New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer will not march in New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Monday. Catholic League president William Donohue explains why he sees Spitzer’s decision as an insult to Catholics:
“Last month, Eliot Spitzer was invited by the Society of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick to give an address at their annual St. Patrick’s Day dinner. But then the Friendly Sons revoked the invitation after scores of Catholics, many of whom are members of the organization, protested the decision; ever since Spitzer tried to shut down the crisis pregnancy centers in the state, he has not been popular with practicing Catholics. But there is more to the story than this.
“On February 24, before Spitzer’s invitation was revoked, we called his office wanting to know whether he was planning to march in the parade; he has never marched before. We were told that he hadn’t decided yet and will let us know in a few weeks. We thought this odd: will the New York State Attorney General not march in the St. Patrick’s Day parade when he is going to deliver an address that evening before the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick? Is he that crass? Is he that wedded to the self-absorbed agenda of radical homosexuals?
“In any event, we called today to see if Spitzer is marching. And guess what? We were told the event was never on his schedule. In other words, he had every intention of going to the dinner but not marching in the parade. Which means he’s decided to stiff Catholics.
“One more item of interest: when we called the Friendly Sons after Spitzer’s invitation was pulled and asked why he wasn’t speaking, we were told he was never scheduled to speak in the first place. This, of course, is a lie. We have a copy of the invitation.
“So there is a lot of blame to go around. We hope all Catholics, especially Irish Catholics, take note of all the players.”
