Posted on 05/03/2008 6:58:15 PM PDT by Alex Murphy
Bill Donohue may not be tired of the culture wars–or internecine Catholic wars. The head of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights is often over the top in denunciations of anti-Catholicism, real or perceived, and of other Catholics who Donohue sees as not toeing the proper Catholic line. But even Donohue may have outdone himself, and done in his own organization, if his latest press release prompts an IRS investigation.
The May 2 release is “Catholic Dissidents Advise Obama,” and it draws down on Obama’s Catholic National Advisory Committee, which includes several Commonwealers, such as Cathleen Kaveny and Grant Gallicho. It also includes Catholics in public and religious life, ranging from Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania to the Sister of St. Joseph, Sr. Catherine Pinkerton. Also included are more than a few writers and theologians whose work I have long admired. Point of disclosure: I have also known Bill Donohue for years, and while I think he is completely wrongheaded many times, and inimical to the church’s well-being other times, he can also be a good guy to have a beer with, as well as someone who does not run from an argument, and an advocate who can point out indisputable cases of anti-Catholicism that still persist.
That said, this latest blast is way outta line. Donohue not only labels these Obama-advising Catholics as “dissidents” but he says “Practicing Catholics have every right to be insulted by Obama’s advisory group”–setting up Catholics who back Obama as bad Catholics and opponents of Obama, by implication, as good Catholics. Donohue employs his favorite trick of the invidious–and distorting–comparison, saying he wouldn’t have gay advisors who “don’t reflect the sentiment of the gay community”–as if these Obama-backers don’t reflect Catholic opinion. (In fact, they largely do. Not that this should be about public opinion, no?)
In his closing, Donohue takes a real potshot, saying that “If these are the best ‘committed Catholic leaders, scholars and advocates’ Obama can find, then it is evident that he has a ‘Wright’ problem when it comes to picking Catholic advisors.” As if these Catholics–check out the list–are the equivalent of Jeremiah Wright…!
But let me dissect this a bit more analytically. I see four chief problems.
One is that Donohue bases his criticism of these dozens of advisors principally on the “scores” that the abortion rights group NARAL gives some of the political figures on the committee (conveniently not mentioning the presence of Democrats Bob Casey and Tim Roemer, also on Obama’s committee, who have taken stands against abortion rights in many cases). Donohue also states that Obama’s pol pals do not agree with the church’s “three major public policy issues: abortion, embryonic stem cell research and school vouchers.” That is a rather selective list, in that the bishops’ own statement on political participation, titled “Faithful Citizenship,” lists seven principal policy areas, and they include “Option for the Poor and Vulnerable,” “Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers,” and “Caring for God’s Creation.” Not to mention the church’s opposition to the Iraq War, which John McCain wants to continue.
Indeed, while Donohue has criticized McCain’s alliance with the rock-ribbed televangelist and preacher of standard anti-Catholic rhetoric, John Hagee, he has not brought similar scrutiny to McCain’s own Catholic advisory board.
And that raises the second problem, which was noted by the liberal group, Catholics United, namely that Donohue’s apparent partisanship could jeopardize the League’s 501c3 non-profit status. Catholics United also cites passages from “Onward Christian Solders,” a new book by Deal Hudson–a longtime GOP advisor–that show how Donohue has been active in helping the Bush White House and the Republican Party woo the Catholic vote.
This adds up to a big potential problem for Donohue. Yet it also adds up to a big payday for him. As the League’s publicly-available financial forms show, Donohue takes in a whopping $343,000 a year in salary and compensation. He can rightly claim that he has turned the League from a penny-ante mom-and-pop shop into the $20-million-dollar a year culture war machine that it is. But while few would disagree with fighting anti-Catholicism, I wonder how many will see Donohue as getting rich off anti-Catholicism.
A final point: Pope Benedict XVI, who Donohue spares no effort to defend, even when the pontiff is not under attack, made an explicit call during last month’s visit for Catholics to seek unity, not division. I’m not sure how Donohue’s internecine and potentially partisan sniping achieves that end, or even how attacking other Catholics connects with fighting anti-Catholicism.
I would be happy to ping you to some.
lol. "Non-catholic posters on RF threads!"
What nerve!!!
And here we have the very reason for the Reformation itself -- because Rome cannot be challenged, all disagreement must be obliterated., or at the very least dismissed as "diatribes" by "trolls."
There must be some Catholics out there who recognize how to debate issues without declaring the discussion null and void simply because it does not like the counter-argument.
Some of these suggestions being made by Catholics on this thread would be laughable if they weren't so sad, and would be tantamount to either closing the Religion Forum or putting up a sign, "NO PROTESTANTS ALLOWED."
And just once I would like to see a Catholic count up the number of Catholic threads and compare them to the number of Protestant threads on the RF. It is easily 10 to one.
It very often feels like some Catholic posters here will not be happy until that ratio is 10 to zero.
Here's another one of your famous truncated posts. You pulled those words out of their context.
Let's take a look at the actual protest:
...non-Catholic posters coming on RF threads with troll posts, repeating the same anti-Catholic diatribes on every Catholic thread.
The part in bold is what is cut off, and it is plain to see now why.
All that is required is an honest retelling of our faith...rather than the heaping strawman versions of our faith that you love to bat away.
The rest of the sentence:
The problem is non-Catholic posters coming on RF threads with troll posts, repeating the same anti-Catholic diatribes on every Catholic thread.
More like "ALL RESPECTFUL HONEST PROTESTANTS OF GOOD WILL WELCOME!"
And the last defense, even though most of the Protestants have been posting for years, citing scripture, citing Catholic doctrine, is to label the opposition as “trolls”. Last time I saw it was on evolution creatinist threads where every Christian poster was automatically a troll.
Not to be crude, or anything but it seems to me that every time the Pope passes gas, someone posts a thread on it.
So post more Protestant threads.
Do you honestly not see that is what is being suggested here regarding Protestant posters by preventing them from posting threads and making comments according to their beliefs?
Just today I saw a Catholic poster say Protestants shouldn't be posting threads about Catholicism.
Is it now a "hate crime" to disagree with Rome?
For the record, Protestants are generally fine with Catholics posting whatever threads their heart desires, and making whatever comments they are compelled to make, as long as they abide by the FR rules of no personal attacks, racist comments or foul language.
So ignore them, right? No one obligates you to read a thread.
BUT WE DISAGREE.
You present your side. We present ours.
It's called DEBATE!
Quix can’t answer for himself?
Nothing selective about it. I posted your entire comment.
And you complained of a deceptively-truncated portion of the text, ripping her words from their context. Your post was deceptive.
Alex, you should ping more people to your great threads.
You think you have your own side of what we believe?
OMG.
You are entitled to your opinions of what we believe, but you are not entitled to have “your own side” of what we believe.
Catholics define what Catholics believe. You’re not required to believe it or even like it, but if you redefine it, you are bearing false witness.
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