Catholic League (U.S.)
Encyclopedia
The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, often shortened to the Catholic League, is an American Catholic anti-defamation and civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...

 organization. The Catholic League states that it "defends the right of Catholics – lay and clergy alike – to participate in American public life without defamation or discrimination." The Catholic League states that it is "motivated by the letter and the spirit of the First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...

 ...to safeguard both the religious freedom rights and the free speech rights of Catholics whenever and wherever they are threatened." 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."

Founded in 1973 by Jesuit priest Virgil Blum, the Catholic League was formed to counter discrimination against Catholics in the U.S. government and in 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, former sociology professor William A. Donohue
William A. Donohue
William Anthony "Bill" Donohue is the president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights in the United States, a position he has held since 1993.-Life and career:...

, who also increased its size to become the largest Catholic civil rights organization in America. The Catholic League is known for press releases about what it views as anti-Catholic and anti-Christian themes in mass media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...

.

The Catholic League in its role as religious watchdog has reacted to entertainment industry bigotry, certain art exhibits, school programs for sex education, government-funded contraception and abortion, media bias, restrictions against pro-life activism, restrictions on religious schools; whatever they perceive as anti-Catholic. The Catholic League keeps a staff of litigators to defend the Catholic Church in court. It publishes a journal, Catalyst, and a website.

The League under Donohue's leadership is criticized for its conservatism and for its combative responses to high-profile media stories. Besides education campaigns, the group issues condemnations, initiates boycott
Boycott
A boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...

s 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. However, the Catholic League stresses that "it does not speak authoritatively for the Church as a whole."

History

The League was founded in Milwaukee in 1973 by Virgil C. Blum
Virgil Blum
Virgil Clarence Blum SJ was an American Jesuit and professor of Political Science at Marquette University.- Early Life and Education :...

 S.J. Blum served as president of the Catholic League until 1989.

William A. Donohue

Since 1993, the League has been led by its Board of Directors president, William A. Donohue, who works with a small number of organizational staffers including Kiera McCaffrey, the League's director of communications, who has also made media appearances for the group.
In a 1999 New York Times article, a reporter said Donohue is pragmatic
Pragmatism
Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition centered on the linking of practice and theory. It describes a process where theory is extracted from practice, and applied back to practice to form what is called intelligent practice...

 in regards to religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...

, "media savvy" and "steers clear of divisive debates on theological
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

 doctrine
Doctrine
Doctrine is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system...

s and secular politics". The article said Donohue "fans simmering anger with inflammatory news releases, a Web site and newsletter" with "scathing attacks on the blasphemous and the irreverent". In a 2007 interview, Salon Life
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...

 staff writer Rebecca Traister discussed Donohue with Frances Kissling
Frances Kissling
Frances Kissling is scholar and activist in the fields of religion, reproduction and women's rights. She was President of Catholics for a Free Choice from 1982 until 2007 when she turned over the reins to Jon O’Brien. She is now a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Bioethics at the University of...

, former head of the dissident organization Catholics for Choice, who characterized Donohue as "abusive", and stated she avoided doing media interviews with him for this reason.

Operations and organization

The League is organized under a Board of Directors chaired by Philip K. Eichner
Philip K. Eichner
Philip K. Eichner, S.M., is an American educator, Marianist priest and Catholic activist. He chairs the Board of Directors of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, and he has been president of three Catholic schools on Long Island. He is perhaps most noted as successful respondent in...

, a Marianist priest and educator in Long Island, New York. The League also has Board of Advisors, consisting of prominent lay Catholics like Brent Bozell, Linda Chavez
Linda Chavez
Linda Chavez is an American author, commentator, and radio talk show host. She is also a Fox News analyst, Chairman of the Center for Equal Opportunity, has a syndicated column that appears in newspapers nationwide each week, and sits on the Board of Directors of two Fortune 1000 companies:...

, Mary Ann Glendon
Mary Ann Glendon
Mary Ann Glendon J.D., LL.M., was the United States Ambassador to the Holy See and is the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. She teaches and writes on bioethics, comparative constitutional law, property, and human rights in international law...

, Alan Keyes
Alan Keyes
Alan Lee Keyes is an American conservative political activist, author, former diplomat, and perennial candidate for public office. A doctoral graduate of Harvard University, Keyes began his diplomatic career in the U.S...

, Tom Monaghan
Tom Monaghan
Thomas Stephen "Tom" Monaghan is an entrepreneur and Catholic philanthropist and activist who founded Domino's Pizza in 1960. He owned the Detroit Tigers from 1983-1992....

, Michael Novak
Michael Novak
Michael Novak is an American Catholic philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat. The author of more than twenty-five books on the philosophy and theology of culture, Novak is most widely known for his book The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism...

 and George Weigel
George Weigel
George Weigel is an American author, and political and social activist. He currently serves as a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Weigel was the Founding President of the James Madison Foundation...

. 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.

Association with the Catholic Church

The League is not part of the Archdiocese of New York, though it does rent an office on the same floor as the headquarters of the Archdiocese. According to a New York Times interviewer, the organization "maintains close ties to the [archdiocesan] leadership. Several bishops make personal donations. 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." The League includes on its website endorsements from such prominent clerics as Cardinal Edward Egan (former Archbishop of New York), Cardinal Roger Mahony (former Archbishop of Los Angeles), Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, and Archbishop Edwin O'Brien of Baltimore, as well as Father Benedict Groeschel
Benedict Groeschel
Benedict Joseph Groeschel, CFR is a Catholic priest, retreat master, author, psychologist, activist and host of the television talk program Sunday Night Prime with Father Benedict Groeschel, which is broadcast on the Eternal Word Television Network. He has also hosted several serial religious...

, C.F.R., all of whom have endorsed the League's activities and exhorted Catholics to become members.

Membership

The New York Times reported that the group had 11,000 total members when Donohue took over the Catholic League in 1993. This grew to 233,333 paid members in 1999, a figure which the League allegedly multiplies by 1.5 to account for non-paying members in the households of paying members, resulting in a League estimate of 350,000 members. This 1999 estimate is the last statement about overall membership numbers that the League has made. The League's 2003 statement about membership claimed 15,000 members in Nassau
Nassau County, New York
Nassau County is a suburban county on Long Island, east of New York City in the U.S. state of New York, within the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,339,532...

 and Suffolk
Suffolk County, New York
Suffolk County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York on the eastern portion of Long Island. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,493,350. It was named for the county of Suffolk in England, from which its earliest settlers came...

 counties of New York alone. 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.

Political alignment

The Catholic League claims political neutrality, 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." Although often characterized as conservative the League has at times been at odds with conservative figures and organizations. For example, they criticized the anti-illegal immigration group, the Minutemen
Minutemen
Minutemen were members of teams of select men from the American colonial partisan militia during the American Revolutionary War. They provided a highly mobile, rapidly deployed force that allowed the colonies to respond immediately to war threats, hence the name.The minutemen were among the first...

, 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. The Catholic League also condemned pastor and televangelist John Hagee
John Hagee
John Charles Hagee is an American founder and senior pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, a non-denominational charismatic megachurch with more than 19,000 active members...

 for what they called "anti-Catholic hate speech" and called upon John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign
John McCain presidential campaign, 2008
John McCain, the senior United States Senator from Arizona, launched his second candidacy for the presidency of the United States in an unsuccessful bid to win the 2008 presidential election. His candidacy, in the works for a number of years, was informally announced on February 28, 2007 during a...

 to renounce this alleged bigotry.

Christian Leftist John Swomley characterized the Catholic League as the "most dangerous of the far-right organizations." Donohue has been called "right-wing" and "a conservative reactionary who wants to undo the work of Vatican II
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...

 and suppress varying opinions within the Church."

Joan Osborne

In 1996, Donohue took issue with Joan Osborne
Joan Osborne
Joan Elizabeth Osborne is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for her song "One of Us". She has toured with Motown sidemen the Funk Brothers and was featured in the documentary film about them, Standing in the Shadows of Motown.-Biography:Originally from Anchorage, Kentucky, a suburb...

 over her song "One of Us
One of Us (Joan Osborne song)
"One of Us" is a song written by Eric Bazilian and originally released by Joan Osborne. Released in March 1995 on the album Relish and produced by Rick Chertoff, it became a top 40 hit in November of that year.- History :...

", which explores the question of what it would be like if God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

 were a human being. Donohue questioned the point of the song and brought up her activism
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...

 calling for support of Rock for Choice
Rock for Choice
Rock for Choice was a series of benefit concerts held over the ten year period between 1991 to 2001. The concerts were designed to allow musicians to show their support for the pro-choice movement in the United States and Canada....

and other pro-choice
Pro-choice
Support for the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-choice movement, a sociopolitical movement supporting the ethical view that a woman should have the legal right to elective abortion, meaning the right to terminate her pregnancy....

 groups stating, "It is no wonder that Joan Osborne instructs her fans to donate their time and money to Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood Federation of America , commonly shortened to Planned Parenthood, is the U.S. affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Federation and one of its larger members. PPFA is a non-profit organization providing reproductive health and maternal and child health services. The...

. 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." 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". 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." 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."

Nothing Sacred

In 1997, Donohue declared the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 show Nothing Sacred
Nothing Sacred (TV series)
Nothing Sacred is an American drama series that aired from 1997 to 1998 on ABC. The series was created by a Jesuit priest named Bill Cain and producer David Manson.-Synopsis:...

as deeply offensive to Catholicism, although not anti-Catholic in the traditional sense. Calling for a boycott
Boycott
A boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...

, 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
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...

, from which it later won the Humanitas Prize
Humanitas Prize
The Humanitas Prize is an award for film and television writing intended to promote human dignity, meaning, and freedom. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser — also the founder of Paulist Productions — but is generally not seen as specifically directed toward religious...

. 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". With regard to the controversy, Henry Herx, director of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops'
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 1966 as the joint National Conference of Catholic Bishops and United States Catholic Conference, it is composed of all active and retired members of the Catholic...

 Office of Film and Broadcast (successor to the Legion of Decency) emphasized that the Catholic League is not an official agency of the church.

Dogma

The year 1999 saw the release of Kevin Smith's
Kevin Smith
Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob...

 controversial film Dogma
Dogma (film)
Dogma is a 1999 American adventure fantasy comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, who also stars in the film along with an ensemble cast that includes Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Alan Rickman, Bud Cort, Salma Hayek, Chris Rock, Jason Lee, George Carlin, Janeane Garofalo,...

. Despite the fact that Smith is a practicing Catholic, as Kevin Smith confirmed in an interview on the film's DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

, several religious groups, especially the Catholic League, said the film was anti-Catholic and blasphemous
Blasphemy
Blasphemy is irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things. Some countries have laws to punish blasphemy, while others have laws to give recourse to those who are offended by blasphemy...

, and organized protests, including one that took place at the November 12 premiere of the film at Lincoln Center in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

.

Smith noted 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. The Catholic League's main complaints were that the film's main character is supposedly a descendant of Mary
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...

, who happens to work in an abortion clinic
Abortion clinic
An abortion clinic is a medical facility that primarily performs or specializes in abortions. Such clinics may be public medical centers or private medical practices.-Canada:*There were 197 abortion providers in Canada in 2001....

, which were seen as ironic conventions for a Catholic. 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.

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

The Passion of the Christ

Donohue is a staunch defender of Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...

's controversial movie The Passion of the Christ
The Passion of the Christ
The Passion of the Christ is a 2004 American drama film directed by Mel Gibson and starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus. It depicts the Passion of Jesus largely according to the New Testament Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John...

. On the March 12, 2004 broadcast of Scarborough Country
Scarborough Country
Scarborough Country was an opinion/analysis show broadcast on MSNBC Monday - Thursday at 9 P.M. ET. It was hosted by former congressman Joe Scarborough....

, he stated:
"Well, first [critics of the film] said The Passion of the Christ
The Passion of the Christ
The Passion of the Christ is a 2004 American drama film directed by Mel Gibson and starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus. It depicts the Passion of Jesus largely according to the New Testament Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John...

was anti-Semitic. That didn't work. Then they said it was too violent
Violence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...

. That didn't work. Then they said it was S&M. That didn't work. Then they said it was pornography
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...

. That didn't work. Now they're saying it's fascistic queer
Queer
Queer is an umbrella term for sexual minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. In the context of Western identity politics the term also acts as a label setting queer-identifying people apart from discourse, ideologies, and lifestyles that typify mainstream LGBT ...

-bashing. That kind of language would ordinarily get somebody taken away in a straitjacket
Straitjacket
A straitjacket is a garment shaped like a jacket with overlong sleeves and is typically used to restrain a person who may otherwise cause harm to themselves or others. Once the arms are inserted into the straitjacket's sleeves, they are then crossed across the chest...

 and -- put you in the asylum
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...

. I don't know what about -- the queer-bashing is all about. I'm pretty good about picking out who queers are and I didn't see any in the movie. I'm usually pretty good at that."


On the December 8 broadcast of the same show, with Pat Buchanan
Pat Buchanan
Patrick Joseph "Pat" Buchanan is an American paleoconservative political commentator, author, syndicated columnist, politician and broadcaster. Buchanan was a senior adviser to American Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, and was an original host on CNN's Crossfire. He sought...

 as host, Donohue said:
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
Messiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...

.

Bush holiday cards

After U.S. President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

 used the term "Holidays" instead of "Christmas" on the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

 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."

Michael Savage

"I was scheduled to be on with Mike Savage
Michael Savage (commentator)
Michael Savage is a conservative American radio host, author, and political commentator. He is the host of The Savage Nation, a nationally syndicated talk show that airs throughout the United States on Talk Radio Network...

 the day he savaged the Catholic Church and made bigoted comments about Latinos", Donohue said.

"But in the pre-interview — which occurred just a half hour before Savage went ballistic — I let a producer know that I did not share the host's position; after he checked with Savage, I was told they would not have me on the show. That was fine, but what is not fine is Savage's diatribe about the 'greedy pigs' in the Catholic Church and how 'the institution is rotten from the top to the bottom.' He owes all Catholics an apology."

John Edwards campaign staffers

Donohue demanded that former Sen. John Edwards
John Edwards
Johnny Reid "John" Edwards is an American politician, who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in...

 fire two presidential campaign
John Edwards presidential campaign, 2008
John Edwards is the former United States Senator from North Carolina and was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004. On December 28, 2006, he announced his entry into the 2008 Presidential election in the city of New Orleans near sites devastated by Hurricane Katrina...

 staffers in February 2007, charging that they were "anti-Catholic, vulgar, trash-talking bigots." He cited a blog written by Amanda Marcotte
Amanda Marcotte
Amanda Marie Marcotte is an American blogger best known for her writing on feminism and politics. Time magazine described her as "an outspoken voice of the left" and said "there is a welcome wonkishness to Marcotte, who, unlike some star bloggers, is not afraid to parse policy with her...

 regarding the Church's opposition to birth control
Birth control
Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...

, 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
Amanda Marcotte
Amanda Marie Marcotte is an American blogger best known for her writing on feminism and politics. Time magazine described her as "an outspoken voice of the left" and said "there is a welcome wonkishness to Marcotte, who, unlike some star bloggers, is not afraid to parse policy with her...

 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.’ Donohue insisted that Edwards fire the pair immediately.

After the complaints, Marcotte wrote, "The Christian version of the virgin birth
Virgin birth
A virgin birth can refer to:*Parthenogenesis, birth without fertilization*Miraculous births, virgin birth in mythology and religion*Virgin birth of Jesus*Artificial insemination*Russell case...

 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, citing the hostility of the Catholic League and emails threatening rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...

 and murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...

.

Kathy Griffin

On September 8, 2007, Kathy Griffin
Kathy Griffin
Kathleen Mary "Kathy" Griffin is an American actress, stand-up comedienne, television personality, New York Times best-selling author and an LGBT rights advocate. Griffin first gained recognition for appearances on two episodes of Seinfeld, and then for her supporting role on the NBC sitcom...

 won her first Emmy for season two of reality show Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List
Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List
Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List is a reality show starring Kathy Griffin. The series aired on Bravo. It debuted in August 2005, and was cancelled in November 2010....

. 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!"

Her remarks were quickly condemned by Donohue, who urged the TV academy to "denounce Griffin's obscene and blasphemous comment." 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 U.S. 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.”

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?"

The Golden Compass

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", citing author Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman CBE, FRSL is an English writer from Norwich. He is the best-selling author of several books, most notably his trilogy of fantasy novels, His Dark Materials, and his fictionalised biography of Jesus, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ...

 as saying that he is "trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief." Donohue hopes that "the film [will fail] to meet box office expectations and that [Pullman's] books attract few buyers." The call for a boycott resulted in action by some Catholic groups in the US and Canada, and a Catholic school board in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 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." Pullman described the Catholic League as "a tiny, unrepresentative organisation," suggesting that "the only person Bill Donohue represents is himself."

Other evangelical groups, such as The Christian Film and Television Commission
Ted Baehr
M. Robert E. Theodore Baehr is an American media critic and Chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission, a division of Good News Communications, Inc...

, adopted a "wait-and-see" approach to the film before deciding upon any action, as did the Roman Catholic Church in Britain.

Some commentators indicated that they believe the criticism will prove ultimately impotent and that the negative publicity will prove a boon for the film's box office.

Eucharist incident

In July 2008, a controversy arose surrounding a Communion rite altercation involving Webster Cook, a student and member of the University of Central Florida
University of Central Florida
The University of Central Florida, commonly referred to as UCF, is a metropolitan public research university located in Orlando, Florida, United States...

 (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 from enraged Catholics.

On Pharyngula
Pharyngula (blog)
Pharyngula is a blog on FreeThoughtBlogs and ScienceBlogs run by PZ Myers. In 2006, the science journal Nature listed it as the top-ranked blog written by a scientist. Pharyngula also won the 2005 Koufax Award for Best Expert Blog. The blog topics are eclectic, delving into the non-scientific as...

, biologist and University of Minnesota Morris (UMM) professor PZ Myers
PZ Myers
Paul Zachary "PZ" Myers is an American biology professor at the University of Minnesota Morris and the author of the Pharyngula science blog. He is currently an associate professor of biology at UMM, works with zebrafish in the field of evolutionary developmental biology , and also cultivates an...

 publicly expressed support for Cook as well as outrage that Fox News appeared to be inciting readers to cause further problems for the student; he also ridiculed reports that armed guards would attend the next mass. Myers invited readers to acquire some consecrated Eucharistic Hosts, which he described as "crackers", for him to treat "with profound disrespect."

The Catholic League accused Myers of anti-Catholic bigotry and asked UMM and the Minnesota State Legislature to take action against Myers. Myers then also received threats and hate mail
Hate mail
Hate mail is a form of harassment, usually consisting of invective and potentially intimidating or threatening comments towards the recipient...

. 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
Hate crime
In crime and law, hate crimes occur when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her perceived membership in a certain social group, usually defined by racial group, religion, sexual orientation, disability, class, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, gender identity, social status or...

 as well as a form of kidnapping
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...

. 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. A week after the initial communion Cook apologized and returned the Host. The Catholic League, however, continued to lobby the university for his expulsion.

Boycott of Roger Smith Hotel

In March 2007, a sculpture created by Italian-Canadian artist Cosimo Cavallaro
Cosimo Cavallaro
Cosimo Cavallaro is an Italian-Canadian artist, filmmaker and sculptor. He is known for his numerous installation art pieces involving real cheese, including a series of photographs of the iconic 1960s model Twiggy draped in cheese and covering the inside of a New York City hotel room with melted...

 was to be displayed at Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

's Roger Smith Hotel. The sculpture, entitled "My Sweet Lord", was of a crucified Christ, nude, in molded chocolate. Although the artist claims to be himself a practicing Catholic, Bill Donohue decried the work as "hate speech", "garbage", and "one of the worst assaults on Christian sensibilities ever," describing Mr. 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. Semler claimed 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."

Church child sex abuse issue

Donohue said, in October 2009, that the Catholic Church has a "homosexual", not a "pedophilia", problem, citing the John Jay Report
John Jay Report
The Nature and Scope of the Problem of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests and Deacons in the United States, commonly known as the John Jay Report, is a 2004 report by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, based on surveys...

.

Irish Child Abuse Commission

On May 20, 2009, Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...

 reported the results of a nine-year investigation by the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse
Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse
The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse is one of a range of measures introduced by the Irish Government to investigate the extent and effects of abuse on children from 1936 onwards. It is commonly known in Ireland as the Ryan Commission , after its chair, Justice Seán Ryan...

, which looked into decades of endemic sexual abuse against children in Catholic-run reform schools in Ireland. 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. Donohue pointed out that rape constituted only 12% of the listed sexual abuse cases in the Ryan report, and that priests committed only 12% of the listed rapes—the other 88% were committed by lay persons and religious brothers
Brother (Catholic)
A religious brother is a member of a Roman Catholic religious order who commits himself to following Christ in consecrated life of the church by the vows of poverty, celibacy, and obedience. A layman , he usually lives in a religious community and works in a ministry that suits his talents and gifts...

.

Since the Ryan report was released, Donohue has been defending the Church and claiming 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.

The Irish politician and child rape victim Colm O'Gorman
Colm O'Gorman
Colm O'Gorman is an Irishman from County Wexford, founder of One in Four, former senator, and current executive director of Amnesty International in Ireland...

 was highly critical of such statements made by Donohue on the Irish radio show The Last Word
The Last Word (radio show)
The Last Word is an Irish radio news review show hosted by Matt Cooper on Today FM on weekday evenings. Eamon Dunphy originally hosted the show but stepped down in November 2002.Kevin Myers was a regular stand-in presenter in the early years of the show....

. O'Gorman later wrote that Donohue's analysis was shockingly "simplistic".

Harry Knox and the White House faith-based office

When President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

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

David Wojnarowicz and National Portrait Gallery

In November 2010, a portion of a video by the late artist David Wojnarowicz
David Wojnarowicz
David Wojnarowicz was a painter, photographer, writer, filmmaker, performance artist, and activist who was prominent in the New York City art world of the 1980s.-Biography:...

, which was included in an exhibit focused on gay-themed art, "Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture"
at the National Portrait Gallery (United States)
National Portrait Gallery (United States)
The National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery in Washington, D.C., administered by the Smithsonian Institution. Its collections focus on images of famous individual Americans.-Building:...

, was removed after complaints from the
Catholic League. Columnist Frank Rich
Frank Rich
Frank Rich is an American essayist and op-ed columnist who wrote for The New York Times from 1980, when he was appointed its chief theatre critic, until 2011...

 said of the intervention and removal that the Smithsonian had been "bullied by bigots" and quoted The Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

"s art critic, Christopher Knight, to the same effect. 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.

Criticism

Donohue and the Catholic League have been criticized by other Catholics, who have accused them of being overly sensitive in the identification of anti-Catholicism. Jesuit priest James Martin
James Martin (Jesuit writer)
James J. Martin, born 29 December 1960, is a Jesuit priest, writer and Culture Editor of the Jesuit magazine America.-Education and Career:Martin grew up in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, United States, and attended Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School...

, the associate editor of the Catholic magazine America
America (magazine)
America is a national weekly magazine published by the American Jesuits that contains news and opinion about Catholicism and how it relates to American politics and cultural life....

says, "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."

At a 2005 event entitled “Justice Sunday”, advertised as “a rally to portray Democrats as being against people of faith”, Donohue shared the stage with Southern Baptist leader Albert Mohler, who has himself been accused of anti-Catholic views.

See also

  • Anticlericalism
  • Anti-Catholicism in the United States
    Anti-Catholicism in the United States
    Strong political and theological positions hostile to the Catholic Church and its followers was prominent among Protestants in Britain and Germany from the Protestant Reformation onwards. Immigrants brought them to the American colonies. Two types of anti-Catholic rhetoric existed in colonial society...

  • Anti-Christian sentiment
  • Alliance Defense Fund
    Alliance Defense Fund
    The Alliance Defense Fund is a conservative Christian nonprofit organization with the stated goal of "defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation." ADF was founded in 1994 by the late Bill Bright , the late Larry Burkett , James Dobson The...

  • Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation
    Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation
    The Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation is an interest group founded in 2005 by Don Feder in the United States formed to combat anti-Christian prejudice in Hollywood, the news media, academia, politics and the courts...

  • National Legion of Decency
    National Legion of Decency
    The National Legion of Decency was an organization dedicated to identifying and combating objectionable content, from the point of view of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, in motion pictures...

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