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 boards. It comes down to this:

If you are the victim of a pedophile priest demanding justice, then Donohue denounces you as "vicious and vindictive." Yet if you are a John Hagee, who, in Bill Donohue's own words,, "...made a lot of money off bashing the Catholic Church and blames Catholics for the Holocaust..." you get on the Catholic League's "A" list - even if you describe the Church as "the great whore of Revelation 17." An apology will suffice provided you're a player of the Religious Right.

As I noted in 2006 when Bill Donohue was given the choice of two anti-abortion Catholics running against each other, economic libertarian Rick Santorum versus Distributive Justice advocate Bob Casey, Jr., Donohue and the rest of his cohorts threw their support behind Santorum - this despite the fact that Casey's economic outlook was eons closer to Catholic teachings than Santorum's.

Judging by the actions of many of the Catholic Right -and both Donohue and Hudson feature quite prominently here -- it is not difficult to conclude that their real agenda is more economic than moral.  Religion is used as a cloak to elect those who foster a buccaneer form of capitalism.

Then, is it any wonder why Senator McCain is hesitant to fire Deal Hudson? It certainly isn't any wonder why Bill Donohue would defend his buddy, "the ultimate networker."

The Catholic Right: A Series, by Frank L. Cocozzelli :

Part One  Part Two  Part Three  Part Four  Part Five  Part Six   Intermezzo   Part Eight   Part Nine  Part Ten   Part Eleven   Part Twelve   Part Thirteen   Part Fourteen   Second Intermezzo   Part Sixteen   Part Seventeen   Part Eighteen   Part Eighteen   Part Nineteen   Part Twenty   Part Twenty-one   Part Twenty-two   Part Twenty-three   Part Twenty-four   Part Twenty-five   Part Twenty-six   Part Twenty-seven   Part Twenty-eight   Part Twenty-nine   Part Thirty   Part Thirty-one   Part Thirty-two   Part Thirty-three   Part Thirty-four   Part Thirty-five   Part Thirty-six   Part Thirty-seven   Part Thirty-eight   Part Thirty-nine   Part Forty   Part Forty-one   Part Forty-two   Part Forty-three   Part Forty-four   Part Forty-five   Part Forty-six   Part Forty-seven   Part Forty-eight   Part Forty-nine   Part Fifty   Part Fifty-one   Part Fifty-two   Part Fifty-three   Part Fifty-four   Part Fifty-five   Part Fifty-six   Part Fifty-seven   Part Fifty-eight   Part Fifty-nine   Part Sixty   Part Sixty-one   Part Sixty-two   Part Sixty-three