A Conference Employee No More

CRISIS Magazine - e-Letter

March 19, 2004

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Dear Friend,

First, I apologize for not having written you in the last week. I've
actually been working on a special e-report that I'll be sending you
soon. I'm going to keep the subject a secret for now, but I think
you'll enjoy it...

In the meantime, there are a few items I need to tell you about.
First off, I have an update from an e-letter I sent you a couple
weeks back.

You probably remember my telling you about Ono Ekeh, an employee at
the Bishops' Conference who also happened to be the founder of an
Internet forum called "Catholics for Kerry." I pointed out what I
thought seemed pretty obvious... that having a paid employee for the
USCCB leading a public campaign for presidential-hopeful John Kerry
-- a rabidly pro-abortion "Catholic" -- sent a dangerous message to
Catholics about their responsibility regarding life issues.

Well, it appears that the Bishops' Conference agreed. We've learned
from several sources that Ekeh is no longer an employee of the
conference. Whether he was fired or allowed to resign is unclear
(their comically unhelpful office of human resources refused all
comment).

Either way, it appears that the bishops were unaware of Ekeh's side
project and were none too happy when it came to light. I applaud the
bishops for taking this stand -- they've sent a clear message
regarding their commitment to life and the responsibility of lay
Catholics to do the same. This is a very good start.

And now for some infuriating news...

You may have seen the recent report of a new novelty item being sold
at Urban Outfitters, a hip clothing chain. It's a magnet of Jesus on
the cross, complete with other magnetic "outfits" that you can dress
him up in. There's a ballet tutu, a devil's costume, a hula skirt...
even a sign you can place over his head that reads "Hang in there,
baby!"

When some of their outraged customers complained, the brain trust
over at Urban Outfitters responded that they weren't selling the
product to offend anyone but merely to "reflect a diversity of
opinion among its customer base."

Really? Then I suppose we can expect to see a Mohammed magnet
(complete with multiple wives and an explosive suicide-belt) or the
cross-dressing Moses magnet... But of course, that will never happen,
because the folks at Urban Outfitters wouldn't dream of offending
Muslims and Jews with such repugnant items. The plain fact is,
Christianity is the only religion that remains a fair target for the
mockery and denigration of the secular liberal elite.

Which brings us to Augusta, Georgia...

Another recent example of liberal anti-Christian bigotry popped up
at a St. Patrick's Day parade, of all places. Organizers of the
Irish-American Heritage Society's parade in Augusta refused to allow
a local youth group to carry crosses in Wednesday's parade, saying
the parade "cannot be a platform for anyone's views, standpoints on
politics, religion, [or] race."

The youth group's minister complained, pointing out the obvious
irony -- the holiday is SAINT Patrick's day, the celebration of a
saint and bishop in the Catholic Church. It is, by its very nature, a
Christian religious holiday. To say that carrying crosses in the
parade would be an inappropriate platform for a particular religion
would be like banning hymns at Christmas because it would be
endorsing a particular religious viewpoint.

Unfortunately, the parade organizers were immune to the obvious. In
the end, the teens were told they'd only be allowed to carry
shamrocks.

It's amazing, when you think about it. The vast majority of
Americans today openly confess some form of Christianity. We
currently have a film about the Passion of Christ that will surely
become one of the highest-grossing movies of all time. And yet
Christianity is still the target of relentless ridicule by liberal
elitists.

These people are hopelessly out of touch.

One last quick note before I go -- I want to thank Rev. Pat
Robertson for having me on the 700 Club earlier this week. I was
given the chance to clarify some comments on celibacy made on the
show last week by an ex-priest named Richard Sipe. If you're not
familiar with Sipe, he's the author of a book titled Celibacy, where
he blames the sexual-abuse crisis on (surprise!) priestly celibacy.
He even went so far as to say that only 10% of our priests keep their
vows.

All this was brought to my attention by Bill Donohue of the Catholic
League, who suggested I call Rev. Robertson to see if I could go on
his show to defend our priesthood. Robertson gave me ample time to
explain the true Catholic understanding of the gift of celibacy and
to point out that other problems -- including lax bishops, dissent,
and homosexuality -- were to blame in the current scandal. Rev.
Robertson was very gracious in allowing me to correct the record for
faithful Catholics, and I truly appreciate the opportunity.

That's all for today. I'll talk to you again next week. I hope you
have a restful weekend.

Deal



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