Contact: Jeff Field, Director of Communications, Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, 212-371-3191, cl@catholicleague.org  

NEW YORK, Feb. 24, 2012 /Standard Newswire/ -- Rep. Michael Grimm requested that the Empire State Building shine red in honor of the elevation of New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan to Cardinal. Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the decision to deny the request:

The problem with Cardinal Dolan is that he is not a mass murderer. If he were, he may have been honored the way Mao Zedong was in 2009. Even though Mao murdered 77 million innocent Chinese men, women and children, Anthony Malkin, the owner of the Empire State Building, made sure that on the 60th anniversary of the Communist Revolution, the tower would shine red and yellow.

The decision to deny Rep. Grimm's request did not surprise us. I petitioned to have the tower of the Empire State Building shine blue and white on August 26, 2010 in honor of Mother Teresa's centennial. I was denied. Worse, I was lied to. With Malkin's blessing, a brand new policy barring recognition of religious individuals was developed after I was denied, and it was then invoked as cause for denial; the policy in place when I submitted my proposal had no such stricture.

To protest this insult, we staged a rally outside the Empire State Building on the 100th birthday of Mother Teresa. Representatives from several religions, both eastern and western, spoke before an estimated crowd of 3,500.

To show how utterly clueless Malkin and his crew are, the Empire State Building will honor St. Patrick for three days next month, March 16-18. Who do they think St. Patrick was? A closet secularist?