| William Anthony Donohue | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 18, 1947 Manhattan, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | President of the Catholic League |
William Anthony "Bill" Donohue (born July 18, 1947) is the president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights in the United States, a position he has held since 1993.
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Donohue was born in Manhattan, New York. He began his teaching career in the 1970s working at St. Lucy's School in Spanish Harlem. In 1977, he took a position as a college professor teaching at La Roche College in McCandless, Pennsylvania. In 1980 he received a doctorate in Sociology from New York University (NYU).[1] Donohue is divorced, with two adult children from his marriage.[2]
His first book was The Politics of the American Civil Liberties Union and he became associated with the conservative Heritage Foundation where he is an adjunct scholar. His books on the American Civil Liberties Union have made him one of the group's most prominent critics.
While Donohue was in college in New York, Virgil C. Blum, a Jesuit at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, founded the Catholic League to counter Anti-Catholicism in American culture. Blum died in 1990; in 1993, Donohue became the director of the organization. Under his direction, the organization has become far more prominent and vocal.
Donohue publishes The Catalyst, the Catholic League journal. He serves on the board of directors of the National Association of Scholars.[3] He serves on the board of advisers of the Washington Legal Foundation, the Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society, Society of Catholic Social Scientists, Catholics United for the Faith, Ave Maria Institute, the Christian Film & Television Commission and Catholic War Veterans. He received the 2005 St. Thomas More Award for Catholic Citizenship from Catholic Citizens of Illinois.
The Catholic League is registered as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. In 2009, according to its Form 990, its expenses were $2.9 million and it had $26.2 million in net assets. Donohue's salary and benefits amounted to $399,156.[4]
Donohue campaigns against what he perceives as discrimination against and defamation of Catholics and Catholicism. In doing so he has gone after a diverse array of public figures, from individuals such as Christopher Hitchens, and even businesses such as Abercrombie & Fitch and Miller Brewing Company, to institutions such as Bob Jones University.
In addition, Donohue has criticized political and social commentator Bill Maher,[5][6][7][8][9][10] controversial singer, songwriter, and comedian Jessica Delfino,[11][12] comedian Louis CK,[13][14] singers Joan Osborne[15][16][17][17] and Marilyn Manson,[18] the television shows Nothing Sacred,[19][20][21][22] and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,[23] Kevin Smith's film Dogma,[24] The Golden Compass,[25][26][27][28][29][30][31] and artist Cosimo Cavallaro.[32]
Donohue has been widely criticized for a partisan bias in his accusations of anti-Catholicism.[33][34][35][36] He has also been accused of lacking sensitivity toward victims of priest sexual abuse, or "blaming the victim" in cases of gay bullying.[37][38][39][40]
Donohue is a staunch defender of Mel Gibson's movie The Passion of the Christ. On the December 8, 2004 broadcast of Scarborough Country, in a discussion of the film Donohue claimed, "Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. It's not a secret, OK? And I'm not afraid to say it. That's why they hate this movie. It's about Jesus Christ, and it's about truth. It's about the Messiah".[41] This statement was called anti-Semitic by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach on that same show. Donohue defended this statements as follows: "In short, I did not single out secular Jews as some have said. Nonetheless, I do regret using the verb "controlled", and that is because it suggests that there is some kind of cabal among secular Jews. That's nonsense. But is there a segment of the secular Jewish community that is anti-Catholic? Absolutely".[42]
He has criticized Christmas cards sent by U.S. President George W. Bush using the term "Holidays" instead of "Christmas" on the White House",[43] as well as Mike Huckabee's use of what Donahue claims is Christian imagery for campaign purposes.[44]
Moreover, he has protested against what he perceives as employment discrimination against Catholics, in the case of a woman required by her supervisor to remove the Ash Wednesday ashes from her forehead.[45] He has spoken of the crisis over sexual abuse perpetrated by Catholic priests as "a homosexual scandal, not a pedophilia scandal".[46]
He criticized Kathy Griffin for her 2007 Primetime Emmy acceptance speech, which included the line, "So all I can say is suck it, Jesus, this award is my god now!"[47] Donohue called for a boycott on Griffin, who subsequently made mention in her act that Donohue was "so famous for calling for boycotts and censorship and stuff, that he's actually been a character on South Park."[48]
Donohue characterized as "hysterical" the response to the Ryan Report, the result of a lengthy inquiry into the abuse of children in Ireland over decades, arguing that because not all abuse was performed by priests, and that not all abuse detailed was rape, that the report headlines indicating that Catholic priests conducted child abuse including rape were misleading.[49][50]
On March 30, 2010, Donohue appeared on CNN's Larry King Live as part of a panel discussing sexual abuse of children by priests. Donohue blamed the decades-old problem on gay priests, claiming they could not be considered pedophiles because most of the offenses involved "postpubescent" boys (defined in the interview as boys 12-years-old or older) and were thus "homosexual" acts.[51]
On November 30, 2010, Donohue, speaking on behalf of the Catholic League denounced a piece of video art entitled "A Fire in My Belly" at the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery.[52] The piece, by artist David Wojnarowicz, contains a scene with a crucifix covered in ants.[53] Donohue called the video "hate speech[54]" and demanded that the Smithsonian remove it from the exhibit. The Smithsonian acquiesced to Donohue's demand and "A Fire in My Belly" was removed. During an interview with National Public Radio about the incident, Donohue questioned the legitimacy of the Smithsonian's status as a tax-supported institution:
"Why should the working class pay for the leisure of the elite when in fact one of the things the working class likes to do for leisure is to go to professional wrestling? And if I suggested we should have federal funds for professional wrestling to lower the cost of the ticket, people would think I'm insane. I don't go to museums any more than any Americans do.[55]"
On April 4, 2007, South Park parodied Donohue in the eleventh season episode "Fantastic Easter Special" as a power-hungry official of the Catholic Church who overthrows the Pope and sentences Jesus ("The Jew") to death for going against him and contradicting Catholic belief. In the show, the fictional Donohue calls Stan and Kyle "whores," a reference to his description of South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Subsequently, Jesus kills Donohue.
Donohue took the episode in good humor, displaying a still from it in his office depicting him wearing the pope's miter. Describing the episode's plot to The New York Times, he said "...they have me overthrow the pope because the pope is a wimp, and then I take over the church and give it some guts. But in the end, Jesus kills me."[56]