Catholic League slams Jewish newspaper criticizing U.S. bishops

Washington D.C., Jun 24, 2004 / 22:00 pm

The president of the Catholic League said Catholics are owed an apology after the lead editorial in the June 25 edition of a prominent Jewish weekly newspaper accuses Catholic bishops of being a threat to democracy.

The editorial in the Forward rebukes the bishops for deciding to withhold Communion from pro-abortion Catholic politicians. It states: “The threat by Catholic bishops to withhold Communion from politicians who uphold abortion rights is an affront not just to democracy, but also to the best moral teachings of Catholicism.”

The editorial continues: “Where democracy is affronted is at the point where a church—the nation’s largest single church, as it happens—attempts to impose its views from above by threatening to withhold what its believers consider an essential religious rite.”

“That’s nothing more than bullying, trying to bludgeon believers into substituting obedience for conscience.  It’s unfair to believers and unfair to the system,” reads the editorial. 

“It is the height of arrogance and intolerance for a Jewish newspaper to lecture Catholic bishops on the propriety of denying Communion to pro-abortion Catholic politicians,” said Catholic League president William Donohue in a statement.

“At issue is not a matter of public policy; on the contrary, it is purely an internal matter,” said Donohue. “As such, it is none of the Forward’s business what disciplinary measures the bishops decide.”

Donohue said accusing Catholics of being a threat to democracy “is the oldest canard in the arsenal of anti-Catholics.”

“Not only that,” Donohue continues, “the editorial presumes to know better than the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops what the best moral teachings of the Catholic Church are.”