1996
South Euclid, OH – Tru-Lite Publications advertised a booklet over Prodigy condemning Catholicism.
February
Oklahoma City, OK – In discussing his participation in the Interfaith Alliance of Central Oklahoma, former State Rep. Harley Venters commented to the Oklahoma Gazette that “25 percent of Germans who murdered Jews in concentration camps were devout Catholics whose priests never told them they were doing anything wrong.” No evidence for this outrageous remark was offered.
March
Dallas, TX – At the Dallas Prayer Ministry Prayer Workshop, “World Prayer Maps” were sold by a group called Every Home for Christ. In the map every country is shown and listed with its percentage of Christians. Malta, for example, is considered to be the most Catholic nation in the world aside from Vatican City, but according to the map, only 0.12% of the people are Christian. In Vatican City, the population of Christians is 0%, indicating that this group does not recognize that Catholics are Christians.
New York, NY – Flyers distributed at the St. Patrick’s Day protests included one for socialists’ presidential and vice presidential candidates. It read in part that the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization was being oppressed by “arch-bigot John Cardinal O’Connor.”
April
San Diego, CA – An Atheist Coalition including humanists, gays and witches received a permit to have a “sunrise service” on Mount Soledad on Easter Sunday. For the last seventy-three years Christians had held a service at the foot of the mountain, which has a cross on top. The coalition used the occasion to mock Christianity.
May
Columbus, OH – A Jewish educational institute, Chabad House, had a lecture advertised in its spring catalog concerning anti-Semitism. The ad read: “When it comes to anti-Semites, it’s sometimes difficult to discern a pattern.” Shaped in the figure of a Star of David, the ad listed several prominent historical figures and groups as anti-Semites. Among those cited were the Mufti, Hamas, and Khomeini. But also listed were Catholic Church figures such as Pope Gregory IX, Pope Paul IV, St. John Chysostom and Justin Martyr. No evidence was presented in the ad to substantiate this claim and no reply was given to the league when we asked for the evidence.
June
An AP picture of a man dressed as a nun, a member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, accompanied an AP article about gay bingo games as AIDS fundraisers. The nun was in full drag as well as full habit.
Fall
In the fall edition of “Animal Times,” People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) criticized the Boys Town National Research Hospital for doing research on animals. The league objected to the opening statement in the article. The following is a direct quote: “While a kindly priest named Father Flanagan was turning Boys Town into a world-famous home for troubled boys, he never dreamed that a few decades later, in the 1980’s, his haven would be involved in a scandalous pedophile ring. Now, a PETA undercover investigator has found shocking evidence that something has gone wrong at the Nebraska Boys Town.”
As a matter of fact, no one from Boys Town was ever convicted of pedophilia. Boys Town and the Catholic League both protested the slur.
September
New York, NY – Upon request, the Catholic League submitted an anti-condom poster for display at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, a Smithsonian Institution gallery in New York City. The ad read, in part, “Want To Know A Dirty Little Secret? Condoms Don’t Save Lives.” The museum added the following commentary at the bottom of the display: “The Church associates sexuality with dirtiness and secrecy.” After the league protested, the museum changed the wording to read: “According to the author of this poster, the provocative headline is intended to jar the reader into understanding that one of the ‘dirty little secrets’ of our time is that condoms don’t save lives; only restraint does.”
October
In an interview, Dr. Jack Kevorkian attacked the pope, stating that “The pope has his hands on our neck. He’s wringing it. It think he has a grip on the government, and I know he has a grip on the Michigan Supreme Court.”
November
Vermont – Seed Sowers, an anti-Catholic Protestant-based group, sent anti-Catholic literature to Catholic priests. When asked by the league to “cease and desist,” director Stephen Colbeth wrote that “The Roman Catholic System is deceiving many people.” He added “You will be wise to depart from the false doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church.”
