"Anti-Catholicism" wave cited

From THE RECORD, Louisville, KY, 8/14/03

By AGOSTINO BONO, Catholic News ServiceThe United States is facing a new wave of anti-Catholicism, as witnessed by opposition to a pro-life Catholic nominee for a federal judgeship, said the head of the largest U.S. Catholic fraternal organization.

Speaking before the ruling body of the Knights of Columbus, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson cited the Senate battle over the nomination of Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor, a Catholic, for the 11^th U.S . Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.

Anderson also criticized unnamed 'pro-abortion Catholic senators' for blocking anti-abortion nominees for judgeships.

Pryor has been pointedly questioned about his strong opposition to abortion. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, which held confirmation hearings, has raised the possibility that some opponents object to Pryor because his opposition to abortion stems from his Catholic faith.

"It's getting so that a pro-life Catholic can't serve in the federal judiciary," Hatch, a Pryor supporter, has said.

At the Aug. 5 opening session of the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus in Washington, Anderson read a letter he sent Hatch in support of Pryor.

"A continuation of the trend that critics of Mr. Pryor's nomination have set in motion will compel American Catholics to face religious bigotry of a kind many of us thought to be extinct in this nation," Anderson said as he quoted from the letter.

Opposition to Pryor "suggests a de facto religious test for public office, something clearly prohibited by the Constitution," the letter said. "It comes perilously close to suggesting that Catholics who faithfully adhere to their church's teaching on abortion, and perhaps other public moral issues, are unfit to serve their country in the federal judiciary.'

Opponents of Pryor have said the issue is not his religion but whether he would enforce laws that go against his beliefs.

Anderson said that the current Supreme Court seems unwilling to overturn Roe vs. Wade, "and so, my brother Knights, we must change the Supreme Court."

Society in general is showing "new evidence of unrelenting anti-Catholicism," Anderson told the 473 members of the Supreme Council. "Problems the church faces are portrayed not as the faults of men and women, but as the faults of the church itself and of its teachings," he said.

CHRISTIAN COMMENT

The American media has always given a favored position to Catholic priests, people and popes. We saw this in the movie industry with "evangelicals" portrayed by Elmer Gantry and priests gaining the limelight in "Going My Way," The Bells of St. Marys," etc.

The unfortunate rejection of Bill Pryor has nothing to do with his being a Catholic, as Anderson is quoted as saying "pro-abortion" Catholics opposed him.

John Ashcroft was opposed by the same kind of people, not strictly speaking for his pentecostalism, but for his conservatism. Closer study into the Pryor case reveals precisely the same thing.

The Catholic Church has had a free media ride for so long that they feel miffed if someone seems to affirm what they consider to be an anti-Catholic position. But put any evangelical in contention for a U.S. Circuit Count appointment and the exact same questions will be raised.

The sniffling of the Catholic Anti-Defamation League sickens one who knows that bigotry because of political positions held goes with the territory, and it is time the Catholic Church learned some lessons from the Apostle Paul of rejoicing in the midst of opposition.

Any Christian would have applauded Bill Pryor if he made it to Atlanta, but few are foolish enough to swallow the tear-stained charge of anti-Catholicism that his rejection spawned.

It is time for the Catholic Church to learn how to follow the Christ they are supposed to be following.