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Manhattan Diary by Cahir O'Doherty

Bill Donohue: blame Madonna not Catholic Church

Posted on Sunday, February 05, 2012 at 08:57 AM

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Another day, another opportunity for Bill Donohue to blame some unsuspecting soul for all of the ills affecting the Catholic Church.

This week's pinata is Madonna, the nemesis of all that is wholesome, proper and sacred since 1984 (to hear Bill and his Catholic League of one tell it).

Just in time for Super Bowl Sunday and doubtless also in time to ride her resurgent ubiquity all the way toward cultural relevance, Donohue has warned the Material Girl that she better 'behave' during her widely anticipated half time set today or she'll risk the wrath of himself and his minion.

Really, how dare the Material Girl even think of desecrating the sanctity of an American football match.

In one sense of course Donohue performs a rather useful task for the Catholic Church; he can always be relied upon to say something so provocative he momentarily distracts the public's attention away from the international abuse scandals that are consuming it.

Turning the public's focus away from literally thousands of abusive priests and nuns around the globe to one unmarried but otherwise rather successful mother is a neat trick, isn't it?

But Donohue has a hair-trigger sense of moral outrage that is only ever set off by attacks from without, he gives a major pass to those attacking the church from within.

In fact, in the Irish context, and after the publication of the harrowing state commissioned Ryan report into abuse there, Donohue claimed the Irish were really just in the grip of mass 'hysteria.' But listening to him speak, after a minute you begin to wonder if he's not in the grip of hysteria himself.

'I got slapped by nuns all the time when I was growing up on Long Island,' Donohue revealed, citing the age old And-It-Never-Did-Me-Any-Harm defense. 'I don't regard myself as emotionally abused,' he continued.

Everyone was doing it. I'm grand. What's the problem here folks?

'I think a lot of these people are gold diggers looking to get money from the Catholic Church,' he concluded.

When debates are this heated, and when the harm they occasion is so deep and so enduring, perhaps we can understand why Donohue really wants to blame Madonna for all the ills overrunning the organization he has volunteered to defend.

But we shouldn't let him make an example of her if it means we are being hoodwinked.

Making a holy show of the most famous woman in the world only adds to her celebrity, but it does nothing to address or reconcile the misguided actions of the institution he defends.

READ MORE

Bill Donohue shifts goalposts on Church scandals

Bill Donohue: Catholic Church the real victim

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30 comments

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seanomelb | Feb 09, 2012, 03:16 PM EST

Donohoe is a modern day inquisitor a harbinger of hate and religious bigotry.

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eiriamach | Feb 08, 2012, 08:12 AM EST

What's Bill Donohue on about now? Yesterday, he took on the Obama administration's requirement that Catholic hospitals, colleges, and social service agencies provide equal health insurance benefits for women employees. He said, "Never before, unprecedented in American history, for the federal government to line up against the Roman Catholic Church.... This is going to be fought out with lawsuits, with court decisions, and, dare I say it, maybe even in the streets.” He's promising an all-out bully battle to defend RCC's obstruction of equal rights under the law for women. It's enough of an assault to deprive me of my right to equal insurance benefits; it's nearly beyond belief that anyone would call that assault a "free exercise of religion"! Practicing discrimination under the pretext of "religious liberty" is an attempt to claim a divine mandate for discriminating against women. He is hopelessly confused if he thinks that Catholics can have their "religious liberty" only by depriving me and other women of our equality. I'm howling with laughter over their confusion (and I believe God is too)!

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snakehips | Feb 07, 2012, 12:59 PM EST

I think maybe the nuns slapped him too hard on the head.

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kilgara | Feb 07, 2012, 12:26 AM EST

It's too bad The Catholic League has a spokesman who appears to be over the top mad at the world. Get somebody else to voice the truth in a more palatable manner.

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McNamara31 | Feb 06, 2012, 05:36 PM EST

PiperMac52 Do a search on just how much Bill Donohue's Organization is worth and how much he is paid then think of how much good could be done with those millions to help people in true need instead of bashing SNAP, Voice of the Faithfull and other victims groups.

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KerryLKing | Feb 06, 2012, 12:37 PM EST

To Cahir O'Doherty: If it's just somebody on here making "a comment" it's excusable.....but if you're going to be "a journalist" then please get your spelling correct. Case in point: in the first sentence of the 2nd paragraph....it's pinata....NOT pinyata!! I'm not Spanish & even I know that....

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Murph46 | Feb 06, 2012, 12:12 PM EST

Shill for pedophile priests?

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rainbowbrew | Feb 06, 2012, 11:43 AM EST

Funny here in the states we have seen lower unemployment numbers and some encouraging news about the economy. Like the catholics trying to rationailize their cognitive dissonce with the RCC and making excuses the republican party is all of a sudden the cause for the low unemployment numbers. Yes both organizations lie and this guy donohue is the biggest liar. He is merely a cheerleader and provacateer. He is one reason I left the RCC, I do not want to be represented (actual or implied) by a blow hard like him. of copurse there are other reasons like the abuse scandal. he also gloirfies getting hit on the knuckles fy a nun. Further proof that the catholics do not mind violence. Too Bad, I think peace is a better option and dealing with boys and girls in a classroom does not have to be violent.

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joeustace | Feb 06, 2012, 10:53 AM EST

I am diappointed to see Mr. Donohue featured so prominently on EWTN, the self-described Catholic television network, especially on it's "news" show. Has he ever made a positive suggestion to redress the injuries or to prevent the problem from recurring? Perhaps tht should be the subject of his next interview with Mr. Arroyo.

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CitizenWhy | Feb 06, 2012, 09:33 AM EST

Donohue is a self-promoting crank who does not represent the Catholic church or most American Catholics.

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eiriamach | Feb 06, 2012, 07:29 AM EST

PiperMac52, there is nothing "low-keyed" about the sexual abuse of children anywhere. The global problem of sexual abuse by Catholic priests will not escape notice simply because sexual abuse exists elsewhere. You write, "There are those secular relativists/atheists who see the church as the one obstacle to their dream culture of total moral relativism." This knee-jerk, ludicrous labeling of anyone who disagrees with you as relativist/ atheist needs reply, so I copy here what I wrote on another IC page: there are still Catholics screaming about the "relativism" of people like me, who oppose the Vatican's political power grabs and advocate separation of church and state. And here, Irishpjk writes, "sure there were some bad priests, bishops and nuns, but they are a reflection of the society that they grew up in." This statement is pure moral relativism as a jesuitical art form, used to deny moral responsibility for sexual abuse of children in the RCC, to blame it on "the society" or some other amorphous outside force, rather than on the priests, the real human beings, who raped children! So to those self-blinded Catholics who assume that everyone who objects to the rape of children by priests is a "godless," "secularist" "moral relativist," I say try to clean up your shoddy, sloppy, illogical thinking and take a good hard look at who the moral relativists really are--you'll need a mirror for that! When you deny an obvious truth, you do damage to your ability to discern the truth.

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PiperMac52 | Feb 06, 2012, 01:23 AM EST

Nice hit piece! As a subscriber to the "Catalyst" of which Donahue is publisher I can tell you that no one has been more outspoken against the misdeeds of those abusive priests and prelates regarding the sex scandal. Donahue is absolutely on target when he says that there are money grubbing lawyers and absurd belated allegations of "repressed memories" jumping on the money train and a hatred motivated wish to destroy the Catholic church. Let's be honest here, every organization including public schools here in the states have higher incident rates of sex abuse than the Catholic church, yet it is usually low keyed and does not evoke the public outcry. There are those secular relativists/atheists who see the church as the one obstacle to their dream culture of total moral relativism. The overwhelming good that the church has done in it's history(and continues to do around the globe)is of no significance in their plight. I am a product of Catholic schools and don't know anyone among my circle of friends that was abused. I guess I am a rare bird indeed. At least that is what one would believe in following the media. You would also believe that Islam is a religion of peace...go figure!

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stephen1553 | Feb 06, 2012, 12:15 AM EST

tks Badalong re the blame the victim BS. the biz about "the victim asked for it, eg re the short skirt, well thats exactly how saudi arabia works. Why are there almost no rapes in Saudi-land? Because the judges decide what God wants. And in another patriarchial institution, it always that the woman in some way was guilty................The usual punishment is whipping for the woman, while the rapist gets a slap on the hand for wasting the courts time.........................Until I read what you said, I actually hadn't comprehended the similarities to some cradle catholics and Sharia.

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stephen1553 | Feb 06, 2012, 12:08 AM EST

Some say that there is abuse of children elsewhere. that is quite true...................... But where else has there been an organized conspiracy to hide the molestation? The catholic church............. All you have to do is google "pope hides child abuse" and you will see what happened. The pope knows that faith is just that - a belief (in the supernatural)..............Let one crack appear in the wall the church built shielding its horrors from the people and the walls will come tumbling down...... As they already have = Ireland was the most catholic country in Europe, source of the priests that evangelized Catholicism in the past centuries. The 90% of people who went to mass on a regular basis is now about 25%. The church can try, but there is no fooling the Irish people...............May God have Mercy on the church and its hierarchy.

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badolan | Feb 05, 2012, 09:06 PM EST

There is always some ass willing to blame the victim of a crime. Such as, "she was asking to be raped because she had on a short skirt," etc. A twisted mind can rationalize just about anything.

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