KWTC Editorial: Archbishop Jadot's Boys

Most organizations, whether business, sports, community, or religious, strive for success so when failure results they seek remedy.  The sex-abuse crisis in the Church has been a catastrophic failure - a breach of spiritual trust.  Most notably in America and Ireland the crisis is used to attack the Church's moral teaching authority.  All through the Western world, Mass attendance is declining, Confession has been abandoned, parishes closing, religious orders consolidating or declaring bankruptcy, and with the exception of the traditional/orthodox, seminaries are near empty.  Failure.

If you familiarize yourself with the Church approved apparitions at Quito, Ecuador (Our Lady of Good Success) and Atika, Japan, all of this was foretold to us.

The actual rate of abuse in the Catholic Church is however, no more than any other religious group and considerably less than the public school system.  Being the most visible opponent to pop culture's debauchery, Hollywood and the mainstream media exaggerate these incidents to give the perception the rate is considerably higher.  This is no excuse as the Church holds itself to a higher standard.

There's a television show on the Discovery Channel called Mayday.  Each episode is about a serious plane (sometimes train) crash.  What I find interesting about these crashes is the amount and degree of human error.  Even when the cause is identified as mechanical, the investigators often uncover negligence in the manufacturer of whatever component failed.  It's also common for not one mistake to have been made in the crash but several.

This is how I see the sex-abuse crisis in the Church.  There wasn't one definitive cause but several combined (to include celibacy is both absurd and an insult to the vast majority of priests and religious who honour their vow).  No matter what the cause the bottom line is humans committed sin, grave sin, thus the crisis is man-made.

As Satan and his minions wander through the world seeking the ruin of souls I believe they don't waste their time on the tepid.  Strategically, I expect the forces of evil concentrate on those most inclined to do good helping many souls avoid eternal damnation; the priesthood is under constant attack.  We are formed in God's image - perfection - thus the influences of the material world tempt us away from God's natural order.

There is the opinion that any organization with children will have sexual predators trying to get in.  Although the Church in the U.S. has taken significant measures to prevent even a single incident, some say it's impossible.  That may well be, but what cannot ever happen again is the cover-up.  Perhaps bishops were following the advice of the psychological community and naively believed a sex abuser could be treated/cured but that excuse is now gone.  How the Church ever came to trust such a faux profession is beyond me.

The American bishops most notorious for pedophiles in their midst have a few things in common.  The first is they were appointed by Archbishop Jean Jadot.  I'm not familiar with him but anyone who the Tablet and National catholic Reporter sings the praises of I immediately cast with suspicion.  The Tablet's article is noteworthy for one reason: Jadot was the only nuncio to American to never become a cardinal.  If the Vatican is an 'ol boys network' then such a slight speaks volumes.

Another thing these shepherds have in common is they are considered 'progressive' with the liturgy.  Consider that 'priest facing the people', Communion in the hand, altar girls, etc, were never prescribed by Vatican II nor any pope so how did they become standard in the Ordinary Form today?  Two of the Church's most notorious ex-clergy pedophiles in Canada, Barry Glendinning and Raymond Lahey were at times top liturgists.  It's impossible to ignore this connection.

Just as with the plane crashes documented in Mayday it is human error that is the root cause of the Church's sex abuse crisis.  When beset with failure, successful organizations do a root cause analysis, take corrective action, and monitor outcomes to ensure failure is not repeated.  Based on recent appointments to vacant Sees in the U.S.A. I believe this process is firmly under way. Bishops Cordileone, Sample, Morlino, Nienstedt, Aquila, Conley, etc, are very different men than "Jadot's boys".  Here's some information on a few of them:


Archbishop Jean Jadot (Papal Nuncio to U.S.A.1973-1980)

  "Archbishop Jadot turned what had been a largely ceremonial position into a bully pulpit for the seven years ending in 1980."  NY Times

The Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church (founded 1980) will present its 2006 Hans Küng Rights of Catholics in the Church Award to Archbishop Jean Jadot of Belgium at Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C. , Friday, November 17, 2006, at 7:30 P.M.

Cleric who shaped U.S. 'pastoral church' dead at 99 National catholic Reporter


Archbishop Rembert Weakland (Milwaukee)

"Archbishop Weakland admits relationships with several men, questions immorality of homosexual acts" Catholic Culture

He stepped down as Archbishop of Milwaukee in May 2002… one day after a former lover disclosed on the ABC network television show, “Good Morning America,” he had been paid $450,000 to keep quiet about an affair with Weakland in 1980.

Archbishop Weakland's Legacy

by Peter W. Miller
The liberal liturgist's shameful departure

“He was one of the most gifted leaders in the post-Vatican II church in America,” James Martin, S.J.

Bishop Walter Sullivan (Richmond, VA)

(speaking at an ACLU event)

"Over the years, his liberal reputation occasionally landed Sullivan in hot water. During the 1980s, he faced a Vatican investigation in response to complaints about various doctrinal and liturgical abuses."

"Near the end of his tenure, Sullivan also drew fire for his handling of the sex abuse crisis, especially a 2002 case in which he reinstated an accused priest without consulting his own advisory panel. Four members resigned in protest."  National catholic Reporter

Cardinal Roger Mahoney (Los Angeles)   

   

   L.A. Religious Education Congress

The End of the Cardinal Mahony Era By Tito Edwards

Cardinal Roger Mahony squarely at the center of the sex-abuse scandal By Barbara Jones and Tracy Manzer, Staff Writers

"Mother Angelica said that the document [Card. Mahony's "Guide to Sunday Mass] placed too much emphasis on the community and not nearly enough on the Real Presence of Christ's Body and Blood in the consecrated species. In fact, the Jesus Presence par excellence, the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into His Body and Blood, appears to be noted only by numeric reference to a section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is not mentioned directly anywhere in the 30+ page document, an apparent oversight that creates a very confusing picture of the celebration of Jesus' eucharistic sacrifice of His Body and Blood, particularly to the faithful for whom the directive was intended."

Nuns holding urns of incense at the altar during the consecration of the new Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, California by Cardinal Mahony on September 2, 2002.

Bishop Matthew Clark (Rochester)

"Between 2000 and 2008, Sunday Mass attendance plunged in the Diocese of Rochester by 25%, according to a diocesan newspaper report. During the same time period, the diocese reduced the number of parishes from 161 to 131. Bishop Matthew Clark, now 72, has governed the diocese since 1979 and recently installed a labyrinth in his cathedral.

An analysis of seminarian data by Catholic World Report magazine found that the upstate New York diocese is one of the most “vocation poor” in the nation."

"As you can clearly see, this is being done DURING the Mass, extending throughout the Offertory (notice the cruets appear partway through the dance), as a PERFORMANCE. This is not Catholic. This is not appropriate. This is, once again, using children to push an agenda, yet another instance of an inappropriate performance in the Sanctuary. Just like we saw here and here and here and here and here and here and here. Oh yeah, and here and here and here and here. Dare I say that I see a pattern?"

Bishop Howard Hubbard (Albany)

"It is Albany Bp. Howard Hubbard’s responsibility to see to it that the common discipline of the Church is promoted and that all ecclesiastical laws are observed, exercising particular vigilance against abuse of the sacraments and the worship of God. 1983 CIC 392. Unfortunately, Hubbard’s rah-rah inaugurational homilybefore Cuomo and Lee, in which, without admonition for their objectively and publicly sinful status, the prelate seemed to have anointed the pair as his kind of evangelizers in government, and his complicity in the administration of Communion to Cuomo, amounts, in my opinion, to another dereliction of pastoral duty." Dr. Edward Peters, Canon Lawyer

"The Diocese of Albany, New York, has had its share of scandal in the last couple of months, with allegations of a ring of homosexual priests operating in the Diocese, Bishop Howard Hubbard being accused of protecting that ring and engaging in his own sexual shenanigans, and the recent bizarre suicide of a long-time critic of Hubbard, Father John Minkler.

(For a detailed background of this situation, click on the following link:www.cruxnews.com/rose/rose-27feb04.html

In an April 15 story on the website of Albany’s Capital News 9 (www.capitalnews9.com), Jessica Schneider wrote that, “Outspoken attorney John Aretakis continued to press the Albany Diocese on Bishop Howard Hubbard's alleged homosexual relations and is now saying the note left by Father John Minkler before his suicide lashed out at the Bishop."  Catholic.org

Albany Bishop Hubbard to celebrate Mass for dissident homosexual group LifeSite News

Archbishop Robert Sanchez (Santa Fe)

"Pope John Paul II has summoned America's cardinals to the Vatican this week to deal with the growing outrage over accusations that some American church leaders, including Cardinal Bernard Law in Boston, covered up the problem of pedophile priests and knowingly moved them to unsuspecting parishes. If you think you've heard all this before, you have. 

Nine years ago, Mike Wallace reported that Archbishop Robert Sanchez of Santa Fe, N. M., had been doing exactly that. The archbishop even took it a step further. It turned out he had been sexually active himself - with young women. That aside, his parishioners told us that the archbishop had known about pedophile priests for years, but had done nothing to stop them.

The archbishop left New Mexico, and now, nine years later, the church still refuses to reveal where he's gone, but in his wake, the church and its insurance companies have paid out more than $30 million to settle 187 lawsuits brought against the archdiocese of New Mexico."  CBS News

Bishop Joseph Ferrario (Honolulu)

Former Hawaii bishop accused of molesting boy

"The case involved the top echelons of the Catholic hierarchy in the United States including the National Conference of Catholic Bishops/United States Catholic Conference, the Papal Nunciature in Washington, D.C. and the Vatican. The victims and their families were all intimidated and/or sworn to secrecy. Whistle-blowers were exiled and/or overtly persecuted and excommunicated. Seminaries were polluted. The Lavender Mafia, which included recruits from the mainland, colonized the entire diocese. Clerical pederasts found safe-haven from prosecution and fresh prey. And so it went. All to protect an unfaithful bishop and sexual pervert, Bishop 'Joe' Ferrario."  The Rite of Sodomy, Randy Engel


"On January 18, 1991, Bishop Joseph Ferrario, the local Ordinary of Honolulu (now deceased), served them [six SSPX priests] a Formal Canonical Warning, threatening them with excommunication.  On May 1, 1991, they were formally declared to be excommunicated

In a letter dated June 28, 1993, the USA's Apostolic Pro-Nunico, Archbishop Cacciavillan, declared on Cardinal Ratzinger's behalf:

From the examination of the case, conducted on the basis of the Law of the Church, it did not result that the facts referred to in the above-mentioned decree are formal schismatic acts in the strict sense, as they do not constitute the offense of schism; and therefore the Congregation holds that the Decree of May 1, 1991 lacks foundation and hence validity.

This is a declaration that the automatic (ipso facto) excommunication claimed by Bishop Ferrario for the followers of Archbishop Lefebvre is in fact totally non-existent."

Bishop Joseph Imesch (Joliet)

"If you had a child," the lawyer recalled asking the bishop during the deposition for a civil suit, "wouldn't you be concerned that the priest they were saying mass with had been convicted of sexually molesting children?" 

Replied Imesch, "I don't have any children." Chicago Tribune

Cardinal Law (Boston)

Disgraced Ex-Boston Archbishop Cardinal Law Leaves Rome Job  CBS Boston

Cardinal Bernard Law Fast Facts CNN

“The floor of hell is paved with the skulls of bishops.”
St. Athanasius, Council of Nicaea, AD 325

L.A. church leaders sought to hide sex abuse cases from authorities

Documents from the late 1980s show that Archbishop Roger M. Mahony and another archdiocese official discussed strategies to keep police from discovering that children were being sexually abused by priests.


By Victoria Kim, Ashley Powers and Harriet Ryan, Los Angeles Times

January 21, 2013, 2:31 p.m.


Fifteen years before the clergy sex abuse scandal came to light, Archbishop Roger M. Mahony and a top advisor plotted to conceal child molestation by priests from law enforcement, including keeping them out of California to avoid prosecution, according to internal Catholic church records released Monday.

The archdiocese's failure to purge pedophile clergy and reluctance to cooperate with law enforcement has previously been known. But the memos written in 1986 and 1987 by Mahony and Msgr. Thomas J. Curry, then the archdiocese's chief advisor on sex abuse cases, offer the strongest evidence yet of a concerted effort by officials in the nation's largest Catholic diocese to shield abusers from police. The newly released records, which the archdiocese fought for years to keep secret, reveal in church leaders' own words a desire to keep authorities from discovering that children were being molested.

In the confidential letters, filed this month as evidence in a civil court case, Curry proposed strategies to prevent police from investigating three priests who had admitted to church officials that they abused young boys. Curry suggested to Mahony that they prevent them from seeing therapists who might alert authorities and that they give the priests out-of-state assignments to avoid criminal investigators.

Document: Los Angeles Archdiocese priest abuse files
Church sex abuse files unlikely to lead to charges, experts say
A priest's confession, a man's relief
Judge orders archdiocese to restore names in abuse files
L.A. Archdiocese personnel files could be released next month
Priest abuse files may be released without church officials' names


One such case that has previously received little attention is that of Msgr. Peter Garcia, who admitted preying for decades on undocumented children in predominantly Spanish-speaking parishes. After Garcia's discharge from a New Mexico treatment center for pedophile clergy, Mahony ordered him to stay away from California "for the foreseeable future" in order to avoid legal accountability, the files show. "I believe that if Monsignor Garcia were to reappear here within the archdiocese we might very well have some type of legal action filed in both the criminal and civil sectors," the archbishop wrote to the treatment center's director in July 1986.

The following year, in a letter to Mahony about bringing Garcia back to work in the archdiocese, Curry said he was worried that victims in Los Angeles might see the priest and call police.

"[T]here are numerous — maybe twenty — adolescents or young adults that Peter was involved with in a first degree felony manner. The possibility of one of these seeing him is simply too great," Curry wrote in May 1987.

Garcia returned to the Los Angeles area later that year; the archdiocese did not give him a ministerial assignment because he refused to take medication to suppress his sexual urges. He left the priesthood in 1989, according to the church.

Garcia was never prosecuted and died in 2009. The files show he admitted to a therapist that he had sexually abused boys "on and off" since his 1966 ordination. He assured church officials his victims were unlikely to come forward because of their immigration status. In at least one case, according to a church memo, he threatened to have a boy he had raped deported if he went to police.

The memos are from personnel files for 14 priests submitted to a judge on behalf of a man who claims he was abused by one of the priests, Father Nicholas Aguilar Rivera. The man's attorney, Anthony De Marco, wrote in court papers the files show "a practice of thwarting law enforcement investigations" by the archdiocese. It's not always clear from the records whether the church followed through on all its discussions about eluding police, but in some cases, such as Garcia’s, it did.

Mahony, who retired in 2011, has apologized repeatedly for errors in handling abuse allegations. In a statement Monday, he apologized once again and recounted meetings he's had with about 90 victims of abuse.

"I have a 3 x 5 card for every victim I met with on the altar of my small chapel. I pray for them every single day," he wrote. "As I thumb through those cards I often pause as I am reminded of each personal story and the anguish that accompanies that life story."

"It remains my daily and fervent prayer that God's grace will flood the heart and soul of each victim, and that their life-journey continues forward with ever greater healing," he added. "I am sorry."

Curry did not return calls seeking comment. He currently serves as the archdiocese's auxiliary bishop for Santa Barbara.

The confidential files of at least 75 more accused abusers are slated to become public in coming weeks under the terms of a 2007 civil settlement with more than 500 victims. A private mediator had ordered the names of the church hierarchy redacted from those documents, but after objections from The Times and the Associated Press, a Superior Court judge ruled that the names of Mahony, Curry and others in supervisory roles should not be blacked out.

Garcia's was one of three cases in 1987 in which top church officials discussed ways they could stymie law enforcement. In a letter about Father Michael Wempe, who had acknowledged using a 12-year-old parishioner as what a church official called his "sex partner," Curry recounted extensive conversations with the priest about potential criminal prosecution.

"He is afraid ... records will be sought by the courts at some time and that they could convict him,"Curry wrote to Mahony. "He is very aware that what he did comes within the scope of criminal law."

Curry proposed Wempe could go to an out-of-state diocese "if need be." He called it "surprising" that a church-paid counselor hadn't reported Wempe to police and wrote that he and Wempe "agreed it would be better if Mike did not return to him."

Perhaps, Curry added, the priest could be sent to "a lawyer who is also a psychiatrist" thereby putting "the reports under the protection of privilege."

Curry expressed similar concerns to Mahony about Father Michael Baker, who had admitted his abuse of young boys during a private 1986 meeting with the archbishop.

In a memo about Baker's return to ministry, Curry wrote, "I see a difficulty here, in that if he were to mention his problem with child abuse it would put the therapist in the position of having to report him … he cannot mention his past problem."

Mahony's response to the memo was handwritten across the bottom of the page: "Sounds good —please proceed!!" Two decades would pass before authorities gathered enough information to convict Baker and Wempe of abusing boys.

Federal and state prosecutors have investigated possible conspiracy cases against the archdiocese hierarchy. Former Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley said in 2007 that his probe into the conduct of high-ranking church officials was on hold until his prosecutors could access the personnel files of all the abusers. The U.S. attorney's office convened a grand jury in 2009, but no charges resulted.

During those investigations, the church was forced by judges to turn over some but not all of the records to prosecutors. The district attorney's office has said its prosecutors plan to review priest personnel files as they are released.

Mahony was appointed archbishop in 1985 after five years leading the Stockton diocese. While there, he had dealt with three allegations of clergy abuse, including one case in which he personally reported the priest to police.

In Los Angeles, he tapped Curry, an Irish-born priest, as vicar of clergy. The records show that sex abuse allegations were handled almost exclusively by the archbishop and his vicar. Memos that crossed their desks included graphic details, such as one letter from another priest accusing Garcia of tying up and raping a young boy in Lancaster.

Mahony personally phoned the priests' therapists about their progress, wrote the priests encouraging letters and dispatched Curry to visit them at a New Mexico facility, Servants of the Paraclete, that treated pedophile priests.

"Each of you there at Jemez Springs is very much in my prayers and I call you to mind each day during my celebration of the Eucharist," Mahony wrote to Wempe.

The month after he was named archbishop, Mahony met with Garcia to discuss his molestation of boys, according to a letter the priest wrote while in therapy. Mahony instructed him to be "very low key" and assured him "no one was looking at him for any criminal action," Garcia recalled in a letter to an official at Servants of the Paraclete.

In a statement Monday on behalf of the archdiocese, a lawyer for the church said its policy in the late 1980s was to let victims and their families decide whether to go to the police.

"Not surprisingly, the families of victims frequently did not wish to report to police and have their child become the center of a public prosecution," lawyer J. Michael Hennigan wrote.

He acknowledged memos written in those years "sometimes focused more on the needs of the perpetrator than on the serious harm that had been done to the victims."

"That is part of the past," Hennigan wrote. "We are embarrassed and at times ashamed by parts of the past. But we are proud of our progress, which is continuing."

Hennigan said that the years in which Mahony dealt with Garcia were "a period of deepening understanding of the nature of the problem of sex abuse both here and in our society in general" and that the archdiocese subsequently changed completely its approach to reports of abuse.

"We now have retired FBI agents who thoroughly investigate every allegation, even anonymous calls. We aggressively assist in the criminal prosecution of offenders," Hennigan wrote.

Mahony and Curry have been questioned under oath in depositions numerous times about their handling of molestation cases. The men, however, have never been asked about attempts to stymie law enforcement, because the personnel files documenting those discussions were only provided to civil attorneys in recent months. De Marco, the lawyer who filed the records in civil court this month, asked a judge last week to order Curry and Mahony to submit to new depositions “regarding their actions, knowledge and intent as referenced in these files.” A hearing on that request is set for February.

In a 2010 deposition, Mahony acknowledged the archdiocese had never called police to report sexual abuse by a priest before 2000. He said church officials were unable to do so because they didn't know the names of the children harmed.

"In my experience, you can only call the police when you've got victims you can talk to," Mahony said.

When an attorney for an alleged victim suggested "the right thing to do" would have been to summon police immediately, Mahony replied, "Well, today it would. But back then that isn't the way those matters were approached."

Since clergy weren't legally required to report suspected child abuse until 1997, Mahony said, the people who should have alerted police about pedophiles like Baker and Wempe were victims' therapists or other "mandatory reporters" of child abuse.

"Psychologists, counselors … they were also the first ones to learn [of abuse] so they were normally the ones who made the reports," he said.

In Garcia's 451-page personnel file, one voice decried the church's failures to protect the victims and condemned the priest as someone who deserved to be behind bars. Father Arturo Gomez, an associate pastor at a predominantly Spanish-speaking church near Olvera Street, wrote to a regional bishop in 1989, saying he was "angry" and "disappointed" at the church's failure to help Garcia's victims. He expressed shock that the bishop, Juan A. Arzube, had told the family of two of the boys that Garcia had thought of taking his own life.

"You seemed to be at that moment more concern[ed] for the criminal rather than the victum! (sic)"Gomez wrote to Arzube in 1989.

Gomez urged church leaders to identify others who may have been harmed by Garcia and to get them help, but was told they didn't know how.

"If I was the father … Peter Garcia would be in prison now; and I would probably have begun a lawsuit against the archdiocese," the priest wrote in the letter. "The parents … of the two boys are more forgiving and compassionate than I would be."

Cardinal Mahony's La Cosa Nostra

January 25, 2013

By George Neumayr

"I have a 3 x 5 card for every victim I met with on the altar of my small chapel. I pray for them every single day," retired Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony said after the court-ordered release of personnel files detailing his elaborate efforts to hide abusers from the police. How comforted the victims must feel knowing their names appear on his 3 x 5 cards. How big of him to entrust the victims of his pedophile-shuffling to the efficacy of his prayers.

Such acts of chutzpah come naturally to the cardinal. At the height of the abuse scandal, even as he retained an army of lawyers and publicists to conceal his own complicity in it, he had the gall to join the media in calling for Boston Cardinal Bernard Law's resignation. Referring to Law, Cardinal Mahony piously told the press that "he would find it difficult to walk down an aisle in church if he had been guilty of gross negligence.

Meanwhile, Cardinal Mahony was unleashing his attack dogs on anyone who probed his staggering negligence. Until the media furor of 2001, he had been planning on making a pedophile long known to him and residing in his living quarters, Father Carl Sutphin (with whom he had gone to seminary), associate pastor of the archdiocesan cathedral. "I can't believe a cardinal keeps a pedophile on staff," said one of Sutphin's victims.

Long before Leon Panetta joined the Obama administration as CIA director, he had scented out Cardinal Mahony's misdeeds. He "has done tremendous damage to his reputation and the archdiocese," said Panetta after his spell as a member of the National Review Board, a watchdog group formed in the wake of the scandal. Panetta recalled a meeting at which Cardinal Mahony turned up with "more lawyers in the room than I've ever seen."

After Cardinal Mahony helped orchestrate the ousting of former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating from the chairmanship of the National Review Board, Keating complained to the press that the cardinal had kneecapped him, likening his vicious behavior to that of "La Cosa Nostra."

Throughout the abuse scandal, Cardinal Mahony has cast himself as a "naïve" waif, guilty not of a cover-up but of mere cluelessness. The recently released files explode that claim. He knew perfectly well that he was hiding criminals. "I believe that if Monsignor [Peter] Garcia were to reappear here within the archdiocese we might very well have some type of legal action filed in both the criminal and civil sectors," he wrote to the director of a New Mexico treatment center, asking him to keep the fugitive from justice holed up there.

Together with one of his auxiliary bishops, Thomas Curry (who remains in that position to this day), Mahony plotted to keep pedophile priests from going to therapists who might report them to the police as the law required. The Los Angeles Times captured the scheming:

In a letter about Father Michael Wempe, who had acknowledged using a 12-year-old parishioner as what a church official called his 'sex partner,' Curry recounted extensive conversations with the priest about potential criminal prosecution. "He is afraid...records will be sought by the courts at some time and that they could convict him," Curry wrote to Mahony. "He is very aware that what he did comes within the scope of criminal law."

Curry proposed Wempe could go to an out-of-state diocese "if need be." He called it "surprising" that a church-paid counselor hadn't reported Wempe to police and wrote that he and Wempe "agreed it would be better if Mike did not return to him."

Perhaps, Curry added, the priest could be sent to "a lawyer who is also a psychiatrist" thereby putting "the reports under the protection of privilege."

Even when priests wanted to turn themselves in to the police, Cardinal Mahony blocked it. Fr. Michael Baker, a convicted abuser, has previously recounted to the press a meeting with the cardinal in which Mahony said "no, no, no" to the suggestion of calling the police. For the next fourteen years Baker was shuffled from parish to parish. According to these new documents, Curry told Mahony that they should keep Baker away from therapists who might report him. Cardinal Mahony's response: "Sounds good-please proceed!!"

These documents explain why Mahony in 2007 agreed to the largest Catholic Church settlement ($660 milion) in American history rather than go through the sustained exposure of a civil trial. He agreed to the settlement just days before he was scheduled to appear as the trial's first witness. As the Times notes, one of his alibis has been that in the 1990s therapists, not bishops, were required to report abuse. Now it is clear that he took steps to ensure that molesting priests didn't go to them unless the therapist doubled as a lawyer.

Keating was roundly criticized for likening Mahony's conduct to "La Cosa Nostra." But these documents confirm a level of devious maneuvering beyond even the dark satire of the Sopranos.

On Cardinal Mahony's 3 x 5 note cards, he says that "I also list in parenthesis the name of the clergy perpetrator lest I forget that real priests created this appalling harm in the lives of innocent people." Noticeably absent from his cards is the name of the real cardinal who abetted that harm.


George Neumayr, a contributing editor to The American Spectator, is co-author (with Phyllis Schlafly) ofNo Higher Power: Obama's War on Religious Freedom.

Where Four Years Will Not Be Wasted

By LARRY THORNBERRY on 1.23.13 @ 6:07AM


Liberal arts are alive and well at Hillsdale.


TAMPA — Other than professional training and disciplines like math and the hard sciences — where there are real answers that can be demonstrated — it’s a legitimate question in America and most of the West whether college is worth the time, cost, aggravation, and misdirection that come with it.

Several decades into an era when left indoctrination has replaced education at most universities, students studying anything other than math, physics, or the pre-med cycle emerge from four years at Old Sywash not only not having learned much to help them become intelligent, functioning adults, but having been convinced of a lot of rot that isn’t true. Surely this has been documented sufficiently that I needn’t cite chapter and verse.

True enough a bachelor’s degree is helpful in getting a job. Far too many jobs in America require applicants to have a degree, even though the work in said job has nothing to do with any knowledge or skills the applicant picked up idling in college for four years. A degree can function as a paper qualification, even when the degree holder has learned next to nothing in “earning” that degree from a dumbed-down, politicized contemporary university.

The sort of pillage that has laid intellectual waste to most university campuses has made moot the question of whether it’s worth spending four years attaining a “useless and impractical” degree in the liberal arts. As a liberal arts major (history and literature) from a time before the revolution, when most university professors were merely dotty, I’m a believer. This is why I regret that a liberal arts education is no longer available at most universities.

I know, I know, current college catalogues have page after page of descriptions of courses in anthropology, political science, history, and English (want to have your hair curled? — read some of the course descriptions in this once noble but now most disfigured “discipline”). But look closely and you’ll see that in too many cases Shakespeare has been replaced by comic books or soap operas. Matthew Arnold, that hopeless old Mustache Pete of a dead, white, European male, who deluded generations with such racist, sexist, homophonic, phalocentric nonsense as “Culture is to know the best that has been said and thought in the world,” has been replaced by a procession of left savants. These hustlers retail the latest victimology in the tripartite obsessions of the contemporary humanities professor: race, class, and gender (the last being the vague and fluid word academics now use as a replacement for the clear and solid word “sex”).

Happily, not all colleges and universities are little more than leftist playpens. There are small redoubts where a liberal arts education is still available, and where the general education requirements for pre-professionals are not simply seminars in ways to hate your country, your religion, and every value your parents ever taught you. Hillsdale College in southern Michigan is one of these places.

In a symposium on the future of conservatism in the January edition of Commentary, Hillsdale president Larry Arnn has this to say: “Conservatism regards certain things as abiding. There are laws of nature, and freedom, justice, and civilization depend upon the recognition of those laws.” Exactly so, but how long has it been since we’ve heard this in a faculty lounge without a sneer attached to it?

Arnn goes on: “The politics of the left lead to friction along racial and class lines. They raise up a new political class that governs through privileged influence. This political class, for all its pretensions of science and progress, does and will continue to do what unaccountable rulers do: govern in its own interest.” Spot on again, but say this in class and see how long it is before you get tenure at Left-Wing State.

Arnn concludes: “If conservatism is to live, it must repudiate absolutely this system of limitless government, of class and racial privilege and discrimination, of the overturning of human nature, of the vaunting of the ruling class.” This brings an “amen” from this pew, but causes widespread hyperventilation in the humanities faculty lounge.

It was my pleasure to meet Arnn last week when he made similar points to these before an audience of 200+ at a Tampa hotel. He was not afraid to say that it was a goal of his small liberal arts college (just short of 1,500 students) that graduates leave with a feel “for what it is to be a good man or woman.” (And how retro of him to keep the choices to two.) He stressed that the purpose of education at his college is not just to prepare graduates to find a job, though alert employers could do worse than hiring his graduates.

The liberal arts tradition is alive at Hillsdale, where, Arnn says, students are taught how rather than what to think. Hillsdale is not dumbed-down, and students seeking a degree there will have to work to earn it. “It takes time and effort to know something,” Arnn said.

Arnn pleased his clearly conservative audience of potential donors, and, doubtless, parents of future Hillsdale students, by validating other sentiments many had been yearning to hear from an academic, including: “We’re in the character building business, while we inform the mind. Both go together.” At Hillsdale, he said, there is respect for absolute truth, as well as for liberty and the consent of the governed. This makes a nice distinction between Hillsdale and most of contemporary academe where “there is no absolute truth and they just make it up as they go along.”

Arnn got no blowback from his observations on the current political scene. He said while there is certainly a possibility of a rebirth of the understanding of freedom in America, “The situation now is urgent — we’re on a path to despotism, to a racist and classist society.” Also: “Government is very big and politicians are overwhelmed by it.” He also got a big hand for this advice offered to the Sandra Flukes of the world, who are in a quandary over how ever to sort out their sex lives unless the government steps in to pay for their birth control: “Lord, woman, you should get married.” (Any takers?)

Another eccentricity of Hillsdale, other than that it takes the traditional view of living and learning, is that to maintain its admirable independence, neither the college nor any of its students accepts any subsidies from any level of government. This strings-attached government money makes up a significant fraction of the funding of most universities. This is a fact readers might keep in mind when wondering if they should send a check to Old Sywash or Left-Wing State because they went there before professors were more like Pol Pot than like dowdy old Doctor Dudley in English 301. You can bet your Norton Anthology that there is more conservative bang for the buck to be gotten elsewhere.

The satirist can’t turn an honest buck making fun of the modern university. No matter how absurd a picture he paints, the reality is even weirder and more destructive of the West’s fundamental values. When I hear the term “higher education” these days I can’t help but ask, “higher than what?” It’s a comfort to know there are still a few places, like Hillsdale, where the work of the academic angels is still being done.

Catholic school identity 'eroding'

"Explicit policy" needed to uphold goals of education

By Deborah Gyapong
Canadian Catholic News
OTTAWA

Brian Lilley, Sun Media columnist, is a parent to four children in the Catholic school system.
About 100 concerned ratepayers joined the Jan. 22 meeting of the Ottawa Catholic School Board (OCSB), insisting on tighter protocols for vetting speakers and school trips.

In a presentation to the board, Parents as First Educators (PAFE) Ottawa chapter president Andy Pocrnic cited four recent “public scandals” that have led to “the public perception of a weakening of our board’s Catholic identity, sowed confusion in the minds of our students and demoralized parents.”

Pocrnic listed a proposed civics trip by high school students to campaign for American President Obama; a visit by Liberal leadership hopeful MP Justin Trudeau to a Catholic elementary school to talk about bullying; an upcoming social justice trip involving visits to El Salvador; and the co-op placement of a student with “a homosexual activist organization.”

“President Obama’s advocacy for abortion is public knowledge as is the Church’s teaching that the killing of an unborn child is always intrinsically evil and can never be justified,” he said. He outlined Trudeau’s stands in favor of abortion and same-sex marriage, noting the MP had said he would support Quebec separation if Canada ever brought back restrictions on abortion or overturned same-sex marriage.

The El Salvador trip involves visits with “groups that have publicly advocated for the legalization of abortion, for the legalization of prostitution, for the promotion of contraception and the right to adoption for lesbian couples,” Pocrnic charged.

He urged the OCSB to develop an “explicit policy” that board partners “may not publicly undermine the goals of Catholic education.” He also suggested a vetting process that takes the whole of Catholic teaching into account when speakers are invited or school trips planned.

Fr. Pierre Champoux, pastor of Holy Redeemer Parish in Kanata and chaplain to three elementary schools and one high school, also called for tighter protocols.

“We don’t send soldiers into harm’s way without giving them basic training and a means of self-defense; it’s just as unethical to knowingly expose students to speakers and groups that embrace immoral ideologies and teachings, such as contraception, abortion and prostitution, when those very same students do not know what the Catholic Church actually teaches on those subjects.”

A majority of Catholic school students do not know their faith or attend Church regularly, he said. “Students in Catholic schools need to know what the Church teaches, and to have the ability to argue effectively in defense of the faith when it is challenged,” the priest said. “In fact, they have a right to know official Church doctrine.”

Champoux noted Catholic teachers “do not have the right to create a culture of dissent from Church teaching.”

Sun Media columnist Brian Lilley, a father of four children in the Catholic school system, brought several file folders filled with documents from Access to Information requests concerning the Obama trip, which was cancelled after news media began inquiring about the proposed trip.

Also host of Sun Media TV’s Byline, Lilley said the board told parents and journalists the trip would only involve observing political process. He said the documents he obtained proved the trip would involve campaigning.

“How can I trust the board when it hid the truth and told bald-faced lies,” he said. “You need to admit the truth and you need to tighten up policies surrounding school trips.”

Ottawa father James Doak pointed out a recent Cardus survey revealed Catholic school graduates now in their 30s are: “more likely to support same-sex marriage; more likely to feel helpless in dealing with problems in life; more likely to believe religion is a private matter that should be kept out of public debates about social and political issues; less likely to feel an obligation to vote; and less likely to believe that God or the Bible helps them decide what is right and wrong.”

“If this school board does not change its procedures and policies soon, faithful Catholics will no longer fight for a separate school system,” Doak warned. “Faithful Catholics will not defend an un-faithful school system against secularists and politicians who simply follow changing opinion.”

Kathleen Murphy, Ottawa coordinator for PEACE (Public Education Advocates for Christian Equity) told the board her organization has advised many non-Catholic Christian parents to seek refuge in the Catholic School system to escape anti-Christian policies in the public school system. Catholic schools risked losing those students, she said. PEACE supports PAFE in its call for having all partnerships be in line with Church teachings, she said.

None of the OSCB trustees asked any questions after the presentations, which the Board received without comment.

“The chairperson Mark Mullan has written to the delegations and thanked them for sharing their concerns,” said OSCB communications officer Mardi de Kemp. “It’s standard operating procedure that the trustees will now take a couple of weeks to reflect and discuss, then respond.”

Forget "Respecting Difference": OECTA fully behind MyGSA

Posted by Lou Iacobelli at 2:41 PM


Ontario English Catholic
Teachers Association

The Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association, OECTA, has posted some links on its website to help LGTB students. One link sends visitors to Egale Canada's MyGSA. Once there, one finds plenty of information to help students set up gay/alliances in their schools. By doing this, OECTA is not in compliance with the teaching of the Catholic Church, but is also not following the Respecting Difference document released by the Ontario Catholic School Trustees' Association and backed by the Ontario bishops when it comes to dealing with bullying, human sexuality and same-sex attractions.


One of the MyGSA resources gives nine reasons why religious communities need to get involved in supporting the LGTBQ, lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual and questioning, community. In this posting, we respond with nine reasons why Catholic schools should reject this agenda, which essentially is meant to sexually indoctrinate students while calling it education. (We have bolded and italicized the statements.) Here's their nine reasons followed by our reaction:



1. Anti-homophobia and anti-transphobia education works toward ensuring the physical safety of every student and that each student has a safe environment in which to learn. It is a legal and moral responsibility. Homophobia and transphobia foster, condone, and turn a blind eye to violence and hate.

Catholic schools have had rules for decades to protect the safety and well being of all students. Nobody is condoning violence and hate, but to use these emotions to try to get all students to accept nearly a dozen different sexual orientations is wrong and morally misguided.


2. Every faith contains a tradition of peace, love, tolerance, and compassion. Many religions have incredible histories of involvement with social justice and protest movements, activism, and a sense of duty to marginalized peoples.

The LGTBQ community is not marginalized and one need not accept every behaviour simply because one's faith comes from "a tradition of peace, love, tolerance and compassion." Faith must always be balanced with reason.


3. The Golden Rule is absolute.


Since when did treating others the way you want them to treat you mean that Catholic schools need to support and promote homosexuality and a hyper-sexualized curriculum? This is a direct attack on Catholic teaching.


4. Homophobia and transphobia hurt us all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Often, anyone who is perceived to be LGBTQ is subjected to harassment and victimization. Homophobia and transphobia enforce rigid gender roles and norms, denies individual expression, and perpetuates stereotypes, myths, and misinformation.

The statement makes a claim without any supporting evidence. We attended every parent consultation meeting about the Equity and Inclusive Education Strategy organized by the Toronto Catholic District School Board. Their research evidence and presented by a board representative was that they had not seem any increase in discrimination or violence in Catholic schools against students who had same-sex attractions. The move to pass “diversity” and “inclusive” policies in schools was and continues to be politically driven.


5. Homophobic and transphobic harassment can take the forms of verbal, physical, and sexual harassment.

All forms of harassment are not to be tolerated. Why the need to focus on homophobia and transphobia? Why does only one group get to define these terms and they are presented under the umbrella of "education" for students?


6. Gays and lesbians (like all human beings) are protected by the human rights code, and sexual orientation is a prohibited ground of discrimination under Canadian law. Gender identity is covered under sex.

Charter rights also protect Catholic schools and denominational rights legally allow them to teach the faith. The LGBTQ community doesn't have "rights" that trump other people's rights such as parental rights and religious freedom. True human rights should protect all people and not just the false "sexual rights" as defined by one group be it Egale Canada or any other activist organization. Our society should embrace real diversity not based on human rights codes that do not correspond to international documents such as theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights and Canadian law.

7. Anti-homophobia education is NOT sex education. It is not about discussing or describing explicitly sexual activities. Support groups that gather in schools are safe places that allow students to meet, discuss issues relevant to their lives and circumstances, and have an outlet where they likely might not otherwise, given the present-day climate.

By now in many Ontario schools, anti-homophobia policies have become part of sex education. Just take a look at at some of the hyper-sexualized links that have appeared on board websites. One of them recently showed students how they could use vegetables to sexually stimulate themselves. Another was the poster campaign called, Love has no Gender, that could have interpreted to possibly normalize even polygamy. Lastly, if the above statement were true then why the strong push to start and to call LGTBQ support groups in schools gay/straight alliances?


8. Anti-homophobia and anti-transphobia education does not teach that someone’s religious values are wrong.

Yes, it does. Catholic teaching views human sexuality as being male and female. And we are all called to chastity. The Church teaches that you cannot choose your sex because it's part of your biology and thus God given. "Anti-homphobia and anti-transphobia" education teaches that one cannot question the definitions generated by the LGTBQ community about human sexuality. "Equity Education" forces everyone to accept and recognize several sexual orientations all equally valid and worth living. This completely contradicts Catholic teaching. So, it's saying that religious teaching is wrong.


9. There are many students and staff who are not heterosexual or cisgender and who deserve the love, support, and spiritual comfort of their community and faith.

All students deserve to be loved and supported. Why must there always be a focus on sexuality? Catholics schools don't make this distiction with males and females, but naturally assume that both sexes are accepted and encouraged to learn and succeed as children made in the image of God, including those who disagree with this view.


Lastly, we believe some questions are in order: Has OECTA informed parents about this link and the resources offered? Do the trustees know about these materials? Will Ontario bishops continue to let OECTA use the word Catholic in its name when they seem to have no intention of defending Catholic teaching? Parents once again need to their moral and faith homework before letting their children do theirs. The system is morally broken and cannot be trusted to do what is right with the children of this province.

Retired Polish primate, Cardinal Glemp, dies at 83

Cardinal Glemp (CNS/Arturo Mari)


By Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Retired Cardinal Jozef Glemp of Warsaw, who served as primate of the Catholic Church in Poland during the final years of communism and during the restoration of democracy, died Jan. 23 at the age of 83.

Offering his condolences to Polish Catholics, Pope Benedict XVI said Cardinal Glemp had a "profound love for God and for man, which was his light, inspiration and strength in the difficult ministry of guiding the church at a time when significant social and political transformations were taking place in Poland and Europe."

Vatican Radio reported that Cardinal Glemp died in a Warsaw hospital; he had undergone surgery almost a year ago as part of his treatment for lung cancer.

In a telegram released by the Vatican Jan. 24, Pope Benedict said the cardinal's last days were "marked by a suffering that he endured with a serenity of spirit."

"Personally, I always appreciated his sincere goodness, his simplicity, his openness and his dedication to the cause of the church in Poland and in the world," the pope wrote. "That is how he will remain in my memory and in my prayer."

The cardinal was a controversial figure in Poland during the communist regime's imposition of martial law in the early 1980s. While he had urged Catholics not to resist the clampdown, he continued to support the right of priests to speak out in defense of freedom and respect for human rights.

The cardinal was just a young boy when the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939 and sent him as a forced laborer to the wheat fields of the German Reich.

The dual experience of Nazism and communism bred in him a deep-seated wariness toward both West and East. It contributed to Cardinal Glemp's vision of the Catholic Church as protector of the common man against the powerful.

Born Dec. 18, 1929, in the western town of Inowroclaw, he enrolled at the seminary in Gniezno in 1950 and was ordained a priest six years later. He was sent to study in Rome, where he earned civil and canon law degrees from the Pontifical Lateran and Gregorian universities during the Second Vatican Council.

In 1967, he became secretary to Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski of Warsaw. Ordained bishop of Warmia in 1979, he held the post for just two years until, to the surprise of many, he was named to succeed Cardinal Wyszynski in the Archdioceses of Warsaw and Gniezno.

By his September 1981 installation, Poland was strike-bound, with the Communist Party and Solidarity labor movement bracing themselves for a showdown.

His meetings with Poland's communist strongman, Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, fueled accusations that he was too ready to accept the regime's promises. The verb "to glemp," meaning to please both sides, was coined.

At the same time, throughout the 1980s, his 500-member aid committee provided shelter for harassed opposition members and their families; and he was known for frequent hard-hitting sermons, as well as for allowing Catholic churches to host independent groups and activities forbidden under the communist regime.

After communist rule collapsed, he was at the forefront of struggles to ensure the church and its teachings remained prominent in a democratic Poland. Yet he also provoked controversy.

In August 1989, he angered Jewish groups by defending a Carmelite convent at the former Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. In 1992, he offended AIDS victims by branding the disease a "moral evil." In 1998, striking farmers threatened to sue when he accused them of resorting to terrorism.

Yet the cardinal showed a readiness to confront thorny issues, actively encouraging Catholic-Jewish contacts and taking the lead to highlight the plight of those with HIV/AIDS.

In the telegram, Pope Benedict wrote that "love of God and love for the church, concern for the life and dignity of every person made him an apostle of unity in the face of division, of harmony in the face of conflict and of the need for the joint building of a happy future" that recognized both the richness and the painful experiences of Polish history.

Cardinal Glemp resigned as archbishop of Gniezno in 1992, when the Vatican restructured the Polish church, but he continued as archbishop of Warsaw until 2006 and as administrator of the archdiocese until 2007.

During his 25 years as Warsaw archbishop, he ordained more than 1,200 priests, created 118 parishes and consecrated 59 new churches. He hosted visits by Blessed John Paul II multiple times and by Pope Benedict in 2006.

His death left the College of Cardinals with 210 members, 119 of whom were under the age of 80 and therefore eligible to vote in a conclave.

SSPX Society and Second Class Latin Mass Parishioners

Traditional Catholic Priest
by Fr. Peter Carota

Posted on January 27, 2013


Here at the Latin Mass Community of St. Bernard in Dayton Kentucky, I met many families who were going to Pius the X Society Latin Masses. They are now coming to St. Bernard because the Holy Latin Mass is now available at this parish. Many wonderful catholic families end up with the Society because they are not welcomed at most Catholic parishes. They are treated as the blacks were treated before. I know this only too well. In my parish the parishioners who love the Holy Latin Mass are still treated as Blacks and Mexicans are still treated. Second class parishioners.






While I am on the subject, it was always sad to hear people say the Mexicans need to learn English and that there should not be two communities in the parish. The Muslims, the Jehovah Witnesses, the Protestants learn Spanish to convert them in their own language. In all the parishes I was at I experienced a white superiority attitude. I have three adopted minority brothers and one sister. They were and are still treated differently than I am, because they are not white. The Holy Latin Mass in my parish was where all the nationalities were treated equal. I preached English and Spanish. We all felt as One Holy Catholic Church. Latin is the official catholic language. We printed up the readings and propers in English and Spanish. There still is so much love in that community because of all the persecution and bad treatment they continue to receive. The good that has come from this is that it brings them all together in love.

Many people went to the Society’s Latin Mass because of they truly believe in the presence of Jesus in Holy Communion. When you truly believe and see Host thrown on the floor, people chewing gum and taking Holy communion, specks of God on the hands and falling on the floor, you panic and go somewhere where Jesus is still treated as God. The question is IF YOU TOO REALLY BELIEVE, WHY DO YOU LET CRUMBS FALL ON THE GROUND. WHY DON’T YOU KNEEL IN ADORATION TO RECEIVE?

Bishops, priests, nuns and laity, please help these people by welcoming them and treating them like they are people, not like minorities are treated. Give them good times for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Having worked with Hispanics for most of my life, the Spanish Masses were always an add on. It bothered me because they got the left overs. Because of Birth Control in catholic families, the future will be a Mexican catholic church in the USA. In all my Spanish masses there were way more children and black hair than in the English mass. You see mostly grey hair in the English masses. In the Latin Mass community you see many young adults and many children. Keep on doing the math!!!!!!

We pray that Pope Benedict’s efforts to work with the Society of Pius the X will be successful.

ABC and CBS Spike Huge Pro-Life March, Yet Highlight Puny Pro-Gun Control Protest

By Brent Baker | January 26, 2013 | 21:31



The annual pro-life march, this year marking the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v Wade decision, drew tens of thousands to Washington, DC on Friday, but didn’t garner a syllable of coverage on Friday’s World News on ABC nor the CBS Evening News. Yet on Saturday night, both newscasts highlighted a pro-gun control protest in DC which CBS anchor Jim Axelrod pegged at drawing “close to a thousand people.”

The NBC Nightly News noted both protests and on Friday night also reported how a federal appeals court unanimously decided that President Obama violated the Constitution when he made recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, a rebuke neither ABC nor CBS found newsworthy.

This 15 seconds from Brian Williams was the totality of broadcast network evening newscast coverage of the pro-life march: “In Washington today, thousands of anti-abortion demonstrators marched to the steps of the Supreme Court, protesting the landmark decision that legalized abortion. Annual ‘March for Life,’ as it’s called, this year coincides with the 40th anniversary of the Roe versus Wade decision.”

Williams next set up a piece from Pete Williams on a “big legal setback” for the Obama administration, a setback ignored by ABC and CBS on Friday and Saturday night:

A federal appeals court has dealt President Obama a big legal setback tonight and given Republicans, who charged that he acted improperly when he made some job appointments, a huge victory. This is about what Presidents get to do when Congress is out of town, and this could affect all future Presidents. Our justice correspondent, Pete Williams, is with us from our newsroom with the details tonight.

While ABC on Friday night didn’t find time for either the pro-life march or the court ruling, anchor Diane Sawyer made time for an update on the supposed controversy over complaints Subway’s “foot-long” subs are sometimes only eleven inches long. Horrors. Sawyer allocated 28 seconds to this:

And now at the top of our Instant Index tonight is that apology from Subway. Fans of the foot-long sandwich, you may recall, reported that some of those sandwiches are falling short by one inch. 11 inches, not 12 inches long. Well today, Subway said they are sorry. And they’re redoubling their efforts to assure consistency and correct length in every sandwich they serve. And patrons will still be getting out their rulers.

Sawyer also made room for 22 seconds to relay how Friday was Jack Lew’s last day as chief of staff at the White House and the first for his replacement, Denis McDonough, followed by a full story from Jon Karl on how Hillary Clinton’s glasses have lines in the lenses designed to help her double-vision following her concussion.

On Saturday, ABC anchor David Muir announced: “We’re going to turn to Washington tonight where thousands are braving the cold, marching and demanding that lawmakers to do something to keep tragedies like Newtown, Connecticut from ever happening again.”

After a clip of Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton declaring “the gun lobby can be stopped, my friends, they can be stopped,” correspondent Reena Ninan concluded her full story: “Voices in the crowd taking the first steps in a long push to reform the nation’s gun control laws.”

Saturday CBS Evening News anchor Jim Axelrod had a short item on the gun protest, leading into a full story on how women who own guns view the proposed new gun control measures:


Close to a thousand people marched in Washington, D.C. today, appealing for more gun control legislation. That included roughly a hundred from Newtown, Connecticut. Among them, Stacy McCoy Blinn. Her son was friends with Chase Kowalski, one of 20 first graders and six adults killed at Sandy Hook elementary school.

BLINN: We want to have safe schools, safe towns, safe cities, safe states, and a safe country. And if that means getting rid of the guns that means getting rid of the guns.

AXELROD: Some supporters of gun rights say there’s been a voice that's been muffled in this debate, if not missing altogether. The one belonging to female gun owners. Here’s Nancy Cordes.

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About the Author

Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow Brent Baker on Twitter.

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2013/01/26/abc-and-cbs-spike-huge-pro-life-march-yet-highlight-puny-pro-gun-contro#ixzz2JC8lqgHG