The Catholic event of the year—at least for Americans—was also the Catholic League event of the year, namely, the pope's historic visit to Washington, D.C., New York City, and Philadelphia. Pope Francis electrified the nation, including those who are not Catholic. His spontaneity and authenticity was embraced by tens of millions, and his love of Christ [...]
January In 2013, Rebecca Randles, an attorney who works with supreme Catholic-suing lawyer Jeffrey Anderson, sued Bill Donohue and the Catholic League for allegedly libeling a man who had made accusations against a priest in 2011. There was nothing libelous about anything Donohue said, and in January 2015 the suit was dismissed on all counts. When [...]
March Grants Pass, OR – Jim Ingraham's picture was selected as the Caveman Camera Club's image of the month for March. Given the theme of "contradiction,'' Ingraham shot a photograph he titled "Bad Nun." The image depicts a young woman who is pregnant dressed as a nun, wearing a habit, inside a church. The woman is [...]
A week into the new year saw the horrible death of 12 people, most of whom worked at the Paris office of Charlie Hebdo; a police officer was among the dead. The weekly publication is known for its coarse content and vulgar cartoons. Muslim terrorists, upset with depictions of Muhammad, were responsible for the carnage. Bill [...]
February 9 Yulee, FL – A student at Yulee High School ended the school's morning announcement with "God Bless America." This caused the American Humanist Association to contact the school and the Nassau County School District to warn school officials that saying "God Bless America" over the school's public address system was "inappropriate and unlawful." March [...]
February 3 Gresham, OR – The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries found Aaron and Melissa Klein, who run a bakery, guilty of discrimination for refusing to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian couple in 2013. February 5 During his remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama was speaking about Muslim madmen when he [...]
October 2 Roseburg, OR – Here is what Chris Harper-Mercer said to his victims just before he killed them at Umpqua Community College: "Are you Christian?" After they stood up he said, "Good, because you're Christian, you are going to see God in just about one second." He then shot them. Another eyewitness account said that [...]
The most historic Catholic event of the year was Pope Francis' visit to the United States. While it occasioned much goodwill, and overall very fair media coverage, there were some notable exceptions. A selection will be recounted in this section. We anticipated that the media would give high profile to surveys of Catholics showing that many disagree [...]
The animus against Christmas manifests itself in a myriad of ways, and 2015 was no exception. The anti-Christmas bigots from the Freedom From Religion Foundation threatened a lawsuit against a small Minnesota town because it displayed a nativity scene in a public park. For 23 years, no one in Wadena complained about the crèche in Burlington [...]
January 21 San Gabriel, CA – A surveillance video showed a man walking through the cemetery of the San Gabriel Mission methodically destroying statues and gravestones with religious imagery. Two statues of Jesus were knocked down, one was beaten with a rock severing the arms and head. The vandal used a garden hose as a lasso [...]
