Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as
follows:
On August 26, the U.S. Postal Service is honoring the 100th
anniversary of the birth of Mother Teresa. On February 2, I submitted an
application to the Empire State Building Lighting Partners requesting that the
tower lights feature blue and white, the colors of Mother Teresa’s
congregation, the Missionaries of Charity, on August 26. On May 5, the request
was denied without explanation.
Mother Teresa received 124 awards, including
the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional
Medal of Freedom. She built hundreds of orphanages, hospitals, hospices, health
clinics, homeless shelters, youth shelters and soup kitchens all over the
world, and is revered in India for her work. She created the first hospice in
Greenwich Village for AIDS patients. Not surprisingly, she was voted the most
admired woman in the world three years in a row in the mid-1990s. But she is
not good enough to be honored by the Empire State Building.
Last year the
Empire State Building shone in red and yellow lights to honor the 60th
anniversary of the Chinese Communist Revolution. Yet under its founder, Mao
Zedong, the Communists killed 77 million people. In other words, the greatest
mass murderer in history merited the same tribute being denied to Mother
Teresa.
We are launching a nationwide petition drive protesting this
indefensible decision (TO SIGN THE PETITION, Click here). We are petitioning
Anthony Malkin, the owner of the Empire State Building, to reverse this
decision.
To protest this decision, contact: lightingpartner@esbnyc.com