lynne Abraham, the D.A. who started the grand jury hearings over a decade ago, never once investigated other religions, though she was explicitly asked to do so. Her bias is palpable.

In all of these institutions, homosexuals account for a disproportionate share of the abuse, yet it is almost never reported. Even now the media (especially in Philly) tag Jerry Sandusky as a pedophile, though yesterday his first accuser identified the former Penn State coach as a homosexual.

Last week, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch spoke at a Jewish event in New York where he promoted strong Catholic-Jewish ties. “We’re 13 million Jews in the whole world—less than one-tenth of 1 percent. And we need allies. The best ally we can have is the Catholic Church.”

Catholic League president Bill Donohue addressed Mayor Koch’s comments today:

In my 2009 book, Secular Sabotage, I said that Ed Koch was “one of the greatest friends that Catholics have ever had.” What he said last week only confirms his status—he is a genuine friend to Catholics. But it is not just Jews who need Catholics: the reverse is also true.

In the current edition of Commentary, an outstanding magazine with a long Jewish tradition, there is a chilling article by David Aikman, “The Worldwide Attack on Christians.” Aikman describes, in excruciating detail, how in 131 of the world’s 193 countries, Christian persecution is rampant; most of the oppression is occurring in Communist and Muslim-dominated nations. In other words, Christians need allies as well, and the Jewish community is the logical place for us to turn.

In the 1990s, I had several exchanges with A.M. Rosenthal of the New York Times. Like Koch, he was a Jewish heavyweight who often spoke about Christian persecution, and the need for Jews to align themselves with Catholics. Indeed, Rosenthal was ahead of the curve on this issue.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the letter I received from Ed Koch today about two Orthodox Jewish attorneys who recently made a series of incredibly anti-Catholic comments in a mid-Western courtroom; we are pushing for them to be disbarred, and the process is underway. Koch said, “I agree with you that the conduct displayed deserves maximum punishment.”

The Catholic League is proud to stand with the Jewish community in this time of unrelenting attacks on both Catholics and Jews.

In last night’s monologue, Jay Leno commented on an auxiliary bishop from Los Angeles who recently stepped down after admitting he fathered two children. After explaining what happened, Leno said, “I thought bishops could only move diagonally. I didn’t know they could move up and down.” When making these remarks, Leno gestured with his hands, waving them side to side, and then up and down.

Leno went on to say, “Isn’t it amazing the bishop of L.A. confessed to fathering two children? But, hey, he didn’t use birth control, so at least he followed the church rules. Ya gotta give him credit for that.”

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:

There are those who will say, sure, Leno was tough on the bishop, but what do you expect from a late-night talk show host? After all, had there been no wrongdoing, there would have been no wise crack. This view is seriously mistaken.

The most serious cases of the sexual abuse of minors currently taking place are among Orthodox Jewish rabbis in Brooklyn, yet Leno would never tell a joke at their expense. The rate of HIV/AIDS among homosexuals is 50 times higher than in the rest of the population, yet Leno would never tell a joke at their expense. [Note: making such jokes would be equally offensive.] But if there is one wayward Catholic clergyman, it’s not only acceptable to ridicule him, it’s okay to mock the teachings of the Catholic Church.

What makes this so disturbing is Leno’s sordid history: he has a long track record of bashing Catholicism. To read about this man’s serial problems, click here.

Contact Jennifer Salke, president, NBC Entertainment: jennifer.salke@nbcuni.com

On Saturday, the Catholic Church was the subject of a critical editorial in the New York Times, and yesterday, columnist Maureen Dowd joined the attack. At issue is a recent set of Vatican norms. Catholic League president Bill Donohue addressed their concerns today:

On July 15, the Vatican released new norms that were divided into 31 articles. The New York Times editorial found unacceptable those governing the sexual abuse of minors, and the stricture against women’s ordination. Maureen Dowd focused on the same issues, though her style was the usual boilerplate.

They need to get a few things straight: the issue of women’s ordination in the Catholic Church should be treated the way the Times treats the Orthodox Jewish strictures against eating pork and the Muslim practice of barring sex during the day while Ramadan is being observed—with thundering silence. Moreover, the Times never criticizes Orthodox Jews and Muslims for segregating the sexes in many settings. Nor should it: it’s no one’s business. Would that it do the same for Catholicism’s proscription of women’s ordination.

By contrast, it is perfectly acceptable to take issue with any religion’s positions on public policy matters, e.g., abortion, school vouchers, embryonic stem cell research and gay marriage. But the house rules of all religions need to be respected (save for those few instances where innocent life may be threatened). Not to do so is to show contempt for diversity. And that is exactly what the Times is doing: it is using its secular yardstick to measure the doctrinal prerogatives of Catholicism.

Regarding the Vatican’s norms on the sexual abuse of minors—a legitimate source of criticism—we would still like to know why the Times has yet to criticize the public schools in the United States for not modeling their norms on the ones adopted by the Catholic Church at home, and in Rome. It is the former that have “rubber rooms”—not the latter.

Contact Arthur S. Brisbane, the new public editor of the newspaper: public@nytimes.com

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on an editorial in yesterday’s New York Times, “Justice for Child Abuse Victims,” that criticizes the Catholic Church:

The New York Times says “The Catholic Church is working against the interests of child abuse victims in state legislatures around the country,” citing as proof its attempt to block laws in states that would amend the statute of limitations for alleged victims of sexual abuse. It also urges New York lawmakers to pass a bill on this issue, noting opposition from the New York State Catholic Conference and Orthodox Jewish officials.

The editorial is deceptive and patently unfair. What the Catholic Church is doing is protecting itself from a vindictive campaign to settle old scores by looting the coffers of the Church. Interestingly, the Times, which is quick to demand constitutional rights for accused Muslim terrorists, has no such interest in protecting the rights of accused priests.

Last year, there were two bills introduced in New York State on this issue: one applied only to private institutions; the other applied to both the private and the public sectors. The Times endorsed the former, thus showing its preference for sticking it to Catholics and for (some) discriminatory legislation.

The Times editorial fails to note that in addition to Catholics and Orthodox Jews, those opposed to the New York bill include the New York State School Boards Association, the New York Council of School Superintendents, the New York Association of Counties, the New York Conference of Mayors, the New York Farm Bureau, the New York Medical Society and the New York Society of Professional Engineers. But to mention these groups would work against the Times’ agenda of convincing readers that the Church is “working against the interests of child abuse victims.” Evidently, the Times is incapable of being shamed these days.

Contact public editor Clark Hoyt: public@nytimes.com

Catholic League president Bill Donohue points to an article in today’s New York Times as an example of its tendency to allow editorial commentary to creep into its hard news stories:

Rachel Donadio wonders whether the Vatican “will confront the failures in church leadership that allowed sexual abuse to go unpunished.” She adds that “the culture of the church was for decades skewed against public disclosure and cooperation with the civil authorities,” and that only now are the bishops required to report abuse to the authorities. She consistently refers to the problem as pedophilia.

Perhaps Ms. Donadio missed reading the Times story of April 10 on Leslie Lothstein, a psychologist who has treated about 300 priests. He says that “only a small minority were true pedophiles.” Correct. All the data show that most of the molesters have been homosexuals. 

Yes, most abusers went unpunished, but it is wrong to imply some sinister motive like “secrecy.” For example, the Murphy report on abuse in Dublin found that most bishops followed the advice of therapists—not canon law. In short, had Church law been followed, instead of listening to the prevailing psycho-babble, things might have been different. 

The idea that the Catholic Church is just now reporting cases of abuse is a red herring: no institution has a record of reporting abuse. Here is what Paul Vitello of the Timeswrote last October: “For decades, prosecutors in Brooklyn routinely pursued child molesters from every major ethnic and religious segment of the borough’s diverse population. Except one.” The exception was the Orthodox Jewish community, and this is because Orthodox Jews have “long [been] forbidden to inform on one another without permission from the rabbis who lead them.”

There is no law in most places mandating the reporting of any crime, and that is why fingering the Catholic Church smacks of bigotry.

We will not stop until the Times stops with its selective outrage.

Contact public editor Clark Hoyt: public@nytimes.com

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on a front-page news story in today’s New York Times on the problem of child sexual abuse:

Reporter Paul Vitello shows the shocking extent of child sexual abuse in Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community. He also details the cover-ups that have long been aided and abetted by law enforcement.

Where have all the church-and-state advocates been all these years when Orthodox rabbis were allowed by the D.A.’s office to settle these cases “internally”? Where have all the professional victims’ groups been in staging protests outside synagogues? Where have all the sue-happy lawyers been seeking to plunder the Orthodox? Where have all the comedians and late-night entertainers been in cracking jokes about rabbis raping kids?

It’s not just Orthodox Jews who have been given a pass: no group has gotten away easier than public school employees. Consider this. Because public school students have only 90 days to file suit, it is already too late to prosecute a teacher—in virtually every state—who molested a minor as recently as last spring. But if the offense took place in a Catholic school, the student has years to file suit. Not only that, molesting teachers are still shuffled from one school district to another; it’s called “passing the trash.”

Orthodox Jews try cases of child rape in rabbinical courts. Imagine if the Catholic Church failed to report abuse cases to the authorities and decided instead to institute its own ecclesial courts? Today’s article quotes a Jewish attorney urging law enforcement to recognize “religious sensitivities” for the guilty by seeking alternatives to prison. Allow a Catholic attorney to advise the same and it’s called corruption.

Last year, 40 minors in this small Jewish community said they were abused. Last year, there were 10 such allegations in the entire Catholic Church in all 50 states. Catholics are fed up with the duplicity. It’s not just Roman Polanski who can rape and run with impunity these days. The politics of child rape is sickening.