Holy Sienna Miller . . . After reading this presser we must ask ourselves . . . Is The Kansas City Star in any position to be turning away money?
Check it:
KANSAS CITY STAR vs. CATHOLIC CHURCH
Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:
Almost two weeks ago, we contacted the Kansas City Star about running a full-page ad on Sunday, October 30. The ad which I wrote is a critical statement about the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), and their attorney friend, Rebecca Randles. The ad was written because we strongly defend Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn against the politically motivated attacks on him.
Everything looked like it was good to go: on October 25, we submitted the ad exactly the way they wanted it, and indeed gave them our credit card information to pay the $25,000 fee. On October 26, we received an e-mail which said that "The Publisher has respectfully declined and did not share the details as to why."
I have been writing newspaper ads for decades, especially for the New York Times. It is common practice to fact-check an ad, asking for documentation to substantiate something in it, but never have I been turned down, much less without explanation.
We know what's going on. The Kansas City Star has long been in bed with SNAP, just as SNAP is in bed with attorneys like Randles and her mentor, Jeffrey Anderson. All are decidedly anti-Catholic. To wit: on September 25, the Star ran a 2223-word front-page Sunday news story on SNAP. To say it was a puff piece would be an understatement. Never has the Catholic Church been treated with such kid gloves.
Starting this week, we will blanket the Kansas City, Missouri area with copies of the ad that the Kansas City Star doesn't want readers to see [to read it, click here]; no secular or religious organization will escape us. They can impose a gag rule on us in their newspaper, but they cannot control us. Our campaign against the Star and SNAP will be on-going.
Contact KC Star publisher Mi-Ai Parrish: mparrish@kcstar.com
Jeff Field
Director of Communications
Catholic League
450 7th Ave.
New York, New York 10123
212-371-3191
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It think the Catholic League wants to make it acceptable for a priest to rape a child. Assholes!
ReplyDeleteAgree. The catholic league would do better to put pressure on the Church to change.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the decision to deny the Catholic League any press. They have said many hateful things.
ReplyDeleteIt's obvious the commenters here are so anti-semitic it is ridiculous. What if they refused to run ads from blacks?
ReplyDeleteIf it were news, a newspaper would have printed it for free. Why doesn't the Catholic League use the money to hire the bishop a lawyer?
ReplyDelete2:53 you are not wrong, as publisher they have the absolute right to publish what they see fit to print, guaranteed by the 1st, and a bucket full of free spreech cases. Don't like what they publish? Start your own paper, or blog, but then if it is not all yours, all your money on the line then the one with the money wins, end of story.
ReplyDelete2:53
ReplyDeleteThe Church is catholic.
How is it anti-Semitic to criticize Catholics?
Or are you just trying to be cute?
It's not working.
I want to see this ad. Unless it says things untrue, I think they should run it. And this coming from a guy who is absolutely against the Catholic Church's hundreds-years-old habits of concealing sexual abuse and sexual abusers. More important than the Star needing the money, first, there is that First Amendment thing and second, let them say what they want to say. Then, if it needs responding to, do an editorial on it in the Star.
ReplyDeleteI gotta' see this ad.
That they defend Bishop Finn is nearly incomrehensible, let alone indefensible, given what he--Finn--did and didn't do if even you only look at the Ratigan case, I have to say that.
ReplyDeleteWow! So much for journalistic integrity. So much for telling both sides of the story. So much for being fair and balanced reporting of the facts. Truly disgusting behavior on the part of the Star, our paper of record. Kudos to Tony for bringing this story to light on his blog.
ReplyDelete2:53
ReplyDeleteHave you ever been raped by a priest? Then shut the fuck up!
Okay, now, saw the ad. It's here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.catholicleague.org/taking-aim-at-bishop-finn/
'Dem Catholics and the Catholic League sure got chutzpah, don't they?
Blacks and African-Americans were never the perpetrators of slavery and degradation on the Whites.
ReplyDeleteThey wouldn't have run the ads.
Now that we think about it, they couldn't have run the ads.
I think the 'been in bed' metaphor was all too comical in the release.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many things wrong with what the Catholic League claim in their proposed ad, it's nearly mind-numbing. They're either lying to themselves or to the world so badly, so completely, it's either shocking or stunning.
ReplyDeleteOr both.
Just exactly where did the Catholic League get $25,000 to run a newspaper ad?
ReplyDeleteFrom whom does the Catholic League get their money?
Da' people in duh pews...
ReplyDeleteInteresting question about where the Catholic League gets its money.
ReplyDeleteDo you ask it of SNAP as well?
It's NOT rape if she doesn't say NO!!!
ReplyDeleteThe Catholic League ad, in the Catholic spirit of concealing truth about pedophile priests, left out most of the important details of the case of Bishop Finn hiding a pedophile. The Catholic church doesn't care about hiding the truth, or hiding pedophiles, but a newspaper has to.
ReplyDeleteJust a few examples of the Catholic League "lying for God":
- the ad completely omits the fact that a school principal wrote a 4 page memo to Bishop Finn about Fr Ratigan's pedophile behavior in May 2010, and Finn ignored it. Readers would think the evidence started in Dec 2010
- the ad talks about "crotch shot" photos being on Ratigan's computer. It doesn't tell the full truth, which is that Ratigan took those pictures, and he took them up the skirts of young girls.
- it also doesn't say that the diocese didn't contact the police. Instead, they called a friend that is an off duty police officer and described one photo over the phone, asking if it was child porn. They didn't tell the truth, which is that the computer was filled with child porn.
- it also doesn't say that they gave the evidence (a computer filled with child porn) to Ratigan's family instead of the police. However, they did "make a copy" of it.
- the ad says there was "one photo of a naked girl" on Ratigan's computer. There were hundreds.
- Ratigan was not reported to the actual police back in 2010. Instead, he was hidden, as Catholic bishops have hidden pedophiles for at least 60 years.
- Bishop Finn did not get "an attorney to do an independent investigation into this matter". The truth is that he hired Todd Graves, whose specialty is protecting the brand name of companies who are in trouble with the law.
There are a bunch of other inaccuracies in the article, but these are just some from the first 3 paragraphs.
The truth will come out over the next few months or years, even though Bishop Finn has 4 attorneys who will help him tell "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" just like this ad by the Catholic League tells "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth".
So help me, God.