AmericanPapist Comments
I question Bill Donohue for lumping vouchers in with essential life issues like abortion and embryonic stem cell research. First of all, while I support vouchers, it sounds like something reasonable people can disagree on. Is there official Church teaching on this other than a position paper by the Bishops' conference? I mean, can a pro-life Catholic politician who opposes school vouchers as a matter of public policy still present himself for Communion (see the point I'm making?)?
If I'm missing something, please let me stand corrected.
No I think you're spot-on. Bill weakens his argument by the conflation of morally-unequal issues.
No you're not missing something. Bill Donahue is a hyperbolic Republican hack and self-appointed American Catholic spokesperson first and foremost.
From Vox-Nova: http://vox-nova.com/2008/02/29/b...-so-lets-recap/
"Donohue faced allegations that some of his evangelical allies among the “Justice Sunday” gatherings included those who branded Catholicism a false religion, Donohue not only defended his friends– betraying the mandate of the Catholic League– but attacked phantom left-wing critics: it’s the “fat-cat, left-wing bigots like George Soros who concern us” whereas “Dobson is our friend.” On the allegation that Republicans favor tax cuts for the rich? “The greedy want to keep the money they’ve earned; those who want to take it from us are the altruists”. What about the Iraq war? Here, he claimed, falsely, that Pope John Paul never said that there was “no legal or moral justification for the war”. And he angrily denounced those who “exploited” the pope’s position while not respecting “his teaching on all subjects”.
In response to John:
I think it is only fair to say that if anyone actually read the releases from the Catholic League over a course of weeks or months, they would realize that Mr. Donohue does an admirable job addressing some of the major attacks on American Catholicism in the public sphere and does so without regard to political affiliation. (Indeed he made headlines in the past months for, quite rightly, criticizing the words and actions of Republican candidate John McCain). Rather than posting some link from an article dug up about Mr. Donohue, it is much more appropriate to view his own words and make one's judgments accordingly. You may suppose it to be a bizarre conservative conspiracy that Mr. Donohue is consistently criticizing, among other associations, the notoriously left-wing ACLU. However, it also happens to be the reality that the ACLU is one of the most influential anti-faith and especially anti-Christian organizations involved in American law-making and jurisprudence.
You may have your own thoughts about policy and politics, sir, but do not use them to attack the integrity of a man who seemingly does his best to bring awareness and defend American Catholics in the public sphere.
Gabriel,
Respectfully, I have always viewed Mr. Donahue's words to form my opinion of the man. Mr. Donahue rarely shows Christian behavior and does more to hurt the appearance of Catholics in society than defend us. He is someone who claims to represent American Catholics and threatens to physically assault Christopher Hitchens for his book? Or when he said about Mark Foley's claim of being sexually abused by a priest, "First, there is a huge difference between being groped and being raped, so which was it Mr. Foley? Second, why didn’t you just smack the clergyman in the face? After all, most 15-year-old teenage boys wouldn’t allow themselves to be molested. So why did you?”
He was right to denounce Hagee (though he accepts Republican's apologies a lot more quickly than Democrats). And to equate vouchers with the life issues? What about war or poverty? Vouchers? as someone said earlier, reasonable people can disagree on vouchers. Bill Donahue is the Joe McCarthy of the 21st Century.
John,
This will be my last post on the subject and I do not doubt that what I write will not change your mind regarding Mr. Donohue. That being said, I believe your characterization of him is entirely unfair and uncharitable. Mr. Donohue is unquestionably forthright with his style of writing and occasionally even adds humor to his commentary on current events. Regarding the quotes you provide about Hitchens or Foley, I have never previously read them, but indeed for such serious subjects they might be seen as being in bad taste. But if my memory of the person named Foley is correct, I think he had so many issues that questioning the nature of his story was more than apt.
The more important point I am trying to make about Mr. Donohue is that, if you look at the entire body of work released by the Catholic League, I think you will find a plethora of information about the very real and trenchant anti-Catholic sentiments that are thrown about in modern American society. Whether on topics of abortion, media bias, bigotry, etc., Mr. Donohue's press releases help bring attention to stories and events that should be of concern to all Catholics but otherwise would not be highlighted for public consumption.
I do not believe that Mr. Donohue was attempting to put school vouchers on a level of moral equivalence with infanticide or euthanasia, but was merely highlighting a 3rd issue of political contention which people of faith- especially Catholics who value the raising and educating their children in the embrace of Christ's Church- support. But let us not begin an argument over the religion clauses of the Bill of Rights here.
Finally, I do not know whether you consider yourself a liberal or not, but your manner of argumentation greatly reminds me of their style. You have attacked Mr. Donohue's character and called him some names that do not reflect well of humility and grace. Yet, you have not addressed the central point of his commentary on Sen. Obama's Catholic advisory panel. You have called Mr. Donohue a "Republican hack" but never once confronted the reality that the vast majority of Sen. Obama's Catholic advisors do not hold to the teaching of Christ and his Church on issues that I think we both agree are inestimably important- chiefly on issues of life. Plainly, Sen. Obama's positions on many issues clash with a Catholic Orthodoxy.
I wish you a good day, John, and I thank you for a spirited exchange.
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