A controversial anti-Catholic author is descending on the Bay Area in April to spew hate-filled speech, according to some local religious leaders.

Among the author's beliefs are that the Jesuit Order of the Roman Catholic Church caused the sinking of the Titanic, the pope is the anti-Christ and that Catholics purposefully extended the length of the Vietnam War to maintain control of the international drug market.

Tough to swallow?

Not for the author, Bill Hughes, a self-proclaimed Seventh-day Adventist, who will be speaking at the Coos Bay Public Library in three sessions on Saturday, April 14.

During an interview Thursday, Hughes said his ministry mailed out 23,000 books, entitled “The Secret Terrorists” to residents in Coos Bay, North Bend and Reedsport. The free books, chock-filled with anti-Catholic rhetoric, began arriving this week along with invitations to listen to Hughes speak in April in Coos Bay.

Officials at the library fielded numerous phone calls this week about Hughes' second coming. (He put on a similar event last year at the Coos County Fairgrounds). Assistant Coos Bay Library Director Ellen Thompson said the library has not received any threats, but staff members have fielded calls from about 10 “very upset” patrons complaining about Hughes' scheduled appearance.

“They were under the impression that the library was sponsoring the program, which is in no way what we are doing,” Thompson said. “We are just renting the room. If we rent to one community group, then we need to make it available to all community groups.”

She said the decision to allow Hughes to speak at the library is firmly rooted in policies set forth by the American Library Association. Article VI of the ALA's bill of rights states: “Libraries which make exhibit spaces and meeting rooms available to the public they serve should make such facilities available on an equitable basis, regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting their use.”

That's been hard for some patrons to accept, Thompson said. Librarians have been handing out an 800 phone number to Hughes' organization to patrons irked by his appearance.

Thompson said she expects some people to protest the April 14 appearance.

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Hughes said he expects about 50 people to attend the appearance - about the same number who showed up for last year's events. He said the reception he got last year was tame.

“I thought everybody was very cordial and gracious. I was only treated very kindly,” Hughes said, noting he's received letters from across the world from folks who say how much they love the book and how much they appreciate the information.

The love fest is not always the case, Hughes admits.

“And then of course I get others who write in and say, ‘I want to kill you' - being very nasty and threatening about it. You get all kinds,” Hughes said.

He denies the views espoused in the book should be labeled hate literature or he himself a hatemonger. He's convinced that Catholics are determined to destroy the public school system in the United States and gain a majority on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Not surprisingly, he blames the power of the Catholic Church for swaying public opinion against him.

“The very fact that people would threaten my life because of what is in the book tells me that the book is absolutely and completely beyond a shadow of a doubt the truth,” he said. “It validates the message in the book.

“It's very factual, very well documented,” he said.

About 90 percent of his books are distributed in other countries, he added.

Some have charged him with being a flimflam artist or akin to a greedy televangelist. But he claims he is not making “gobs of money,” and that his monthly income is around $2,800 paid for by his ministry.

“Before I ever wrote the books I had a ministry for seven years and the amount of monies that have come into my ministry before and after have been basically the same,” he said.

His travels within the United States and across the globe are paid for by those who invite him to speak. He said he makes no request for offerings, but that “if someone wants to hand me money, that is between them and God.”

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Perhaps Hughes' most controversial claim is that the Jesuits are responsible for the sinking of the Titanic. He said those who oppose his viewpoints are denying history and he suggests they “connect the dots” when doing their own research.

According to Hughes, and the band of scholars he follows, financier J.P. Morgan - whose family was “saved from financial ruin” by the Rothschild family, which had ties to the Vatican - ordered the Titanic's captain to ram an iceberg to kill all those aboard.

The wealthy passengers aboard “all had something in common,” Hughes said: “They were opposed to the establishment of the Central Bank in the U.S.”

“All were opposed and for some reason they all died on the Titanic,” Hughes said.

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The Rev. Karl Schray, who presides over the congregation at North Bend Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, alternates between calling Hughes' claims nonsense and ludicrous.

At last year's gathering, Schray, who's read the book, met with Jerry Fawver, a leader of the Coos Bay Remnant Church that invited Hughes to last year's and this year's events. Schray was the only priest who attended the event. He spoke with Fawver for 90 minutes after Hughes spoke. He said he plans to attend at least one of the events in April.

He said he suspects many of Hughes' contentions are distortions of history. The Catholic Church has nothing to do with the number of Catholics on the Supreme Court. Catholics did not sink the Titanic.

“To say that the Rothschild's were Jesuits is just ludicrous,” Schray said. “Catholics are not involved in all this stuff. It's just nonsense - a little like ‘The Da Vinci Code.'”

Schray said the title of the Hughes' book is more than inflammatory.

“It's defamation,” Schray said. “It's hate literature.

“It is trying to smear a people, in this case the Jesuits, the Catholic Church, and the papacy.”

There are other options for people who want to learn about the church.

“I'd say read an objective history of the Western world and specifically of the Catholic Church - written by someone else who can give a new perspective of the whole thing,” Schray said.

Other critics have charged Hughes preys on those with weak minds, profits from spreading hatred, lies and distorting history. But he says those people are simply going to great lengths to combat the truth.

“It's not hate literature,” Hughes said. “It's history. That's all it is.”

He said he's not making any money from “The Secret Terrorists,” or his latest book, “The Enemy Unmasked.”

“The only benefits I get is to have death threats,” Hughes said.

- Staff Writer Carl Mickelson can be reached by calling 269-1222, ext. 234; or by e-mailing him at cmickelson@the-worldlink.com.