PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Public Record
Why did the cash-hungry Philadelphia Inquirer turn down $58,000 for an ad that was to contain the message below from the Catholic League for Religious & Civil Rights?
That’s what appears to have happened.
League President Bill Donohue wanted to comment on the sentencing of the Philadelphia Archdiocese’s Father Charles Engelhardt and lay teacher Bernard Shero for rape of a then-juvenile victim “Billy Doe”.
PHILA. INQUIRER bannered this sensational story on Jun. 13. But it would not print a $58,000 advertisement that rebutted in detail the DA’s case against two men who may have been innocent, but have been sentenced to hard time.
Donohue said, “When we at the Catholic League first heard a boy was allegedly raped by three different persons, two of whom were priests, we were immediately suspicious. After all, how many times in American history has anyone been raped three times by three different persons? The more we learned, the more we were convinced ‘Billy Doe’ was a congenital liar, school dropout, thief, and drug addict, a punk who sought to cash in on the prevailing animus against priests.
“Father Engelhardt, whom no one has ever proved even met ‘Billy Doe,’ was sentenced to six to 12 years in prison; Shero was hit with eight to 16.
“My statement, which was submitted to the Philadelphia Inquirer as an ad, was turned down. It’s not every day a failing metropolitan newspaper rejects $58,000, even when the contents make the paper look bad for not doing its job.”
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