Who is Jack Chick and why does he hate the Catholic church?

by Sue Widemark

Jack Chick was a somewhat unsuccessful publisher of Christian tracts (college kids called them "Chicklet's") and then he met with "Alberto Rivera" and discovered anti-Catholicism and became a million dollar publisher, moving into a swanky new building etc. Yes, it IS all about money... anti Catholicism pays well and has been a lucrative pastime in the United States for over 100 years! 

Chick was thrown out of the Christian booksellers association in the early 1980's and also in the late 1980's or early 1990's, was one of the only individuals in history to be thrown out of the Southern Baptist Convention.  Not much is known about his past. He apparently was born in the 1920's and attended High School in the 1940's.  A Los Angeles Times article stated that Jack Chick had been a professional cartoonist and that Chick informed them that he had never been to seminary or had Bible training.   In 1999, Chick who had not granted even Christians an interview, agreed to personally meet Dwayne Walker, who makes "adult" videos with the intent of possibly hiring him to film some of Chick's stories. Chick later decided against using Walker to produce his films.  In that interview, Chick admitted he hadn't been to church in years and that TBN had also censured him.  As of 1999, Chick had had some personal problems including ill health (had a heart attack and/or a stroke) and a catastrophic illness in a daughter, now a wheelchair user. Chick's wife, Lynn, died in 1998.

Alberto Rivera was the main character in several of Jack Chick's comics. Rivera, claiming to be an ex Catholic priest who was sexually abused etc etc, turned out to have never BEEN a priest at all.  An article in  "Christianity Today" (March 13, 1981), a mainstream Protestant Magazine was the first to expose Rivera for a fraud.  At the time he claimed to be suffering with the Jesuits in Spain, he was in fact living in the Canary Islands with a woman he was not married too, fleeing felony charges (credit card fraud and passing bad checks). Rivera and his significant other had 3 children, one of whom, Juan, died early in life.   According to "Christianity Today", Rivera was a native of the Canary Islands  After he came to the US, he worked in several churches collecting funds under false pretense, passing bad checks and participating in credit card fraud.  He apparently did some public speaking engagements after "Alberto" was published, but seemed to change his story often and even contradict the details of his life as it was stated in the famous "Alberto" Chick Comic Book.

The "Christianity Today" reporter tried to arrange an interview with Alberto but was not able to connect. He wrote:

>>>>"Rivera, who now lives in California, was asked for an interview to discuss the discrepancies in his tale, but he posed so many restrictions before he would agree, that a legitimate interview was not possible."<<<<

Rivera did tell the reporter that his police record was because he was forced to commit crimes for the Catholic church and that anything negative said about him after his "conversion" was "fabrications by conspirators."

Rivera died in 1997 and of course, Chick and his followers claimed the Catholic church had killed him.  His death certificate listed co-rectal cancer as the cause of death and when this was brought up to Chick et al, Chick said Rivera had told him that the Jesuits had fed him some kind of poison which would make him get cancer, long term.

Chinoquey, another Chick favorite had been a Catholic priest but his book, THE PRIEST, THE WOMAN, THE CONFESSIONAL was really about HIMSELF.  He had been defrocked by the Catholic church in Canada after sexually molesting women in the confessional.  He came to the United States and tried to switch to Episcopalian however, they wouldn't have him either so he ended up in the Methodists as a minister without a church, making his main income from his antiCatholic writings.

The following website makes an attempt to refute some of Chick's claims:

http://net2.netacc.net/~mafg/jtchick/jtc02.htm

Catholic (apologetic) links can be found at:

Catholic apologetics

NOTE: The Sunday Visitor newspaper offered a $10,000 reward to anyone who could prove just ONE of Jack Chick's claims.  This was presented in a full page ad over a period of years.  No one ever claimed the reward!

SueW
Protestant by birth, Roman Catholic by the Grace of God!

http://catholicparish.netfirms.com

References

http://members.aol.com/monsterwax/chick.html  A very pro Chick site but does give some information
http://www.walkertown.com/jack.html  The "Adult" video producer who obtained an interview with Jack Chick

Our Sunday Visitor (March 15, 1981)
Christianity Today (March 13, 1981)
 

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