Mad as hell, and I just can't take it anymore.

Before I start, let me say this:
1. Abusing anyone, anytime, is ALWAYS wrong.
2. Priests abusing their power to abuse children is sickening. May God have mercy on their souls.
3. Bishops covering it up and simply moving abusive priests from assignment to assignment or just covering it up and not taking it a. to civil authorities or b. to a canon trial is horrifying. May God have mercy on them for betraying all of the faithful that way.
4. Laypeople who know about it and do nothing sicken me also.

Those who make false accusations and who spread gossip and otherwise smear another's good name has a lot of apologizing to do. And may God have mercy on them as well.

There has been a lot in the press this week trying to link Pope Benedict XVI to abuse cover-ups in Munich, Germany and in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The article in the New York Times is poorly researched and if I had tried to hand that in during my college journalism class, I would have gotten an F. The Times seems to have a real leftist agenda, which is why I cancelled my subscription two years ago. You can read good fisks of this story from people inside and outside the Church. Here are some links, but there are a lot more:

Andrew Brown, The London Daily Telegraph online
John Allen, The National Catholic Reporter
Sean Murphy, The Catholic Education Resource Center
Rev. Thomas Brundage, JCL, Canon judge in the Milwaukee case tells his side
George Weigel in First Things
Brendan O'Neill on why Atheists shouldn't join in on the Catholic Bashing
John Allen, again, in the New York Times
Father Raymond J. DeSousa, National Review Online

Today, MSNBC.com ran a headline that implied that Pope Benedict XVI molested children. Surely this was a mistake, but when you peruse the other headlines, well, it's not good for the Church. You can read more about it here at WDTPRS . I saw it first here at CMR.

I wrote an email to NBC News President Steve Capus:

Dear Mr. Capus,

I write to you to strongly object to MSNBC's characterization of Pope Benedict XVI in the headline which was up and running on msnbc.com this afternoon. It seems to me to be a horrible mistake, but taken together with the rest of the content on the page, there seems to be a real bias against the Catholic Church on your pages.

I would like to acknowledge the apology on your page for the misleading headline and I thank for that gesture, but given the fact that unknown thousands of people saw your headline and may never read the website's apology within the article, don't you think that a more prominent retraction and apology is due? Perhaps you might find a place for it on Brian Williams' broadcast tonight? Or maybe have Chris Matthews deliver an apology before he begins his program this evening?

Or, perhaps, you might direct some of the talented journalists you have on staff to fisk the New York Times article of last week. Many others, who seem to be unbiased toward or friendly to the Catholic Church, have taken it upon themselves to read the evidence the Times has presented on its website and found the claims in that article to be unsupported. The Judge in the canon case in Milwaukee has refuted much of what the Times has published. Has NBC sent anyone to talk to him?

I expect more of an organization like NBC News. And be assured that I will not watch MSNBC, NBC, its sister stations, or its web content (including Hulu) until a sufficiently prominent apology is issued and NBC takes it upon itself to try some real journalism as regards this story. Please also be assured that I will be writing next to your sponsors to tell them of my displeasure and to tell them that until your organization apologizes and begins to cover this story in a fair way I will not purchase their products. I will be posting this to my blog, to my Facebook account, and passing it on to my friends to encourage a boycott of your network and its sponsors until such a time that a satisfactory apology is made.

Sincerely Yours in Christ,

Amy Giglio

Linden, NJ

What you need to do is write to him, too. You need to write to their sponsors, and you need to get mad. Yes, when we are personally attacked, we are to turn the other cheek. But I do believe that as Catholics we are obliged to stand up for Holy Mother Church and for our Pope. How long are you going to tolerate being treated second-class, or having your faith mocked privately and in public? How long are you going to tolerate anti-Catholicism: the last acceptable prejudice in America?

It's Holy Week. Now is a good time to start.

Update: Thanks to Dr. Eric in the WDTPRS combox, here is a list of MSNBC advertisers:

LIST OF SPONSORS:
Toyota
Verizon
Nutrisystem
Avis
AIG Term Life
Coldwell Bankers
Venus Breeze
Geico
O’lay
Jimmy Dean Sausages
lawyers Weitz & Luxenburg, NY
Sudafed
Video Professor
Natural’s Cat Chow, Purina
Merneke Car Care Center
Am. Express
Travel Companion on CNN
Crystal Light
Infiniti Car
Vonage Phone
Dyson Vacuum
Eharmony
Cepacol
Hyundi Car
U.S. Buildings
Boeing
Progessive.Com
Direct TV
Colonial Penn Life Insurance
Indulg-a-Bath
Stop IRS Debt
HSBC Direct Financial Inst
U.S. Airforce
Aleve
Progresso Soup
Subaru
Spiriva
Cooking Lite
Steak-umns Burgers
Infiniti
Scalpcin
Mama Lucia Meat Balls
Sea Bond
Financial Freedom, reverse mortgage
eDiets Meal Delivery
Aqua Velvet
Citracal
Mr. Clean
Chemistry.com
Bayer Products
Old Mutual Investment
Rogaine
Verizon (Both)
Avis
Coldwell Bankers
Geico
Jimmy Dean Sausages
Sudafed
Natural’s Cat Chow, Purina
Am. Express
Crystal Light
Vontage Phon