Bill Donohue comments on the death of Jack Chick:
Jack Chick, the anti-Catholic cartoonist and publisher, died on October 23 at the age of 92.
Chick’s goal was to convince Protestants that Roman Catholicism was a false religion. He published scores of books and magazines, and released many videos, but he was most famous for his small tracts and comic books. His 3×5 inch cartoon-like booklets were released all over the world, and in dozens of languages. His titles were provocative: “Are Roman Catholics Christians?”; “Why is Mary Crying?”; and “The Death Cookie” (meaning the Host). These were among his bestsellers.
Some of the assaults on Catholicism were quite specific. For example, Confession was the work of Satan. The Jesuits constitute a “truly secret army” all over the world. The Catholic Church was responsible for the Nazi death camps. Pope Pius XI and John Paul I were drugged. Protestants must beware of the “Catholicization of America.” The Vatican is bent on creating the “New World Order.”
The person most to blame for these recent conditions is none other than Our Blessed Mother. Here is how Chick author Dave Hunt put it: “Uncompromising Christians will be put to death for standing in the way of unity and peace. From current trends, it seems inevitable that a woman [his emphasis] must ride the beast. And of all the women in history, none rivals Roman Catholicism’s omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent ‘Mary.'”
Chick built an empire, not just a company. Headquartered in California, he had operations in Scotland, Germany, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. He published over 800 million tracts. He was the Amazon of Anti-Catholicism.
In 1996, I wrote that “the most invidious form of anti-Catholicism is that which emanates from elite circles. When men and women of power and influence engage in Catholic bashing, the effects can be devastating, which is why the Catholic League responds so quickly and decisively. But there is also a brand of anti-Catholicism that comes from less urbane quarters, from places that target the undereducated. And no one is better at doing this than Chick publications.”
Twenty years later, nothing has changed. The anti-Catholic bigots who work for Hillary Clinton are the ones that command our attention, not Chick publications. The ever-tolerant professors who hate Catholicism, along with their allies in the media, the entertainment industry, and the arts—they are the real threat.
It is so fitting that the AP story today on Jack Chick is not only the most quoted, it is also the least accurate. In the first sentence of the story by Robert Jablon we learn that Chick vilified “the beliefs of Catholics and Muslims.” Later, we read that his hate-filled tracts were aimed at “blacks, homosexuals, Arabs and others.”
The fact is that Jack Chick concentrated most of his time and resources attacking Catholics, not Muslims and homosexuals. Indeed, on the website of Chick Publications there are 680 stories on Muslims, 260 on homosexuals, and 2,460 on Catholics.
However, in today’s politically correct world, any “microaggression” against homosexuals is bound to be treated on a par with John Podesta’s quest for a “revolution” in the Catholic Church. This is what the left calls parity.
Catholics may finally be rid of Jack Chick’s legacy. Now if they could only free themselves from his more educated comrades, that would be real progress.
