'We Don't Need Altar Boys'
Today's front-page of the New York Times' print edition contains a fascinating story by Laurie Goodstein, all about Catholic church leaders putting legal pressures on a group dedicated to helping people who have suffered all sorts of abuses from priests over the years. A quote from a notorious hater of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people, not to mention feminists and others working to curb Catholic influence over public health and fairness matters, Bill Donohue, pictured, stands out, bolding added:
But William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, a church advocacy group in New York, said targeting the network was justified because “SNAP [Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests] is a menace to the Catholic Church.”
Mr. Donohue said leading bishops he knew had resolved to fight back more aggressively against the group: “The bishops have come together collectively. I can’t give you the names, but there’s a growing consensus on the part of the bishops that they had better toughen up and go out and buy some good lawyers to get tough. We don’t need altar boys.”
Oh, really? That metaphoric altar boy reference is rather unfortunate, given that many of the abuse charges involve altar boys who were mistreated by Catholic priests.
I last wrote about Donohue in April 2010, because of his $372,000 salary reported in his nonprofit's tax filing. Donohue, who has not taken a vow poverty or living within modest means, has received raises since 2010.
The latest IRS 990 for Donohue's charity reveals his compensation has jumped to $408,000, and they have $28 million listed in assets.
To view the tax filing, go to the Foundation Center, where you don't have to register to view IRS 990s, then search for the Catholic League's returns. Unfortunately, the center does not create URLs for individual filings.
Lastly, if Donohue wants to talk about menaces, let's expand the discussion to include the menace of the Catholic Church toward women's health, reproductive freedom and privacy, and respect for LGBT people.
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