Pope John Paul II’s historic trip to the Holy Land received very fair coverage by the media. While there were several columnists and TV and radio pundits who made patently unfair comments, most news reports were not tainted with bias. What the trip did, however, was reignite the debate on what Pope Pius XII did during [...]
NBC’s "Today Show" (3/21/00) DR. DONOHUE: …I think the Catholics have to own up to the fact that they didn’t do enough during the Holocaust. The is a grand collective act of contrition. On the other hand, you know, Catholics are not a punching bag. And there are some people who want to keep upping the [...]
On March 23, House Speaker Dennis Hastert named Father Daniel P. Coughlin the new House Chaplain. Father Coughlin is Vicar for Priests of the Archdiocese of Chicago. Our official response was as follows: "The Catholic League is pleased to note that the House Chaplain selection process has come to an end. Over the past few months, [...]
William A. Donohue The fact that the term Irreligious Left sounds strange, but Religious Right does not, is a function of media bias. No one uses the former term while the latter is part of every pundit’s vocabulary. Yet in reality there is more reason to use the former than the latter. A recent Gallup poll [...]
By Ronald Rychlak The March 19 broadcast of CBS Television’s "60 Minutes" profiled Hitler’s Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII, by John Cornwell (Viking Press, 1999). As the title suggests, that book presents a very cynical portrait of Pope Pius XII. Like many print reviews, "60 Minutes" started by discussing Cornwell’s claim that he was convinced [...]
Prayer and the crucifix. Fairly non-controversial subjects, one would think. But to some, they are sources of evil. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has been combating anti-Semitism since the early part of the 20th century. That some of its leaders are need in of a workshop on tolerance is as regrettable as it is true. Take Dena Marks, [...]
The January/February edition of Catalyst carried a story on the launching of the Catholic-Jewish Holocaust Commission. In it we noted that one of the Catholic scholars, Father John Morley, had labeled the work of Father Peter Gumpel, the realtor of the cause of Pius XII, as being "biased." As we now know from Father Morley, the context in [...]
The animated comedy, "God, the Devil and Bob," has been axed by NBC after a number of the station’s affiliates refused to air it. Its poor ratings and controversial nature were also mentioned as reasons why the show was dropped. The Catholic League let NBC know that we were monitoring the show. Our position was that [...]
The March edition of the CBS program, "The Early Show," featured another attack on Catholicism; it was the third outburst in less than two months. Joining Bryant Gumbel in this attack was his co-host Jane Clayson, anchor Julie Chen and meteorologist Mark McEwen. Here is a sample of the extended discussion: McEwen: Do you go to [...]
Hollywood’s love affair with abortion rights was proven once again at this year’s Academy Awards celebration. According to an AP story, John Irving got a "thunderous applause" when he picked up his Oscar for "Cider House Rules." That’s because the abortion-rights enthusiast went out of his way to thank "everyone at Planned Parenthood and the National [...]
