New Study Confirms Crisis in Catholic Higher Education

Manassas, Va. – Attending a Catholic college has minimal impact on a Catholic student’s practice and embrace of the Catholic faith, according to a new study released Sunday at a gathering of Catholic college presidents in Washington, D.C.

The study was presented to the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU) by researchers at Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA).

“Catholics should be alarmed by the significant declines in Catholic practice and fidelity at many of America’s Catholic institutions,” said Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society. “Everyone expects a Catholic college to be markedly different from a secular one.

Students should be inspired to embrace and deepen their Catholic faith, not negotiate around Catholic moral teaching.”

The CARA study largely confirms a 2003 study released by The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS), which found significant declines in students’ support for Catholic moral teaching on abortion, marriage and sexuality after four years at a Catholic college or university. The declines were generally greater at non-Catholic private and public institutions.

According to the CARA report, 16 percent of students at Catholic colleges and universities become more pro-life and more convinced of traditional marriage, whereas 31 percent become more supportive of legal abortion and 39 percent embrace same-sex “marriage.” Only seven percent increase attendance at religious services, while 32 percent reduce attendance. Eight percent of Catholic students leave the Catholic faith while attending a Catholic institution.

But CARA researchers went a step further, considering the potential impact of a variety of demographic factors on students’ support for Catholic teaching. They found that attendance at a Catholic college has no statistically significant effect on a variety of measures, including students’ support for abortion, the death penalty and same-sex marriage. Students report some improvement in attending religious services (not necessarily Catholic), reading about religion and spirituality (not necessarily Catholic) and deeming it “important to improve the human condition”—a concern that is presumably shared outside the Catholic faith.

Commenting on the study to InsideHigherEd.com, ACCU president Richard Yanikoski argued that the loss of faith at Catholic colleges and elsewhere reflects societal trends. Despite CARA’s analysis showing that the choice of a Catholic college has little significant impact on a student’s faith practice and beliefs, Yanikoski pointed to the raw data indicating that “a typical Catholic undergraduate student attending a Catholic college or university emerges more spiritually intact than if she or he had attended a public or secular private institution, but not nearly as spiritually active as would have been the case a few decades ago.”

“That’s hardly something to celebrate,” Reilly said. “If the ACCU thinks it a happy fact that Catholics lose their faith somewhat slower at Catholic colleges than elsewhere, then they fail to appreciate the concerns of faithful Catholic families.”

In the CARA report (found at http://cara.georgetown.edu), authors Mark Gray and Melissa Cidade state their agreement with The Cardinal Newman Society’s assertion in its 2003 report: “Regardless of where students begin their college journey, Catholic colleges should be helping students move closer to Christ, and certainly doing a better job of moving students toward the Catholic faith than secular colleges do.”

In October 2008, The Cardinal Newman Society published a comprehensive study of practices and beliefs of current and recent students at Catholic colleges and universities. The study, conducted by the reputable Washington, D.C., polling firm QEV Analytics, found that:

Nearly 1 in 5 respondents knew another student who had or paid for an abortion.
46% of current and recent students—and 50% of females—said they engaged in sex outside of marriage.
84% said they had friends who engaged in premarital sex.
60% agreed strongly or somewhat that abortion should be legal.
60% agreed strongly or somewhat that premarital sex is not a sin.
78% disagreed strongly or somewhat that using a condom to prevent pregnancy was a serious sin.
57% agreed strongly or somewhat that same-sex “marriage” should be legal.
57% said the experience of attending a Catholic college or university had no effect on their participation in Mass and the sacrament of reconciliation.
54% of respondents said that their experience of attending a Catholic college or university had no effect on their support for the teachings of the Catholic Church.
56% said their experience had no effect on their respect for the Pope and bishops.

Both the 2008 and the 2003 CNS reports can be found at www.CatholicHigherEd.org.

Scheidler: Jenkins Remains Utterly Immovable on ND 88

Says talking to Jenkins about the issue like talking to a "stone"
By James Tillman

WASHINGTON, DC, January 25, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- Joseph Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League says that prior to last week he had sent letters “begging and pleading” for a chance to meet with Father John Jenkins, President of Notre Dame, but he was never given the chance to do so.

So when he saw Father Jenkins at the March for Life in Washington last Thursday, he thought that it was "too good a chance to miss."

Jenkins had agreed to attend this year's March for Life as part of the pro-life measures he began on campus in response to the outcry caused by his invitation of President Obama to speak at last year’s Notre Dame commencement.

However, Jenkins’ announcement that he intended to participate in the March for Life did little to assuage the criticisms of pro-life activists, in large part because of his continued refusal to ask that the charges against the 88 peaceful pro-life protestors who were arrested on the campus last year be dropped.

The 88 pro-lifers face up to a year in prison and a $5,000 fine if they are found guilty of the charge of trespassing. Currently an online petition effort, demanding that Fr. Jenkins request that the charges be dropped, has been signed by over 5,000 concerned individuals.

However, according to Scheidler, Fr. Jenkins remains obstinate in his refusal to do so, saying that talking to Jenkins about the issue was like talking to a “stone.”

Scheidler told LifeSiteNews (LSN) that he told Fr. Jenkins “that many, many of my friends wanted me to talk to him about removing the charges of the Notre Dame 88. So [Father Jenkins] said, 'Well, now you've told me what they want,' and that was it."

“So I thought, 'Well, that wasn't very good,'” said Scheidler. “So I went back and I said, 'You know, I not only was a student at Notre Dame but I taught at Notre Dame, and I'm very fond of Notre Dame. And I am really concerned that these 88 people were arrested for simply going on the campus doing something that they should do,' or something to that effect. And he said 'Alright, now you've said that.' And he was very off-putting."

Joseph Scheidler is among those listed as "Notable Alumni" on the Notre Dame website. Other Notre Dame alumni are of a similar opinion as Scheidler; according toReplaceJenkins.com donations totaling over $16 million from over 1,500 alumni have been withheld from Notre Dame because of Father Jenkins' actions.

According to Scheidler, the whole impression Father Jenkins gave was that, "You can talk to me all day about this, and my mind's made up."

"I think he's going to stand his ground on this," he continued. "Although, you know, anything could happen. But I wouldn't want to be one of the 88, because they are facing, you know, a possible 6 months in jail and possible 5,000 dollar fine."

"I don't give much hope for any change. ... You might as well have been talking to a stone."
Such inflexibility, according to Scheidler, makes Jenkins' arrival at the March for Life little more than an empty gesture. "Going to the March was a very small payment for having Obama there," Scheidler said, "and nothing for saving these 88 people ... [from] paying for what was not a crime."

"He has said before that it’s out of his hands," he continued. "Well, it's not. He could say 'Drop the charges,' and they'd be dropped."

The problem posed by Father Jenkins’ obstinacy makes Scheidler fear for Notre Dame’s reputation, especially after Jenkins’ recent reelection to another five years in his position. “He's got five more years handed to him,” said Scheidler, “and I have great fears that Notre Dame is going to lose its reputation. It’s losing it fast. And it would be almost impossible to get it back.”

To sign the petition to Free the ND 88, click here.

EWTN.com - Trustee of Catholic College Served as Planned Parenthood Board Member, Received College's Highest Honor

January 25, 2010

A onetime board member of Planned Parenthood of Western New York serves on the board of trustees of an upstate New York Catholic university, according to the university’s web site. Dr. Ellen E. Grant, who joined St. Bonaventure University’s board of trustees in 2001, is also a recipient of the Gaudete Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the university.

Founded by Franciscan friars in 1858, St. Bonaventure University has 2,406 students, 1,932 of them undergraduates.

Planned Parenthood Clinic Listed on Jesuit University's Student Health Services Site

Planned Parenthood Clinic Listed on Jesuit University’s Student Health Services Site

January 05, 2010

The web site of the Student Health Services office at Loyola University New Orleans includes Planned Parenthood among its list of local clinics and offers a link to Planned Parenthood of Louisiana and the Misssippi Delta. The university’s web site also notes that students who have taken the sociology department’s capstone course (Sociology Internship/Practicum) “have interned at Planned Parenthood.”

Founded in 1912 by the Jesuit Fathers, Loyola University New Orleans has 4,474 students, 2,658 of whom are undergraduates.


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Notre Dame's Jenkins Would Do it Again - Calls Obama Visit "Successful"

By Kathleen Gilbert

SOUTH BEND, Indiana, January 6, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The unprecedented controversy that rent the U.S. Catholic community over President Obama's abortion-themed commencement speech and his reception of an honorary law degree at the University of Notre Dame last May has apparently not fazed the school's president, who called the climax of the scandal "a successful" day that he does not regret.

When asked in a South Bend Tribune interview published December 27 whether he would do it all over again, Notre Dame president Fr. John Jenkins answered, "Yes, I would."

"He is the president of the United States, and there was a tradition of Notre Dame inviting presidents to be commencement speakers and receive honorary degrees, and we continue that tradition," he said. Jenkins went on to point out the historicity of Obama as the nation's first black president, saying it was "an honor for us to welcome him to campus."

"For all the controversy, I think it was a successful day," he said.

The decision to host the President at the Catholic university sparked an immense outpouring of criticism in the weeks leading up to the speech, with 80 active U.S. bishops and over 360,000 petitioners opposed to the decision.

"It's important not to be afraid of controversies. If the issues are addressed with reason and respect, that's the best you can do. And universities, particularly, should be places where controversy can be addressed with reason and mutual respect," Jenkins said. He insisted that "there were things in [Obama's] life and his leadership that we could affirm." Regarding areas of disagreement, especially the President's enthusiastic support for abortion, the day allowed an opportunity to "speak about those differences openly."

"I thought he said things that he'd never said before on the issue of abortion - such as seeking a reasonable conscience clause, such as reducing the number of abortions - and I think it was a day when there was genuine dialogue among people who differed. And that’s really what a university is about," he said.

However, there is a group of individuals who have reason not to be completely satisfied by Jenkins' words about the need for "genuine dialogue": the 88 pro-life individuals who were arrested on campus May 17 while protesting President Obama are still facing up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine on charges of trespassing. While witnesses say pro-Obama protesters were allowed to roam free, the arrested individuals were singled out for displaying any pro-life message - including slogans on the sanctity of life, a large wooden cross, and images of Mary.

Fr. Jenkins has denied pleas from several corners to request that the charges be dropped - a request lawyers say the St. Joseph county prosecutor would likely heed. Fr. Weslin, one of the 88 arrested, called on his fellow priest in June to dialogue over the scandal - a request Jenkins ignored.

Notre Dame law professor emeritus Charles Rice called Jenkins' pursuit of token pro-life initiatives a "mockery" while he allowed the protesters to continue facing charges.

"It would be a mockery for you to present yourself now at the March, even at the invitation of Notre Dame students, as a pro-life advocate while, in practical effect, you continue to be the jailer, as common criminals, of those persons who were authentic pro-life witnesses at Notre Dame," wrote Rice in a September letter to Fr. Jenkins.

In the Tribune interview, Jenkins also touched upon his relationship with the local ordinary, Fort Wayne-South Bend bishop John D'Arcy, who took the unusual step of boycotting the commencment exercises, and instead showed up at a smaller ceremony held by Notre Dame graduates protesting the invitation elsewhere on campus. The Notre Dame president has met with D'Arcy several times since the event, he said, and they remain at loggerheads. He says he has not discussed the issue with Bishop Kevin Rhoades, who will take over for the retiring Bishop D'Arcy in January.

Upon learning of the invitation, about which he had not been consulted, D'Arcy stated last March that "the diocesan bishop must ask whether a Catholic institution compromises its obligation to give public witness by placing prestige over truth," and condemned the appearance of "surrender to a culture opposed to the truth about life and love."

Meeting in June, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a resolution expressing solidarity with Bishop D'Arcy and his "solicitude for [Notre Dame's] Catholic identity."

URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jan/10010609.html

Georgetown law program placed fellowship winner with Planned Parenthood

The Women's Law and Public Policy Fellowship Program at one of the nation's leading Jesuit universities placed a fellowship winner with the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, according to the university's web site.

Typically, organizations such as Planned Parenthood must apply to the Women's Law and Public Policy Fellowship Program of the Georgetown University Law Center in order to host a fellow. Once the university's fellowship program approves the organization's application, a grant is awarded to the organization so that the fellow can be paid a stipend.

"The Women's Law and Public Policy Fellowship Program (WLPPFP) accepts applications from organizations located in the Washington, D.C. area that would like to host a Women's Law Fellow for the upcoming Fellowship year," notes the web site of the Georgetown University Law Center.

"The Women's Law Fellow must be assigned to work on legal and public policy issues affecting the status of women ... If your organization is awarded a Women's Law Fellow, the $37,500 annual stipend will be covered by WLPPFP through a grant to your organization."

"The Women's Law and Public Policy Fellowship Program makes every effort to accommodate the Fellows' placement preferences," notes another university web page. "However, the Program cannot guarantee any particular placement organization, even if an applicant has a prior relationship or connection with an organization involved in legal and policy issues affecting women."

During the 2006-7 academic year, fellowship winner Diana Aguilar worked in the Public Policy Law and Litigation Department of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. According to a university web page:

Fluent in Spanish, Diana has represented her department at two international conferences, one in Peru last fall and one in Colombia this spring. One of her major research projects this year has dealt with an employment discrimination case, where Diana analyzed all of the Title VII Supreme Court cases from the last decade as well as related decisions written by the two new Supreme Court Justices prior to their appointment. In the case at issue, known as In re Union Pacific Railroad Employment Practices Litigation, the plaintiff argued that an employer engages in sex discrimination if it covers prescription drugs in its health insurance plan but refuses to cover prescription contraceptives. Diana has also investigated issues ranging from complex constitutional law principles to the standards for granting a rehearing en banc in federal circuit court litigation. She also reports on the activities of the department for an electronic bi-weekly newsletter.

"Her Fellowship with Planned Parenthood Federation of America," noted another university web page, "is generously supported by the Huber Foundation and the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation."

According to a recent university publication, the fellowship program "celebrates the continued achievements of our outstanding alumni, who strive to improve the lives of women and their families throughout their careers. Our alums constitute a powerful network of experienced and committed lawyers across the United States and Africa ... Diana Aguilar continues to serve as an Associate Staff Attorney with the Public Policy Litigation & Law department at Planned Parenthood Federation of America."

In that capacity, Ms. Aguilar is working to prevent the appearance a ballot initiative that would allow Alaska voters to decide whether minors should inform their parents before having an abortion.

Founded in 1789 by the Jesuits, Georgetown University has 15,318 students, 7,092 of whom are undergraduates.

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

Outreach (Georgetown Law, 2006)
Outreach (Georgetown Law, 2007)
Outreach (Georgetown Law, 2009)
The Women's Law and Public Policy Fellowship Program (Georgetown Law)
Placement Organization Application (Georgetown Law)
Planned Parenthood of Alaska v. Campbell (Center for Reproductive Rights)
Former Planned Parenthood CEO teaches at Georgetown’s nursing school (CWN, 12/22)

Michigan Catholic College Posts Planned Parenthood Job Openings

Comment: This is about as evil as it gets. "Master, a thief has broken through the gate..."

Michigan Catholic College Posts Planned Parenthood Job Openings

December 01, 2009

The career and counseling services office of a Michigan Catholic college is publicizing a job opening at Planned Parenthood. Aquinas College's career services office posted the position of registered nurse at Planned Parenthood on November 12; the phone number listed as a contact number is that of Planned Parenthood of West and Northern Michigan.

Aquinas College's career services office "aids students in identifying unique skills, abilities, interests, and values in order to establish productive career paths and goals." Founded in 1922 by Dominican sisters, the Grand Rapids-based college has 2,159 students, 1,872 of whom are undergraduates.

In 2005, the college's newsletter had urged readers to "check out the following job opportunity publications available in Career and Counseling Services ... Planned Parenthood Centers of West Michigan, Vice President of Resource Development."

Aquinas College in Grand Rapids is not associated with Aquinas College in Nashville or Thomas Aquinas College in California, both of which appear on the Cardinal Newman Society's list of 21 faithful Catholic colleges.

University of San Francisco to Host Head of Pro-Abortion Amnesty International

On October 27, the Lane Center for Catholic Studies and Social Research at the Jesuit, Catholic University of San Francisco (USF) will host a book signing and panel discussion by the head of Amnesty International, despite that organization's 2007 move to promote abortion rights, California Catholic Daily has reported.

"The Catholic Church has made it abundantly clear that the decision of Amnesty International to support abortion is a direct betrayal of its own mission in service of human rights," said Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS). "How sad it is that USF is degrading its Catholic identity by giving a platform to the head of this once-admirable, but now morally compromised organization."

Since 2001, Irene Khan has been the secretary general of Amnesty International, a "human rights" organization founded in 1961. It was under Khan's leadership that the organization changed its official position on abortion from neutrality to support for abortion "rights."

In September of 2006, Bishop William S. Skystad, representing the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), wrote to Khan in defense of the unborn against the move to a pro-abortion stance.

Also, a statement by the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace promised that if Amnesty "persists in this course of action, individuals and Catholic organizations must withdraw their support because, in deciding to promote abortion rights, Amnesty International has betrayed its mission." [emphasis added]

As California Catholic reported, in August 2007, Amnesty's executive committee formally voted to adopt a pro-abortion policy. Concerned for its Catholic identity, another Jesuit college in Sydney, Australia, went so far as to sever ties with the organization. Catholic hierarchs serving as Amnesty members also resigned.

Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan, a longtime social activist, responded to Amnesty's new pro-abortion stance, stating, "One cannot support an organization financially or even individually that is contravening something very serious in our ethic."

In 2004, the USCCB issued the statement "Catholics in Political Life" which precludes granting a platform such as the one USF intends to give Khan. The statement reads:

"The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions."

The University of San Francisco webpage announcing Ms. Khan's discussion says the event is sponsored by: "the Office of the President, University Ministry, Lane Center for Catholic Studies and Social Thought, and the Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good."

The Cardinal Newman Society previously outlined some of the more recent tragic betrayals of USF's Catholic identity in a press release here.

Notre Dame President Fr. Jenkins Gets 2nd Term Despite Catholic Identity Abuses

On Friday, October 19, 2009, the president of the University of Notre Dame, Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., was appointed to a second term as president.

"Notre Dame has suffered terribly in recent years because of a lack of leadership and commitment to its Catholic identity," said Patrick J. Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS). "The Board of Trustees has once again neglected their responsibility to uphold Notre Dame's Catholic mission by reelecting a president who has displayed public disrespect for the bishops and has permitted repeated scandals including the honors to President Obama and performances of The Vagina Monologues."

Fr. Jenkins was first elected to a five-year term as president of Notre Dame on April 30, 2004, becoming the university’s 17th president. Chairman Richard Notebaert announced last Friday that the University of Notre Dame Board of Trustees elected Fr. Jenkins to serve a second five-year term.

On May 17, 2009, Notre Dame bestowed an honorary doctor of laws degree upon U.S. President Barack Obama, whose pro-abortion and other anti-life policies and statements have set him opposed to fundamental moral teachings of the Catholic Church.

Led by Bishop John D'Arcy of the Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese, in which Notre Dame is located, 83 U.S. bishops vocally opposed the honor for the pro-abortion president. They were joined by the more than 367,000 individuals who signed The Cardinal Newman Society's petition at NotreDameScandal.com, calling on Fr. Jenkins to rescind the honor.

Fr. Jenkins acted in direct defiance of the 2004 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) statement "Catholics in Political Life", which most bishops cited in opposing the honor for President Obama. The statement prohibits Catholic institutions from honoring "those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles." In June, 2009, the USCCB released a statement affirming Bishop D'Arcy's "pastoral concern for Notre Dame University."

The scandalous play The Vagina Monologues has been hosted more than once at Notre Dame on Fr. Jenkins' watch. Despite growing momentum against the play, public opposition by Bishop D'Arcy and an annual CNS campaign informing Catholic college presidents of the dangers of the play, in 2008 Jenkins issued a statement officially approving the return of the Monologues after a one-year hiatus. In protest, a committee of bishops moved their theological seminar off the Notre Dame campus. Although the play did not return in 2009, Fr. Jenkins has not taken any apparent action to prevent future productions.

Fr. Jenkins also sits on the board of Millennium Promise, an anti-poverty organization which reportedly supports the distribution of condoms and encourages abortion services where legal.

In September 2009, Fr. Jenkins issued a statement announcing new pro-life initiatives at the University of Notre Dame. CNS has commended the show of good will, but noted that there are "serious steps that Notre Dame should take immediately to atone for its shocking betrayal of the U.S. bishops and the Catholic Church last spring."

Notre Dame Pays Student Expenses to D.C. March for Gay "Marriage"

The University of Notre Dame gave financial assistance to five students to participate in Sunday's national gay rights demonstration, which was organized in part to advocate homosexual “"marriage," a campus newspaper has reported.

The "National Equality March" on Sunday, October 11, in Washington, D.C., was sponsored by Equality Across America, which aims to build a national grassroots network asserting homosexual couples' "right to marry" as well as other demands. The Catholic Church believes that marriage is possible only between a man and a woman.

"Faithful Catholics will ask whether Notre Dame has learned its lesson from the scandalous commencement ceremony last spring," said Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society. "What university seeking to reassure families of its Catholic identity would pay for students to attack the family and oppose Catholic teachings on marriage?"

Students from Notre Dame's Progressive Student Alliance (PSA) petitioned the Student Activities Office and were granted funding to travel to and participate in the demonstration. The Notre Dame students marched two miles across D.C. and then joined gay rights activists for a Capitol Hill rally.

The president of the Progressive Students Alliance told The Observer, "The fact that we were University-approved was surprising but it was a wonderful surprise. The University hasn't always been entirely receptive in the past."

Read The Observer's article here.

Aquinas Catholic College to Host "All Day Long" Homosexualist Even

Aquinas Catholic College to Host "All Day Long" Homosexualist Event

By James Tillman

GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan, October 8, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Aquinas College, a Catholic college located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is planning to hold an event titled "Love is everywhere … AQ Celebrates Human Rights" this coming Monday. The event features showings of multiple movies about homosexuals, a "coming out" story, and "ribbons and face-painting to celebrate our unique differences," according to the college website.

The prospective event will take place "all day long" at various locations and times on the campus.

Founded by Dominican Sisters in 1886, Aquinas College is an institution "rooted in the Catholic Dominican tradition," according to its website. It states that on campus "Values, ethics, and morality are explored in the context of Judeo-Christian ethics and Catholic teaching with full respect for other religious traditions, academic freedom, and personal conscience."

Nevertheless, despite professed adherence to the Catholic tradition, the proposed event explores views profoundly contrary to those advanced by the Church.

The two films that will be shown during the event are "Seven Passages - The Stories of Gay Christians," and "Milk." The first movie features characters who advance revisionist interpretations of the scriptural passages that have traditionally been seen as evidence that sodomy is a sin. Conversation with the key players in the film will follow the screening. The second movie is a celebration of the life of Harvey Milk, the murdered homosexual "gay rights" activist elected to the San Francisco board of supervisors.

The event will also have training and information regarding how to be an "'AQ certified' Safe Zone advocate" for the Aquinas College campus. Safe Zones have been established at colleges around the US as areas where homosexuals may feel welcomed and accepted.

The event, in addition to being sponsored by Aquinas' Campus Life, is also sponsored by the student organization The Alliance. The Alliance is described on Aquinas College's website as having the mission of bringing "inclusiveness to the Aquinas College community." The Alliance's facebook page describes itself as "Serving Aquinas' LGBTQIA community by promoting education, tolerance, community, and love in their purest forms. Let's all hug."

The event will also feature a "coming out" story by Dave Craft, facilitator of Allies and Advocates Training. Allies and Advocates Training is designed to bring about a campus climate in which homosexual students feel "respected" and "affirmed."

Aquinas College has been previously been at the center of controversy due to similar issues. In 2008 it cancelled the appearance of John Corvino and his lecture "What's Morally Wrong with Homosexuality?" This lecture "examines and dismantles the most common arguments against homosexual conduct" according to an online biography.
In 2003, the college's commencement speaker was the strongly pro-abortion Roger Wilkins, who has served on NARAL's National Commission on America Without Roe and participated in a Washington, D.C. press conference presenting the commission's report.

A spokesman for Aquinas College declined to comment, disclaiming any detailed knowledge of the event.

Boston College Health Plan Covers 'Family Planning' Services

New research by The Cardinal Newman Society has uncovered evidence that the student health insurance plan provided by Boston College, a Jesuit institution of Catholic higher education, includes coverage for "family planning" services such as birth control pills.

"Now that it has been uncovered that Boston College is providing unethical coverage to students, college officials should take immediate action to provide students with insurance options that conform to Catholic teachings," said Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society. "BC needs to send a strong message, especially after students voted in a referendum last year to petition the college to make contraceptives available on campus."

Contraception and birth control services are explicitly covered under the student health plan, Blue Care Elect Preferred (PPO), which is an optional plan for students provided by Boston College. Although elective abortion is not explicitly stated in the policy, Koster Insurance Agency, Inc., Boston College's insurance agent, could not rule out the possibility that abortions are covered by the policy, according to an article in the Boston College Observer reporting on the Cardinal Newman Society's research.

Although several states--including most recently the State of Wisconsin--require employers and sometimes even Catholic institutions to provide contraceptive coverage in employee health plans, such laws do not mandate student coverage.

The revelations at Boston College stand in stark contrast to the situation at Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina, which is engaged in religious liberty battle with the U.S. Equal Opportunities Commission because the college refuses to cover contraception in its faculty health care plan.

BC Law School in Disarray Over Prof's Defense of Marriage

(9/24/09) Law dean seems to welcome faculty opposition to Catholic teaching on gay "marriage" and abortion.

On September 15, 2009, StandForMarriageMaine.com released a television ad which featured Scott Fitzgibbon, a professor at Boston College Law School, arguing in defense of marriage between one man and one woman. He encouraged Maine voters to vote "yes" on an upcoming ballot referendum which aims to overturn state legislation which legalized homosexual "marriage" last May.

Complaints from fellow faculty members at Boston College soon began piling up. Merely one day after the ad aired, Boston College Law Dean John Garvey issued a letter to the BC law community, writing, "Several of you have contacted my office to express your anger at Scott's actions, and it is hard for me to see any of our students, faculty, or staff offended or hurt by the words of others."

Rather than praising Fitzgibbon's public defense of a Catholic teaching, Dean Garvey wrote that Fitzgibbon's "public statements represent his own opinions... and do not state any official position of Boston College Law School." Garvey defended Fitzgibbon's participation in the advertisement but also seemed to welcome faculty opposition to Catholic teaching.

"We also have faculty members who hold a contrary view, which they too are free to express publicly," he wrote. "Many have done so while referring to themselves as BC Law professors. One of them has publicly led the fight to oppose the Solomon Amendment on the grounds that it is an affront to gay and lesbian students and prospective members of the U.S. military. Others have taken controversial positions on such subjects as abortion, euthanasia, and the treatment of detainees."

Three days after Fitzgibbon’s pro-traditional marriage ad aired, a group of 76 "Individual Faculty and Administrators at Boston College Law School", including Dean Garvey, issued the following statement: "The undersigned members of the faculty and administration at Boston College Law School feel that it is important to reaffirm our belief in the equality of all of our students. We are proud of the fact that Boston College Law School was one of the first law schools in the country to include sexual orientation in its non-discrimination pledge, and we reaffirm our commitment to making our institution a welcome and safe place for all students, including LGBT students."

Georgetown Law School to Honor AFL-CIO Leader Despite Gay Marriage Advocacy

On September 3, 2009, Georgetown University, a Jesuit, Catholic institution in Washington, D.C., plans to bestow upon AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney an honorary Doctor of Laws degree, despite his organization's advocacy for homosexual "marriage" and laws mandating employee insurance coverage for contraceptives.

"The Catholic bishops have made it abundantly clear that Catholic universities are not to publicly honor leading opponents of Catholic moral principles," said Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS). "We strongly urge Georgetown to uphold its Catholic mission and rescind the honor to John Sweeney."

Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia, on August 24, issued an e-mail invitation to all faculty, staff and students of Georgetown's law school "to attend the ceremony for the conferral of the degree Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, upon John J. Sweeney," president of the AFL-CIO.

In March 2009, the Executive Council of the AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations), the largest federation of trade unions in the U.S., unanimously called on the California Supreme Courtto invalidate Proposition 8, which amended that state’s constitution to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

The AFL-CIO constituency group Pride at Work has repeatedly promoted homosexual "marriage" and hailed laws in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts and Vermont in the face of strong opposition from the Catholic Church.

Another AFL-CIO constituency group, the Coalition of Labor Union Women, launched its "Contraceptive Equity Project" in 2001 to demand that employers provide health insurance coverage for prescription contraceptives. The group advocates state laws forcing employers to fund such coverage.

In December 2001, a resolution was approved at the AFL-CIO national convention calling for a "national law that codifies the EEOC and District Court rulings, making coverage for contraceptives available under health care plans on the same terms that the plans cover other drugs, devices, and preventive care for employees."

The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently ruled that Belmont Abbey College, a faithfully Catholic college in North Carolina that is recommended in The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College, discriminates against women by refusing to insure contraceptives. The Cardinal Newman Society blasted the ruling in a letter to EEOC Acting Chairman Stuart Ishimaru, noting the terrible irony that the EEOC--which is the federal agency responsible for protecting Americans against discrimination--is itself guilty of "an inexcusable violation of religious liberty."

Also just last week, the Catholic bishops of Wisconsin issued a statement expressing "deep concern" about a state budget provision that would force Catholic dioceses, parishes and other institutions that purchase health insurance to cover contraceptives in direct violation of Catholic teaching.

When the University of Notre Dame similarly honored pro-abortion President Barack Obama last May, the action drew protests from 83 U.S. bishops and more than 367,000 individuals who signed The Cardinal Newman Society's online petition.

Most of these bishops cited the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops 2004 statement "Catholics in Political Life," which reads:

"The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions."

"Georgetown University's public defiance and betrayal of its Catholic mission will be no great surprise to Catholics who have long prayed for a renewal of Catholic identity," Reilly said. "In the last semester alone, Georgetown covered up the name of Jesus for a lecture by President Obama and hosted 'Sex Positive Week' featuring a pornographic film director."

Bishop D'Arcy says Notre Dame must answer for honoring Obama

Fort Wayne, Ind., Aug 25, 2009 / 11:35 am (CNA).- Bishop John M. D'Arcy, whose diocese encompasses the University of Notre Dame, is not letting the issues raised by the university's honoring of President Obama lie dormant. Instead, the Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend has penned a poignant article for the upcoming edition of America magazine that calls on the renowned university to evaluate the consequences of its failure to respect the authority of the bishops.

In an article that will be the cover story of the Jesuit-run America magazine on August 31, bishop D'Arcy writes that "as summer plays itself out on the beautiful campus by the lake where the young Holy Cross priest, Edward Sorin, C.S.C., pitched his camp 177 years ago and began his great adventure, we must clarify the situation that so sundered the church last spring: What it is all about and what it is not about."

According to the bishop, who had asked Notre Dame's president, Fr. John Jenkins, not to honor Obama, "it is not about President Obama... It is not about Democrats versus Republican... It is not about whether it is appropriate for the president of the United States to speak at Notre Dame or any great Catholic university on the pressing issues of the day."

The response of the faithful, Bishop D'Arcy writes, "is not about what this journal [America magazine] called 'sectarian Catholicism.' Rather, the response of the faithful derives directly from the Gospel."

The real question posed by the situation is whether or not a Catholic university has a responsibility to give a public witness to the faith, D'Arcy states. "If not, what is the meaning of a life of faith? And how can a Catholic institution expect its students to live by faith in the difficult decisions that will confront them in a culture often opposed to the Gospel?" he wonders.

"In its decision to give its highest honor to a president who has repeatedly opposed even the smallest legal protection of the child in the womb, did Notre Dame surrender the responsibility that Pope Benedict believes Catholic universities have to give public witness to the truths revealed by God and taught by the church?" the bishop also asks.

Bishop D'Arcy then takes Notre Dame to task for its multi-year sponsorship of the play "The Vagina Monologues."

"Although he spoke eloquently about the importance of dialogue with the president of the United States, the president of Notre Dame chose not to dialogue with his bishop on these two matters, both pastoral and both with serious ramifications for the care of souls, which is the core responsibility of the local bishop," he says.

"Both decisions," Bishop D'Arcy reveals, "were shared with me after they were made and, in the case of the honorary degree, after President Obama had accepted."

Noting that he has "never interfered in the internal governance of Notre Dame or any other institution of higher learning within the diocese," D'Arcy explains that "the diocesan bishop must ask whether a Catholic institution compromises its obligation to give public witness by placing prestige over truth."

"The failure to dialogue with the bishop brings a second series of questions," he says.

"What is the relationship of the Catholic university to the local bishop? No relationship? Someone who occasionally offers Mass on campus? Someone who sits on the platform at graduation?"

"Or is the bishop the teacher in the diocese, responsible for souls, including the souls of students--in this case, the students at Notre Dame? Does the responsibility of the bishop to teach, to govern and to sanctify end at the gate of the university?"

"In the spirit of Ex Corde Ecclesiae," he says, "I am proposing these questions for the university."

Bishop D'Arcy then points to the strong spiritual life of many of the faculty members and students at the university, and acknowledges that "the theology department has grown in academic excellence over the years, strengthened by the successful recruiting of professors outstanding in scholarship, in their knowledge of the tradition and in their own living of the Catholic faith."

"Yet," he adds, "the questions about the relationship of the university as a whole to the church still stand, and what happened on campus leading up to and during the graduation is significant for the present debate about Catholic higher education."

Regarding the large number of students and faculty opposed to Obama's commencement address and honoring, the bishop says that America magazine "and others in the media, Catholic and secular, reporting from afar, failed to make a distinction between the extremists on the one hand, and students and those who joined in the last 48 hours before graduation. This latter group [ND Response] responded with prayer and substantive disagreement. They cooperated with university authorities."

"In this time of crisis at the university," he notes, "these students and professors, with the instinct of faith, turned to the bishop for guidance, encouragement and prayer."

Although he had originally intended to stay away from the graduation ceremony, Bishop D'Arcy writes that "As graduation drew near, I knew I should be with the students. It was only right that the bishop be with them, for they were on the side of truth, and their demonstration was disciplined, rooted in prayer and substantive."

Bishop D'Arcy also takes aim at the university's board of trustees for saying "nothing" when they met in April for their long-scheduled spring meeting.

"When the meeting was completed, they made no statement and gave no advice. In an age when transparency is urged as a way of life on and off campus, they chose not to enter the conversation going on all around them and shaking the university to its roots," he says.

What the board must do is "take up its responsibility afresh, with appropriate study and prayer… with greater seriousness and in a truly Catholic spirit," the bishop urges.

D'Arcy concludes his article by posing some key questions to Notre Dame "and to other Catholic universities."

Bishop D'Arcy asks:

"Do you consider it a responsibility in your public statements, in your life as a university and in your actions, including your public awards, to give witness to the Catholic faith in all its fullness?

"What is your relationship to the church and, specifically, to the local bishop and his pastoral authority as defined by the Second Vatican Council?

"Finally, a more fundamental question: Where will the great Catholic universities search for a guiding light in the years ahead? Will it be the Land O'Lakes Statement or Ex Corde Ecclesiae?"

The Land O'Lakes Statement was signed in July 1967 by a group of Catholic educators led by then University of Notre Dame president Fr. Theodore Hesburgh. The famous Catholic historian Philip Gleason characterized the statement as a "declaration of independence from the hierarchy," adding that it divorced the Catholic university from the life of faith and set in motion the decline in Catholic identity of several major institutions of higher education.

Bishop D'Arcy describes the statement as coming "from a frantic time, with finances as the driving force. Its understanding of freedom is defensive, absolutist and narrow. It never mentions Christ and barely mentions the truth."

"The second text, Ex Corde Ecclesiae, speaks constantly of truth and the pursuit of truth. It speaks of freedom in the broader, Catholic philosophical and theological tradition, as linked to the common good, to the rights of others and always subject to truth."

"On these three questions, I respectfully submit, rests the future of Catholic higher education in this country and so much else," Bishop D'Arcy finishes.

Ten Catholic Colleges that Promote Abortion

Ten Catholic Colleges that Promote Abortion
BY Tim Drake

Tuesday, June 16, 2009 11:00 AM

Parents wondering what their hard-earned money is supporting at Catholic colleges and universities might be interested in the latest findings from the Cardinal Newman Society.

The organization has discovered 10 Catholic colleges and universities that are promoting student internships with organizations whose missions or activities are directly opposed to the Church's moral teachings on issues related to abortion and marriage.

"Under what definition of 'Catholic education' do students receive academic credit to work for leading pro-abortion organizations?" asked Patrick Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society.

The "Dirty Deca" includes the following schools:

Boston College - recommends opportunities for students to work 'pro bono' for the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts.

College of St. Benedict & St. John's University - the school's Gender and Women's Studies program promotes internship opportunities with the pro-abortion Feminist Majority Foundation and organizations supporting same-sex marriage.

DePaul University - the institution's Women's and Gender Studies program offers credit for internships, noting that students have interned with abortion provider Planned Parenthood and the Chicago Women's Health Center, which offers emergency contraceptive services and alternative insemination for "lesbians, bisexual, and queer couples, single women of any sexual orientation, and trans people."

Georgetown University - permits students to receive university funding for interning at abortion advocacy organizations.

Loyola University of Chicago - their website lists opportunities for internships and volunteer opportunities at Chicago's National Organization for Women, the Feminist Majority Foundation, Planned Parenthood, and the Chicago Abortion Fund.

St. Edward's University - has allowed students to work at NARAL Pro-Choice Texas to fulfill a "Community Service in Women's Studies" credit requirement.

St. Norbert College - - the college's Women's and Gender Studies program recommends internships at several pro-abortion and same-sex marriage promoting organizations, including NOW, Legal Momentum, Planned Parenthood, the National Women's Health Network, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and PFLAG.

University of Notre Dame - the university's Gender Studies program offers internships for academic credit at places such as the National Organization for Women.

University of San Francisco - the school's Media Studies program has promoted internships with the California Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League and Girlfriends Magazine.

To learn more, visit the Cardinal Newman Society.

Jesuit University of San Francisco President Defends Condom Use for Virus Prevention

Jesuit University of San Francisco President Defends Condom Use for Virus Prevention

The president of the Catholic, Jesuit University of San Francisco (USF), Rev. Stephen Privett, S.J., publicly defended the use of condoms to prevent the HIV/AIDS virus, according to an interview with Catholic San Francisco published June 10.

Last month USF awarded an honorary degree to South African Bishop Kevin Dowling, which was protested by The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) due to Bishop Dowling's dissent from Vatican teaching on condom use and the South African Bishops' Conference's condemnations of his public statements.

"It is the obligation of a Catholic university's president to embrace Catholic teaching as truth and as the solid foundation of the university's Catholic mission," said CNS President Patrick J. Reilly. "It would be unfortunate for a Catholic leader's public statements to echo those who stridently criticized Pope Benedict XVI's plea for healthy, moral and responsible sexual behavior during his recent visit to Africa."

In the interview with Catholic San Francisco prior to the USF commencement, Father Privett reportedly defended the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, despite the consistent teaching of the Catholic Church that condom use is always immoral.

"HIV/AIDS is an epidemic in his [Dowling's] diocese and in whole areas of Africa," Privett says in the article. "I think people need to understand the difference between a condom as a contraceptive and a condom preventing the spread of a deadly virus that is literally killing thousands of people in Africa."

The Cardinal Newman Society has vigorously opposed USF performances of The Vagina Monologues and dissident commencement speakers such as Nancy Pelosi in 2007. Fr. Privett reportedly defends these as well.

"When we bring these speakers onto campus, we don't bring them as spokespersons for a position with which we disagree," Fr. Privett is quoted as saying, blaming critics for failing to consider the totality of student experiences when they accuse USF of not supporting Church teaching.

"They only see the commencement speaker or The Vagina Monologues. They don't see the other 240 days. They're not at Sunday liturgies. They're not at student retreats. It's the tip and not the whole iceberg."

Yet there have been multiple concerns about the University of San Francisco's Catholic identity, including the following in recent years:

- USF's two health insurance plans for employees both provide for abortion, sterilization and contraception. Complaints led USF to drop similar coverage in a student insurance plan, and officials say they are in favor of improving the employee plans, according to reports by Our Sunday Visitor.

- USF's student health clinic stopped referring students to Planned Parenthood for abortions after the practice was revealed in December 2008.

- USF recently dropped its graduate theology program.

- USF hosted the performance of a play that contradicts Church teaching on homosexuality after San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer refused to allow it to be performed at a diocesan parish.

- USF bestowed an honorary degree upon Irish President Mary McAleese, despite her public dissent from Church teaching on the all-male priesthood.

- USF hosted a film festival co-sponsored by the USF Gender and Sexuality Department and a homosexual student club, which featured at least two films which promote abortion and same-sex marriage.

- USF touted on its website a "birth spacing" study produced by students which promoted the use of artificial contraceptives.

Catholic San Francisco reported that USF philosophy professor Raymond Dennehy is among those who believes the Jesuit institution's Catholic identity has eroded under Fr. Privett's leadership. Dennehy said that the dialogue Fr. Privett hopes to encourage is presented in a one-sided manner on campus, with most guest speakers dissenting against Church teaching.

Referring to Bishop Dowling's honorary degree, Dennehy said, "Dialogue is having speakers both pro and con. This is giving an award, and you can bet your bottom dollar that (USF) would not do that if (the speaker) were anti-gay marriage."

From Spirit Daily

FROM THE MAIL: EXAMPLES OF TEACHING AT 'CATHOLIC' SCHOOLS DEMAND URGENT ACTION

The controversy over Notre Dame (allowing President Barack Obama, a pro-choice advocate, to speak at its commencement, and more to the point, awarding him an honorary degree) raised questions about what else Catholic colleges are allowing.

Indeed, commencement speakers are but the tip of the iceberg -- as our viewers can attest.

In one case, it was recalled that a priest named Matthew Fox taught at Holy Names, a small Catholic college in Oakland, for 12 years -- until 1996 -- despite his rejection of basic Catholic teachings, his extraordinarily unorthodox beliefs (he taught in a room with a skylight, expecting UFOs), and the fact that he worked with a practicing witch (who instructed priests, while Father Fox was big with nuns)

The examples, allegedly, and unfortunately, are multitudinous.

"My daughter just finished her first year at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska," wrote Pam Percival of Nevada. "When her father and I visited the college before her enrollment, we were impressed by the positive, upbeat attitudes of the students and many signs of faith around the campus. The address to the parents given by Father John P. Schlegel, S. J., was no less impressive -- assuring the parents that he would not let us down.

"It wasn't long, however, that we realized that we had a serious problem to deal with: our daughter was losing her faith.

"We were hearing about all the drinking parties, alcohol and boyfriends overnight in the dorms. My daughter began to miss attending some Sunday Masses at first -- and then it became the norm. She told me that not many people went, 'The church is almost empty.' Never mind going to Confession! While she was living at home, she had never missed a Sunday Mass unless she was sick.

"In addition to having her attend CCD classes, I had taught her all that I could about her Catholic Faith from good traditional Catholic resources. Now her Theology Professor, a Protestant gentleman, teaching 'Christianity in Context,' was refuting things that I had taught her. She said he made her feel like a fool. One such argument was about the contents of the Ark of the Covenant (the staff of Aaron, the manna, and the Ten Commandments) -- and how these items prefigured Jesus, His priesthood, and the Holy Eucharist. He was teaching the students that no one ever knew what was in the Ark of the Covenant and that it didn't matter anyway!"

From a Boston College alumnus, Alice Slattery, come distressing details about a male theology professor who is allegedly "married" to another man.

He teaches a course in spirituality and sexuality!

Boston College seems to be a case in need of Rome's special attention.

For 33 years, a woman named Mary Daly taught there, and that would be okay if she was not a radical anti-male activist (she believes the number of males on the planet must be reduced) and advocates research on parthenogenesis -- the growth and development of an embryo or seed without fertilization by a male.

She is perhaps best known for her second book, Beyond God the Father (1973).

"Ex-nun Mary Daly teaches lesbian witchcraft," noted a major Catholic news site. "She has written several books, including the anti-male and anti-Catholic Beyond God the Father andWickedary, a dictionary of sorts for witches.

"In Wickedary, Daly provides definitions as well as chants that she says can be used by women to free themselves from patriarchal oppression," notes Wikipedia.

"She also explores the labels that she says patriarchal society places on women to prolong what she sees as male domination of society.

In Wickedary, notes Catholic Culture, Daly defines the Beatific Vision as: "the 'face to face' vision of god in patriarchal heaven promised as a reward to good Christians; an afterlife of perpetual Boredom: union/ copulation with the 'Divine Essence'; the final consummate union of the Happy Dead Ones with the Supreme Dead One."

Daly believes, apparently, that it's the role of women to unveil the "liberatory" nature of labels such as "Hag," "Witch," and "Lunatic," we learn. She was dismissed for not allowed males into a course she taught.

"I went to Boston College from 1976 to 1980," says a viewer named Benjamin S. Joyce of Cape Cod. "I took a theology course in 'liberation theology' by Dr. James Fowler, Harvard Divinity, in the fall of 1976 (I think this was before John Paul II 'condemned' it). My friend was told by [a Jesuit in the department], 'Let me let you in on a secret, Hell doesn't exist.'"

"Sadly my alma mater, the University of San Diego, falls into this category of Catholic in name only," writes another viewer named Sandy. "Not long ago, the head of the theology department was a homosexual; there is a 'pride' club on campus. The list of 'atrocities' at USD is a long one.

"We were taught by the nuns of the Sacred Heart, and forty years ago the environment was a truly Catholic one and contributed to the spiritual formation that I treasure. There is an exceptionally beautiful chapel on the grounds of what was the College for Women. We would process there in our caps and gowns for every First Friday Mass.

"Can you imagine that happening today!"

"A 'feminist theologian' who thinks that God can be called 'Gaia,' after the Roman mother-earth goddess, has accepted a one-year honorary professorship at the University of San Diego, according to an announcement by the school, which describes itself on its web site as 'a Roman Catholic institution,'" reported a Catholic news site.

"Rosemary Radford Ruether will hold the Monsignor John R. Portman Chair in Roman Catholic Theology at USD for the academic year 2009-2010." She is also "a board member for the pro-abortion Catholics for a Free Choice (now Catholics for Choice) organization."

"I agree with your past article in regards to Rome needs to have a faster response to what is happening here with our Catholic Church and universities," wrote yet another, Carolyn Wong. "What do you recommend us lay people do? Do we contact Rome? How? Whom? And do they really listen?

"My son who is in his third year in college was accepted and wanted to attend Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. When we went to tour the college there were signs all over the campus mentioning when the gay and lesbian club would meet!

"I was shocked, and even more shocked that the many of the so-called Catholic parents had no problem with it. I would be better off sending him to a secular college where he would not be attending classes that would corrupt everything the Church has to say, rather than sending him to a Catholic College where the Jesuits would just turn him away from what is right!"

"My daughter is a 1993 graduate of Scranton University," says Chris Dailey of Ocean Pines, Maryland. "Her philosophy professor was an avowed atheist."

"Where does one go when there is no place to go?" asked viewer William E Bauer, PhD, an instructor at Western Nevada College who could find no help in questioning a theology professor who taught atheism.

"Congratulations for your courage to denounce ('the Truth shall set us free') the real issue at Notre-Dame: the subjective teaching of each individual instead of the teaching of the Church," said Eugene Belair from Ontario, Canada. "

"I am now retired but had a career in Catholic education for 31 years as a consultant and a principal and by choice returned to the classroom because I could not suffer any longer the pagan administration of our Catholic board.

"I also wish to make the following point: we, as Catholic believers, are also responsible for permitting and enduring the secularization of our beliefs and institutions."

[see also: What Father Matthew Fox taught]

[resources: The Gold Book of Prayers]

Fr. Jenkins, Notre Dame betrayed true goal of Catholic education, archbishop says

Fr. Jenkins, Notre Dame betrayed true goal of Catholic education, archbishop says

Denver, Colo., May 18, 2009 / 04:50 pm (CNA).- In a strong statement released today, the Most Reverend Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap, blamed Fr. John Jenkins C.S.C and the University of Notre Dame for betraying the true, original goal of Catholic higher education, not only by conferring a degree on President Barack Obama despite his anti-life record, but for attempting a disingenuous justification for the invitation during his commencement speech on Sunday.

Quoting Fr. Jenkins when he said that "I have found that even among those who did not go to Notre Dame, even among those who do not share the Catholic faith, there is a special expectation, a special hope, for what Notre Dame can accomplish in the world;" Archbishop Chaput says that "most graduation speeches are a mix of piety and optimism designed to ease students smoothly into real life. The best have humor. Some genuinely inspire. But only a rare few manage to be pious, optimistic, evasive, sad and damaging all at the same time."

"Father John Jenkins, C.S.C., Notre Dame's president, is a man of substantial intellect and ability. This makes his introductory comments to President Obama's Notre Dame commencement speech on May 17 all the more embarrassing."

The Archbishop of Denver recalls in his statement that the debate over President Obama's appearance at Notre Dame "was never about whether he is a good or bad man. The president is clearly a sincere and able man."

"By his own words, religion has had a major influence in his life. We owe him the respect Scripture calls us to show all public officials. We have a duty to pray for his wisdom and for the success of his service to the common good -- insofar as it is guided by right moral reasoning."

Nevertheless, Archbishop Chaput adds, "we also have the duty to oppose him when he's wrong on foundational issues like abortion, embryonic stem cell research and similar matters. And we also have the duty to avoid prostituting our Catholic identity by appeals to phony dialogue that mask an abdication of our moral witness."

"Notre Dame did not merely invite the president to speak at its commencement. It also conferred an unnecessary and unearned honorary law degree on a man committed to upholding one of the worst Supreme Court decisions in our nation's history," he says.

According to Archbishop Chaput, in doing so, Notre Dame ignored the U.S. bishops' guidance in their 2004 statement, "Catholics in Political Life," ignored "the concerns of Ambassador Mary Ann Glendon, Notre Dame's 2009 Laetare Medal honoree -- who, unlike the president, certainly did deserve her award, but finally declined it in frustration with the university's action. It ignored appeals from the university's local bishop, the president of the U.S. Catholic bishops' conference, more than 70 other bishops, many thousands of Notre Dame alumni and hundreds of thousands of other American Catholics."

"Even here in Colorado -- Chaput says, - I've heard from too many to count."

The Archbishop of Denver claims that "there was no excuse -- none, except intellectual vanity -- for the university to persist in its course."

"And Father Jenkins compounded a bad original decision with evasive and disingenuous explanations to subsequently justify it."

"These are hard words," he admits, "but they're deserved precisely because of Father Jenkins's own remarks on May 17: Until now, American Catholics have indeed had 'a special expectation, a special hope for what Notre Dame can accomplish in the world.' For many faithful Catholics -- and not just a 'small but vocal group' described with such inexcusable disdain and ignorance in journals like Time magazine -- that changed Sunday."

Archbishop Chaput finds in the May 17 events "some fitting irony."

"Almost exactly 25 years ago, Notre Dame provided the forum for Gov. Mario Cuomo to outline the 'Catholic' case for 'pro-choice' public service."

"At the time, Cuomo's speech was hailed in the media as a masterpiece of American Catholic legal and moral reasoning. In retrospect, it's clearly adroit. It's also, just as clearly, an illogical and intellectually shabby exercise in the manufacture of excuses."

The archbishop also notes that "Father Jenkins' explanations, and President Obama's honorary degree, are a fitting national bookend to a quarter century of softening Catholic witness in Catholic higher education."

"Together," he adds in his statement, "they've given the next generation of Catholic leadership all the excuses they need to baptize their personal conveniences and ignore what it really demands to be 'Catholic' in the public square."

According to Chaput, the "heart of the matter" is that "Notre Dame is hardly alone in its institutional confusion."

"Notre Dame's leadership has done a real disservice to the Church, and now seeks to ride out the criticism by treating it as an expression of fringe anger. But the damage remains, and Notre Dame’s critics are right."

The Archbishop of Denver says also that "the most vital thing faithful Catholics can do now is to insist -- by their words, actions and financial support -- that institutions claiming to be 'Catholic' actually live the faith with courage and consistency."

"If that happens, Notre Dame's failure may yet do some unintended good," he concludes.

Read the Archbishop's full statement: http://www.archden.org/index.cfm/ID/2081

'I Saw Catholics Arrested for Being Catholic at a Catholic University'

Note: The articles about what happened at Notre Dame came fast and furious and are too numerous to post. This one sums up the moral bankruptcy on display yesterday. Notre Dame has not only turned its back on the Catholic Church. They have declared war on it.

Pastor Says: 'I Saw Catholics Arrested for Being Catholic at a Catholic University'

5/16/2009 1:11:00 AM
By Catherine Rouse -Vision America

Vision America President Pastor Rick Scarborough said he was sickened by what he saw when those protesting Obama's speech at Notre Dame were arrested on the campus.

"I wept when I saw my friends arrested and taken to jail," Scarborough disclosed. "They almost broke the arm of a priest who appeared to be in his 80s, by dragging him on the ground."
Scarborough, who's a Southern Baptist preacher, said he was in South Bend in solidarity with Catholics who are protesting the upcoming commencement speech at Notre Dame by the most anti-life president in history.

"Millions of Catholics who were persecuted in their countries of origin came to these shores for religious freedom," Scarborough said. "These hard-working folk built institutions like Notre Dame to educate their children and strengthen their Church."

"Now Notre Dame is honoring Barack Obama, a man Catholics and other Christians should shun, as many of the Catholic bishops have."

When asked why he wasn't arrested, Scarborough explained: "This was a Catholic demonstration, As a Baptist, I had to respect that. I did not want to intrude. At the same time, I wanted to support a group of people I'm so proud of for standing up for Judeo-Christian morality."

Fr. Norman Weslin, the 80 year old priest who was arrested today at Notre Dame is a retired Air Force General who went into the priesthood after his wife died.

After his open heart surgery, despite the warnings from his doctors, Father led a pro-life youth group in a walk across the country. He's been arrested many times in the past during pro-life demonstrations.

Today, Notre Dame had him taken away to jail in a plastic bag for carrying a cross onto a supposedly Catholic campus.

Notre Dame President Sits on Board of Directors of Pro-Abortion, Pro-Contraception Organization

Notre Dame President Sits on Board of Directors of Pro-Abortion, Pro-Contraception Organization

By Alex Bush and John Jalsevac

SOUTH BEND, Indiana, May 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Fr. John Jenkins, President of Notre Dame University, sits on the board of directors of Millennium Promise, an organization dedicated to fighting poverty in Africa that promotes contraceptives and abortion, it has been revealed.

The finding comes as the controversy over President Obama's award and speech at the University reaches a fever pitch in the last week before the event. As the president of Notre Dame, Fr. Jenkins has received the majority of the heat for the scandal. However, despite the criticism of over 70 U.S. bishops and over 350,000 petitioners, Jenkins has steadfastly continued to defend the university's honoring of the president. In a letter to graduating students dated this past Monday, Jenkins said that Obama is "a remarkable figure in American history and I look forward to welcoming him to Notre Dame."

Fr. Jenkins' involvement on the board of the Millennium Promise was first reported by the Drew Mariani Show and PewSitter.com. (See the list of board members here: http://www.millenniumpromise.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_bod) Patrick Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society, a Catholic education watchdog organization, responded to the news of Fr. Jenkins' involvement in Millennium Promise, saying in an interview with LSN, "One has to wonder what Fr. Jenkins' opinion is of the Church's teaching on contraception."

Millennium Promise's mission is to enact the eight so-called Millennium Development Goals by 2015. However, the Millennium Development Goals have been widely promoted by pro-contraception and pro-abortion organizations, such as Millennium Promise, as including the goal of increasing access to contraception and abortion globally.

Millennium Promise raises funds from the private sector for what it calls its "flagship initiative," Millennium Villages, a group that works with small villages in Africa.

A Millennium Villages handbook explains that "family planning and contraception services are critical to allow women to choose family size and birth spacing, to combat sexually transmitted infections, including HIV infection, and contribute to the reduction of maternal morbidity and mortality."

It continues to explain that, "Services include: (1) Counseling; (2) Male and female condoms; (3) Pharmacologic contraceptives including oral, transdermal, intramuscular, and implanted methods; and (4) IUDs."

The handbook continues with an encouragement for "safe" abortion: "In countries where abortion is legal, safe abortion services in controlled settings by skilled practitioners should be established." (http://www.millenniumvillages.org/docs/MVP_Handbook_complete_18jun08.pdf page 92).

Fr. Jenkins has stated in the past that Notre Dame participates in the Millennium Villages Project via the Notre Dame Millennium Development Initiative (NDMDI). The efforts of the NDMDI focus on Uganda "where Notre Dame, through the Congregation of Holy Cross, has strong ties."

Interestingly, Uganda is known for its unprecedented success in reducing its HIV rate over the past several decades, using the so-called ABC approach, which emphasizes abstinence and faithfulness as the surest means of avoiding infection. In the last few years, however, anti-HIV leaders in Uganda have complained about an increasing effort by large Western aid organizations to pressure the country to vastly increase its promotion of condoms.

Patrick Reilly of the Cardinal Newman Society said that in his research into Millennium Promise he was extremely concerned to find that "not only condom distribution, but distribution of the pill, injectible contraception, and even abortion are part of the Millennium project's efforts."

"Any Catholic university that supports a program to reduce poverty by eliminating poor children has a serious problem," he said, adding that no Catholic "should be taking a leadership role in an effort that distributes contraception or promotes abortion."

A.L.L. Rallies Diocese to Take Notre Dame Off Catholic Directory

A.L.L. Rallies Diocese to Take Notre Dame Off Catholic Directory

Washington, DC (12 May 2009) -- American Life League will lead a prayer rally on the steps of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in the diocese of Fort Wayne/South Bend today to encourage Bishop John D'Arcy to remove Notre Dame from "The Official Catholic Directory."

The group says more than 40 years of dissent from official Catholic Church teaching disqualifies the school from identifying itself as a Catholic institution.American Life League set up operations in Fort Wayne, Indiana, last month in response to the scandal surrounding Notre Dame and the announcement that President Barack Obama, the most pro-abortion president in history, would give the 2009 commencement address and receive an honorary law degree.

"We're begging Bishop John D'Arcy to rebuke this attack on the faith. No more will we tolerate Catholic schools undermining Catholic teaching on life, on marriage... on the family itself," said Michael Barnett, American Life League director of leadership development in a letter to the group's supporters across the country.

If removed from the Directory, a definitive list of Catholic institutions in the United States, Notre Dame would join at least four other formerly Catholic universities: Marist College, St. John Fisher College, Nazarene College and Marymount Manhattan College.

"We must pray for the realization that there is no contradiction at a modern university between the search for truth and the pursuit of God," said Mike Barnett, American Life League director of leadership development. "We're here to achieve integrity and honesty about what is and is not a Catholic university."

The prayer rally will take place Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. on the steps of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

American Life League was cofounded in 1979 by Judie Brown. It is the largest grassroots Catholic pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death. For more information or press inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at 540.659.4942.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
American Life League: Notre Dame: A Timeline of Dissent http://all.org/article.php?id=11934

American Life League: Petition to Remove Notre Dame from the "Official Catholic Directory" http://all.org/ndpetition/

Bishop Calls King's College Honor for Sen. Casey 'an Affront'

Senator Will Also Give Address at College of the Holy Cross

King's College in Wilkes-Barre, Penn. and the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., both Catholic colleges, have invited Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr., to be a commencement speaker and honoree despite the public reprimand of Senator Casey by his bishop, Bishop Joseph Martino of the Diocese of Scranton.

"Catholic institutions have a unique responsibility to be strong public witnesses for Catholic values, and that commitment should be reflected in their selection of commencement speakers and honorees," said Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS). "The choice of Senator Casey, whose actions have been publicly questioned by his own bishop, seems contrary to that high standard,"

Bishop Joseph Martino of the Scranton Diocese has made public statements in recent months holding Casey--who is Catholic and campaigned as pro-life on abortion--accountable to Catholic teaching and asking Casey to reflect on whether he should be receiving the Eucharist at Mass.

Bishop Martino was critical earlier this year of Casey's vote opposing an amendment to reinstate the pro-life Mexico City Policy, which prohibits federal funds to groups that promote or perform abortions. Just last week, Bishop Martino scolded Casey for his vote to confirm pro-abortion Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services.

In reaction to the Sebelius vote, the Diocese published a statement which reads in part:

“Despite his claims of being 'pro-life,' Sen.
Casey's voting record thus far has been inconsistent.

"On the one hand, Sen. Casey is to be commended
for initiatives that provide support for pregnant women and families. And Bishop
Martino is grateful for the Senator's recent vote for an amendment that would
have provided conscience protection on abortion for health care workers.
(Regrettably, the amendment was defeated in the Senate.)

"On the other hand, Sen. Casey voted to rescind
the Mexico City Policy, thus ensuring that American taxpayer funds go to
organizations abroad dedicated to performing and promoting abortions even in
cultures that are opposed to them. The result is that abortion becomes the
preferred means for reducing family size in developing nations. Neither the
Helms Amendment nor any other U.S. legislation prevents that.

"He also voted for the appointment of Harvard
Law School Dean Elena Kagan as solicitor general. Ms. Kagan supports
partial-birth abortion and opposed withdrawing federal funds from
taxpayer-funded abortion clinics despite popular opposition. She opposed funding
teen-pregnancy counseling by religious institutions. As solicitor general, she
is likely to oppose the Federal Defense of Marriage Act, thus opening the door
to legislation allowing same-sex marriage.

"And now Sen. Casey has joined with his
colleagues to put Gov. Sebelius in charge of building a new health care system
in the United States. Her well-established pro-abortion track record provides
ample evidence for the anti-life decisions she will make in this key
position."

Bishop Martino is now calling the decision of King's College, a Congregation of the Holy Cross-sponsored institution in the Scranton Diocese, "an affront to all who value the sanctity of life." The bishop said that Sen. Casey lacks "the moral stature" to properly address the challenges faced by the graduates. King's College plans to award Sen. Casey an honorary doctorate at commencement on May 17.

The College of the Holy Cross, a Jesuit institution, has also announced plans to honor and provide commencement platform to Sen. Casey on May 22, 2009.

Over the past few months, many U.S. bishops have reinforced the 2004 USCCB statement, "Catholics in Political Life" in their opposition to Notre Dame's intended honor for pro-abortion President Barack Obama. The statement reads: "The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions."

ND alumna asks whether Obama honor encourages indifference to abortion

ND alumna asks whether Obama honor encourages indifference to abortion

Washington D.C., May 2, 2009 / 04:58 pm (CNA).- Providing a new take on the controversy, a University of Notre Dame alumna has asked whether her alma mater's decision to honor President Barack Obama would discourage pro-life women in crisis pregnancies and encourage Catholics who believe Church teaching on abortion is "just dining-room talk."

Lacy Dodd, a 1999 graduate of the university, explained in a May 1 essay for the website of the journal "First Things" how she had become pregnant by her boyfriend in the last semester of her senior year at the school.

She told how she had run to the school's famous Marian Grotto after testing positive for pregnancy.

"I was confused and full of conflicting emotions," Dodd wrote.

"But I knew this: No amount of shame or embarrassment would ever lead me to get rid of my baby. Of all women, Our Lady could surely feel pity for an unplanned pregnancy. I recalled her surrendered love to God's invitation to become the home of the Incarnate Word. 'Let it be done to me according to thy word,' she had said. In my hour of need, on my knees, I asked Mary for courage and strength. And she did not disappoint."

She said her boyfriend, also a Notre Dame senior, tried to pressure her into having an abortion.

"Like so many women in similar circumstances, I found out the kind of man the father of my child was at precisely the moment I needed him most. 'All that talk about abortion is just dining-room talk,' he said. 'When it's really you in the situation, it's different. I will drive you to Chicago and pay for a good doctor.'"

Replying to her insistence that this was not an option, he said he was pro-choice.

"I responded by informing him that my choice was life. And I learned, as so many pregnant women have before and since, that life is the one choice that pro-choicers won't support."

Though having an unsupportive boyfriend, Dodd said she could rely on the "priceless gift" of her family who would "welcome into their hearts the life that God had put in my womb."

She also relied on the people at Women's Care Center in South Bend, who she says encouraged her "everything was going to be all right," educated her on her pregnancy and provided her with information on how to stay healthy.

Dodd graduated from Notre Dame with a bachelor's degree in American Studies and earned a ROTC commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army.

Though she considered adoption, she decided to raise her baby. She gave birth to a baby girl on All Saints Day and named her Mary.

"Her name is no accident. This Mary was living inside me while I walked the campus of a university dedicated to a woman who is mother of us all, and it was Mary Our Mother who gave me courage when I was afraid of what would lie ahead," she wrote at the First Things website.

Though calling Notre Dame a "special place," Dodd said it is not immune to "the realities of modern life."

"There are students who face unplanned pregnancies, and--most tragically--women who think their only option is abortion," she said, noting that one in five women who have an abortion is a college student.

"On campuses all across this country, abortion is the status quo. We need to change that with an unambiguous stand for life, and Notre Dame needs to be in the lead."

She closed with a question to Fr. John Jenkins, the president of Notre Dame:

"Who draws support from your decision to honor President Obama--the young, pregnant Notre Dame woman sitting in that graduating class who wants desperately to keep her baby, or the Notre Dame man who believes that the Catholic teaching on the intrinsic evil of abortion is just dining-room talk?"

First 300,000 Petition Signatures Delivered to Notre Dame Board Members, Fr. Jenkins

First 300,000 Petition Signatures Delivered to Notre Dame Board Members, Fr. Jenkins

Copies Are Being Rushed to Rome, Papal Nuncio, USCCB and ND Bishop John D'Arcy

This morning, April 29, 2009, the first 300,000 names of individuals who signed the petition at NotreDameScandal.com -- opposing the University of Notre Dame's decision to honor President Barack Obama at commencement -- began to be delivered to Notre Dame president Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., the Board of Trustees and the Board of Fellows as they prepare for scheduled meetings on Friday, May 1, at Notre Dame.

As of this morning, more than 344,000 people have signed the petition, but because of the overwhelming numbers it took The Cardinal Newman Society more than 24 hours to prepare the data and print more than 64,000 sheets of paper, double sided, which were then bound in notebooks and sent via FedEx to Father Jenkins and individual members of the Notre Dame Board of Trustees and Board of Fellows.

Copies of the petitions are also being rushed by The Cardinal Newman Society, which sponsored the petition, to Archbishop Zenon Cardinal Grocholewski, Prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education; Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Apostolic Nuncio (Vatican ambassador) to the United States; Francis Cardinal George, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB); Bishop John D'Arcy, of Fort Wayne-South Bend, who presides over Notre Dame; and Bishop Robert McManus, Chairman of the USCCB Education Committee.

"Only the Notre Dame Trustees and Fellows have direct authority over Father Jenkins, so their meetings on Friday are our best hope for an end to this scandal," said Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society.

"It is critical for all of us to pray that the Trustees and Fellows charged with safeguarding Notre Dame's Catholic identity will heed the 50 bishops and hundreds of thousands of faithful Catholics urging Notre Dame to withdraw its invitation to President Obama."

The University of Notre Dame is governed by a 12-member Board of Fellows, including six Holy Cross priests, who are charged with ensuring "that the University maintains its essential character as a Catholic institution of higher learning." The Fellows delegate most of their governing authority to the 38-member Board of Trustees, comprised mostly of lay people.

The university's charter states: "The essential character of the University as a Catholic institution of higher learning shall at all times be maintained, it being the stated intention and desire of the present Fellows of the University that the University shall retain in perpetuity its identity as such an institution."