Reverend Hagee and William Donohue

apology- an admission of error or discourtesy accompanied by an expression of regret (a public apology) (Merriam-Webster online dictionary); statement expressing remorse: a written or spoken statement expressing remorse for something (encarta)

The Boston Globe: "The Rev. John Hagee, an influential Texas televangelist who endorsed John McCain, has apologized to Catholics for his stinging criticism of the Roman Catholic Church and for having "emphasized the darkest chapters in the history of Catholic and Protestant relations with the Jews."

The Los Angeles Times: "An evangelical pastor who backs John McCain tried to put his controversial remarks about the Catholic Church behind him, apologizing to the head of the Catholic League and expressing "deep regret for any comments Catholics found hurtful."

The Wall Street Journal: "John Hagee, the controversial evangelical pastor who endorsed John McCain, will issue a letter of apology to Catholics today for inflammatory remarks he has made, including accusing the Roman Catholic Church of supporting Adolf Hitler and calling it “The Great Whore.”

The New York Times: "Mr. McCain said Tuesday that he had not been involved in brokering the apology letter from Mr. Hagee...."

Predictably, Hagee uttered the standard line of any public official who wants to avoid admitting a mistake but wants to be characterized as having offered an "apology," expressing "deep regret for any comments Catholics found hurtful." (Translation: the problem is not in what I said, but in how you took it.)

Doesn't any of these newspapers understand what an apology is?

Predictably, Hagee uttered the standard line of any public official who wants to avoid admitting a mistake but wants to be characterized as having offered an "apology," expressing "deep regret for any comments Catholics found hurtful." (Translation: the problem is not in what I said, but in how you took it.)

Hagee even boasted "in my zeal to oppose anti-Semitism and bigotry in all its ugly forms. I have often emphasized the darkest chapters in the history of Catholic and Protestant relations with the Jews...." (Translation: I made these remarks because I'm really a valiant soldier in the war against prejudice.)

And how did William A. Donohue, the zealot who is president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, respond to this phony apology?

Well, miracles do happen. If I wasn’t a believer before, I sure am now.

Republican activists have been working with him over the last several weeks, giving him books and articles and getting him up to speed and away from the black legends about the Catholic Church. I have to assume he’s acting sincerely, and now understands (that what he has been saying is wrong).

Someone who crusades against what he considers anti-Catholic or anti-Christian sentiment should understand this, at a minimum: a miracle is a supernatural act of God. If it is not this, it is not a "miracle." And Reverend Hagee's conversion of convenience is not a miracle, but a desperate act by a mere mortal hostile to homosexuals, blacks, Roman Catholics, and New Orleans and determined to divert attention from his pal, John McCain.