Patches Gets Married in a Tent

Howie Carr has a rather colorful description of the sad deterioration of the Kennedy family, HERE.

Another Kennedy wedding on the Cape today — big night for package stores and state police sobriety checkpoints. But somehow it doesn’t seem the same — so many things seem to be missing from the traditional Kennedy wedding.

For starters, a Catholic church. Didn’t the Kennedys used to get married in Catholic churches? Caroline at Our Lady of Victory in Centreville, Maria Shriver at St. Francis Xavier in Hyannis?

Now Patches gets hitched at the compound. Forget “celebrating” Mass, these nuptials will be “officiated” by moonbat Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

Bill Clinton must not have been available.

If we don't laugh, we'll cry.

Really?

What a sad development for Boston Irish Catholics.

We can't blame this one on Episcopal misfeasance. Bishop Tobin invited Patrick to numerous come to Jesus meetings. Privately and publicly.

I'm not even sure why this really bothers me. It's better than having prelates Sacramentally endorse defiance and leading hundreds of thousands of Catholics into an abyss. Maybe it's because I had secretly hoped they could get it through their thick Irish skulls and this is just another step in the wrong direction.

Apparently they're all fighting over Rose and Joe's house on the compound. Ted donated it to host think tanks? The family is appalled and concerned about the infringements upon their heritage and history. The place is a ghost house. Bobby's children feel the Kennedy Library has snubbed their father. Isn't the Kennedy Library another blueprint of Jack Connors'? He's really got the Midas touch doesn't he.

I didn't think anything could top sitting between two bitches listening to John Unni, but the cocktail hour must have been something else, huh?

God help them.

Will the Kerfuffle over Howie Carr be Ann Fox's Waterloo at Mass Citizens for Life?

Catholics involved in pro-life activism in Massachusetts have been challenged by the leadership in the major pro-life political machine, Mass Citizens for Life.   Readers here know all the reasons why, so it isn't necessary to enumerate them except to say they consider support for Roe v. Wade satisfactory enough to be honored with the label 'pro-life', they tweak candidate questionnaires to hide their candidates pro-choice positions and they've been asking grassroots Catholic pro-lifers to work for, support, fund and elect pro-choice candidates now for at least a decade.

Somewhere along the line, it became more important to MCFL to 'win' than to work to elect prolifers and this has created numerous problems on many levels.   Most importantly, it has fractured our troops and castrated our political power at the level of the GOP when they recruit candidates to put their money and power behind.    Prolifers are not part of the discussions because the GOP knows we'll use our political machine to elect prochoice candidates.

There have been many leaders of Mass Citizens for Life in the last decade who have carried this prochoice torch but the tenure of its current president, Anne Fox, has certainly been the most tenuous.  The donnybrooks over the strategies involving deception have laid our political machine to waste.  The pace of the gradual mutiny quickened as the pro-life credentials of their candidates deteriorated and the deceptive practices with their candidate questionnaires became commonplace, starting with Mitt Romney.

The heart and soul of the pro-life political machine here in Massachusetts is Catholic.  Many of us have other shticks.   At every crisis of leadership over the last few years, we've pulled together to brainstorm about what to do with Captain Queeg after reason and right judgment failed to persuade.   Most are now at the point where they believe we should start our own Catholic pro-life political machine here in Massachusetts - Massachusetts Catholics for Life.    Several years ago, a coup de tat of the Board of Directors (who elects officers and votes on policies) was attempted by several well-known, well-respected Massachusetts Catholic prolifers.  All of them have other apostolates, many of them also have full time jobs and the coup fell short.

This latest controversy involving MCFL's invitation to Howie Carr to speak at the Assembly for Life (refresher on the controversy HERE and HERE) has really turned up the heat.    CJ Doyle and Dan Flatley at the Catholic Action League kicked off a campaign that brought a deluge of requests to MCFL to rescind the invitation to Carr because a) Carr supports proabort politicians b) he has no record of being a pro-lifer and c) he has said numerous vulgar anti-Catholic things about Catholic Sacraments, our Saints and our priests.

More importantly, Carr has repeatedly said that poor women should not be allowed to have children because they can't afford them.  This is not the face pro-lifers want as their poster boy.   It should be a no brainer that this doesn't send the right message to pregnant poor women from a pro-life group.

In what I would say is more than a coincidence, the Chairman of MCFL's Board resigned over the past few weeks and many made clear they would be be boycotting and demonstrating outside of the event.

Yet, in yesterday's Pilot was an article with several astounding quotes from Anne Fox.     The article is called "Carr to remain keynote speaker at MCFL Rally".

On Dec. 17, officials of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts wrote an open letter to MCFL president Anne Fox asking her to rescind Carr’s invitation to address the MCFL’s annual Assembly for Life, which will be held Jan. 16 at 2 p.m. at Faneuil Hall.

The letter was signed by Catholic Action League executive director C. J. Doyle and former chairman Daniel Flatley.   

In the letter, Doyle and Flatley cited incidents over the last 12 years in which they contend Carr has demeaned Catholic priests, the Church’s sacramental practices and leadership, children born to unwed mothers, and immigrant groups.

They called the invitation “an affront to the Christian religion and everything the Pro-Life movement professes to uphold,” it also said.

However, in an announcement that will appear in the MCFL January newsletter that Fox provided to The Pilot, she affirmed that Carr’s invitation will not be rescinded.  [<---Hold that thought for a minute...but don't believe everything you read.]

She noted that Carr is being asked to speak as a “respected political observer and commentator.”  He is expected to speak on the power and influence of the pro-life vote in light of Sen. Scott Brown’s election in 2009 and the gains made by pro-life state legislators in 2010.

“It is obvious that people do not recognize the power of the pro-life vote, not pro-lifers ourselves and certainly not the press or the politicians,” she wrote.  “It is important that we continue to run and elect pro-life officials.  It is much easier for a pro-life person to run for office with the assurance that the pro-life vote is there.”

A couple of problems.  One, Scott Brown is prochoice.  Two, all of the pro-life candidates were defeated in Massachusetts because, and here comes the irony, MCFL does not put 'the power of the pro-life vote'  behind actual pro-life candidates.     Their modus operandi is figuring out who can win so they can be on a winning team.   If Anne believed in the power of the pro-life vote, she would be putting that power behind pro-lifers.

Anne is mixing up the words 'pro-life' and 'conservative'.


MCFL has sent out a press release in the last few hours with Howie Carr's name mysteriously replaced with Ray Flynn as the featured speaker.

Most everyone agrees that Howie Carr serves a purpose in the conservative movement and is sorry to see he got sucked into Anne Fox's, God love her, poor judgment.  He is joining a long list.

Pro-lifers are not going to continue operating with a political machine that elects prochoice politicians.  It is a dereliction of duty to the unborn.

We want one in place for the 2012 elections which means the Board of Directors has to persuade Anne Fox, God love her, to be moseying on down the road - or it means Catholic pro-lifers are going to put something together that will publish authentic and honest questionnaires revealing support of Roe v. Wade of candidates MCFL continues to call 'pro-life'.

The Board of Directors is responsible and needs to take responsibility of the poor judgment and strategy,  and do what needs to be done.  There are many, many good people in MCFL but the officers who carry out the day to day decisions have been a disaster.  We're going to spend the next few months lobbying board members and if they can't make a commitment  to fixing the problem - we will have a new Catholic pro-life machine here in Boston before the end of 2011.  This is certainly not something we have wanted to do but we need a pro-life political machine to take advantage of the stampede away from Obamaculture.  We need to be savvy and cast the net... and the timing is now.

Here's CJ Doyle's excellent Press Release:

NEWS RELEASE

SATURDAY, JANUARY 8, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:  C. J. DOYLE

(781) 251-9739

HOWIE CARR WITHDRAWS AS SPEAKER AT ASSEMBLY FOR LIFE

FOLLOWING CAMPAIGN BY CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE

Less than three weeks after the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts began a campaign to disinvite him, WRKO talk show host Howie Carr has withdrawn as the keynote speaker at the Annual Assembly for Life.  Massachusetts Citizens for Life, which sponsors the event — to be held January 16th at Faneuil Hall — told callers to their office yesterday that Carr had withdrawn “for personal reasons.”  Former U. S. Ambassador to the Holy See Ray Flynn has been scheduled to replace Carr.

The Catholic Action League mobilized hundreds of Catholics to contact MCFL and the Archdiocese of Boston (which regularly participates in the event) and demand Carr’s removal.  Carr has a long history of vulgar and malicious attacks on the Catholic religion.  He has mocked the Eucharist, engaged in vile sexual innuendo regarding the Holy Family, and cast relentless aspersions on the Catholic priesthood.  Promoting invidious stereotypes about Hispanics as criminals and illegal aliens, Carr plays Mexican music while reading the names of criminal suspects with Hispanic surnames.  Where the pro-life movement tries to demonstrate compassion for poor women in difficult circumstances, Carr derisively refers to the children born out of wedlock to mothers on public assistance as “little bastards”, and has reportedly argued that women on welfare not be allowed to have children.

The Catholic Action League called Carr’s withdrawal “a victory for outraged and long suffering Catholics sick and tired of Carr’s boorish bigotry.”

Catholic Action League Director C. J. Doyle made the following comment: “In a market economy in a secular society, Catholics may not be able to drive bigots like Carr off the airwaves, but we should at least be able to prevent him from being treated as respectable within our own community.  In this case, we succeeded in doing so.  Having Howie Carr as the keynote speaker at the Assembly for Life would have been an insult to Catholics, an affront to Hispanics and immigrants, and an expression of contempt for unwed mothers and their children.”

“MCFL President Anne Fox ought to apologize for the disgraceful decision to invite Carr in the first place.  That decision betrayed an appalling disregard to Carr’s record of blasphemy, sacrilege, nativism and anti-Catholicism.  It was also an act of ingratitude to courageous elected officials who have defended the right to life, who have come to the aid of MCFL in perilous times, and who have been unjustly maligned by Howie Carr.  The leadership of MCFL ought to be ashamed of itself for this unconscionable and embarrassing choice for keynote speaker.”

A Lump of Coal for Mass Citizens for Life Stocking

Anne Fox responded to the Catholic Action League's Press Release.

There's good news and bad news.

I'll give you the bad news first.

Anne says the kind things Howie says about the Montrose School is getting lost in all the hoopla from Catholics offended by Carr's "political acumen" against Our Eucharistic Lord, the Holy Spirit, the Catholic Church and Her Sacraments and the suggestion that St. Joseph sodomized animals.

 After all, MCFL is 'non-sectarian' and "assiduous" people could make a list of positive things he's said about people at his parish.

MCFL may officially be 'non-sectarian', but its membership and supporters are almost exclusively Catholic. Anyway, how does MCFL being 'non-sectarian' abjure Carr's offensive remarks and make him an acceptable cheerleader for the sanctity of life? As CJ reveals below, Carr has actually referred to children born out of wedlock as 'little bastards'.  What kind of a message does that send to single mothers about MCFL?   Doesn't it undermine our entire mission in the pro-life community?

It isn't just that his remarks about Our Lord are vulgar, his remarks persuade his audience against the Church which ultimately keeps people away from the Sacraments and unity with Christ.   I am baffled that the consequences to the salvation of souls from Carr's smearing of the Catholic Church are given license by calling MCFL 'non-sectarian'. 

Fox also is under the impression that Howie Carr is "anti-choice".

 I'm not sure what the word "anti-choice" means, but here's why the wordsymthing is coming across as more of the same intellectual dishonesty we've all grown accustomed to from MCFL: If Carr were 'anti-choice' he wouldn't have the history he has promoting proabortion politicians who then go on to make laws that support abortion rights.  That's what you call counterproductive.

If Carr said he was against antisemetism but he had a long history of promoting antisemitic politicians, this is an indication that he's not committed enough to the cause to lead the annual Jewish anti-defamation assembly.

Carr doesn't have 'pro-life' credentials and his 'political acumen' about the Catholic religion, our Pope, teachings, priests and Sacraments disqualify him to lead an MCFL-sponsored event.

MCFL is creating further divisions in the pro-life community by holding onto her story and invitation to Howie Carr.

The good news is, the Catholic Action League has issued a spectacular response:

CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE REJECTS MCFL EXCUSES
FOR INVITATION TO HOWIE CARR

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today rejected excuses offered by Anne Fox, President of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, for that organization's invitation to the anti-Catholic, Hispanic-bashing radio shock jock Howie Carr, to be the featured speaker at MCFL's Annual Assembly for Life on January 16th.

In a late breaking development, the League has learned that the Chairman of the MCFL Board of Directors, long time pro-life activist Henry Luthin, resigned over the weekend.

The following is the reply of Anne Fox to the League's letter of December 17th:

Dear C. J.,

As I prepared to respond to your email, which requested that we withdraw our invitation to Howie Carr to speak at the Massachusetts Citizens for Life Assembly for Life, I realized that you had sent to your entire list what I assumed was a private email. It surprises me greatly that you would do that without contacting me first. If your goal was to have us withdraw our invitation, it would have been prudent to have contacted me...

You cite examples of statements from the last dozen years which are definitely out of order. I had not been aware of them. I have heard Howie praise the people and the school in his parish as well as The Montrose School. If someone as assiduous as you had been monitoring for the same dozen years, I suspect he would also have a dossier of positive statements.

Massachusetts Citizens for Life is nonsectarian. We, of course, join all pro-life people in admiration and gratitude for the leadership of the Catholic Church which has and is working so hard to restore the Culture of Life and would do nothing to embarrass her.

Howie is anti-abortion. He has been very helpful to us in our work over the past year and a half to publicize the anti-life aspects of Obamacare. We have not asked him to speak as an "entertainer". We have asked him to speak, because of his political acumen, about the unacknowledged power of the pro-life vote. The general public, politicians, and our own people need to hear that.

C. J., I trust that you will share this email with the people to whom you sent your original email.

Best,
Anne


The Catholic Action League characterized Fox's remarks as "a bizarre attempt to defend the indefensible."

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle made the following comment: "Evidently, Anne Fox never heard of the old saying that when you are already in a hole, you should stop digging. She actually makes the insipid argument that blasphemy and sacrilege --- insulting the Body of Christ and making obscene references about the Foster Father of Our Lord --- can be overlooked if there are countervailing considerations. The notion that the vile things Howie Carr has said about the Blessed Sacrament and Saint Joseph are somehow counterbalanced by the financial support he has provided to his daughters' parochial school is manifestly absurd and intellectually dishonest, as is the pathetic attempt to hide behind the non-sectarian status of MCFL. Serious organizations do not invoke their non-sectarian character to excuse bigotry and hate speech."

"As for the preposterous assertion that we have somehow neglected to mention the allegedly good things Howie Carr has said about the Church, here, Anne Fox descends from argument to comedy. The only things which we have omitted are the new revelations about Howie Carr which we are learning of every day as more people contact us with evidence of his Catholic bashing. If anyone believes that they can bring success to their organization by showcasing someone who has mocked the Second Person of the Holy Trinity and defamed the Head of the Holy Family, then their thinking is that of an atheist rather than a Christian."

"For the record, Howie Carr supports sterilization and contraception, and has a long history of promoting pro-abortion candidates for public office. Where the pro-life movement demonstrates compassion for women in difficult circumstances, the caustic Howie Carr demeans the children born out of wedlock to mothers on public assistance as 'little bastards'. Do we really wish to project the surly and mean-spirited countenance of Howie Carr as the image of the Massachusetts pro-life movement? Those who rail against immigrants, minorities, and welfare recipients, far from building a culture of life, usually promote sympathy for population control."

"Liberal Catholics malign the pro-life movement by unjustly accusing it of being a political front for the Republican Party. In this case, Anne Fox seems determined to vindicate that claim, even if it means embracing enemies of the Faith as repulsive as Howie Carr. From tailoring candidate questionnaires to make pro-abortion Republicans look 100% pro-life, to providing a platform to a Republican attack dog, it appears that Anne Fox is seeking to reduce the once proud Massachusetts Citizens for Life to an auxiliary of the Massachusetts Republican Party. For the credibility of their own organization, the officers, directors and members of MCFL ought to restrain her from doing so."

"Meanwhile, the Catholic Action League will begin to call local and national attention to the scandal of having an anti-Catholic, anti-Hispanic, anti-immigrant, anti-life speaker at a pro-life event."

*********

Please add this to your list of  prayers in your Christmas worship.  It is more than an 'incident'.  The trajectory of Mass Citizens for Life has been sucking the oxygen out of the pro-life community for about ten years.  This event has the potential to bring on a formal divorce which could get very ugly.  We have all been trying to avoid it for the sake of 'peace'.   But like everything else the Hound of Heaven does when we are abdicating our duties, He is making it impossible for us to be at peace with it.

n.b. Please also pray for the Walshes who lost their daughter over the last few months, and a sister in Christ who lost her job and is facing eviction.

Open Letter to Anne Fox and Mass Citizens for Life Asking Them to Withdraw Howie Carr Invitation

-----Original Message-----
From: cmmckinley@aol.com
To: Anne Fox, Officers & Directors of MCFL
Sent: Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:20 am
Subject: Please Withdraw Invitation to Howie Carr


+
IHS

Dear Anne,

I'm writing to request the invitation to Howie Carr as a featured speaker at the Assembly for Life be withdrawn.

Howie Carr is a political media personality that can be entertaining but he is not a pro-lifer. Whatever positions he holds that seem to be common ground are not common ground with a Catholic pro-life organization. His opposition to Obamacare is not grounded in the sanctity of life, it is fiscal and big government related opposition. Though we can chum around with him at the Harvard Club and laugh at his moonbat jokes, he does not belong as the featured speaker at the Assembly of Life.

More importantly, Howie Carr is vulgar and vile critic of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord. The Sacrament and price of our the salvation of our souls is regularly cheapened and spat upon. I was told that as recently as the past few weeks, he proclaimed that "90% of of Catholic priests are pedophiles".

I vehemently object to and am outraged by this invitation and will be taking an active role in lobbying others to request that you withdraw this invitation. If you fail to immediately do so, I will be lobbying our Catholic priests, high-ranking leaders to boycott the event.

The mission of Mass Citizens for Life is a "pro-life" organization whose members and supporters are Catholics who politically organize to have their convictions represented in the various processes of defining civil and constitutional law.

Somewhere along the way, it capitulated to a political organization that identifies with and endorses pro-choice politicians. It tumbled from the primary mission of getting candidates who oppose Roe v. Wade on the ballot and getting out the ground troops to get them elected, to finding common ground with prochoice candidates on ancillary issues and re-characterizing their support of Roe v. Wade as acceptable enough to get a pro-life endorsement from the major Catholic pro-life political machine in Massachusetts.

I am sorry to say, this Howie Carr invitation is adding fuel to the overall impression that MCFL's trajectory is furthering itself as a Catholic political organization and becoming a political shill for fiscal conservatives who wish to use it as a tool.

St. Joseph, chaste guardian of the Virgin, protector of The Holy Church, pray for us.

Carol McKinley



-----Original Message-----
From: calmdoyle@aol.com
Sent: Fri, Dec 17, 2010 2:12 pm
Subject: CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE LETTER TO MCFL




December 17, 2010

Anne Fox, President
Massachusetts Citizens For Life
The Schrafft Center
529 Main Street
Charlestown, MA 02129


Dear Anne,

We were astonished to learn that Howie Carr will be featured at MCFL's Annual Assembly For Life on January 16th. Carr is a notorious Catholic-basher with a long record of vicious and gratuitous attacks on the Catholic Religion.

On April 8, 1998 --- Wednesday in Holy Week --- in response to a decision by the Red Sox to forgo alcohol sales in Fenway Park because Opening Day would fall on Good Friday, Carr hosted a segment on his program in which he invited listeners to comment on selling "Catholic Eucharists for $3.49 a bag" as a substitute for beer. The result was a half hour of offensive slurs profaning the Blessed Sacrament.

In one particularly vile episode later in 1998, in a conversation between Carr and his producer Doug Goudie evidently intended to disparage Arabs, it was asserted that shepherds in the Middle East had unnatural relations with the animals in their flocks. Into this depraved subject the name of Saint Joseph --- the Virgin Spouse of the Virgin Mother of God --- was introduced. Saint Joseph was then misidentified as a shepherd.

In an interview with Malachy McCourt, Carr laughed and snickered over McCourt's assertion that the late Francis Cardinal Spellman was not only a homosexual but a pedophile. Carr went on to recount a story alleging that an episcopal ring was found by police in a homosexual brothel, implying that the ring belonged to Spellman.

In January, 2002, Carr hosted a segment in which he asked his listeners " Are you ashamed to be a Catholic?", during which he boasted that he never went to Mass. All throughout the molestation crisis of 2002, Carr contemptuously referred to the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston as "Bernie Law", and on November 29th of that year the Boston Herald published a column by Carr in which he described the Cardinal as "a Bulger bum kisser."

Hispanic Catholics, with their large families and culture of life, are the future of the Church and the Pro-Life movement in America. Howie Carr however, is not only an anti-Catholic but a crude nativist. One of the recurring themes of his program is the attempt to link illegal immigrants to crime. A particularly offensive gimmick is his habit of playing Mexican music while reading the names of criminal suspects with Hispanic surnames. This hostility to Hispanics and immigrants places Cardinal O'Malley, or whoever represents him from the Archdiocese of Boston, in the embarrassing position of sharing a stage with someone who boorishly castigates some of the neediest members of his flock.

In a Catholic community which has a significant number of Eastern Rite Catholics of Lebanese and Syrian descent (the Melkite Cathedral is in West Roxbury) it is unimaginable that MCFL would actually provide a platform to a rabble rousing shock jock who has described Arabs in the past as "towelheads".

Inviting Howie Carr to address the Assembly for Life is an act of monumental ingratitude to elected officials who defended the right to life and came to the aid of MCFL in difficult times. Men such as William Bulger, Ray Flynn, Thomas Finneran, and the late Jim Craven have been the victims of vulgar insults, venomous denunciations, and malevolent diatribes by this spiteful demagogue.

A larger issue here is why an organization with a predominantly Christian membership would want to showcase a public figure whose life and career embody such a cynical negation of Christian values. Howie Carr is infamous for his uncharitableness of speech, his lack of compassion, and his sneering contempt for the objects of his scorn. He preys upon the vulnerable, exploits the misfortunes of others, incites rancor and envy, and has grown rich by his indifference to the Eighth Commandment. He mocks the Church, derides the poor, maligns men who have more integrity than he does, and has ridiculed the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

Inviting such a miserable creature to address an organization dedicated to the sanctity and dignity of human life is an affront to the Christian religion and everything the Pro-Life movement professes to uphold.

We urge you to reconsider this improvident decision and cancel the invitation to this inappropriate choice for a speaker.

Sincerely,

Daniel T. Flatley C. J. Doyle
Chairman Emeritus Executive Director

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts

Boston Catholic Prolife Community Asks MCFL to Dis-invite Howie Carr

I called CJ Doyle one day about ten years ago to talk to him about something disconcerting in the Archdiocese and asked him to help unravel it. We've been sharing information and encouraging each other since that time in our activist roles.

I spoke to CJ yesterday and frankly, I have never seen him so mad.

Anne Fox of MCFL has invited Howie Carr to be a guest speaker at the Assembly for Life gathering here in Boston.

For starters, Howie Carr is NOT a pro-lifer and has actively ridiculed and worked against pro-life candidates on his radio show. But more importantly, Howie has been articulating anti-Catholic venom for many years. As recently as this week, he has characterized "90% of all Roman Catholic priests" as "pedophiles".

In the letter below, CJ has a sampling of Howie's anti-Catholic venom, scandalous to Our Lord, the Eucharist, Christ's Church, the Holy Family. My response (which will be going out to Boston prolifers with an appeal to contact Anne Fox and ask her to disinvite Howie shortly).

For readers who want to contact her -

kdfox@comcast.net

MCFL - 617-242-4199


Catholic Action League Letter:



December 17, 2010

Anne Fox, President
Massachusetts Citizens For Life
The Schrafft Center
529 Main Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Dear Anne,

We were astonished to learn that Howie Carr will be featured at MCFL's Annual Assembly For Life on January 16th. Carr is a notorious Catholic-basher with a long record of vicious and gratuitous attacks on the Catholic Religion.

On April 8, 1998 --- Wednesday in Holy Week --- in response to a decision by the Red Sox to forgo alcohol sales in Fenway Park because Opening Day would fall on Good Friday, Carr hosted a segment on his program in which he invited listeners to comment on selling "Catholic Eucharists for $3.49 a bag" as a substitute for beer. The result was a half hour of offensive slurs profaning the Blessed Sacrament.

In one particularly vile episode later in 1998, in a conversation between Carr and his producer Doug Goudie evidently intended to disparage Arabs, it was asserted that shepherds in the Middle East had unnatural relations with the animals in their flocks. Into this depraved subject the name of Saint Joseph --- the Virgin Spouse of the Virgin Mother of God --- was introduced. Saint Joseph was then misidentified as a shepherd.

In an interview with Malachy McCourt, Carr laughed and snickered over McCourt's assertion that the late Francis Cardinal Spellman was not only a homosexual but a pedophile. Carr went on to recount a story alleging that an episcopal ring was found by police in a homosexual brothel, implying that the ring belonged to Spellman.

In January, 2002, Carr hosted a segment in which he asked his listeners " Are you ashamed to be a Catholic?", during which he boasted that he never went to Mass. All throughout the molestation crisis of 2002, Carr contemptuously referred to the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston as "Bernie Law", and on November 29th of that year the Boston Herald published a column by Carr in which he described the Cardinal as "a Bulger bum kisser."

Hispanic Catholics, with their large families and culture of life, are the future of the Church and the Pro-Life movement in America. Howie Carr however, is not only an anti-Catholic but a crude nativist. One of the recurring themes of his program is the attempt to link illegal immigrants to crime. A particularly offensive gimmick is his habit of playing Mexican music while reading the names of criminal suspects with Hispanic surnames. This hostility to Hispanics and immigrants places Cardinal O'Malley, or whoever represents him from the Archdiocese of Boston, in the embarrassing position of sharing a stage with someone who boorishly castigates some of the neediest members of his flock.

In a Catholic community which has a significant number of Eastern Rite Catholics of Lebanese and Syrian descent (the Melkite Cathedral is in West Roxbury) it is unimaginable that MCFL would actually provide a platform to a rabble rousing shock jock who has described Arabs in the past as "towelheads".

Inviting Howie Carr to address the Assembly for Life is an act of monumental ingratitude to elected officials who defended the right to life and came to the aid of MCFL in difficult times. Men such as William Bulger, Ray Flynn, Thomas Finneran, and the late Jim Craven have been the victims of vulgar insults, venomous denunciations, and malevolent diatribes by this spiteful demagogue.

A larger issue here is why an organization with a predominantly Christian membership would want to showcase a public figure whose life and career embody such a cynical negation of Christian values. Howie Carr is infamous for his uncharitableness of speech, his lack of compassion, and his sneering contempt for the objects of his scorn. He preys upon the vulnerable, exploits the misfortunes of others, incites rancor and envy, and has grown rich by his indifference to the Eighth Commandment. He mocks the Church, derides the poor, maligns men who have more integrity than he does, and has ridiculed the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

Inviting such a miserable creature to address an organization dedicated to the sanctity and dignity of human life is an affront to the Christian religion and everything the Pro-Life movement professes to uphold.

We urge you to reconsider this improvident decision and cancel the invitation to this inappropriate choice for a speaker.

Sincerely,

Daniel T. Flatley C. J. Doyle
Chairman Emeritus Executive Director

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts

my reply:



CJ, Dan and XXXX,

Thank you for your willingness to stand up and say what needs to be said about the ongoing problems at MCFL. I remain convinced that the way to reclaim the political machine is through a concerted effort to approach the board of directors pointing out the consequences of their poor judgment and errors, ask them to make the changes we all know need to be made and if they refuse, a concerted effort should be made by all of us to call for prolifers to de-fund them.

The serious activists who are still holding on have dwindled down to a handful. Worse than ignoring them, we are put in the position of having to publicly address the scandals. It is affecting the ability to elect real prolifers. We have all been laying low hoping the turnover would bring effective leaders with good judgment into the stream slowly. This is a bust because effective leaders are undermined and eventually tossed out on their fannies. This has left our major political machine a lame duck for years. I do not think this is serving the unborn well and I firmly believe we need to take it on.

I stand behind and support CJ and Dan's request for MCFL to withdraw this ridiculous invitation to Howie Carr. God bless him, for he is a victim of the poor catechesis and cowardice of the shepherds, but the invitation is a scandal that should be acted upon.
God Bless, Carol