LOS ANGELES – Not long after Creators Syndicate writer Jamie Stiehm’s article “The Catholic Supreme Court’s War on Women” made its way onto the homepage of U.S. News and World Report this week, many upset Catholics were voicing their anger, and even calling for her to be fired.
“This is a throwback to the most anti-Catholic vitriol of the 19th century. Creators Syndicate should drop Stiehm immediately,” said Bill Donohue, founder of the Catholic League – America’s largest Catholic advocacy organization.
Donohue told FOX411 that he has written an open letter to Creators Syndicate and intends to draw attention to a video in which he will discuss his objections.
“I am pulling out all the stops because this is the most outrageous piece of vintage anti-Catholic bigotry – from top to bottom – that I have probably seen from any serious media source,” Donohue said. “If this is acceptable, then anything goes.
“We are asking Catholics, and everyone else, to email David Yontz, the managing editor at Creators Syndicate – asking him to drop Stiehm from their list.”
In her column, Stiehm referred to Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor as “just a good Catholic girl” who “put her religion ahead of her jurisprudence” when she acted to delay the Health and Human Services mandate from taking effect on Jan. 1.
In her order, Sotomayor said the government is temporarily prevented from enforcing contraceptive coverage requirements against the Denver-based Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged.
The White House responded , saying the group isn’t subject to the requirement because it doesn’t apply to self-funded church plans.
Stiehm said Sotomayor’s action “brings us to confront an uncomfortable reality.”
“More than WASPS, Methodists, Jews, Quakers or Baptists, Catholics often try to impose their beliefs on you, me, public discourse and institutions,” Stiehm wrote, adding that Sotomayor is “selling out the sisterhood.”
“Catholics in high places of power have the most trouble, I’ve noticed, practicing the separation of church and state. The pugnacious Catholic Justice, Antonin Scalia, is the most aggressive offender on the Court, but not the only one.”
Stiehm writes on topics ranging from politics to culture to history; her works have appeared in publications such as The New York Times and The Washington Post. She also previously worked as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun and The Hill.
Stiehm responded to reiterate that the column was published by U.S. News, and that Creators had nothing to do with the column.
Creators Syndicate’s David Yontz responded with a letter to the Catholic League “Though Ms. Stiehm writes a weekly syndicated opinion column for Creators Syndicate, this particular column was not written for or released by Creators. It was written for U.S. News & World Report. As three members of your board of advisers -- Brent Bozell, Linda Chavez and Lawrence Kudlow -- also are syndicated by Creators, I'm sure you will not accuse the company of being anti-Catholic. We at Creators believe in a free press, and we syndicate writers with all types of opinions, many of which are offensive to various groups. We encourage open and vigorous debate. Creators Syndicate has no intention of dropping Ms. Stiehm because of this U.S. News & World Report column, just as Creators has refused to drop Brent Bozell, for example -- among other Catholic writers -- when his critics have demanded that we cancel his column.”
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