Catholic group fed up with Southern Poverty Law Center’s lies, hate.
Saint Augustine once said that in the case of some individuals, an intellect may be capable of forming an objection without being capable of understanding the argument that meets that objection. Is the Southern Poverty Law Center, supposedly staffed by intelligent people, truly incapable of grasping basic rudiments of Catholicism? Or are they willfully malicious in their refusal to understand the Catholic Faith, and in their refusal to admit the most fundamental distinctions? My guess, it is a combination of both.
In its Winter 2007 Intelligence Report, the Southern Poverty Law Center [SPLC], an enormously wealthy left-wing organization that sets itself up as a watchdog of hate-groups, racism and anti-Semitism, published a brutal attack on traditional Catholics. For years, SPLC monitored scurvy groups such as Neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan, Skinheads and White Supremacists. More recently it targeted the so called “Christian right”. The SPLC accused Pat Buchanan of “hawking racism”, calling his State of Emergency book a “white nationalist screed“. Two years ago, its Winter 2005 Intelligence Report disparaged the “Christian Right” for its opposition to homosexuality, gay marriage and the gay agenda, after which the homosexual New York Blade celebrated with the headline: “Report Labels Religious Right as Hate Group”.
Now the SPLC has targeted traditional Catholics, claiming various “radical traditionalist” organizations “are preaching anti-Semitism to as many as 100,000 followers.” Twelve traditional Catholic groups, which the SPLC calls “The Dirty Dozen”, have been “added to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of hate groups.” Catholic Family News is listed as one of the “Dirty Dozen”, along with the Remnant, the Fatima Crusader, Catholic Apologetics International, the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart in New Hampshire, Tradition in Action and others, including at least one sedevacantist organization. The Society of Saint Pius X was also lambasted, independently from the “Dirty Dozen” section, as a “Radical Powerhouse”
I knew the SPLC assault was coming, and the attack is every bit as absurd as I thought it would be. The members of the other groups targeted are capable of answering the SPLC if they choose to do so. My response and observations will center primarily on what was said about Catholic Family News.
In its so-called “interviews” with various traditional Catholics before the article was published, and in the article itself, the SPLC employs tactics and stratagems designed to demonize its opponents. Their tactics are what I call “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Hate-Mongers”, which we will look at one by one.
1) Ignore the facts and adhere to your pre-conceived prejudices.
In late September, Michael Matt from The Remnant was contacted by a representative from the SPLC. She explained they were working on a piece about traditional Catholics, and asked Mr. Matt a series of antagonist questions. The questions revealed a formidable lack of understanding of what the traditional Catholic Movement is all about, but when Mr. Matt tried to answer or offer a clarification, she immediately jumped to another question. One of the questions was: “Isn’t it true that traditional Catholics share the same heroes with the neo-Nazi movement such as Father Denis Fahey and Father Charles Coughlin?” Mr. Matt tried to explain the clear distinction between traditional Catholic teaching and Neo-Nazi racism, but to no avail. He then terminated the conversation, as it seemed clear that the SPLC had no intention of trying to understand traditional Catholics or to present them in an unbiased manner.
This is Mark Potok, one of the head honchos over at the Southern Poverty Law Center. — Ed.
Around the same time I received a call from Heidi Beirich of the SPLC. I was not in the office at the time, but called her back a few days later: twice, only to receive her answering machine on which I left polite messages. She never tried to contact me again. As I was aware of Michael Matt’s bizarre interrogation, I was not eager to attempt to contact Ms. Beirich any further. From the beginning, there was a strong note of SPLC ill-will. It is my belief that the SPLC telephoned various traditional Catholics for one reason only: so the SPLC could say, if asked, “Yes, we contacted, or tried to contact, them.” But this contact was not for the purpose of seeking the truth, or seeking to be corrected of their pre-conceived prejudices. This was obvious from the SPLC’s phone call to Mr. Matt.