In 2003, the Catholic League celebrated its 30th anniversary. Founded in 1973 by Jesuit scholar Father Virgil Blum, the league is dedicated to defending individual Catholics and the institutional Church against discrimination and defamation. That we spend much more time defending the Church against defamation than we do defending Catholic men and women against discrimination is [...]
January On its webpage, the Feminist Majority lists under "Feminist News" news articles of interest to its members. For instance, at the end of January it drew attention to articles titled "Women Sue AT&T for Contraceptive Coverage," "Title IX Commission To Meet on Final Recommendations: Women's Groups to Hold Rally," etc. It also drew attention to [...]
January Seattle, WA—An art exhibit at the Roq la Rue Gallery called "Gods and Monsters" featured a work called "Frankenkreist," which depicted Christ as Frankenstein's monster; and "Naughty Guadalupe," which depicted a topless Our Lady of Guadalupe. Shortly after the show started, a piece depicting the Koran with a Buddha carved in it was withdrawn for [...]
San Francisco, CA—Divine Interventions sells sex toys with a religious theme. On its website it offers sex toys that are in the shape of a crucifix, the Blessed Mother, baby Jesus, a nun, Judas, Moses and the Devil, as well as Buddha and the Grim Reaper. Product descriptions include: "Hail Mary! Virgin Mary, like most smart [...]
This cartoon by Pat Oliphant (syndicated, 2/22/03) equates the charge of pedophilia against Michael Jackson with abuse by priests. Besides accusing all priests of being molesters, it continued the false perception that the abuse crisis in the Church involved pre-pubescent boys. Most of the abuse was homosexual, occurring with post-pubescent teenagers. This cartoon by Allan Innman [...]
January Westfield, MA—Students at Westfield High School who were suspended in December 2002 for distributing candy canes with messages attached filed suit in federal court claiming school administrators violated their constitutional rights to free speech and expression. The message with the candy canes explained the candy canes' shape and colors, and included Bible verses and a [...]
January Hightstown, NJ—Town Councilman Eugene Sarafin, known for his atheism and inflammatory remarks about religion, twice used obscene terms to describe his Catholic critics. He labels them "Catholic s---." After a complaint by the Catholic League, Sarafin was censored by the town council on March 3 by a vote of 5-1. January New Hampshire—Lawmakers began debating [...]
Movies | Newspapers | Periodicals | Radio | Television |Internet | Books | Video Games MOVIES January 16 The Irish movie "Song for a Raggy Boy" made its United States premiere. Although billed sometimes as a true story, it is a fictionalized account of an Irishman who fights against Franco in Spain and returns to Ireland in 1939, where he teaches at a Catholic reform school. The boys there [...]
January 4 Philadelphia, PA—The 2003 New Year's Day Mummers Parade was to include a "parody" of the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. To be performed by the Slick Duck Comic Brigade, it was to feature men dressed as priests and young men dressed as altar boys; cops were to be shown chasing after the [...]
The following is a list of some of the more incendiary remarks made in 2003 about the Mel Gibson movie, "The Passion of the Christ." We do not maintain that it is anti-Catholic to criticize a film, even before it has been released, but we do contend that the hostility to Gibson and to his work [...]
