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Catholic League’s full page ad in the New York Times
The Catholic League has weighed in with a full page ad in the New York Times (aka Hell’s Bible).
The text:
UPDATE: I like the Curt Jester’s observation via Twitter: The NYT rejected Archbishop Dolan’s response but accepted a paid ad from Catholic League: at the NYT you have to pay for balance. Kudos to the Jester.GOING FOR THE VATICAN JUGULAR
Recent accusations against the Vatican deserve a response.
• Fr. Lawrence Murphy apparently began his predatory behavior inWisconsin in the 1950s, yet the victims’ families never contacted the police until the mid-1970s. After an investigation, the case was dropped.
• The Vatican did not learn of the case until 1996.
• Cardinal Ratzinger, now the pope, was the head of the office that was contacted. There is no evidence that he knew of it. But even if he did, he would have had to allow for an investigation. While the inquiry was proceeding, Murphy died.
• The Times questions why Murphy was never defrocked. But only the Vatican can do that, and since it never learned of the case until he was dying, it was never a realistic option.
• The Times says the Vatican’s canonical inquiry was done in secret. Correct. The proceedings of internal investigations—even in organizations like the Times—are never shown on C-SPAN.
• The Times says repeatedly that Church officials did not report accusations of abuse to the police. The common response of all organizations, secular as well as religious, was to access therapy and reinstate the patient (I prefer the term offender). Today it is obvious that a more hard-line approach is necessary, though therapy is still popular in many quarters.
• The Times continues to editorialize about the "pedophilia crisis," when all along it’s been a homosexual crisis. Eighty percent of the victims of priestly sexual abuse are male and most of them are post-pubescent. While homosexuality does not cause predatory behavior, and most gay priests are not molesters, most of the molesters have been gay.
Here’s what’s really going on. The Times has teamed up with Jeffrey Anderson, a radical lawyer who has made millions suing the Church (and greasing professional victims’ groups like SNAP), so they can weaken its moral authority. Why? Because of issues like abortion, gay marriage and women’s ordination. That’s what’s really driving them mad, and that’s why they are on the hunt. Those who doubt this to be true need to ask why the debt-ridden Times does not spend the same resources looking for dirt in other institutions that occurred a half-century ago.
Bill Donohue
PresidentCATHOLIC LEAGUE for Religious and Civil Rights
450 Seventh Avenue, New York, New York 10123
(212) 371-3191 Fax: (212) 371-3394
www.catholicleague.org
Say some prayers for Bill Donohue too. Some orthodox Catholics find Bill’s “in your face” passionate of the Catholic Faith a bit embarassing. They remain in their comfortable armchairs and hidden behind their blogs while Bill defends the Church for them and takes the verbal bullets.
Comment by Norah — 12 April 2010 @ 1:44 amI think he was soing great until he started on the “homosexual” comments and continued. Not that its not true but that the ad will be buried under a pile of “homophobe” spagetti. Keep to the point. The pope is not the problem he is the cure. Still, if you had asked me to write the ad it would have had 12 stumbles not 1.
God Bless him.
Comment by Vetdoctor — 12 April 2010 @ 2:00 amIf only we had priests and bishops with an in your face approach, we would be better off. As Church hisotry shows, it is the laity who defends Peter and the Church, while many bishop prefer a round of golf.
Comment by Central Valley — 12 April 2010 @ 2:01 amSigh…where is Pius XII when you need him?
Comment by RebelKnightCSA — 12 April 2010 @ 6:39 amIt’s perfectly fine to bring up the homosexual aspect. I would just quibble with the number. He says 80%. The Vatican official (name I can’t recall) handling the case load said 60%.
Comment by Scott W. — 12 April 2010 @ 6:43 amBill Donohue is awesome!
Comment by doanli — 12 April 2010 @ 7:28 amBill is right on the money
Good for him!
Comment by HamiltonMom — 12 April 2010 @ 8:01 amGo Bill! “so they can weaken its moral authority” – right on. I just wish they would arrest Richard Dawkins – ;-).
Comment by jstroh — 12 April 2010 @ 8:20 amTwo UCLA professors in the LA Times editorialized along similar lines as its New York cousin this past Friday or Saturday; buried in the “outrage” was the real agenda: the Catholic church needs to be marginalized for the sake of women’s rights, esp. reproductive rights, and gay rights. At least the authors were honest enough to express clearly their true intent. We need Bill Donohues out here because as far as I can tell, the bishops in the LA Times area silent in the face of these attacks.
Comment by dbgallup — 12 April 2010 @ 8:41 amGod bless Bill Dononue! He may not be everyone’s cup of tea but he’s a valiant defender of Holy Church.
Comment by TomG — 12 April 2010 @ 8:59 amFirst, I’m glad that was featured in the Times.
Second, is it just me, or did the ad seem a bit rough around the edges? A bit more editing and clarification of specific points would have been helpful. As it stands, it’s as if the article were written in great haste. My worry is that although the points might be correct, the ad might come across as simply “angry Catholic venting” to typical NYT readers.
Comment by Toan — 12 April 2010 @ 9:55 amBill Donohue is an “Irish pit bull’-good for him!
RebelKnight-I’d add, ‘Where’s St. Ambrose when you need him?’ Or even a St. Thomas Becket?
Central Valley-ditto!
Comment by irishgirl — 12 April 2010 @ 9:57 amI’m suprised the Slimes printed it. Do you think they need the money?
Comment by TJerome — 12 April 2010 @ 10:25 amdbgallup…”as far as I can tell, the bishops in the LA Times area silent in the face of these attacks.” Good luck finding one California bishop to speak out against homosexual predators. Here in California, there are bishops who have no problem ordaining homosexual men to the priesthood. Even after all studies show homosexual men are the prime offenders in these abuse cases and even though Rome has said numerous times not to ordain homosexuals to the priesthood, the California bishops know better than the Holy Father. Since I live in the diocese of Fresno, Ca., I have seen this more than once. Pray for the new Archbishop in Los Angeles that he will be strong and set the example for current and future bishops in California and thr world.
Comment by Central Valley — 12 April 2010 @ 10:48 amAs Church hisotry shows, it is the laity who defends Peter and the Church
Central Valley, your comment made me think of how 10 of the remaining 11 apostles deserted Jesus, and how it was the women (laity, if you will) who stood by Him to the end, along with John. Powerful imagery.
Comment by poohbear — 12 April 2010 @ 11:11 amSt. Thomas Becket pray for us.
Comment by moon1234 — 12 April 2010 @ 12:08 pmRe: Scott W
I believe that Bill derived his 80% number from the US Bishops sponsored report about 5 years ago (John Jay?). The data revealed that 82% of the victims in the US were post pubescent males.
I do find this an odd statement by Bill Donohue:
“While homosexuality does not cause predatory behavior, and most gay priests are not molesters, most of the molesters have been gay.”
How do we really know that homosexuality does not cause predatory behavior? IMO, homosexuals should not be priests. They cannot properly act in the person of Christ who is married to the Church – female. The disorder should be disqualifying, but the situation will continue as long as high ranking clergy are affected themselves by the disorder and refuse to acknowledge the problem.
Comment by seattlefan — 14 April 2010 @ 4:37 pm