Bill Donohue comments on the decision by U.S. News & World Report to defend the article by Jamie Stiehm, “The Catholic Church’s War on Women,” as acceptable journalism:
Brian Kelly, Editor and Chief Content Officer of U.S. News & World Report, is defending Jamie Stiehm’s bigoted assault on Catholics as being “within the bounds of fair commentary.” In her article [click here], Stiehm indicted all Catholic members of the Supreme Court, especially Sonia Sotomayor: they are guilty of imposing their religious views on the masses.
“More than WASPS, Methodists, Jews, Quakers or Baptists,” she said, “Catholics often try to impose their beliefs on you, me, public discourse and institutions.” Catholic elites are the worst offenders. “Catholics in high places of power have the most trouble, I’ve noticed, practicing separation of church and state.” They are led by “meddlesome” bishops.
Virtually everyone who has contacted us understands Stiehm’s piece to be vintage anti-Catholicism. Rick Newcombe of Creators Syndicate, which carries Stiehm’s work (but had nothing to do with this article), said he would not have published it. Kelly, by contrast, sees her article as mere opinion. He compared her contribution to bigotry to “pieces from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Archdiocese of New York and Concerned Women for America.”
I have no way of knowing if Kelly is a bigot. I do know he is incompetent. Any man who equates a reasonable defense of Catholicism, written by those in the employ of the Catholic Church, with Jamie Stiehm’s anti-Catholic screed, lacks the faculty of discernment, and thus has no legitimate role to play in journalism. He couldn’t defend this in public; I challenge him to do so.
Contact Kelly: bkelly@usnews.com
