Hudson is a former Southern Baptist minister who converted to Catholicism.  And like many other such converts, he practices a very stringent, ultra orthodox form of the faith. The former publisher of the uber-conservative Crisis magazine has written several books including How to Vote Catholic. In those writings, he rails about the evils of abortion, gay rights and what he perceives as contemporary society's lax morality.

But Hudson hasn't always practiced what he preaches. In their press statement on their action, Catholics United noted:

In 2004, Deal Hudson resigned from his position as a Catholic advisor to George W. Bush's re-election campaign over allegations that Hudson had solicited an improper sexual encounter with an 18-year old Fordham University freshman. According to the National Catholic Reporter, which broke the story in August 2004, the incident happened in Hudson's campus office after a night of heavy drinking and resulted in a legal settlement and Hudson's loss of his tenured professorship.

As well as this:

In addition to questions about his personal conduct, Hudson has a long standing history of using Catholic teaching to advance a partisan agenda. In 1999, Hudson's magazine Crisis authored an influential study explaining how the Republican Party could achieve greater success at the ballot box by making specific appeals to Catholic swing voters, a move that prompted Bush strategist Karl Rove to invite Hudson into high-level campaign conversations.

And in a follow-up statement, this important tidbit of information:

"Although the McCain campaign is attempting to downplay Hudson's role as a Catholic advisor and surrogate, the facts appear to tell a different story. In May, Mr. Hudson was a key player in the campaign's attempt to rectify fallout over Senator McCain's embrace of anti-Catholic pastor John Hagee.

Responding on July 17, 2008 Donohue outdid his his customary audacity:

Catholic League president Bill Donohue responded today to a story last night by CNN's Anderson Cooper on attempts by some Catholics to get the McCain campaign to oust Catholic author and activist Deal Hudson from the Catholics for McCain National Steering Committee:
"Anderson Cooper said last night that those opposed to Hudson were citing two reasons why he should be dumped from the McCain campaign as an advisor: Hudson 'harassed an 18-year-old female college student 10 years earlier,' and his 'brokering a deal between a meeting of conservative Catholics and San Antonio mega-preacher John Hagee.'

As well as this kicker:

There is nothing Catholic about these charges. Catholics put a premium on forgiveness and reconciliation-they do not conduct vindictive campaigns of personal destruction under the guise of promoting the Catholic cause. Hudson has made several public statements of apology regarding his improper sexual encounter with a coed in 1994. What are we to do as Catholics-say it isn't enough?

That's rich. Donohue and his ilk only seem to "put a premium on forgiveness and reconciliation" when it comes to Catholic Right's GOP friendly politicos. Other than that, it's fire and brimstone with the greatest scorchers reserved for liberals - especially Catholic liberals.

In an earlier post I noted that on behalf of Catholics everywhere, Donohue gave absolution to John Hagee, a man whose bigotry is as big as Texas as if his past diatribes about Catholicism were just simple misunderstandings. But in Bill Donohue's universe, when Neo-platonist, Religious Right political goals are at stake, accountability, consistency and real issues of anti-Catholicism go by the boar