Contact: Jeff Field, Director of Communications, The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, 212-371-3191

NEW YORK, April 29, 2011 /Standard Newswire/-- Catholic League president Bill Donohue addresses the response by Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) to our April 25 news release:

Charged by the Catholic League at the beginning of the week with deceit, VOTF answers at the end of the week with more deceit. 

After being contacted last week by Philadelphia priests about a "survey" sent by VOTF, we wrote to over 900 priests in the Philadelphia Archdiocese letting them know of our support in fighting this dissident Catholic group. Earlier in the month, VOTF had the nerve to inform these priests that if they did not respond to its "survey" asking them to support its position calling for the abolition of the statute of limitations for sexual abuse, they would be listed as not supporting this revision in Pennsylvania law. In other words, if they don't respond, they will be condemned for resisting reforms.

In a news release issued yesterday, VOTF went on the defensive but never addressed our central concern, namely, the bogus nature of this so-called survey. How telling. Instead of directly challenging us, it deceitfully skirted the issue. Their "survey," of course, is nothing but a sham.

VOTF members, as disclosed in a real survey a few years ago, is mostly comprised of elderly Irish men and women who, despite earning on average over $100,000 a year, do not support their own organization (only 25 percent donate money). Maybe that is why VOTF, which likes to lecture the Catholic Church on finances, is collapsing under financial duress (it is sorely in debt). That it is morally bankrupt as well is beyond dispute.

Contact VOTF leader Nick Ingala: nickingala@votf.org