031774 ncr  Catholic League wins case; lodges New York protest

NEW YORK - The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights lodged a protest in New York City as another case in which the League participated came to a happy conclusion in Boulder, Colorado.

In New York, Stuart Hubbell, executive director of the Catholic League, protested against a drawing that appeared in a City College of New York newspapers. He called it "the most debased expression of religious prejudice and obscene scurrility ever printed in any newspaper, student or otherwise."

In Colorado, the Catholic League had come to the defense of Dr. Frank Bolles, president of the Boulder Valley Chapter of the Colorado Right to Life Committee. He had been indicted under the state harassment law for sending out 24,000 anti-abortion pamphlets to Boulder area residents.

The Catholic League, coming to his defense, said, "It stands unrefuted that in mailing this pro-life, anti-abortion material - material which is actually and commonly published throughout the country and even used as court evidence, Dr. Bolles acted. out of his sincere religious convictions." The League filed a friend-of-the-court brief in behalf of Dr. Bolles, who is not a Catholic.

Boulder County Judge Richard Dana ruled that the anti-harassment law was unconstitutional and the case against Dr. Bolles was dropped. District Attorney Alex Hunter said he would not appeal Judge Dana's ruling.

In New York, the League lodged protests with Mayor Abraham Beame, New York's District Attorney Richard Kuh and the president of City College, Dr. Robert.E. Marshak.

The protest was against a drawing in the City College paper, Observation Post, that showed a nun, nude except for head-dress, masturbating with a crucifix.

Hubbell wrote, "It defies comprehension how any person in a civilized country could deliberately associate himself with such gross abuses of religious sensibilities and beliefs of others.
How is it, in the name of rudimentary decency, that you feel free to employ a publication issued at public expense, paid for at least in part by persons of the Catholic faith, to degrade and humiliate what you cannot but know are matters held in the highest respect by Catholics?"

The Catholic League said that it would take steps to see that such material did not appear again and that "those responsible are brought to a realization of their responsibility to respect the beliefs and rights of others." Mayor Beame was asked to investigate the incident "and to see to it that those responsible are properly held accountable under law."