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Anti-Catholicism has a long history in America. And as Philip Jenkins argues in The New Anti-Catholicism, this virulent strain of hatred--once thought dead--is alive and well in our nation, but few people seem to notice, or care.

A statement that is seen as racist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic, or homophobic can haunt a speaker for years, writes Jenkins, but it is still possible to make hostile and vituperative public statements about Roman Catholicism without fear of serious repercussions. Jenkins shines a light on anti-Catholic sentiment in American society and illuminates its causes, looking closely at gay and feminist anti-Catholicism, anti-Catholic rhetoric and imagery in the media, and the anti-Catholicism of the academic world. For newspapers and newsmagazines, for television news and in movies, for major book publishers, the Catholic Church has come to provide a grossly stereotyped public villain. Catholic opinions, doctrines, and individual leaders are frequently the butt of harsh satire. Indeed, the notion that the church is a deadly enemy of women, the idea of Catholic misogyny, is commonly accepted in the news media and in popular culture, says Jenkins. And the recent pedophile priest scandal, he shows, has revived many ancient anti-Catholic stereotypes.

It was said that with the election of John F. Kennedy, anti-Catholicism in America was dead. This new book corrects that illusion and draws attention to this important issue.

"This is an astonishing book. Most of us get used to the contempt heaped upon the Catholic church by nice, liberal people (as if such contempt were only to be expected), so we stop thinking of it as the gross deformity of soul it is. Jenkins, once a Catholic but no longer, quietly amasses evidence about more types of prejudice and bigotry against Catholics than most of us are conscious of. He is particularly good at diagnosing 'the black legends' about Catholicism which everybody 'knows' are true-the Crusades, the Inquisition, 'silence' regarding the Holocaust-and the inner agitation of 'anti-Catholic Catholics,' who have internalized the world's contempt. A serious, original, provocative study." --Michael Novak

Raymond Arroyo interviewed Philip Jenkins on last week's World Over Live program. Much of what I see in the press and media, bear out his assertions.

This homily makes some important points, in that regard.

It is hard to ignore that the media have a bias against Catholicism and that their repeated insinuations do have an impact on our young people. Some young Catholics wonder whether they want to belong to an organization portrayed as anti-woman, anti-gay, anti-choice, anti-democratic, anti-science, even anti-Semitic.

Something to ponder, for those who are not home schooling their children.

Bump. I might just read this book. I keep reading about it everywhere!

It seems to me that anti-Catholicism is acceptible in some ways because some big name Catholic politicians seem to almost encourage it at times. Sometimes the only reason I know who is a Catholic politician is when they speak out publicly against a dogma they deem un-pc.

Of course the past two years have greatly helped anti-Catholicism. People I work with have no problem snickering and mentioning buggering priests to me.

We do not seek to dominate or impose. As Pope John Paul stated, “The Church proposes. She imposes nothing.”

*snort*

Since when?

Every country that springs from a majority Catholic culture is a socialist cesspool with deep class divisions and a history of dogma enforced as civil law; in the US, those states which are most heavily Catholic have tended toward that as well.