News Release: Michigan Catholic Conference Calls For Apology From Free Press Editorial Staff For Anti-Catholic Cartoon

LANSING—An official of the Michigan Catholic Conference joined officials from the Archdiocese of Detroit today in calling upon the editors of the Detroit Free Press to apologize for printing a blatant anti-Catholic cartoon on its editorial page.

Sister Monica Kostielney, R.S.M., president and chief executive officer of the Michigan Catholic Conference, called the cartoon by Mike Thompson inflammatory, shameful and filled with hate.

“For this kind of religious bigotry to grace the pages of a major metropolitan newspaper as a legitimate editorial expression is inconceivable in civil society,” Kostielney said. “Forty years after the election of John Kennedy it is unthinkable that such bigotry would play itself out as an expression of editorial position. Would Mr. Thompson and the editors, through cartoon or written editorial, seek to malign other faiths or ethnic groups in this way? The answer is mostly likely not. Why then this attack on the Catholic Church?”

“On behalf of the Michigan Catholic Conference I call upon Mr. Thompson and the editors of the Detroit Free Press to publicly apologize to every Catholic in this state, who they have offended on this day,” she concluded.

Michigan Catholic Conference is the official public policy voice of the Catholic Church in this state.

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