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Catholic League (U.S.)

October 22, 2023

The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, often shortened to the Catholic League, is an American Catholic organization whose stated purpose is to "defend the right of Catholics – lay and clergy alike – to participate in American public life without defamation or discrimination."[3] The Catholic League states that it is "motivated by the letter and the spirit of the First Amendment ... to safeguard both the religious freedom rights and the free speech rights of Catholics whenever and wherever they are threatened."[3] According to the Encyclopedia of American Religion and Politics, the league "is regarded by many as the preeminent organization representing the views of American lay Catholics."[4]

Catholic League
Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights
Logo of the Catholic League
Formation1973; 50 years ago (1973)
FounderVirgil Blum
Founded atMilwaukee, Wisconsin, US
Legal status501(c)(3) organization
PurposeRoman Catholic advocacy
HeadquartersNew York City, New York, US
Region
United States
President
Bill Donohue
Chairman
Walter Knysz Jr.
Revenue (2019)
US$3.5 million[1]
Expenses (2019)US$3.3 million[1]
Endowment (2019)US$30.8 million[2]
Staff
10
Websitehttps://www.catholicleague.org/

Founded in 1973 by the Jesuit priest Virgil Blum, the Catholic League was formed to counter discrimination against Catholics in American government and popular culture. The low-profile group initiated public education campaigns and some lawsuits. In 1993 the group became much more aggressive with a new president, the former sociology professor Bill Donohue, who also increased its size to become the largest Catholic advocacy organization in the US.[4] The Catholic League is known for press releases about what it views as anti-Catholic and anti-Christian themes in mass media.

The Catholic League has taken a stand against anything they perceive as anti-Catholic, including the entertainment industry, certain art exhibits, school programs for sex education, government-funded contraception and abortion, media bias, restrictions against anti-abortion activism, and restrictions on religious schools.[5] It publishes a journal, Catalyst, and operates a website.

The league under Donohue's leadership is criticized for its conservatism and for its combative responses to high-profile media stories.[4][6] Besides education campaigns, the group issues condemnations, initiates boycotts and protests, defends priests against accusations of child sexual abuse, fights proposed legislation and threatens legal action against what it sees as bigotry against Catholics, irreverence against religious figures, and attacks on Catholic dogma.[4][7] However, the Catholic League stresses that "it does not speak authoritatively for the Church as a whole."[4]

Organizational overview Edit

History Edit

The league was founded in Milwaukee on May 12, 1973, by Virgil Blum.[3][8][9] Blum served as president of the Catholic League until 1988.[citation needed][10] John Tierney served as president from October 1990[11] to 1993.[12]

Bill Donohue Edit

Main article: Bill Donohue

Since 1993, the league has been led by its board of directors president, Bill Donohue, who works with a small number of organizational staffers. In a 1999 New York Times article, a reporter said Donohue is pragmatic in regards to religion, "media savvy" and "steers clear of divisive debates on theological doctrines and secular politics".[13] The article said Donohue "fans simmering anger with inflammatory news releases, a Web site and newsletter"[13] with "scathing attacks on the blasphemous and the irreverent".[13] In a 2007 interview, Salon Life staff writer Rebecca Traister discussed Donohue with Frances Kissling, former head of the organization Catholics for Choice, which opposes Catholic teaching on abortion, who characterized Donohue as "abusive", and stated she avoided doing media interviews with him for this reason.[14]

Operations and organization Edit

The league is organized under a board of directors chaired by Walter Knysz. The league also has board of advisors, consisting of prominent lay Catholics like Brent Bozell, Linda Chavez, Mary Ann Glendon, Alan Keyes, Tom Monaghan, and George Weigel.[3] The league issues a journal, Catalyst, as well as reports, such as Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust, books, brochures and an annual Report on Anti-Catholicism.[15]

Association with the Catholic Church Edit

The Catholic League is a lay Catholic organization that is independent of the Catholic Church. However, it is listed in The Official Catholic Directory (see the Miscellaneous section under the Archdiocese of New York). According to a New York Times interviewer, the organization "maintains close ties to the New York Archdiocese leadership. Several bishops make personal donations.[citation needed] John Cardinal O'Connor spoke at the group's 25th anniversary reception in 1998 and vacated part of his suite for its expanding operations, said Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York."[13] Timothy Cardinal Dolan spoke at the Catholic League's 50th anniversay celebration on April 27, 2023.[16] The league includes on its website endorsements from many prominent clerics.[17]

Membership Edit

The New York Times reported that the Catholic League had 11,000 members when Donohue took over the group in 1993. By 1999, membership had grown to 350,000, two-thirds of whom were paying members.[13][dubious – discuss] This is the last estimate of overall membership that the league made. The league's 2003 statement showed 15,000 members in Nassau and Suffolk counties of New York alone.[18] Annual donations entitle members to home delivery of the print version of Catalyst, the group's monthly journal, which is also available for free on the Catholic League's website.[19]

Political alignment Edit

The Catholic League says it is politically neutral, which is mostly required of non-profits. The website states, "The League wishes to be neither left nor right, liberal or conservative, revolutionary or reactionary."[3] Although often characterized as conservative[20][21][22][23] the league has at times been at odds with conservative figures and organizations. For example, they criticized the anti-illegal immigration group, the Minutemen, for opposing a San Diego priest's facilitation of employment for Latino immigrants and for condemning the church as a whole in public statements about the matter.[24] The Catholic League also condemned pastor and televangelist John Hagee for what they called "anti-Catholic hate speech" and called upon John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign to renounce this alleged bigotry.[25]

Christian Leftist John Swomley criticized the Catholic League as the "most dangerous of the far-right organizations."[4] Donohue has been called "right-wing"[26] and "a conservative reactionary who wants to undo the work of Vatican II and suppress varying opinions within the Church."[27]

Activities Edit

Joan Osborne Edit

In 1996, Donohue took issue with Joan Osborne over her song "One of Us", which explores the question of what it would be like if God were a human being.[28] Donohue questioned the point of the song and brought up her activism calling for support of Rock for Choice and other pro-choice groups stating, "It is no wonder that Joan Osborne instructs her fans to donate their time and money to Planned Parenthood. It is of a piece with her politics and her prejudices. Her songs and videos offer a curious mix of both, the effect of which is to dance awfully close to the line of Catholic baiting."[29] Religious educator Paul Moses stated that Donohue's was a "tortured reading" and he saw Osborne as having "the Catholic imagination" with the song "awakening ... spiritual hunger".[30] Osborne said, in a letter to fans, that "the church's attitudes toward women and gays make the pope look far more ridiculous than any pop song could" and that she did not write the song, which "speaks of the pope only with respect."[30] Donohue also admitted that he was treating the issue in a "kind of a prophylactic approach" because "cultures are changed as a result of patterns."[30]

Nothing Sacred Edit

In 1997, Donohue declared the ABC show Nothing Sacred as deeply offensive to Catholicism, although not anti-Catholic in the traditional sense.[31][32] Calling for a boycott, he stated that the show portrayed Catholics with a traditional view as cold or cruel while glorifying more the maverick, irreverent voices in the community. However, the show was defended by some Catholics and had been written with the consultation of Jesuits, from which it later won the Humanitas Prize. Many Catholics agreed with him that the show was hostile to the beliefs and values of the Catholic Church, and ABC canceled Nothing Sacred after less than a season, reportedly for poor ratings. Observers think Donohue may have played a significant role in the show's rapid demise as advertisers often become leery of shows deemed "controversial".[33][34] With regard to the controversy, Henry Herx, director of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Office of Film and Broadcast (successor to the National Legion of Decency), emphasized that the Catholic League is not an official agency of the church.[35]

Dogma Edit

The year 1999 saw the release of Kevin Smith's controversial film Dogma. Smith was a practicing Catholic, as Kevin Smith confirmed in an interview on the film's DVD. Several religious groups, especially the Catholic League, said the film was anti-Catholic and blasphemous, and organized protests, including one that took place at the October 4 premiere of the film at Lincoln Center in New York City.[36]

Smith said that several of the protests occurred before the film was even finished, suggesting that the protests were more about media attention for the groups than for whatever was controversial about the film.[37] The Catholic League's main complaints were that the film's main character is supposedly a descendant of Mary, who happens to work in an abortion clinic, which were seen as ironic conventions for a Catholic.[citation needed] The film's distributor, Miramax, removed its name from the production, and hired attorney Dan Petrocelli to defend it publicly. Petrocelli accused Donohue of trying to stir a violent reaction to the film. Donohue responded by taking out an op-ed ad in the New York Times on September 12, 1999, quoting attempts by Petrocelli and Smith to stifle his free speech.[38]

According to Smith, "[Donohue] actually invited me out to have a beer after making my life hell for six months."[39]

The Passion of the Christ Edit

Donohue is a staunch defender of Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ. On the December 8, 2004, broadcast of Scarborough Country, he stated: "Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. It's not a secret, OK? And I'm not afraid to say it. That's why they hate this movie. It's about Jesus Christ, and it's about truth. It's about the Messiah."[40]

In Donohue's book, Secular Sabotage: How Liberals Are Destroying Religion and Culture in America, he responded to what he believed was a misrepresentation of his comments via taking them out of context. For example, in that same interview, he said the following: "You have got secular Jews. You have got a lot of ex-Catholic priests who hate the Catholic Church, wacko Protestants in the same group." Later in the debate, in that same segment of the interview, he said, "There are secularists from every ethnic and religious stock," emphasizing that when people talk about Hollywood, they are "talking mostly about secular Jews."[41]

In his book, Donohue also wrote the following: "The Forward, a Jewish weekly, published an editorial in 2004 saying it was merely a 'sociological observation' to note that 'Jews run Hollywood.' The newspaper quite rightly said that to say 'the Jews run Hollywood' is an entirely different matter, one that smacks of anti-Semitism. So it concluded that 'No, 'the Jews' don't run Hollywood. But Jews do, just as Koreans predominate in New York dry-cleaning and blacks rule in basketball.'"[41]

Bush holiday cards Edit

After US President George W. Bush used the term "Holidays" instead of "Christmas" on the White House 2005 Christmas cards, Donohue stated "The Bush administration has suffered a loss of will and ... they have capitulated to the worst elements in our culture."[42]

John Edwards campaign staffers Edit

Donohue demanded that John Edwards fire two of his presidential campaign staffers in February 2007, charging that they were "anti-Catholic, vulgar, trash-talking bigots." He cited a blog written by Amanda Marcotte regarding the church's opposition to birth control, saying it forces women "to bear more tithing Catholics". He also cited another posting called "Pope and Fascists". Donohue also objected to one of the staffers describing President Bush's "wingnut Christofacist base".

Donohue called the statements "incendiary" and "inflammatory", saying, "It's scurrilous and has no place being part of someone's resume who's going to work for a potential presidential contender." On February 8, John Edwards addressed the writings of the staffers, Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan, saying "that kind of intolerant language will not be permitted from anyone on my campaign, whether it's intended as satire, humor or anything else."[43] Donohue insisted that Edwards fire the pair immediately.

After the complaints, Marcotte wrote, "The Christian version of the virgin birth is generally interpreted as super-patriarchal where God is viewed as so powerful he can impregnate without befouling himself by touching a woman, and women are nothing but vessels." After Marcotte parted with the campaign, Donohue stated, "It is not enough that one foul-mouthed anti-Christian bigot, Amanda Marcotte, has quit. Melissa McEwan must go as well. Either Edwards shows her the door or she bolts on her own. There is no third choice – the Catholic League will see to it that this issue won't go away." He continued, "The Edwards campaign is in total disarray and the meltdown will continue unless McEwan is removed from his staff. The fact that Marcotte had to quit suggests that Edwards doesn't have the guts to do what is morally right." McEwan resigned on February 13, 2007,[44] citing the hostility of the Catholic League and emails threatening rape and murder.[45]

Kathy Griffin Edit

On September 8, 2007, Kathy Griffin won her first Emmy for season two of reality show Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List. Griffin stirred up controversy with her acceptance speech, saying that "a lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. He didn't help me a bit." She went on to hold up her Emmy and say, "Suck it, Jesus, this award is my god now!"[46]

Her remarks were quickly condemned by Donohue, who urged the TV academy to "denounce Griffin's obscene and blasphemous comment."[47] After the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences decided to censor Griffin's remark, Donohue said, "The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences reacted responsibly to our criticism of Kathy Griffin's verbal assault on 85 percent of the US population. The ball is now in Griffin's court. The self-described 'complete militant atheist' needs to make a swift and unequivocal apology to Christians. If she does, she will get this issue behind her. If she does not, she will be remembered as a foul-mouthed bigot for the rest of her life."[48]

In a statement issued by her publicist, Griffin responded to the denouncement by the Catholic League with a question: "Am I the only Catholic left with a sense of humor?"[49]

The Golden Compass Edit

As part of a two-month protest campaign, Donohue called for a boycott of the film The Golden Compass, believing that while the religious elements of the film would be "watered down" from the source novels, the film would still encourage children to read the series, which Donohue says "denigrates Christianity" and promotes "atheism for kids",[50] citing author Philip Pullman as saying that he is "trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief."[51] Donohue hopes that "the film [will fail] to meet box office expectations and that [Pullman's] books attract few buyers."[52] The call for a boycott resulted in action by some Catholic groups in the US and Canada, and a Catholic school board in Ontario has ordered the source novel removed from its library shelves. Pullman has since said that the books do not have a religious agenda, saying of Donohue's call for a boycott, "Why don't we trust readers? Why don't we trust filmgoers? Oh, it causes me to shake my head with sorrow that such nitwits could be loose in the world."[53] Pullman described the Catholic League as "a tiny, unrepresentative organisation," suggesting that "the only person Bill Donohue represents is himself."[54]

A lay person who reviews movies for the bishops' conference gave the movie high marks, but after the protest by the Catholic League, the bishops ordered this review to be withdrawn.[55]

Other evangelical groups, such as The Christian Film and Television Commission, adopted a "wait-and-see" approach to the film before deciding upon any action,[56] as did the Roman Catholic Church in Britain.[53]

Some commentators indicated that they believed the criticism would prove ultimately impotent and that the negative publicity would prove a boon for the film's box office.[57][58]

According to Donohue, this prediction proved to be false.[59] The movie did so poorly at the box office, Donohue says, that Pullman decided not to go forward with the sequels and blamed Donohue for his decision.[60]

Donohue's position on this controversy was spelled out in a 31-page booklet, "The Golden Compass: Agenda Unmasked". It details his objections to what he said were Pullman's anti-Catholic comments, his books, and the movie.[61]

Eucharist incident Edit

In July 2008, a controversy arose surrounding a Communion rite altercation involving Webster Cook, a student and member of the University of Central Florida (UCF) student senate. Cook attended a Catholic Mass on campus and was given the Eucharist but walked out without consuming it. This action was allegedly related to his protest of the use of public funds for organized worship in the student union hall. According to Donohue, Cook's actions were a form of desecration of the sacrament. Cook was proposed for censure by the student senate and was criticized by local media. He also received numerous death threats.[62][63]

On his blog Pharyngula, biologist and University of Minnesota Morris (UMM) professor PZ Myers publicly expressed support for Cook as well as outrage that Fox News appeared to be inciting readers to cause further problems for the student.[62][64][65] Myers invited readers to acquire some consecrated Eucharistic Hosts, which he described as "crackers", for him to treat "with profound disrespect."[66]

The Catholic League accused Myers of anti-Catholic bigotry and asked UMM and the Minnesota State Legislature to take action against Myers.[67][68] Myers then also received threats and hate mail.[69] The Catholic League also called for Cook to be expelled from the university, with Donohue describing his confiscation of the Eucharist as a hate crime as well as a form of kidnapping.[66] Donohue also accused those who supported Cook of anti-Catholic bigotry, and sent a letter to the UCF asking them to take legal action against Cook.[70] A week after the initial communion Cook apologized and returned the Host. The Catholic League, however, continued to lobby the university for his expulsion.[70]

Boycott of Roger Smith Hotel Edit

In March 2007, a sculpture created by the Italian-Canadian artist Cosimo Cavallaro was to be displayed at Manhattan's Roger Smith Hotel. The sculpture, entitled "My Sweet Lord", was of a crucified Christ, nude, in molded chocolate. Although the artist says he is a practicing Catholic, Bill Donohue decried the work as "hate speech", "garbage", and "one of the worst assaults on Christian sensibilities ever,"[71] describing Cavallaro as a "loser artist" and telling him in a television interview on Anderson Cooper 360, "You're lucky I'm not like the Taliban, because you would lose more than your head."

Under the leadership of Donohue, the Catholic League organized a boycott of the hotel aimed at forcing it to remove the statue. The hotel's management stating that the protests "brought to our attention the unintended reaction of you and other conscientious friends", eventually agreed to the league's calls, prompting the curator of the gallery, Matt Semler, to resign in protest.[71] Semler said the six-foot sculpture was the victim of "a strong-arming from people who haven't seen the show, seen what we're doing. They jumped to conclusions completely contrary to our intentions."[71]

Church child sex abuse issue Edit

Main article: Catholic sex abuse cases

Donohue said, in October 2009, that the Catholic Church has a "homosexual", not a "pedophilia", problem, citing the John Jay Report.[72] The Catholic League has blamed the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), for having "hired, hidden, defended, enabled, ignored and concealed the crimes of child molesters."[73] The Catholic League defended attacking SNAP on the grounds that they were "a menace to the Catholic Church."[74]

In a November 18, 2009, Politics Daily column about Smith's research, David Gibson reported that sexual identity should be "separated from the problem of sexual abuse," according to criminologist Margaret Smith. Smith said, "we do not find a connection between homosexual identity and an increased likelihood of sexual abuse."[75] Nevertheless, Donohue says that this is a homosexual problem in the Catholic Church and not a pedophile one.[75]

Donohue has been asked to respond to Smith's position many times. He argues that "if the acts were of a homosexual nature, and we know they were, it does not matter what the self-perception of the victimizers were."[76]

Irish Child Abuse Commission Edit

Main article: Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse

On May 20, 2009, Reuters reported the results of a nine-year investigation by the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, which looked into decades of endemic sexual abuse against children in Catholic-run reform schools in Ireland.[77] In reaction to this report, popularly known as the Ryan Report, Donohue issued a statement downplaying the seriousness of the cases, questioning the inclusion of voyeurism and "inappropriate sexual talk" as instances of sexual abuse along with the more serious charge of rape.[78] Donohue said that rape constituted only 12 percent of the listed sexual abuse cases in the Ryan report, and that priests committed only 12 percent of the listed rapes – the other 88 percent were committed by laypersons and religious brothers.[78]

Since the Ryan Report was released, Donohue has been defending the church and saying that much of the outrage is "moral hysteria". While stating that he agrees that rape and physical abuse are wrong and that he would not defend those actions, he says the report has conflated these abuses with "lesser" forms of punishment and is therefore not as serious. He also says many of the purported forms of abuse found by the commission were present and acceptable in the time period.[79]

The Irish politician and child rape victim Colm O'Gorman was highly critical of such statements made by Donohue on the Irish radio show The Last Word.[79] O'Gorman later wrote that Donohue's analysis was shockingly "simplistic".[80]

Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home Edit

Main article: Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home

In 2014, in the face of a public pressure campaign calling for the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and certain related matters in Ireland, Bill Donohue began his own campaign to challenge the prevailing narrative, going so far as to author a special report on the subject.[81] Donohue largely dismissed the critics as being motivated by politics or liking "to bash the Church."[82] Donohue took exception with the findings presented by Catherine Corless, who he described as "an amateur historian." Donohue and Corless debated on Irish radio, and he wrote extensively challenging her work and her credentials. Additionally, Donohue found flaws with how the media portrayed the mass graves found at the Mother and Baby Home, claiming that "the statement issued by the Mother and Baby Commission was disturbing, but it never mentioned anything about a mass grave."[83] From 2014 to 2017, Donohue issued two special reports and numerous pieces exploring why he believed this story was evidence of anti-Catholicism.

Harry Knox and the White House faith-based office Edit

When President Barack Obama named gay activist[84] Harry Knox to the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships in 2009, Donohue termed Knox "an anti-Catholic bigot who has called the pope a liar."[84]

David Wojnarowicz and National Portrait Gallery Edit

In November 2010, a portion of a video by the late artist David Wojnarowicz, which was included in an exhibit focused on gay-themed art, "Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture" at the National Portrait Gallery, was removed after complaints from the Catholic League.[85] Columnist Frank Rich said of the intervention and removal that the Smithsonian had been "bullied by bigots" and quoted the Los Angeles Times art critic, Christopher Knight, to the same effect.[86] Tracing the evolution of the issue, Rich cited a piece by Kriston Capps which in turn said "the role of Penny Starr remains hazy. [However, a]...reporter and conservative advocate, [Starr] deserves much credit for both instigating" the negative attention to the piece of art amongst a number in the show.[87]

Donohue's central complaint was the content of the "vile video", as he called it. He objected to the video because it showed "large ants eating away at Jesus on a crucifix," and was hosted in a museum funded by taxpayers.[88]

Mortara case Edit

Responding to David Kertzer's book and Alfred Uhry's play about the Mortara case, in which a Jewish boy was kidnapped on the order of the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition, the Catholic League charged: "Whether it's based on fact or fiction, or whether it’s portrayed on the stage or on the screen, the Catholic bashers are a busy lot these days. They are as good at twisting the facts as they are at developing fictional accounts. Truth doesn’t matter. What matters is results."[89]

What Donohue actually said was quite different from the way some people were spinning his words.

Why was Mortara baptized in the first place? Because the servant girl thought he was dying and was in need of salvation. Why was he taken from his family? Because it was the considered judgment of the Church at the time that a baptized Christian could not be raised in a Jewish home. He had to be removed lest the Church be party to apostasy. The validity of Baptism was also being tested. And so what happened to this poor kid? As he grew up he developed a father-son relationship with Pope Pius IX. He even became a priest.[90]

Walt's Disenchanted Kingdom Edit

In January 2023, the Catholic League released Walt's Disenchanted Kingdom. This documentary recounts the cultural shift at Disney. The film was written and directed by Jason Killian Meath. Bill Donohue served as the executive producer. It is hosted by Mercedes Schlapp and features interviews with Donohue, Tony Perkins, Ben Carson, Vivek Ramaswamy, Miranda Devine, Brent Bozell, David Horowitz, and Christian Toto. The film was initially released to SalemNow, YouTube, Rumble, and Amazon Prime Video.[91]

Walt's Disenchanted Kingdom has been aired at several film festivals, including the Indie Short Fest where it won technical awards for "best editing" and "best sound editing" along with an Outstanding Achievement Award.[92][93]

Los Angeles Dodgers Edit

When the Los Angeles Dodgers planned their annual Pride Night in 2023, they invited the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a charity group of gay men who dress up as nuns to bring attention to sexual intolerance and gender. The team received backlash from the Catholic League, Sen. Marco Rubio, and Catholic Vote. Catholic League president Bill Donohue sent a letter to commissioner Rob Manfred comparing the group's performances to blackface. The Dodgers subsequently disinvited the group, likely owing to the large Catholic population of the city. KNBC reported that "the Dodgers pulled the Sisters from their Pride Night the day after Bill Donohue, president and CEO of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, had emailed Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred to urge the team to yank the group."[94]

In response, the Los Angeles LGBT Center, the ACLU, County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, State Senator Scott Wiener, and the Sisters called for the group to be reinvited, and the LGBT Center and LA Pride backed out of Pride Night. The nearby Los Angeles Angels even promised to invite the group to their Pride Night instead. However, the Dodgers reversed their decision on May 22, 2023 and announced the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were once again welcome at the event.[95] The group accepted the team's apology.[96]

Following the decision to reinvite the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the Catholic League called for a boycott of the Dodgers' Pride Night. The Catholic League took out 50 radio ads on KABC[97] and contacted many prominent stakeholders in Los Angeles. These efforts purportedly helped contribute to a dip in attendance for the game against the San Francisco Giants.[98][99]

Criticism Edit

In 1997, David Carlin of Commonweal criticized Donohue and the Catholic League for being overly sensitive in the identification of anti-Catholicism.[100] In 1999, the Jesuit priest James Martin, the associate editor of the Catholic magazine America wrote "Often their criticism is right on target, but frequently they speak without seeing or experiencing what they are critiquing, and that undercuts their credibility. Unfortunately, that type of response gives people the idea that the Catholic Church is unreflective."[13] Andrew Ferguson argued that Donohue was doing the cause of anti-Catholicism a service by his overly aggressive tactics, arguing, "The Catholic League president is doing more to discredit the Catholic church than perhaps anyone else.".[101]

Donohue responded to Ferguson in his book, The Truth about Clergy Sexual Abuse: Clarifying the Facts and the Causes. He criticized Ferguson for citing the Pennsylvania grand jury report of 2018 as though it was authoritative.

In fact, none of what is in a grand-jury report should be assumed to be factual.

Former Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz knows better:

“The grand jury has a specific function. It’s supposed to only indict or not indict. Indeed, prosecutors generally don’t issue reports for that reason because they only hear one side of the case. They don’t hear the other side. There’s no cross examination of witnesses. That’s why it is regarded as wrong for prosecutors to issue reports.”

It is precisely because grand-jury reports are not factual that the Catholic League filed an amicus brief challenging the right of the Pennsylvania grand-jury report to make public the names of eleven priests who claimed that doing so would violate their reputational rights as guaranteed by the state constitution. On December 3, 2018, our case, handled by Pittsburgh lawyers from Jones Day, won: the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled 6-1 in our favor. In November 2019, a Pennsylvania Supreme Court task force, which had been empaneled two years earlier, vindicated our effort: it recommended abolishing grand-jury reports.[102]

See also Edit

References Edit

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  2. ^ Roberts, Ken Schwencke, Mike Tigas, Sisi Wei, Alec Glassford, Andrea Suozzo, Brandon (May 9, 2013). "CATHOLIC LEAGUE FOR RELIGIOUS AND CIVIL RIGHTS - Form Form 990 for period ending Dec 2019 - Nonprofit Explorer". ProPublica.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ a b c d e "About Us" on the Catholic League's website
  4. ^ a b c d e f Djupe, Paul A.; Olson, Laura R. (2003). Encyclopedia of American Religion and Politics. Facts on File Library of American History. Infobase Publishing. pp. 82–83. ISBN 0-8160-4582-8.
  5. ^ Weaver, Mary Jo (1995). Being right: conservative Catholics in America. Indiana University Press. p. 343. ISBN 0-253-20999-4.
  6. ^ Sullivan, Amy (2008). The party faithful: how and why Democrats are closing the God gap. Simon and Schuster. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-7432-9786-8.
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  10. ^ "About Us". Catholic League. September 11, 2016.
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  12. ^ "John M. Tierney *55". Princeton Alumni Weekly. May 17, 2017. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
  13. ^ a b c d e f Hu, Winnie (November 2, 1999). "An Outspoken Church Defender". The New York Times. Retrieved July 14, 2011.
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  16. ^ Donohue, William A. (June 21, 2023). "50th ANNIVERSARY DINNER WAS A HIT". Catholic League.
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  18. ^ “The Battle Is Joined Over Bishop Murphy” The New York Times, 3 August 2003
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  21. ^ "Edwards to retain embattled bloggers". NBC News. AP. February 9, 2007. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
  22. ^ David D. Kirkpatrick (November 16, 2004). "Catholic Bishops, After a Divisive Debate, Choose a New Leader". New York Times. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
  23. ^ Amy Sullivan (September 13, 2008). . Time. Archived from the original on September 14, 2008. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
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External links Edit

  • Official website  

October 22, 2023
catholic, league, catholic, league, religious, civil, rights, often, shortened, catholic, league, american, catholic, organization, whose, stated, purpose, defend, right, catholics, clergy, alike, participate, american, public, life, without, defamation, discr. The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights often shortened to the Catholic League is an American Catholic organization whose stated purpose is to defend the right of Catholics lay and clergy alike to participate in American public life without defamation or discrimination 3 The Catholic League states that it is motivated by the letter and the spirit of the First Amendment to safeguard both the religious freedom rights and the free speech rights of Catholics whenever and wherever they are threatened 3 According to the Encyclopedia of American Religion and Politics the league is regarded by many as the preeminent organization representing the views of American lay Catholics 4 Catholic LeagueCatholic League for Religious and Civil RightsLogo of the Catholic LeagueFormation1973 50 years ago 1973 FounderVirgil BlumFounded atMilwaukee Wisconsin USLegal status501 c 3 organizationPurposeRoman Catholic advocacyHeadquartersNew York City New York USRegionUnited StatesPresidentBill DonohueChairmanWalter Knysz Jr Revenue 2019 US 3 5 million 1 Expenses 2019 US 3 3 million 1 Endowment 2019 US 30 8 million 2 Staff10Websitehttps www catholicleague org Founded in 1973 by the Jesuit priest Virgil Blum the Catholic League was formed to counter discrimination against Catholics in American government and popular culture The low profile group initiated public education campaigns and some lawsuits In 1993 the group became much more aggressive with a new president the former sociology professor Bill Donohue who also increased its size to become the largest Catholic advocacy organization in the US 4 The Catholic League is known for press releases about what it views as anti Catholic and anti Christian themes in mass media The Catholic League has taken a stand against anything they perceive as anti Catholic including the entertainment industry certain art exhibits school programs for sex education government funded contraception and abortion media bias restrictions against anti abortion activism and restrictions on religious schools 5 It publishes a journal Catalyst and operates a website The league under Donohue s leadership is criticized for its conservatism and for its combative responses to high profile media stories 4 6 Besides education campaigns the group issues condemnations initiates boycotts and protests defends priests against accusations of child sexual abuse fights proposed legislation and threatens legal action against what it sees as bigotry against Catholics irreverence against religious figures and attacks on Catholic dogma 4 7 However the Catholic League stresses that it does not speak authoritatively for the Church as a whole 4 Contents 1 Organizational overview 1 1 History 1 2 Bill Donohue 1 3 Operations and organization 1 4 Association with the Catholic Church 1 5 Membership 1 6 Political alignment 2 Activities 2 1 Joan Osborne 2 2 Nothing Sacred 2 3 Dogma 2 4 The Passion of the Christ 2 5 Bush holiday cards 2 6 John Edwards campaign staffers 2 7 Kathy Griffin 2 8 The Golden Compass 2 9 Eucharist incident 2 10 Boycott of Roger Smith Hotel 2 11 Church child sex abuse issue 2 11 1 Irish Child Abuse Commission 2 12 Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home 2 13 Harry Knox and the White House faith based office 2 14 David Wojnarowicz and National Portrait Gallery 2 15 Mortara case 2 16 Walt s Disenchanted Kingdom 2 17 Los Angeles Dodgers 3 Criticism 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksOrganizational overview EditHistory Edit This section needs expansion You can help by adding to it December 2007 The league was founded in Milwaukee on May 12 1973 by Virgil Blum 3 8 9 Blum served as president of the Catholic League until 1988 citation needed 10 John Tierney served as president from October 1990 11 to 1993 12 Bill Donohue Edit Main article Bill Donohue Since 1993 the league has been led by its board of directors president Bill Donohue who works with a small number of organizational staffers In a 1999 New York Times article a reporter said Donohue is pragmatic in regards to religion media savvy and steers clear of divisive debates on theological doctrines and secular politics 13 The article said Donohue fans simmering anger with inflammatory news releases a Web site and newsletter 13 with scathing attacks on the blasphemous and the irreverent 13 In a 2007 interview Salon Life staff writer Rebecca Traister discussed Donohue with Frances Kissling former head of the organization Catholics for Choice which opposes Catholic teaching on abortion who characterized Donohue as abusive and stated she avoided doing media interviews with him for this reason 14 Operations and organization Edit The league is organized under a board of directors chaired by Walter Knysz The league also has board of advisors consisting of prominent lay Catholics like Brent Bozell Linda Chavez Mary Ann Glendon Alan Keyes Tom Monaghan and George Weigel 3 The league issues a journal Catalyst as well as reports such as Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust books brochures and an annual Report on Anti Catholicism 15 Association with the Catholic Church Edit The Catholic League is a lay Catholic organization that is independent of the Catholic Church However it is listed in The Official Catholic Directory see the Miscellaneous section under the Archdiocese of New York According to a New York Times interviewer the organization maintains close ties to the New York Archdiocese leadership Several bishops make personal donations citation needed John Cardinal O Connor spoke at the group s 25th anniversary reception in 1998 and vacated part of his suite for its expanding operations said Joseph Zwilling a spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York 13 Timothy Cardinal Dolan spoke at the Catholic League s 50th anniversay celebration on April 27 2023 16 The league includes on its website endorsements from many prominent clerics 17 Membership Edit The New York Times reported that the Catholic League had 11 000 members when Donohue took over the group in 1993 By 1999 membership had grown to 350 000 two thirds of whom were paying members 13 dubious discuss This is the last estimate of overall membership that the league made The league s 2003 statement showed 15 000 members in Nassau and Suffolk counties of New York alone 18 Annual donations entitle members to home delivery of the print version of Catalyst the group s monthly journal which is also available for free on the Catholic League s website 19 Political alignment Edit The Catholic League says it is politically neutral which is mostly required of non profits The website states The League wishes to be neither left nor right liberal or conservative revolutionary or reactionary 3 Although often characterized as conservative 20 21 22 23 the league has at times been at odds with conservative figures and organizations For example they criticized the anti illegal immigration group the Minutemen for opposing a San Diego priest s facilitation of employment for Latino immigrants and for condemning the church as a whole in public statements about the matter 24 The Catholic League also condemned pastor and televangelist John Hagee for what they called anti Catholic hate speech and called upon John McCain s 2008 presidential campaign to renounce this alleged bigotry 25 Christian Leftist John Swomley criticized the Catholic League as the most dangerous of the far right organizations 4 Donohue has been called right wing 26 and a conservative reactionary who wants to undo the work of Vatican II and suppress varying opinions within the Church 27 Activities EditJoan Osborne Edit In 1996 Donohue took issue with Joan Osborne over her song One of Us which explores the question of what it would be like if God were a human being 28 Donohue questioned the point of the song and brought up her activism calling for support of Rock for Choice and other pro choice groups stating It is no wonder that Joan Osborne instructs her fans to donate their time and money to Planned Parenthood It is of a piece with her politics and her prejudices Her songs and videos offer a curious mix of both the effect of which is to dance awfully close to the line of Catholic baiting 29 Religious educator Paul Moses stated that Donohue s was a tortured reading and he saw Osborne as having the Catholic imagination with the song awakening spiritual hunger 30 Osborne said in a letter to fans that the church s attitudes toward women and gays make the pope look far more ridiculous than any pop song could and that she did not write the song which speaks of the pope only with respect 30 Donohue also admitted that he was treating the issue in a kind of a prophylactic approach because cultures are changed as a result of patterns 30 Nothing Sacred Edit In 1997 Donohue declared the ABC show Nothing Sacred as deeply offensive to Catholicism although not anti Catholic in the traditional sense 31 32 Calling for a boycott he stated that the show portrayed Catholics with a traditional view as cold or cruel while glorifying more the maverick irreverent voices in the community However the show was defended by some Catholics and had been written with the consultation of Jesuits from which it later won the Humanitas Prize Many Catholics agreed with him that the show was hostile to the beliefs and values of the Catholic Church and ABC canceled Nothing Sacred after less than a season reportedly for poor ratings Observers think Donohue may have played a significant role in the show s rapid demise as advertisers often become leery of shows deemed controversial 33 34 With regard to the controversy Henry Herx director of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Office of Film and Broadcast successor to the National Legion of Decency emphasized that the Catholic League is not an official agency of the church 35 Dogma Edit The year 1999 saw the release of Kevin Smith s controversial film Dogma Smith was a practicing Catholic as Kevin Smith confirmed in an interview on the film s DVD Several religious groups especially the Catholic League said the film was anti Catholic and blasphemous and organized protests including one that took place at the October 4 premiere of the film at Lincoln Center in New York City 36 Smith said that several of the protests occurred before the film was even finished suggesting that the protests were more about media attention for the groups than for whatever was controversial about the film 37 The Catholic League s main complaints were that the film s main character is supposedly a descendant of Mary who happens to work in an abortion clinic which were seen as ironic conventions for a Catholic citation needed The film s distributor Miramax removed its name from the production and hired attorney Dan Petrocelli to defend it publicly Petrocelli accused Donohue of trying to stir a violent reaction to the film Donohue responded by taking out an op ed ad in the New York Times on September 12 1999 quoting attempts by Petrocelli and Smith to stifle his free speech 38 According to Smith Donohue actually invited me out to have a beer after making my life hell for six months 39 The Passion of the Christ Edit Donohue is a staunch defender of Mel Gibson s film The Passion of the Christ On the December 8 2004 broadcast of Scarborough Country he stated Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular It s not a secret OK And I m not afraid to say it That s why they hate this movie It s about Jesus Christ and it s about truth It s about the Messiah 40 In Donohue s book Secular Sabotage How Liberals Are Destroying Religion and Culture in America he responded to what he believed was a misrepresentation of his comments via taking them out of context For example in that same interview he said the following You have got secular Jews You have got a lot of ex Catholic priests who hate the Catholic Church wacko Protestants in the same group Later in the debate in that same segment of the interview he said There are secularists from every ethnic and religious stock emphasizing that when people talk about Hollywood they are talking mostly about secular Jews 41 In his book Donohue also wrote the following The Forward a Jewish weekly published an editorial in 2004 saying it was merely a sociological observation to note that Jews run Hollywood The newspaper quite rightly said that to say the Jews run Hollywood is an entirely different matter one that smacks of anti Semitism So it concluded that No the Jews don t run Hollywood But Jews do just as Koreans predominate in New York dry cleaning and blacks rule in basketball 41 Bush holiday cards Edit After US President George W Bush used the term Holidays instead of Christmas on the White House 2005 Christmas cards Donohue stated The Bush administration has suffered a loss of will and they have capitulated to the worst elements in our culture 42 John Edwards campaign staffers Edit Donohue demanded that John Edwards fire two of his presidential campaign staffers in February 2007 charging that they were anti Catholic vulgar trash talking bigots He cited a blog written by Amanda Marcotte regarding the church s opposition to birth control saying it forces women to bear more tithing Catholics He also cited another posting called Pope and Fascists Donohue also objected to one of the staffers describing President Bush s wingnut Christofacist base Donohue called the statements incendiary and inflammatory saying It s scurrilous and has no place being part of someone s resume who s going to work for a potential presidential contender On February 8 John Edwards addressed the writings of the staffers Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan saying that kind of intolerant language will not be permitted from anyone on my campaign whether it s intended as satire humor or anything else 43 Donohue insisted that Edwards fire the pair immediately After the complaints Marcotte wrote The Christian version of the virgin birth is generally interpreted as super patriarchal where God is viewed as so powerful he can impregnate without befouling himself by touching a woman and women are nothing but vessels After Marcotte parted with the campaign Donohue stated It is not enough that one foul mouthed anti Christian bigot Amanda Marcotte has quit Melissa McEwan must go as well Either Edwards shows her the door or she bolts on her own There is no third choice the Catholic League will see to it that this issue won t go away He continued The Edwards campaign is in total disarray and the meltdown will continue unless McEwan is removed from his staff The fact that Marcotte had to quit suggests that Edwards doesn t have the guts to do what is morally right McEwan resigned on February 13 2007 44 citing the hostility of the Catholic League and emails threatening rape and murder 45 Kathy Griffin Edit On September 8 2007 Kathy Griffin won her first Emmy for season two of reality show Kathy Griffin My Life on the D List Griffin stirred up controversy with her acceptance speech saying that a lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus He didn t help me a bit She went on to hold up her Emmy and say Suck it Jesus this award is my god now 46 Her remarks were quickly condemned by Donohue who urged the TV academy to denounce Griffin s obscene and blasphemous comment 47 After the Academy of Television Arts amp Sciences decided to censor Griffin s remark Donohue said The Academy of Television Arts amp Sciences reacted responsibly to our criticism of Kathy Griffin s verbal assault on 85 percent of the US population The ball is now in Griffin s court The self described complete militant atheist needs to make a swift and unequivocal apology to Christians If she does she will get this issue behind her If she does not she will be remembered as a foul mouthed bigot for the rest of her life 48 In a statement issued by her publicist Griffin responded to the denouncement by the Catholic League with a question Am I the only Catholic left with a sense of humor 49 The Golden Compass Edit As part of a two month protest campaign Donohue called for a boycott of the film The Golden Compass believing that while the religious elements of the film would be watered down from the source novels the film would still encourage children to read the series which Donohue says denigrates Christianity and promotes atheism for kids 50 citing author Philip Pullman as saying that he is trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief 51 Donohue hopes that the film will fail to meet box office expectations and that Pullman s books attract few buyers 52 The call for a boycott resulted in action by some Catholic groups in the US and Canada and a Catholic school board in Ontario has ordered the source novel removed from its library shelves Pullman has since said that the books do not have a religious agenda saying of Donohue s call for a boycott Why don t we trust readers Why don t we trust filmgoers Oh it causes me to shake my head with sorrow that such nitwits could be loose in the world 53 Pullman described the Catholic League as a tiny unrepresentative organisation suggesting that the only person Bill Donohue represents is himself 54 A lay person who reviews movies for the bishops conference gave the movie high marks but after the protest by the Catholic League the bishops ordered this review to be withdrawn 55 Other evangelical groups such as The Christian Film and Television Commission adopted a wait and see approach to the film before deciding upon any action 56 as did the Roman Catholic Church in Britain 53 Some commentators indicated that they believed the criticism would prove ultimately impotent and that the negative publicity would prove a boon for the film s box office 57 58 According to Donohue this prediction proved to be false 59 The movie did so poorly at the box office Donohue says that Pullman decided not to go forward with the sequels and blamed Donohue for his decision 60 Donohue s position on this controversy was spelled out in a 31 page booklet The Golden Compass Agenda Unmasked It details his objections to what he said were Pullman s anti Catholic comments his books and the movie 61 Eucharist incident Edit In July 2008 a controversy arose surrounding a Communion rite altercation involving Webster Cook a student and member of the University of Central Florida UCF student senate Cook attended a Catholic Mass on campus and was given the Eucharist but walked out without consuming it This action was allegedly related to his protest of the use of public funds for organized worship in the student union hall According to Donohue Cook s actions were a form of desecration of the sacrament Cook was proposed for censure by the student senate and was criticized by local media He also received numerous death threats 62 63 On his blog Pharyngula biologist and University of Minnesota Morris UMM professor PZ Myers publicly expressed support for Cook as well as outrage that Fox News appeared to be inciting readers to cause further problems for the student 62 64 65 Myers invited readers to acquire some consecrated Eucharistic Hosts which he described as crackers for him to treat with profound disrespect 66 The Catholic League accused Myers of anti Catholic bigotry and asked UMM and the Minnesota State Legislature to take action against Myers 67 68 Myers then also received threats and hate mail 69 The Catholic League also called for Cook to be expelled from the university with Donohue describing his confiscation of the Eucharist as a hate crime as well as a form of kidnapping 66 Donohue also accused those who supported Cook of anti Catholic bigotry and sent a letter to the UCF asking them to take legal action against Cook 70 A week after the initial communion Cook apologized and returned the Host The Catholic League however continued to lobby the university for his expulsion 70 Boycott of Roger Smith Hotel Edit In March 2007 a sculpture created by the Italian Canadian artist Cosimo Cavallaro was to be displayed at Manhattan s Roger Smith Hotel The sculpture entitled My Sweet Lord was of a crucified Christ nude in molded chocolate Although the artist says he is a practicing Catholic Bill Donohue decried the work as hate speech garbage and one of the worst assaults on Christian sensibilities ever 71 describing Cavallaro as a loser artist and telling him in a television interview on Anderson Cooper 360 You re lucky I m not like the Taliban because you would lose more than your head Under the leadership of Donohue the Catholic League organized a boycott of the hotel aimed at forcing it to remove the statue The hotel s management stating that the protests brought to our attention the unintended reaction of you and other conscientious friends eventually agreed to the league s calls prompting the curator of the gallery Matt Semler to resign in protest 71 Semler said the six foot sculpture was the victim of a strong arming from people who haven t seen the show seen what we re doing They jumped to conclusions completely contrary to our intentions 71 Church child sex abuse issue Edit Main article Catholic sex abuse cases Donohue said in October 2009 that the Catholic Church has a homosexual not a pedophilia problem citing the John Jay Report 72 The Catholic League has blamed the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests SNAP for having hired hidden defended enabled ignored and concealed the crimes of child molesters 73 The Catholic League defended attacking SNAP on the grounds that they were a menace to the Catholic Church 74 In a November 18 2009 Politics Daily column about Smith s research David Gibson reported that sexual identity should be separated from the problem of sexual abuse according to criminologist Margaret Smith Smith said we do not find a connection between homosexual identity and an increased likelihood of sexual abuse 75 Nevertheless Donohue says that this is a homosexual problem in the Catholic Church and not a pedophile one 75 Donohue has been asked to respond to Smith s position many times He argues that if the acts were of a homosexual nature and we know they were it does not matter what the self perception of the victimizers were 76 Irish Child Abuse Commission Edit Main article Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse On May 20 2009 Reuters reported the results of a nine year investigation by the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse which looked into decades of endemic sexual abuse against children in Catholic run reform schools in Ireland 77 In reaction to this report popularly known as the Ryan Report Donohue issued a statement downplaying the seriousness of the cases questioning the inclusion of voyeurism and inappropriate sexual talk as instances of sexual abuse along with the more serious charge of rape 78 Donohue said that rape constituted only 12 percent of the listed sexual abuse cases in the Ryan report and that priests committed only 12 percent of the listed rapes the other 88 percent were committed by laypersons and religious brothers 78 Since the Ryan Report was released Donohue has been defending the church and saying that much of the outrage is moral hysteria While stating that he agrees that rape and physical abuse are wrong and that he would not defend those actions he says the report has conflated these abuses with lesser forms of punishment and is therefore not as serious He also says many of the purported forms of abuse found by the commission were present and acceptable in the time period 79 The Irish politician and child rape victim Colm O Gorman was highly critical of such statements made by Donohue on the Irish radio show The Last Word 79 O Gorman later wrote that Donohue s analysis was shockingly simplistic 80 Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home Edit Main article Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home In 2014 in the face of a public pressure campaign calling for the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and certain related matters in Ireland Bill Donohue began his own campaign to challenge the prevailing narrative going so far as to author a special report on the subject 81 Donohue largely dismissed the critics as being motivated by politics or liking to bash the Church 82 Donohue took exception with the findings presented by Catherine Corless who he described as an amateur historian Donohue and Corless debated on Irish radio and he wrote extensively challenging her work and her credentials Additionally Donohue found flaws with how the media portrayed the mass graves found at the Mother and Baby Home claiming that the statement issued by the Mother and Baby Commission was disturbing but it never mentioned anything about a mass grave 83 From 2014 to 2017 Donohue issued two special reports and numerous pieces exploring why he believed this story was evidence of anti Catholicism Harry Knox and the White House faith based office Edit When President Barack Obama named gay activist 84 Harry Knox to the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships in 2009 Donohue termed Knox an anti Catholic bigot who has called the pope a liar 84 David Wojnarowicz and National Portrait Gallery Edit In November 2010 a portion of a video by the late artist David Wojnarowicz which was included in an exhibit focused on gay themed art Hide Seek Difference and Desire in American Portraiture at the National Portrait Gallery was removed after complaints from the Catholic League 85 Columnist Frank Rich said of the intervention and removal that the Smithsonian had been bullied by bigots and quoted the Los Angeles Times art critic Christopher Knight to the same effect 86 Tracing the evolution of the issue Rich cited a piece by Kriston Capps which in turn said the role of Penny Starr remains hazy However a reporter and conservative advocate Starr deserves much credit for both instigating the negative attention to the piece of art amongst a number in the show 87 Donohue s central complaint was the content of the vile video as he called it He objected to the video because it showed large ants eating away at Jesus on a crucifix and was hosted in a museum funded by taxpayers 88 Mortara case Edit Responding to David Kertzer s book and Alfred Uhry s play about the Mortara case in which a Jewish boy was kidnapped on the order of the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition the Catholic League charged Whether it s based on fact or fiction or whether it s portrayed on the stage or on the screen the Catholic bashers are a busy lot these days They are as good at twisting the facts as they are at developing fictional accounts Truth doesn t matter What matters is results 89 What Donohue actually said was quite different from the way some people were spinning his words Why was Mortara baptized in the first place Because the servant girl thought he was dying and was in need of salvation Why was he taken from his family Because it was the considered judgment of the Church at the time that a baptized Christian could not be raised in a Jewish home He had to be removed lest the Church be party to apostasy The validity of Baptism was also being tested And so what happened to this poor kid As he grew up he developed a father son relationship with Pope Pius IX He even became a priest 90 Walt s Disenchanted Kingdom Edit In January 2023 the Catholic League released Walt s Disenchanted Kingdom This documentary recounts the cultural shift at Disney The film was written and directed by Jason Killian Meath Bill Donohue served as the executive producer It is hosted by Mercedes Schlapp and features interviews with Donohue Tony Perkins Ben Carson Vivek Ramaswamy Miranda Devine Brent Bozell David Horowitz and Christian Toto The film was initially released to SalemNow YouTube Rumble and Amazon Prime Video 91 Walt s Disenchanted Kingdom has been aired at several film festivals including the Indie Short Fest where it won technical awards for best editing and best sound editing along with an Outstanding Achievement Award 92 93 Los Angeles Dodgers Edit When the Los Angeles Dodgers planned their annual Pride Night in 2023 they invited the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence a charity group of gay men who dress up as nuns to bring attention to sexual intolerance and gender The team received backlash from the Catholic League Sen Marco Rubio and Catholic Vote Catholic League president Bill Donohue sent a letter to commissioner Rob Manfred comparing the group s performances to blackface The Dodgers subsequently disinvited the group likely owing to the large Catholic population of the city KNBC reported that the Dodgers pulled the Sisters from their Pride Night the day after Bill Donohue president and CEO of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights had emailed Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred to urge the team to yank the group 94 In response the Los Angeles LGBT Center the ACLU County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez State Senator Scott Wiener and the Sisters called for the group to be reinvited and the LGBT Center and LA Pride backed out of Pride Night The nearby Los Angeles Angels even promised to invite the group to their Pride Night instead However the Dodgers reversed their decision on May 22 2023 and announced the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were once again welcome at the event 95 The group accepted the team s apology 96 Following the decision to reinvite the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence the Catholic League called for a boycott of the Dodgers Pride Night The Catholic League took out 50 radio ads on KABC 97 and contacted many prominent stakeholders in Los Angeles These efforts purportedly helped contribute to a dip in attendance for the game against the San Francisco Giants 98 99 Criticism EditIn 1997 David Carlin of Commonweal criticized Donohue and the Catholic League for being overly sensitive in the identification of anti Catholicism 100 In 1999 the Jesuit priest James Martin the associate editor of the Catholic magazine America wrote Often their criticism is right on target but frequently they speak without seeing or experiencing what they are critiquing and that undercuts their credibility Unfortunately that type of response gives people the idea that the Catholic Church is unreflective 13 Andrew Ferguson argued that Donohue was doing the cause of anti Catholicism a service by his overly aggressive tactics arguing The Catholic League president is doing more to discredit the Catholic church than perhaps anyone else 101 Donohue responded to Ferguson in his book The Truth about Clergy Sexual Abuse Clarifying the Facts and the Causes He criticized Ferguson for citing the Pennsylvania grand jury report of 2018 as though it was authoritative In fact none of what is in a grand jury report should be assumed to be factual Former Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz knows better The grand jury has a specific function It s supposed to only indict or not indict Indeed prosecutors generally don t issue reports for that reason because they only hear one side of the case They don t hear the other side There s no cross examination of witnesses That s why it is regarded as wrong for prosecutors to issue reports It is precisely because grand jury reports are not factual that the Catholic League filed an amicus brief challenging the right of the Pennsylvania grand jury report to make public the names of eleven priests who claimed that doing so would violate their reputational rights as guaranteed by the state constitution On December 3 2018 our case handled by Pittsburgh lawyers from Jones Day won the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled 6 1 in our favor In November 2019 a Pennsylvania Supreme Court task force which had been empaneled two years earlier vindicated our effort it recommended abolishing grand jury reports 102 See also Edit nbsp Catholicism portal nbsp United States portalAnti clericalism Alliance Defending FreedomReferences Edit a b Schwencke Ken Tigas Mike Wei Sisi Glassford Alec Suozzo Andrea Roberts Brandon May 9 2013 Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights Nonprofit Explorer ProPublica Retrieved July 5 2021 Roberts Ken Schwencke Mike Tigas Sisi Wei Alec Glassford Andrea Suozzo Brandon May 9 2013 CATHOLIC LEAGUE FOR RELIGIOUS AND CIVIL RIGHTS Form Form 990 for period ending Dec 2019 Nonprofit Explorer ProPublica a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link a b c d e About Us on the Catholic League s website a b c d e f Djupe Paul A Olson Laura R 2003 Encyclopedia of American Religion and Politics Facts on File Library of American History Infobase Publishing pp 82 83 ISBN 0 8160 4582 8 Weaver Mary Jo 1995 Being right conservative Catholics in America Indiana University Press p 343 ISBN 0 253 20999 4 Sullivan Amy 2008 The party faithful how and why Democrats are closing the God gap Simon and Schuster p 127 ISBN 978 0 7432 9786 8 Merriman Scott A 2007 Religion and the law in America an encyclopedia of personal belief and public policy Vol 1 ABC CLIO p 30 ISBN 978 1 85109 863 7 Allen John L Jr October 31 1997 League s Dark Vision Divides Catholics National Catholic Reporter Retrieved July 7 2021 Rev Virgil Blum 76 Founded Rights Group The New York Times April 6 1990 Retrieved April 28 2010 About Us Catholic League September 11 2016 Catholics for Choice 2008 The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights Neither Religious nor Civil PDF Washington Catholics for Choice Retrieved July 7 2021 John M Tierney 55 Princeton Alumni Weekly May 17 2017 Retrieved July 7 2021 a b c d e f Hu Winnie November 2 1999 An Outspoken Church Defender The New York Times Retrieved July 14 2011 Traister Rebecca February 13 2007 Bill Donohue vs The World Especially Women Frances Kissling head of Catholics for a Free Choice talks about the right wing activist who forced the John Edwards campaign to part with one of its bloggers Salon com Archived from the original on August 29 2008 Retrieved November 29 2007 Annual Report on Anti Catholicism Catholic League September 2016 Donohue William A June 21 2023 50th ANNIVERSARY DINNER WAS A HIT Catholic League About Us Catholic League September 2016 The Battle Is Joined Over Bishop Murphy The New York Times 3 August 2003 Catalyst Archives Catholic League October 18 2016 Ad outrages Catholics Toledo Blade August 5 1995 Retrieved April 25 2010 Edwards to retain embattled bloggers NBC News AP February 9 2007 Retrieved April 25 2010 David D Kirkpatrick November 16 2004 Catholic Bishops After a Divisive Debate Choose a New Leader New York Times Retrieved April 25 2010 Amy Sullivan September 13 2008 Does Biden Have a Catholic Problem Time Archived from the original on September 14 2008 Retrieved April 25 2010 San Diego Minutemen Gin Up Catholic Bashing Archived October 11 2007 at the Wayback Machine Catholic League website 10 July 2007 Catholic League McCain s Next Move Archived from the original on March 16 2008 Che Cathay July 7 1998 Offending Catholics column Censorship The Advocate Here Publishing p 49 ISSN 0001 8996 Caulfield Brian May 10 1998 At 25 Catholic League Still Fighting Respectable Bias of Anti Catholicism National Catholic Register EWTN News Retrieved August 9 2011 Donohue s campaign against pop singer Joan Osborne Archived from the original on March 11 2007 Grammy Nominee Joan Osborne Relishes controversy Archived February 11 2009 at the Wayback Machine The Catalyst Vol 23 No 3 April 1996 a b c Paul Moses One Of Us dad listens to daughter religion and Joan Osborne s hit pop record Commonweal June 14 1996 FindArticles com 11 December 2007 1 Nothing Sacred Episode Guide Archived February 17 2009 at the Wayback Machine Donohue William Catholic League s 1997 Report on Anti Catholicism Archived June 7 2007 at the Wayback Machine Catholic League 1997 Top 100 Catholics of the century Daily Catholic Vol 10 No 164 August 31 1999 Seal Cynthia Hollywood s treatment of Catholicism Archived February 12 2009 at the Wayback Machine San Francisco Faith November 1997 2 Despite boycott Sacred draws Catholic applause ABC TV series Nothing Sacred National Catholic Reporter Oct 10 1997 by John Allen Hernandez Eugene October 5 1999 NYFF 99 Smith Unveils Dogma and Discusses Exploration of Faith Hundreds Protest IndieWire Penhollow Steve Director Kevin Smith calls himself a devout Catholic and says his latest comedy Dogma is pro faith pro Catholic spiritually uplifting Archived September 27 2007 at the Wayback Machine The Journal Gazette WILL THE REAL CENSORS PLEASE STAND UP Catholic League ad appeared on Sept 12 1999 in the New York Times PDF Croft amp Reiter The Fix Archived February 11 2009 at the Wayback Machine Salon com Jan 23 2004 Scarborough Country for Dec 8 Transcript for 10 p m ET show updated 12 9 2004 10 48 12 AM ET Retrieved 2012 12 12 a b Donohue Bill 2009 Secular Sabotage How Liberals Are Destroying Religion and Culture in America New York FaithWords pp 84 89 Davis Matthew Lines drawn in battle over Christmas BBC News December 10 2005 Lim Christine February 8 2007 The Screwups of Campaign 08 Time McEwan Melissa February 13 2007 Announcement Shakespeare s Sister Retrieved April 3 2007 McEwan Melissa February 16 2007 My life as a rightwing target The Guardian London Retrieved April 3 2007 The truth is being a firebrand of any political persuasion does not warrant rape and death threats Kathy Griffin s Jesus Remark Cut from Emmy Show Reuters September 11 2007 Retrieved September 25 2007 Lynn Elber September 11 2007 Griffin s Emmy remarks to be censored AP Television Retrieved September 11 2007 dead link Academy to Censor Kathy Griffin She Still Needs to Apologize Archived from the original on March 21 2009 Kathy Griffin s Jesus Remark Cut from Emmy Show Reuters September 11 2007 Retrieved October 21 2009 Film Sells Atheism To Kids Major Protest Launched CatholicLeague org October 9 2007 Archived from the original on October 11 2007 Retrieved October 9 2007 Alona Wartofsky February 19 2001 The Last Word Washington Post Archived from the original on January 5 2010 Retrieved October 17 2007 Mary McSweeney October 13 2007 Catholic League condemns The Golden Compass Washington Post Archived from the original on October 17 2007 Retrieved October 18 2007 a b David Byers November 27 2007 Philip Pullman Catholic boycotters are nitwits The Times London Retrieved November 28 2007 Golden Compass author hits back November 29 2007 Retrieved September 29 2020 USCCB withdraws review of The Golden Compass Catholic News Agency December 11 2007 Catherine Donaldson Evans October 29 2007 Christian Groups Claim Pro Atheist Stealth Campaign in Nicole Kidman Fantasy Film The Golden Compass Fox News Archived from the original on November 19 2012 Retrieved October 30 2007 Is The Golden Compass Too Anti Christian or Not Anti Christian Enough New York Magazine October 16 2007 Retrieved October 18 2007 Chris Kaltenbach October 24 2007 Golden Compass draws ire of the Catholic League Baltimore Sun Archived from the original on October 11 2008 Retrieved October 24 2007 GOLDEN COMPASS MISSES THE MARK Catholic League December 10 2007 Retrieved December 10 2007 NO SEQUEL TO THE GOLDEN COMPASS Catholic League December 16 2009 Donohue Bill The Golden Compass Agenda Unmasked 2007 Catholic League website a b Body Of Christ Snatched From Church Held Hostage By UCF Student WFTV July 9 2008 Archived from the original on July 11 2008 Retrieved July 11 2008 Student Who Took Religious Icon Getting Death Threats MY Fox Orlando July 7 2008 Retrieved July 11 2008 Body Of Christ Returned To Church After Student Receives Email Threats WFTV July 9 2008 Archived from the original on July 25 2008 Retrieved July 25 2008 Radio interview with Webster Cook student senator and non eater of communion wafers online radio podcast Freethought Radio July 19 2008 Retrieved July 28 2008 a b It s a Frackin Cracker Pharyngula July 8 2008 Archived from the original on July 12 2008 Retrieved July 11 2008 Communion wafer held hostage raises holy heck Star Tribune July 11 2008 Archived from the original on February 4 2009 Retrieved July 11 2008 Minnesota Prof Pledges to Desecrate Eucharist The Catholic League July 10 2008 Archived from the original on July 13 2008 Retrieved July 11 2008 PZ Myers July 13 2008 Mail Dump Pharyngula Scienceblogs Archived from the original on July 14 2008 Retrieved July 14 2008 a b Florida Student Abuses Eucharist Archived from the original on July 25 2008 a b c Display of Controversial Chocolate Jesus Sculpture Cancelled Fox News Archived from the original on September 20 2008 Retrieved April 21 2009 The Advocate Donohue Gay Adoption Against Nature October 16 2009 SNAP Protects Child Molesters Catholic League March 7 2012 Retrieved October 1 2012 Goodstein Laurie March 12 2012 Catholic Church Puts Legal Pressure on Survivors Network The New York Times a b Schulman Jeremy April 2 2010 Expert Donohue s claim that most abusive priests are gay is unwarranted Media Matters for America Retrieved June 30 2017 Abuse Report Controversial Gay Role Denied Catholic League June 20 2011 Halpin Padraic Crimmins Carmel May 20 2009 Irish report says priests beat and raped children Priests beat and raped children during decades of abuse in Catholic run institutions in Ireland an official report said on Wednesday but it stopped short of naming the perpetrators Reuters Dublin Ireland Retrieved August 21 2011 a b Hysteria over Irish Clergy Abuse Archived from the original on May 25 2009 a b The Last Word May 29 2009 O Gorman Colm June 1 2009 Colm debates Clerical Abuse in Ireland with US Catholic League Blog Colm O Gorman Archived from the original on July 8 2012 Retrieved August 21 2011 Donohue Bill June 2014 IRELAND S MASS GRAVE HYSTERIA PDF Catholic League Donohue Bill March 16 2017 TUAM CRITICS ON ABORTION AND GAY MARRIAGE Catholic League Donohue Bill April 2017 IRISH NUNS CONDEMNED EVIDENCE LACKING Catholic League a b Vitello Paul A Marine for Catholics Sees a Time of Battle The New York Times May 15 2009 Retrieved 2011 07 15 Trescott Jacqueline November 30 2010 Ant covered Jesus video removed from Smithsonian after Catholic League complains Washington Post retrieved November 30 2010 Rich Frank Gay Bashing at the Smithsonian Op ed The New York Times December 11 2010 December 12 2010 p WK8 NY ed Retrieved 2010 12 12 Capps Kriston A Fire in Her Belly Penny Starr the Conservative Activist Who Punked the Smithsonian WashingtonCityPaper com Dec 8 2010 5 41 pm ET Donohue Bill November 30 2010 Smithsonian Hosts Anti Christian Exhibit Catholic League Kertzer David 2019 The Enduring Controversy over the Mortara Case Studies in Christian Jewish Relations 14 1 8 doi 10 6017 scjr v14i1 11000 Donohue Bill November 23 2002 FACT OR FICTION IT S CATHOLIC BASHING JUST THE SAME Catholic League Donohue Bill March 16 2023 DISNEY FILM A SMASHING SUCCESS A TRUE CULTURAL MARKER Catholic League Award Winners of March 2023 Technical Categories INDIE SHORT FEST March 23 2023 Award Winners March 2023 INDIE SHORT FEST March 23 2023 Lloyd Jonathan June 17 2023 Dodgers honor Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence at Pride Night that drew protests NBC Los Angeles Dodgers apologize reinvite group to Pride Night ESPN com May 23 2023 Retrieved May 23 2023 Sternfield Marc May 22 2023 Dodgers apologize reinvite LGBTQ nun group to Pride Night KTLA Retrieved May 23 2023 CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE DODGERS CATHOLIC LEAGUE RESPONSE Catholic League July 18 2023 Blaff Ari June 17 2023 Bud Light the Dodgers Thousands of Catholics Protest outside Dodger Stadium during Controversial Pride Night Event Donohue Bill June 17 2023 DODGERS SISTERS NIGHT IS A BUST Catholic League Donohue s crusade tilting at the wrong windmill Catholic League for Religious and Civil Liberties head William A Donohue column by David R Carlin Jr Commonweal May 23 1997 With Friends Like Bill Donohue Washington Examiner August 21 2018 Retrieved September 29 2020 Donohue Bill 2021 The Truth about Clergy Sexual Abuse Clarifying the Facts and the Causes Ignatius Press p 68 ISBN 1621644855 External links EditOfficial website nbsp Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Catholic League U S amp oldid 1173882146, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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