On January 5th, Catholic League president Bill Donohue accused me of intentionally misrepresenting his position in an essay that appeared on the Huffington Post religion page on January 4, 2011, a discussion of New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo’s and the Catholic sacraments.
I did erroneously characterize Mr. Donohue's position on the matter of divorced Catholics and the sacraments in the January 4th essay. I wrote that the Catholic League classifies men like Andrew Cuomo (who divorce and continue to receive the sacraments) as 'self-excommunicated.'
support full inclusion in the sacraments for all divorced Catholics, so I am happy to stand corrected (by Donohue) about this. It is a good thing that the Catholic League advocates discernment in the matter of divorce.
Within minutes of being informed of this error, I excised the single, offending sentence (in my thousand-word plus piece) that pertained to Mr. Donohue, immediately without hesitation.
Donohue's claim that the Huffington Post removed the sentence is entirely inaccurate.
The Huffington Post religion editor informed the Donohue that I had removed the offending sentence. The editor copied me on the email to Donohue informing him that I , not the Huffington Post, changed the sentence.
Donohue quickly corrected his mistake in his blog post (He removed the claim that the Huffington Post had removed the sentence.) but those who reprint his posts have, unfortunately, not made corrections. They are sticking with the claim that I am a liar.
Fortunately Donohue himself does not claiom that I am a liar. Indeed he wrote to me immediately to "thank me for being so honest" about the mixup.
I do not know what the basis for Mr. Donohue's conclusions regarding my "intentions" might be, but I did not intentionally misrepresent him, as he claims, and I am pleasantly surprised about the views of the Catholic League on divorce.
My mistake was the result of an editorial oversight -- I had no deliberate wish to mislead.
support full inclusion in the sacraments for all divorced Catholics, so I am happy to stand corrected (by Donohue) about this. It is a good thing that the Catholic League advocates discernment in the matter of divorce.
Within minutes of being informed of this error, I excised the single, offending sentence (in my thousand-word plus piece) that pertained to Mr. Donohue, immediately without hesitation.
Donohue's claim that the Huffington Post removed the sentence is entirely inaccurate.
The Huffington Post religion editor informed the Donohue that I had removed the offending sentence. The editor copied me on the email to Donohue informing him that I , not the Huffington Post, changed the sentence.
Donohue quickly corrected his mistake in his blog post (He removed the claim that the Huffington Post had removed the sentence.) but those who reprint his posts have, unfortunately, not made corrections. They are sticking with the claim that I am a liar.
Fortunately Donohue himself does not claiom that I am a liar. Indeed he wrote to me immediately to "thank me for being so honest" about the mixup.
I do not know what the basis for Mr. Donohue's conclusions regarding my "intentions" might be, but I did not intentionally misrepresent him, as he claims, and I am pleasantly surprised about the views of the Catholic League on divorce.
My mistake was the result of an editorial oversight -- I had no deliberate wish to mislead.
Again within minutes of being advised of this inaccuracy I removed the offending sentence without hesitation and without any suggestion that I do so from Huffington Post Religion editors.
I am sorry to have been inaccurate in characterizing Mr. Donohue’s opinions in this important matter. I am pleased to know I was incorrect in assuming that the Catholic League may not, as I had originally suspected, support barring divorced Catholics from taking part in the sacraments.
I posted an errata on this site three days earlier as well as a note in the Huffington Post comment fields.
We all make mistakes. Donohue referred to me as a "liar" then changed his post when he realized he had erred.
- Mr. Donohue posted (on his blog) and disseminated a number of falsehoods pertaining to my essay and to me personally:
- He wrote the following: “she says she likes Andrew Cuomo because “ ‘he is just like his father.’" I did not write it, nor do I believe it to be true.
- Mr. Donohue claims I wrote “Cuomo is a ‘protest Catholic.’ ” I did not write those words.
- Donohue writes that I read and linked to a January 1, 2011 New York Daily News article in which he declined to comment about the governor and the matter of his (Cuomo’s) living with a woman outside of marriage. This is untrue. I had not read the article when I wrote the piece and I never linked to the article in question. (Donohue admits, on his Catholic League blog, that he was incorrect about my having linked to the piece.)
- Donohue wrote “…she {Somerville} is a liar.” This is a serious accusation for which there is no basis.
- Donohue takes great pains to characterize me as a "professed Catholic," who has a "pathological hatred for the Church." This is not true. This is the subjective characterization of a man whonot knowing me has no idea of what kind of Catholic I am.
Obviously these kinds remarks say more about Mr. Donohue and the Catholic bloggers who declined to correct these reports, but I felt obliged, nonetheless to correct erroneous characterizations of my character and writing.
MMS
BACKGROUND
"When my complaint was brought to the attention of the Huffington Post, they responded professionally and removed the lie about me by Michele Somerville...
I am thankful to the religion editor at the Huffington Post for acting so quickly and fairly; she was the one who deleted what Somerville said about me."Again, as Donohue later noted, I deleted the misleading remarks -- not the Huffington Post editors.
I wrote to the Mr. Donohue on January 10th. I received a gracious reply in which he "thanked me" for being honest and noted that "all is forgiven."
Michele Somerville
January 10, 2010
Correspondence between the Catholic League office and me follows:
Dear Mr. William Donohue,
On January 5th, I included an erroneous sentence in my Huffington Post piece regarding the Catholic League’s position on divorced Catholics and Holy Communion. The error was the result of an oversight, a careless error, and not of any deliberate wish on my part to misrepresent your position on the matter of divorced Catholics and the sacraments.
Within minutes of being advised of this mistake, I removed the offending sentence without hesitation, and in advance of speaking with the Huffington Post editors.
I wish to apologize for this mistake.
Sincerely,
Michele Somerville
Michele,
Thanks for being so honest. All is forgiven!
All the best.
Bill Donohue
Here's the link to my Huffington Post piece:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michele-somerville/the-governors-epiphany-gi_b_803743.htmlHere are the texts which appeared on the Catholic League Website on January 5, 2011, posted (below) in their entirety:
HUFFINGTON POST BLOGGER DEFAMES CATHOLICISM
January 5, 2011
Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on a Huffington Post blog post by Michele Somerville about New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo:
Michele Somerville is not just another professed Catholic who has a pathological hatred of the Catholic Church: she is a liar. Regarding the first point, she says she likes Andrew Cuomo because he is just like his father—he's a "protest Catholic." By that she means someone who identifies himself as a Catholic, yet defies the teachings of the Church. In the case of Cuomo the elder, she cites his pro-abortion position. What she likes about Andrew Cuomo is more chic: "I love that my new governor stepped up to the altar of the Lord [last Sunday] with confidence and received the Sacrament of the Eucharist with his beloved [an unmarried woman with whom he lives] and three daughters in tow."
Speaking of the two Cuomos, Somerville says, "there is no other morally responsible way to be Roman Catholic." That's because she hates their religion, which she says is "propped up by corruption and tyranny," and was partly built by "hegemony and brutality."
Somerville also says the Catholic League "classifies men like Andrew Cuomo (who divorce and continue to receive the sacraments) 'self-excommunicated Catholics.'" Thus does she lie. On January 1, in a New York Daily News story, Frank Lombardi correctly said, "Even outspoken Catholic activist Bill Donohue of the Catholic League passed on a chance to decry what some religious conservatives would deem 'living in sin.' Donohue declined to be interviewed, saying through a spokesman, 'We're not one to pass judgment' on how people conduct their personal life 'or how people celebrate their religion.'" Somerville provided a link to this article in her piece, thus proving she is a liar.
HUFFINGTON POST CORRECTS THE RECORD
January 5, 2011
Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on developments subsequent to his news release earlier today [click here] criticizing Huffington Post blogger Michele Somerville:
When my complaint was brought to the attention of the Huffington Post, they responded professionally and removed the lie about me by Michele Somerville: not only did I not condemn New York Governor Andrew Cuomo for his personal lifestyle or religious convictions, I expressly declined not to express an opinion about this subject when asked by the New York Daily News; Somerville actually linked this news story to her article, thus proving that she knew what my position was. But that didn't stop her from intentionally misrepresenting me.
I am thankful to the religion editor at the Huffington Post for acting so quickly and fairly; she was the one who deleted what Somerville said about me. I am also thankful to our wonderful members who moved so judiciously, and with dispatch, to contact the Internet site.
Because of the heavy volume of responses they received, we are honoring their request not to post the personal e-mail address of the religion editor. But those who would like to convey their gratitude to her, can do so by contacting religion@huffingtonpost.com.
*After this news release was issued, the senior religion editor for Huffington Post said that the link provided by Somerville to the Daily News article was to a different story on the same topic. We contend that (a) the story where Donohue was quoted as not taking a position on Cuomo was cited by Somerville as a "related story," making it implausible that she never read it, and (b) in any event, she put quote marks around a comment she attributed to Donohue that he never made. The editor also said that it was Somerville who made the decision to delete the entire reference to Donohue. We are happy to note this.
right © 1997-2011 by Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.*Material from this website may be reprinted and disseminated with accompanying attribution.
