Richard Russo won a Pulitzer prize for his novel, Empire Falls, and was raised in the Italian community of Gloversville, NY. He was almost certainly brought up Catholic, but I have no idea whether he is currently practicing.
As for whether the prize is anti-Catholic, I don’t think so. The committee awarded a Pulitzer to the Boston Globe on the priest pedophilia scandal. I don’t find such an award anti-Catholic as the reporting forced the Church confront an issue it was avoiding, but that maybe where the rap is coming from.
There have also been awards for excellence in reporting on Catholic churches across the country. Most of these are pretty sympathetic to the Church’s role in community formation.
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