In the May 12 edition of the New York Daily News, there was an article by Michael Goodwin that was critical of Air America, the liberal radio venture. Goodwin said that on May 10, various hosts took the opportunity to slam Catholicism.
Louis Giovino, the Catholic League’s director of communications, spoke to Goodwin to learn more about the Catholic-bashing remarks. He learned of a flip comment comparing the “pulling out” of American troops from Iraq to the Catholic Church’s teaching on pre-marital sex; this was made on both the “Morning Sedition” and the “Unfiltered” shows. In the same vein, on “Morning Sedition” it was said that “the Catholic Church has secretly been encouraging oral sex for years.” Al Franken chimed in by imitating a priest giving Communion to a pedophile priest, saying, “Body of Christ,” while denying a pro-abortion politician the Host.
William Donohue shared his reaction with the press:
“Having recently discussed Catholicism on Air America with Janeane Garofalo and Sam Seder, I was unhappy to learn that the tenor of my conversation was not duplicated on the programming that aired Monday. I had my light moments with Garofalo and Seder, but they were always good humored and never insulting. Not so for some of the other hosts.
“Cracking jokes about Catholi-cism and sex is a staple in the world of comedy, and many are unobjectionable; there is a difference between good old-fashioned American humor and a cheap shot. But when it comes to the Eucharist, the fun stops. Now it may be that those who are not Catholic are unaware that such jokes are, by definition, highly offensive. Nonetheless, they are obligated to become more sensitive.
“If it is to succeed, Air America will have to capture the attention of the 25 percent of Americans who are Catholic. They won’t be able to do this if they persist in bashing them.”
