A Question of Catholic Bashing

Re. the article, “Survival of the Spirit,” on TNT’s movie about the 1973 Wounded Knee clash: The comments on the “forced assimilation” of Native Americans by Catholic missionaries is most troubling. It is pure propaganda to portray Catholic missionaries as one-dimensional beings out to oppress Native Americans.

Certainly there were some abuses by some missionaries of some Indians. But it is also true that some Indians were hardly gentle and kind in their treatment of Europeans. Moreover, much of what the missionaries did was truly beneficial to those whom they touched. To offer only one side of this reveals a truly politically correct agenda.

Similar campaigns of misinformation would not be tolerated against other groups, such as blacks and Jews. Why Catholic bashing is considered acceptable is a question I would very much like answered.

Karen Lynn Krugh, Executive Assistant, Catholic League, New York, N.Y.