On Monday, the New York State Assembly passed a bill that would require all employers to provide contraceptive health insurance coverage for its employees. The Assembly explicitly rejected a religious conscience protection clause, which was found acceptable to the New York State Senate. A compromise measure will now be sought. The New York State Catholic Bishops [...]
President George W. Bush’s support for faith-based programs drew a strong endorsement today from Catholic League president William Donohue. Here is the text of his remarks: “Faith-based social service programs work. The empirical evidence is so overwhelming that there really isn’t anything to debate. Consider, for example, the following. “Teen Challenge is a church-sponsored rehabilitation program [...]
At a news conference yesterday, James Hormel contended that Senator John Ashcroft opposed his confirmation as ambassador to Luxembourg “solely because I am a gay man.” Senator Ashcroft has denied this was the reason he opposed the Hormel appointment. The Catholic League, which led the opposition to the Hormel appointment at the time, believes that Hormel’s [...]
The Bush administration today announced a plan for education that includes a limited voucher program. The plan would give schools that receive Title 1 federal money – money designated for poor children – three years to improve job performance to meet federal standards. If the schools fail to improve in that time, parents would receive $1,500 [...]
On Tuesday, a press conference was held in Washington by many organizations opposed to the nomination of Senator John Ashcroft for the position of U.S. Attorney General; 45 organizations pledged their opposition to his candidacy. Many of those opposed have cited the honorary degree Senator Ashcroft received from Bob Jones University as critical to their position. [...]
Actress Lara Flynn Boyle, the star of ABC’s “The Practice,” has told Vanity Fair how horrible her Catholic upbringing was. “I got a terrible education from the nuns and the Jesuits,” she said in the February issue. “They kept flunking me and saying I wasn’t participating. I grew up thinking I was stupid.” Boyle also confessed that she [...]
In a conversation yesterday with Greta Van Susteren and Roger Cossack on CNN’s “Burden of Proof,” National Organization for Women president Patricia Ireland expressed concern for anti-Catholicism. The subject was the nomination of Senator John Ashcroft to the post of Attorney General. In the course of the discussion, it was mentioned that the Senator accepted of [...]
Time Out New York magazine has announced that it will run an apology in its next issue for celebrating the death of John Cardinal O’Connor. The celebratory comments were made in the January 4-11 edition: the death of the New York Archbishop was rated as the best event of 2000 in its Gay & Lesbian “Best and [...]
The January 4-11 edition of Time Out New York magazine features a discussion of the best and worst of 2000 in many categories, ranging from Dance to Sports. In the Gay & Lesbian section, the top listing for “The Best” of 2000 (found on page 91) reads as follows: Cardinal John O’Connor kicks the bucket The press eulogized him [...]
Actress Heather Graham, of “Austin Powers” fame, took to bashing the Catholic Church in an interview in the February edition of Talk magazine. As reported today in the New York Post, Graham blames the Church for stifling her sex life when she was growing up. “Why do I have to do what all these men are saying? Why is [...]
