The Catholic Right, Part IV: William Donohue And The Politics Of The Catholic League
Frank Cocozzelli printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Sun Jun 04, 2006 at 10:45:21 AM EST
"Year after year, on issue after issue, progressives work with the church on these questions  (of social justice, and peace) while conservatives often oppose the church's view. Yet come election time, only the progressives get punished. This is a practical problem. And for many of us who are progressive Catholics, it is a source of genuine anguish."  --E. J. Dionne Jr., June 2006
(In this, the fourth installment of my series on the Catholic right, the focus shifts to a bulldog, independent lay organization, the New York-based "Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights")

William Donohue
Liberal and even some libertarian-minded conservative Catholics often come to a common realization: a number of the Church's hierarchy often overlook doctrinal disagreements (and in some cases, outright disloyalty) it has with its friends on the political American Catholic Right. More often than not, this policy of inconsistent admonition favors with those who advocate unrestrained self-interest economics--provided they also act to enable secular society to become more conducive to an orthodox practice of the faith. Many of these same princes of the Church will simultaneously wage a scorched earth policy toward what it sees as its opponents: progressives within as well as without the Church.  

This is not true of the entire Catholic Church, but of a reactionary, "Church within a Church" whose followers often employ ultra-traditionalist lay groups (1) to do this dirty work, many of which were elevated during the reign of Pope John Paul II. Members of this Rightist clique will constantly scream their opposition to choice and stem cell research, while, in sotto voce, give lip service to the death penalty and war  -- and say nothing at all, to name one example, about the influence of big tobacco in politics, and the addiction, ill health, death and -- the destruction of families that it leaves in its wake.  This is a highly selective use of Church doctrine that cleverly promotes friendly non-mainstream conservative political action often designed to further the personal interests of friendly individuals of superfluously wealth. It is also an outrageous abuse of church teachings to thwart the views of the Church in other areas.
The Catholic League, led since 1993 by its often bombastic president, William A. Donohue (2), presents itself as the voice of all of the Vatican's flock.  Donohue often appears on cable television shows railing against those whom he believes to be disobedient to Rome or non-Catholics who dare to challenge the Vatican on non-economic matters of orthodoxy. However, Mr. Donohue and his organization are about as inconsistent as March weather.  

The League was originally founded by Father Virgil C. Blum, S.J. in 1973. The organization is funded by private donations. Its web site states "...our financial base comes from individuals, not the Church." Originally it was founded to combat unjust anti-Catholicism from either the Right (Ku Klux Klan) or the Left (Paul Blanshard).  Fr. Blum died in 1990 and three years later Donohue, then very active with the Heritage Foundation, ascended to its leadership. He immediately moved its headquarters to New York where it maintains its offices at 750 Seventh Avenue.

Under Donohue's direction the League moved politically to the Right and began to use the media as a highly effective mechanism to promote its particularly restrictive interpretation of Catholicism. To that end the League constantly bombards the full spectrum of the media by holding press conferences, issuing press releases to the entire spectrum of the media and then backing these announcements up with appearances on the many cable news programs (Donohue, with his loud demeanor and often outrageous remarks, plays well with cable news networks such as Fox News and MSNBC which both seem to place a premium on the "splash factor" of their guests). It also organizes boycotts of targeted individuals or organizations its leadership believes responsible for alleged anti-Catholicism. To accomplish this The League also publishes a periodical called  Catalyst.

It claims on its web site, to be "Motivated by the letter and the spirit of the First Amendment" and "works to safeguard both the religious freedom rights and the free speech rights of Catholics whenever and wherever they are threatened." But very rarely does it represent disenfranchised individuals -- such as aggrieved workers belonging to unions with large Catholic memberships or those who simply want to have a discussion on birth control or married clergy. Instead, the League will go to great lengths to defend the institutionally powerful from the legitimately aggrieved, as evidenced by the League's campaign against the Voice of the Faithful a grassroots and politically diverse organization of Catholics who are seeking greater Church accountability in light of the recent pedophilia scandals.  

Another favorite target constantly in the League's crosshairs is Catholics for a Free Choice--a pro-choice group of lay