Character Assassination - Catholic Style

Dick Cheney's stunt double, Bill Donohue of the Catholic Defense League.

Refusing to address a single one of the facts whistle blower Jennifer Haselberger has revealed in her deposition, in her interviews, and in the abundant documentary evidence that supports Haseblberger's claims about the scandal in St. Paul, Catholic Defense League's Bill Donohue instead goes after Haselberger personally.

And why not?  This is a tactic demagogues of all shapes and sizes have used throughout history.  Avoid the evidence, don't engage on the issues, instead use personal attacks to discredit your opponents.  It may not be the most Catholic or Christian thing to do - but hey, it's us vs. them, so anything goes, right?

Now if Donohue wanted to come after me or pretty much any other Catholic I know, and if he did his digging, he could find a ton of embarrassing and incriminating details that would make it hard for any of us to show our faces in public again.  I have yet to meet a perfect Catholic, and I am far from one myself.  Should my insignificant blog posts pop up on Bill Donohue's radar, he could find enough dirt to destroy me in spades if he put his mind to it.

But what's the best he can come up with to smear the character of this woman, a woman who so loved the Church and was so upset at the cavalier disregard for children and other innocent victims in St. Paul that she sacrificed her own career to speak up about it?  What's the best he can come up with?

The best he can come up with is this.

• As a young woman she quit going to church, but then when she got older she started going again.

• One of her instructors at a very liberal feminist Catholic college in St. Paul happened to be, herself, a liberal feminist.

• A fringe church group has used one of Haselberger's quotes (from a paper she wrote) in their promotional material.

That's it.

No mention of the fact that Haselberger had high hopes for Archbishop Nienstedt because he was so "doctrinally pure".  No mention that everything Haselburger has said or done is consistent with a woman acting in accord with high ideals that are Christian and laudable.  No mention that, if she were really such a foul person, he ought to be able to come up with better stuff than this.


ADDENDUM

It is strange that Bill Donohue has so little confidence in the veracity of Jennifer Haselberger, or of her loyalty to the Church.  The last deposition she gave (before the one released publicly earlier this month) was at the request of and on behalf of the Holy See (in the John Doe v. Holy See case).