The View Panelists Flash Their Ignorance

Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented today on Thursday's episode of the ABC show, The View:

"Whoopi Goldberg began by saying that because of Rudy Giuliani's position on abortion, St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke ‘cannot give him Communion.' To our knowledge, Giuliani has never been refused Communion by any priest (though Burke could deny him if he wanted to). Moreover, it is not likely that Giuliani is going to be faced with this issue anyway: he knows that he is not supposed to present himself for Communion given the fact that his previous marriage was not annulled.

"Elisabeth Hasselbeck put her arrogance on display by exclaiming, ‘I always have an issue with a priest denying Communion.' Again, denying someone Communion rarely occurs, but in any event, what business is it of someone who is no longer a Catholic to offer her two cents about Catholic teachings? Compounding her foolishness, she said that someone in her family who had gotten divorced was not allowed Communion until she received an annulment. This is ludicrous: a divorced Catholic who has not remarried is never denied Communion.

"Joy Behar and Hasselback then opined how annulments can be bought. This is one of the great smears that often goes unchallenged. If they had to enumerate them, they couldn't. Certainly there are old allegations regarding a few prominent Catholics, but it is simply wrong to make sweeping generalizations. There is a modest administrative fee for annulments, but it can be waived if the cost is deemed prohibitive.

"Perhaps the most brilliant line was the one by Behar who announced that ‘Rudy Giuliani hasn't necessarily had an abortion himself.' We particularly like the qualifier, ‘necessarily.' And, of course, they all chimed in about the scandal, thus dragging gays through the mud."

Contact co-producer Bill Geddie at bill.geddie@abc.com and ask him to buy these ex-Catholics a copy of the Catechism.