Why does the media hate the Catholic Church: Catholic Advocate

To unpack this question, the "media" represents three groups: reality, diversion, and advocacy. "Hate" means more the opposition at an intellectual level, but delight in and working actively for the destruction of the object of hatred. "Reality" spans everything from a news blog to an encyclopedia where the media consumer expects either an absence of advocacy or balanced presentation of the several sides of controversy. But reality is so boring, it gets blurred into diversion and advocacy.

The "reality" of reality is that unless it is taxpayer-funded there needs to be advertisers in the picture to make it "mass communication" to attract an audience. You attract an audience by being entertaining, or attracting the like-minded in advocacy, or even better in both modes.

Not every person who is an abortion advocate is also a gay marriage advocate or even a advocate of requiring the Catholic Church to ordain women. But there's a uniform code of political opinion maintained in news and editorial offices and it's enforced by looking at the trail the internet leaves behind in their blogs and social media as people attempt to enter the media club. You will find the least diversity of opinion in places where the left wants to wear a mask of objectivity.

They don't formally carry an anti-Catholic label, they don't need to, it just worked out that way. The edge of political, social, and cultural change in the United States always seems to be pointed in the opposite direction of where the Catholic Church is pointing. So it's not enough for Catholics to go into a bunker but to push back. How dare we do so. The first people we have to persuade are fellow Catholics who are even now unaware of the target painted on the side of their Church.

I see a pattern emerging (and I will explain the pirate picture)

In the aftermath of the sexual abuse scandal it seems that legions of anonymous cowards have stepped forward to verbally defecate over every news item or blog posting that mentions "priest" to make a crude reference to child molestation. Before I give an example of this, so you too can recognize it, let me give you two core truths about the scandal of sexual abuse:

The scandal was to a very large extent (perhaps as high as 80%), about homosexual relationships between priests and sexually mature males -- many under 18 and many over 18. Another segment was heterosexual relationships between priests and unmarried women over 18 (immoral but not illegal), and women who were married (which would be both immoral and legally actionable) and the smallest segment: sexually immature (i.e. prepubescent) boys and girls - illegal and morally depraved.

Sexual abuse of children respects no occupational boundaries: it occurs more frequently among public school teachers and doctors. There are child sexual abusers among police officers and fire fighters, politicians and Wall Street executives, show business types and Internet technologists, venture capitalists and bloggers. It is in no sense specially prevalent in the Catholic priesthood.

Many people hate the Catholic Church. It is just a sad fact of post-Enlightenment post-modern and post-Christian United States. The task at hand is to call them out. Answer them with charity or answer them with sarcasm -- whatever fits the circumstances and audience and your blogging skills. I've been doing this for 25 years starting with USENET and Compuserve, and I am not alone.

To the particular case of the Pirate and the Priest:

One has to feel sorry for Father Commolly. Whether or not he said what was attributed to him, his goose has been cooked by the narrative given by Paul and Peggy Kanigoski. We should all give Father tactical support. The statue in full is soft-porn like a Victoria Secrets ad. It is objectifying the image of women. However, this is not high on my list of priorities. Women walk around with less on top during the summer in New York or any major city in the US. Sex sells. I think it more important to tell people that images like this subtract from human dignity rather that letting the Kanigoski's claim a cheap Larry Flynt-like martyrdom, and open door to the the sneers of the stupid comment boxers.

Here are the links:

WNEP (video link), I think this is the origin

asylum.com anti-Catholic comments

Reading Eagle (editor's blog) anti-Catholic comments

Baltimore Sun
(comments)

Examiner blog (comments)

I have decided to post a modest picture of the statue. You can use your imagination or click on one of the above links.

Let me also mention that Curt Jester blogged on this earlier in the day.

Historic Statues Beheaded in San Antonio: KMBT TV

A sacred, historic statue has been vandalized on the campus of a catholic high school in San Antonio as the statues of Saint Joseph and Baby Jesus were beheaded by vandals.

I await the the parody of Islam, the Haj, and Mecca in Pink Panther 3

Reuters: Steve Martin anti-Catholic buffoon

Looking relaxed and dressed smartly in a jacket and tie, Martin was asked whether he had asked the Pope's permission to shoot a lengthy scene set in the Vatican.

"We didn't ask permission because we didn't shoot in the Vatican. But I think the Catholic Church has been kidded and joked about for years. They're just used to it," Martin said.

"I believe the Catholic Church is very smart not to go crazy about it. When a religion is kidded and they get very serious, I think it shows they're insecure," he added. "I think the Catholic Church will probably last longer than this film.".

Steve Martin's comic talent peaked in the 1980's. When I see the trailers of his newer movies I wince. No one thought his first Pink Panther was half as good as the Peter Sellers original. What's the point of a sequel to a lame remake.

This article is one to clip as an early exhibit of anti-Catholicism in the culture in 2009.

The Holy Father is making a tough decision...

Bishop Richard Williamson is being reconciled to the Catholic Church. He was in schism by being ordained a bishop without the permission of the Pope in the Society of Pope St. Pius X.

Reuters: Pope rehabilitates Holocaust denier

This is the sort of the thing the Vatican ought to anticipate -- that Williamson has been speaking in public minimizing the Holocaust and endorsed the Protocols of the Elders of Zion -- and apart from the schism -- he would be required to repudiate those views.

There are few things that I consider beyond discussion and these are two of them. The Protocols are a ridiculous fiction originally targeted at Napoleon III and the French. (Wikipedia) and silly notion that a mere 300,000 Jews died at the hands of Nazi genocide. There seems to be no popular conspiracy theory that Bp Williamson doesn't believe.

I have a genuine concern on two levels when a person who not only holds these views privately but discusses them publicly. First, the pulpit of a Catholic bishop in fill communion with the Church is the wrong place to give to someone to propagate these views. Adding the authority of a bishop to these views helps the promoters of anti-Semitism spread these lies.

Secondly, and this is the one that gets the 20 point headlines. It is ammunition for everyone who sees that the Catholic Church is anti-Semitic. And this time, they have a point. The dismissal of these charges by the media people in the Vatican is insulting.

Asked about Williamson's comments, chief Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said they were "totally extraneous" to the lifting of the excommunications.

"This act regards the lifting of the excommunications, period," Lombardi told reporters.

"It has nothing to do with the personal opinions of a person, which are open to criticism, but are not pertinent to this decree."

Personal opinions matter and Father, you should have had a better response prepared to this issue. Those opinions cannot and should not be defended.

"I'm perfectly happy to say I'm a Roman Catholic and that doesn't mean I'm a nutter."

To even form such a statement tells you that something has gone terribly wrong.

This is from

UK Telegraph: Christians are becoming social pariahs in Britain, claims Jeremy Vine

The Radio 2 host said that he feels unable to talk about his faith on his show because he fears how people would react.

He argues that society has become increasingly intolerant of the freedom to express religious views.

"You can't express views that were common currency 30 or 40 years ago," he said.

"Arguably, the parameters of what you might call 'right thinking' are probably closing.

"Sadly, along with that has come the fact that it's almost socially unacceptable to say you believe in God."

His comments follow the claim from Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, that Britain is an "unfriendly" place for religious people to live.

We weren't promised a world that would be friendly to us. In fact we were told to expect that the world would reject Christ and Christians. 2 Timothy 3:10 -- Indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. I don't shout to the world "Bring it on!" -- but "Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim, Till all the world adore His sacred Name."

We can no longer take for granted that the world and in particular the United States is aligned with Christianity. Think back to the year I was born -- the phrase "under God" was officially added to the Pledge of Allegiance and the national motto proclaimed "In God We Trust" in 1956. It would be unthinkable today. Pushing religion out of public life and to the margins of the culture is something to be resisted and not acquiesced to.

Catholic League: Gays Vandalize San Francisco Church

So this is the new tolerance.

The Catholic League thinks a share of the blame for this outrage goes to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for ignoring the routine insults the Catholic Church has in the public life of San Francisco.

When vandalism like this happens, there's a tendency to hush it up, lest others get ideas of their own and Churches get targeted more frequently.

Christian Post: Malaysia Bans Catholic Paper for Use of 'Allah'

The Malaysian government has put a stop to a Catholic newspaper over the use of the word “Allah” in its Malay-language edition, the paper’s editor reported Thursday.

Father Lawrence Andrew, editor of The Herald weekly newspaper, said the government ordered the Malay edition to stop running until courts resolve a ban on the paper’s use of “Allah” to refer to God, according to the news site Malaysiakini.com.

“The prohibition amounts to persecution,” Andrew told The Associated Press. “It curtails our freedom of expression and diminishes our rights as citizens…. We are perplexed and we do not think that the prohibition is on solid legal ground.”

Malaysia has a Muslim-majority. It often, with Turkey, is near the top of the lists of Muslim-dominated countries which claim to have a tolerance of non-Islam religions. This action doesn't seem to be an expression of that.

"Allah" is not a name but the generic word for God which is an Arabic word which predates the prophet Mohammad. Its use by a Catholic newspaper is not blasphemous.

Kathy Griffin is vulgar, but is she funny?

Matt Drudge has this thing for CNN, so it makes sense that he would shine the spotlight on this

New York Post: HAPPY #*%! NEW YEAR TO YOU, TOO!
COMIC KATHY LASHES OUT AT HECKLER ON CNN

Comedienne Kathy Griffin may be doomed to life on CNN's S-list after answering a heckler with a shrieking, vulgar tirade during the network's live New Year's Eve broadcast.

"Screw you," she told the heckler. "Why don't you get a job, buddy? You know what? I don't go to your job and knock the d- - - out of your mouth."

Whoever greenlighted Griffin for this gig is probably looking for a new job as well.

Well, it's a case of justice delayed here as people may recall that Griffin expressed some anti-religious biogtry in accepting an award,as the
Catholic League reported

On September 8 [2007], at the 59th Annual Creative Arts Emmy Awards, comedian Kathy Griffin won Outstanding Reality Program for her Bravo show, “My Life on the D-List.” In her acceptance speech, Griffin said, “Suck it, Jesus, this award is my God now.” Fox will televise the Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, September 16 from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

I know, I know, her popularity is going to increase among Bravo's audience for this. It is the cult of celebrity, after all.

Street-level church bell stolen

WABC
WCBS-TV
New York Daily News

The parish St. Mary Help of Christians, is the neighbor of my own. The 650 pound bell was cast for the old church in 1888, moved into the new, and then recently removed to be part of a commons.

The scrap value is about $1,000. A replacement could could $6,000 to $10,000 if they chose to replace it.

Hindu hard-liners attack churches in India Associated Press

Hindu extremists attacked Christians celebrating Christmas in eastern India, ransacking and burning six churches after a dispute over a holiday cultural program that some Hindus believed encouraged conversion, officials said Wednesday.

Father Thomas Kallumady, the pastor of Holy Innocents parish in Manhattan mentioned this at the Afternoon of Reflection given today by Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR.

The Golden Compass

I hope this film gets the same poor reception as Redacted. If you are not keeping up, read the latest the Catholic League has to say about the spin waged to deny that it's anti-Catholic and anti-Christian to the core.