I kept wondering why this week people were goggling the phrase “catholic girls go wild currie.” Now the mystery is solved.
This week the far-right Catholic League launched a smear campaign against The Rev. Brenda Peterson, who had recently been hired by the Democratic National Committee. They claimed that Peterson was supportive of gays and against having “under God” in the pledge of allegiance. She had also taken the ungodly position – in their view – of opposing the Bush economic plan.
But what might have been one of her worst offenses? It might have been her association with me. Catholic League revisited the website of the Clergy Leadership Network to find ammunition for their charges (Brenda served as the group's executive director). From the Catholic League press release dated August 4, 2004:
“The website even provides a link to an anti-Catholic site, Chuck Currie (see his piece, ‘When Catholic Girls Go Wild’). To top it off, there is a link to MoveOn.org, a smear site that has nothing to do with religion. Remember, Rev. Peterson presided over it all, and for this she was rewarded by the DNC as its number-one liaison to religious groups.”
The full title of the post they mentioned was actually “When Catholic Girls Go Wild (or "Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and the World"). This was my reflection on the recent statement made by the Vatican condemning feminism. If you are a sexist man in power and desperately trying to keep women from entering the realm of shared power and responsibility you might find my post radical or even dangerous. Most people will find it a good piece (I hope) on the mistake the Catholic Church makes in forcing women off onto the sidelines.
The political campaign-like attempt to smear Brenda by association only goes to show how out of touch the Catholic League is. The Catholic League backs an extreme agenda that includes some far out apologetics for the Catholic priest sex scandals and the role of the Catholic Church during the Holocaust.
