Catholic League: Bill Donohue Corrects New York Times

I have asked for a correction regarding a comment that is attributed to me, but which I never made.

NEW YORK (Catholic League) - Bill Donohue on today's article about him in the New York Times:

I have asked for a correction regarding a comment that is attributed to me, but which I never made. Regarding the movie "Angels & Demons," reporter Paul Vitello writes as follows: "They even have a scene where rats eat a bunch of cardinals," he [Donohue] said. "Can you imagine any other religion where this would not be viewed as rank religious bias?"

Not only did I never say anything even remotely like this, it cheapens my complaint. My central concern is the way Dan Brown's book, and the movie upon which it is based, portrays the Catholic Church: The Catholic Church is not anti-reason and anti-science. I don't care a fig about films showing rats eating cardinals.

The article says that L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, called the movie "harmless." Vitello did not mention that the newspaper, run by a professor, enjoys plenty of autonomy, and that its editorials are totally autonomous. The movie review, which also slammed the film for its "stereotyped characters" and historical errors, appeared in an editorial.

The Catholic League is identified as an organization that has zero affiliation with the Catholic Church. Yet as I pointed out to Vitello, we are listed in the Official Catholic Directory, quite unlike any number of groups with the name "Catholic" in it.

The article says the Catholic League has 50,000 members. As I told Vitello, we have 50,000 members who are our most reliable base of donors, but we have hundreds of thousands who contribute each year.

Vitello says of the Catholic League that it has "no spokesman except Donohue." Not true. My director of communications, Susan Fani, is also a spokesperson. Fani is incorrectly identified as my "assistant." This is shocking given that he met Fani and was given her business card.

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The Catholic League is the nation's largest Catholic civil rights organization. Founded in 1973 by the late Father Virgil C. Blum, S.J., the Catholic League defends the right of Catholics – lay and clergy alike – to participate in American public life without defamation or discrimination. It is led by its' President, William A. Donohue, Ph.D.