Hate Speech

Here in St. Louis, it seems like the Catholic Church has been largely spared from the kind of hate-filled anti-Catholic propaganda that has existed for decades in other parts of the country. I may be naive, but the first time I ever saw actual printed anti-Catholic rhetoric was in 1999 when the Holy Father visited here. I don't know if it's because of the large Catholic population of the area or the general laid-back nature of the Midwest, but in my world, religious tolerance seemed to be the rule.

For some reason, recently the Catholic Church, particularly our Archbishop, Raymond Burke, have been subjected to some of the most vile rhetoric I've ever seen, not from some fringe hate group, but from the so-called mainstream media, particularly the daily newspaper, the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

Rather than spend a lot of time establishing the background for these attacks, especially since it's all based on lies, I'm just going to take a look at what's been said and printed in the last ten days or so. The events that supposedly sparked these attacks have been widely covered and anyone interested can easily find the details using a Google search.

First, on November 15, J.C. Corcoran, a worn-out shock jock on a local radio station and occasional commentator on KTVI, the local Fox TV affiliate, pontificated why he thinks that the Archbishop is doing a terrible job, in spite of admitting that he dropped out of the Church years ago because he thinks religion is "silly". Among other things, he said, "What I see, again from the outside, is the Catholic Church pretty much at the end of its public relations rope. The sex scandals continue to mount, the flock is thinning, and young men and women aren’t exactly knocking down the doors of seminaries and convents trying to get in. And locally, instead of a respected spiritual leader in the community, you have a guy who’s been stomping around, alienating, threatening, intimidating, excommunicating and carrying on since the day he got off the plane from Wisconsin.”

You can see the rest of his rant here, if your stomach can take it. His words were so offensive that they attracted national attention, including a response from Bill Donahue of the Catholic League who said in part, “They have some serious problems at Fox 2 in St. Louis. They have a commentator whose insulting remarks are matched only by his ignorance of his former religion, and they have a news director who is equally irresponsible."

For the record, I emailed the station and several of Corcoran's radio sponsors. To date I've received no response. Note that November is "Ratings Sweeps" month, when the stations set their future advertising rates based on the number of viewers during the month. Channel 2 and Corcoran, desperate to improve their ratings numbers have attempted to attract some attention by stirring up a hornet's nest. Sadly for them, this stunt, if it has any affect at all, won't move them out of the ratings basement. Anyone interested in seeing the video can do so on the Internet and TV advertisers don't pay for Internet clicks.

But, Corcoran's tirade was only the beginning. On Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, our daily paper published not one, but two rants against Archbishop Burke. First, Deb Peterson, the paper's "gossip columnist" wrote the following:

"TURKEY TIME: It is the somewhat anticipated, somewhat dreaded time of the year for this columnist to hand out her "Turkey" awards for Thanksgiving 2007. If your particular gobbler's carcass didn't get picked over, don't stew. We'll just have to try it again next year. But for now, the winners are:....

The Archbishop of Perpetual Turkey, Raymond Burke, had another year of ill-planned press and recognition. He threatened to excommunicate more local Catholics; caused a ruckus by publicly protesting a fundraiser to benefit the Bob Costas Cancer Center because it was going to include pro-choice supporter Sheryl Crow; and warned Rudy Giuliani that he would not give him Communion because the GOP presidential hopeful is pro-choice. Hopefully someone can persuade Burke to keep his gobbler down and out of the spotlight for the upcoming year. Nothing would make me more thankful than to not to have to give him this recognition again."

Some facts: The Archbishop did not threaten to excommunicate anyone. In a private letter to two women who were recently "ordained" to the priesthood, he warned them that if they followed through on their plan, they would automatically be excommunicated. The two women made the letter public.

He did not warn Giuliani of anything. He did state that he would not give communion to so-called pro-choice Catholic politicians, and that no one else in his Archdiocese should either. The original remarks were not made to Giuliani, or specifically about Giuliani. Rudy's name was brought up by a local reporter.

For the record, this is not the first time that Peterson has been caught "embellishing" the facts. By the way, is a "gossip" column really needed in the twenty-first century?

Finally, at least for today, another Post Dispatch columnist, Sylvester Brown attacked the Archbishop in the same newspaper. Brown, also a non-Catholic, is the paper's token black columnist. His columns usually follow the theme that any problem in St. Louis is the result of racial discrimination. If there are potholes in the street, or if it's been unseasonably cold or hot, he manages to find a way to make it racial. His attack on an individual white man is somewhat unusual. Yesterday's rant was actually the second time this month that he's played the anti-Catholic card. In a list of things to be thankful for, after suggesting that we "kick the mayor out of office, he wrote:

"Lastly, we must humbly acknowledge the one, true, wise and omnipotent decider of all things pure and holy — be they political or pedestrian …

Here's to Archbishop Raymond Burke, who tells Roman Catholics how to vote and warned new board members of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church that they could be excommunicated as part of a property and asset dispute.

Thank you, Archbishop Burke. You've helped many non-Catholics appreciate their religions.

Amen!"

There's been more, but you get my drift. What concerns me, and should concern everyone in this town, whether they're Catholic or not, is the logical result of this vicious rhetoric, whether it's leveled at the Church or at any group. If the quasi-official voices are mouthing these things, how long is it before the "man in the street" decides to join the fun. How long will it be before some priest or nun is physically attacked, before some Catholic Church is torched, or before burning crosses start to show up on individual Catholic's lawns?

Freedom of the press and freedom of religion are important parts of our American culture. But you can't yell "fire!" in a crowded theater and you can't publish bigoted rants against minority groups, unless of course they're Catholic. This kind of trash would never be allowed if it was directed at women, or racial minorities, or other religious groups. The P-D recently refused to publish the cartoons that pictured Mohammed for fear of offending Muslim sensibilities. But if it's the Catholic Church or it's spiritual leader, all bets are off.

I wonder how long Catholics in St. Louis are going to continue putting up with this? C'mon people. Take note of who the sponsors are. Refuse to patronize the advertisers who pay for this nonsense. Stop your subscription to the paper. Write to the editors, print and broadcast. When your child or grandchild comes home with a bloody nose because some bigot's kid attacked him or her for being Catholic, then it will be too late.

We have to stand up for ourselves and our leaders!