On Nov. 13, the News Journal of Wilmington, Delaware ran a story on a “nationally known Holocaust educator Jack P. McGough.” McGough had spoken the day before at the student center on the campus of the University of Delaware (UD) in Newark; he was identified as a professor at UD. The Jewish Federation of Delaware sponsored his talk, “Where Were the Churches?” McGough singled out the Catholic Church for being the worst denier of the Holocaust.
The first thing we did was investigate McGough’s credentials. What we found was a) he is not a nationally known expert on the Holocaust or on any other historical subject b) he is neither an author, historian nor social scientist and c) he is not a professor at the UD. In fact, McGough is a retired executive who teaches continuing education courses at UD’s Academy of Lifelong Learning.
We then blasted all three parties in a news release, singling out the newspaper as the worst offender. Subsequently, the News Journal did run a correction. As for McGough, he promised to send us his resume but then reneged when he discovered who we were. He told Patrick Scully “you’re Donohue’s group.” As if that matters.
This episode provides convincing evidence that there is a disturbing eagerness to believe the worst about Catholicism. It also shows that by quickly and firmly addressing these issues, we can get offending newspapers to print a retraction.
