c. 2004 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ Bill Donohue, the bombastic head of the Catholic League, has never met Mara Vanderslice or Brenda Bartella Peterson, but he knows enough about them to know that he doesn’t like either one.

Both women were charged with overseeing election-year “religious outreach” _ Vanderslice for the Kerry campaign, Peterson for the Democratic Party _ but fiery criticism from Donohue got them both muzzled.

When Donohue blasted Vanderslice as an “ultra-leftist who consorts with anti-Catholic bigots,” her access to the media was yanked, although she kept her job. When he criticized Peterson for supporting the removal of “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance, she resigned under pressure.

Still, Donohue has little interest in meeting the targets of his fury.

“Quite frankly, when you’re that far off-center, I don’t see any reason why I’d have to sit down with them. “They’re not going to change their minds any more than I’m going to change mine.”

Donohue’s two-for-two record in silencing two Democratic operatives has raised the profile of his New York office, founded in 1973 to monitor and combat anti-Catholic bigotry. It has also raised the ire of his critics who call him a mean-spirited grandstander motivated by partisan politics.

Either way, Donohue has demonstrated outsized influence for an outfit with only 12 staffers and a $3 million budget. His 350,000 members represent just one-half of 1 percent of the country’s 65 million Catholics.

“Maybe size doesn’t matter,” he quipped.

At 57, Donohue still relishes a scrappy schoolyard fight with opponents. In his 10 years at the helm, he has taken on artists’ dung-splattered depictions of the Virgin Mary, films that skewer Catholic doctrine, liberal Catholics and critics of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ.”

On rare occasions, he has crossed swords with church leaders, most recently with Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs, Colo., who said it was a sin to vote for politicians who support abortion or gay rights. Donohue believes Sheridan crossed a line prelates shouldn’t cross.

This is not Donohue’s first tangle with Democrats. Two years ago, he hounded the Democratic National Committee for including a link on its Web site to Catholics for a Free Choice. He called DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe “Terry McAwful.”

“There’s no love lost between the DNC and Bill Donohue,” Donohue said in an interview.

While Donohue _ a Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-Independent _ insists he has “no pipeline to Republicans,” his critics say he is an attack dog against Democrats, especially Catholic Democrats like Kerry.

“I think its very unfortunate that the Republicans and their allies on the right wing choose to engage in this kind of behavior,” said Peterson, who has kept a low profile since resigning last week (Aug. 4). She blamed the affair on “partisan politics.”

Both Democratic and Kerry campaign officials declined to comment, and neither camp responded to Donohue’s initial criticisms. Officials with the campaign say Vanderslice continues her work on religious outreach, albeit in a more subdued manner.

But others, including Washington Monthly editor Amy Sullivan, were eager to fire back at Donohue with equal gusto.

“They are in no way a legitimate organization that speaks for either the Catholic leadership or the Catholic laity,” said Sullivan, who has worked as an informal adviser to Democrats on religion. “My take on them is that they are a hateful organization.”

Donohue said he does not want to see his office get “hijacked” by either party, and vows to be equally vigilant on the Bush campaign.

“I don’t want the Catholic League to get caught up in that,” he said, “because first you get taken for granted, and second, you lose whatever influence you have.”

Beyond the election-year partisan sniping, some church observers question Donohue’s real influence in the U.S. church. Both critics and admirers give him credit for media savvy and the ability to grab headlines, but doubt that he speaks for the majority of American Catholics.

“It would surprise me if you took a poll to find that most Catholics know what the League is or who he is,” said Leslie Tentler, director of the Center for American Catholic Studies at Catholic University in Washington.

Donohue said he represents a “sizable chunk” of practicing Catholics _ those who attend Mass once a week or more, which most surveys show are 40 percent or less of all Catholics. He readily concedes that he has “very little impact” among “non-observant” Catholics.

“Does the Catholic League provide a service? Yes,” said the Rev. Mark Massa, co-director of the Center for American Catholic Studies at Fordham University in New York. “Does it speak for all Catholics in the United States? Hardly so. Does Mr. Donohue speak for most Catholics? At least some of them.”

DEA/JL END ECKSTROM