Examples of anti-Catholic bigotry that appear in this report are culled from activist organizations, the arts, commercial establishments, education, government, the media and the workplace; acts of violence are also detailed. The commentary that follows will address each of these areas. But first a word about the difference between criticism of the Catholic Church and rank [...]
2/9/94 Washington, DC – The League defended Pope John Paul II against attacks by a representative of a splinter group of Seventh Day Adventists on a local radio station. The sect had been sponsoring billboards in southern states displaying a drawing of the Holy Father with the caption "Man of Sin." 2/18/94 Franklin County, VT – The Franklin [...]
January-February, 1994 New York, NY – The Whitney Museum presented a vulgar display entitles "Catholic Tastes," featuring the work of "lapsed Catholic" Mike Kelley. "Catholic Tastes" was a scatological exhibit designed to offend Catholics. The book of the same name which was included as part of the exhibit was even more revealing of Kelley’s bigotry. The exhibit [...]
Two bishops chatting in church (while a woman dressed like the Virgin Mary with a halo around her head is on her knees with a scrub-brush in her hand), one bishop says to the other "Of course women can't be ordained as priests - but that shouldn't stop them from assuming other important roles within [...]
February Anaheim, CA – Mother Publications, a five-year old company specializing in distasteful trading cards, released it’s "Perverted Priests" collection. A set of 36 cards, the company promises "100% unnatural corrupted clergy, demented deacons, maniac messiahs, sinister ministers, heinous horny healers and lesbian nuns." 2/10/94 St. Cloud, MN – The US West telephone directory released new advertising guidelines [...]
Yearly Total The Vatican announced that more than 260 Catholic priests and religious were murdered around the world in 1994. The civil war in Rwanda — in addition to killing tens of thousands of laity — claimed the largest number: three bishops, 101 priests and 64 nuns. Elsewhere, missionaries were killed in India, Uganda, Algeria and [...]
2/16/94 Kalamazoo, MI – Stephen Hilker, a Ph.D. candidate at Western Michigan University, walked into his public administration class with the ashes he’d received earlier that day (it was Ash Wednesday). In short order, his teacher, Dr. Ralph Chandler, began an extensive diatribe against Catholics, including an effort to debunk several "myths" which happen to be central [...]
2/24/94 Marlboro, NJ – The League protested a restraining order placed on a newsletter published by Karen and Vincent Bove detailing the alleged apparitions taking place on a monthly basis in Marlboro, New Jersey. The decision was made in conjunction with a ban on the vigil itself, wherein the judge banned attendance at the vigils due to [...]
1/7/94 ABC-TV, "Prime Time Live" ran a piece on the Catholic Church and annulments. Included in the piece were interviews with disaffected women and alienated priests. Without any substantiation whatsoever, Diane Sawyer opened the segment by saying that annulment was one of the most divisive issues in the Catholic Church today. The league wrote to the show [...]
2/16/94 LaGrange, GA – Detective Marc Clay, a member of the Police Department of LaGrange, Georgia, was suspended by Captain Randy Dye, Chief George Yates, and Lt. Barbara Price for refusing to remove the ashes from his forehead on Ash Wednesday. Despite the fact that none of Clay’s co-workers registered a complaint, Clay was suspended on the [...]
