Ivory Tower Heretics

Extreme Pro-Abortion Feminist Heather Mallick Scheduled to Speak at Catholic St. Mary's University

2008-10-03T11:26:00.002-04:00

Note: It's really time that Bishops crack down on some of the most wayward schools that still identify themselves as Catholic in fundraising drives but deviate from Church doctrine on a regular basis. Leading young people astray is not Catholic.

Extreme Pro-Abortion Feminist Heather Mallick Scheduled to Speak at Catholic St. Mary's University
By Kathleen Gilbert

CALGARY, Alberta, October 2, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - St. Mary's University College in Calgary, a Catholic institution, has invited Heather Mallick, a virulently pro-abortion and anti-Catholic author and columnist to address students as part of their 2008-09 speaker series.

Ms. Mallick is scheduled to deliver her talk, "A Liberal Arts Education: Worth Its Weight in Gold" to St. Mary's students on January 22, 2009.

Mallick, a well-established feminist column writer, has an undisguised antipathy toward Catholic teaching and morals, particularly concerning abortion and sexuality.

In an article published last year on CBC News, Mallick railed against the Vatican's refusal to support abortion for African women, saying the Church has "no pity" for African women whom the Church thinks "don't matter as much as a clump of cells." Therefore, Mallick says, Catholics choosing to disobey the Church are "inevitable" and more rational than Church officials, whom she called "folks who don't get out much."

Mallick advocates an extremely liberal approach to sexuality. In another CBC column she celebrated abortion as the "Get out of Jail Free card" that allows men and women to engage in uninhibited sex:

"Birth control and abortion rights have been a sexual volcano for men, one of those volcanoes that never stops erupting. So much more, and better, sex has been had. Men have been having a giant fling for decades, and women, able to relax about the terror of an unwanted pregnancy, have had more and better sex too.

"Professional disapprovers ... can cross their legs and 'tsk' away in the background till they meet their maker," she added, "but the fun will go on."

Mallick is also an ardent admirer of abortionist Dr. Henry Morgentaler, with whom she has met frequently in the effort to spread abortion in Canada. Mallick has called Morgentaler "a fighter, survivor, lover of women and friend."

Most recently, Mallick made international news when she penned an article attacking Republican VP-candidate Sarah Palin, in which she said Palin's style was a "toned-down version of the porn actress look" and referred to the Republican vote as the "hick vote," amongst other incendiary statements. The article was denounced by numerous commentators for its raunchy and bitter personal attacks against Palin and her family. In the end the CBC, not known for its friendliness to conservatives, issued an apology and retracted Mallick's piece.

In December of 2007 Mallick attacked a Crisis Pregnancy Center in Ottawa in another one of her columns, with the end result that the center, "First Place," was forced to pull out of a fundraiser in order to spare the foundation that was hosting the fundraiser the negative publicity caused by Mallick's denunciations.

In their statement of educational philosophy, St. Mary's University College website says that the College in its tradition of Catholic education "values this rich heritage of academic freedom, rigorous intellectual inquiry, respect for diversity of opinion and belief, and social responsibility." It also states that "St. Mary's promotes dialogue between faith and reason so it can be seen more profoundly that faith and reason bear harmonious witness to the unity of all truth."

When LifeSiteNews.com questioned Dr. Terrence Downey, President of St. Mary's, about the choice to invite Mallick to speak at the university, he emphasized that Mallick was only invited to speak about the liberal arts, and not her views on religion or abortion. "I certainly don't agree with Heather Mallick, neither does this institution," said Downey. "This [the abortion issue] is serious business."

When LSN asked Dr. Downey if he thought inviting Mallick could give scandal, he expressed concern about the "controversial" nature of Mallick, but noted that "part of our philosophy here [at St. Mary's] is that we reach out to people who don't agree with us, don't believe in us, and let them see what a good Catholic place looks like.

"We didn't deliberately go out and get somebody who was controversial, by the way - in this case, and she is controversial enough - but you say: 'how can we best evangelize here, and do what we're doing?'"

To contact Dr. Downey:

14500 Bannister Road SE
Calgary, Alberta, T2X 1Z4
Phone: (403)254-3701
E-mail: Terry.Downey@stmu.ab.ca

Fordham Petition Against Honor for Baby Killing Breyer

2008-09-29T12:13:00.004-04:00

Fordham Students Rise, Petition University President to Revoke Award Offer to Justice Breyer

Manassas, Va. - Less than two weeks after The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) broke the story that pro-abortion Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is the intended recipient of the Fordham-Stein Ethics Prize, Fordham University students are working feverishly to collect signatures petitioning President Rev. Joseph McShane, S.J. to rescind the honor. The Fordham Respect for Life club penned an open letter to Father McShane, and is now asking the general public to join them in their petition.

At the request of Respect for Life, an electronic petition has been added to The Cardinal Newman Society website. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to add their support. All names and emails submitted will be presented to Fordham President, Rev. Joseph McShane, S.J. by Respect for Life.

A month from today, on October 29, The Fordham-Stein Ethics Prize is scheduled to be bestowed upon Justice Breyer at a dinner in New York City.

In review: Justice Breyer infamously wrote the majority opinion in 2000 for Stenberg v. Carhart, which struck down state laws banning the barbaric practice of partial-birth abortion. The Cardinal Newman Society wrote to Father McShane five weeks ago informing him of Justice Breyer's record. No response was given. Since then many have expressed outrage at Fordham's silence.

Patrick J. Reilly, President of the Cardinal Newman Society, highlighted the deep contradiction implicit in Fordham's offer of the award to Justice Breyer. In a CNS press release from Sept. 5, Reilly cited the U.S. Bishops’ consistent opposition to pro-abortion public figures being given awards and platforms.

"If Fordham truly aspires to follow its own mission statement and be 'Guided by its Catholic and Jesuit traditions,' then it must rescind the offer of this award to Justice Breyer," said Reilly.

Student leaders from Fordham's Respect for Life club attempted several times to meet with University administrators, but their requests were met with more silence. The students needed official permission to set up tables to collect signatures for their petition. Without this green light their options have been limited.

Fordham Respect for Life and CNS are therefore appealing to everyone who shares the conviction that Fordham University must rescind the offer of the Fordham-Stein Ethics Prize to Justice Breyer to add their names to the electronic petition.

Fordham Law to Honor Justice Breyer

2008-09-15T12:13:00.003-04:00

The article states the specific case Breyer wrote the opinion for. But his overall record is one of hostility to Catholic moral issues, natural law, and the US Consititution itself. His record is hardly one deserving of recognition for "ethics".

Fordham Law to Honor Justice Breyer Who Wrote Majority Opinion Supporting Partial-Birth Abortion

In a brash move defying the U.S Bishops' speakers policy, Fordham University's Stein Center for Law and Ethics announced that proabortion Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer is the 2008 recipient of the Fordham-Stein Ethics Prize. Breyer infamously wrote the majority opinion in Stenberg v. Carhart, which struck down state laws banning the barbaric practice of partial-birth abortion.

The Fordham-Stein Ethics Prize is scheduled to be bestowed upon Justice Breyer at a dinner in New York on October 29, 2008.

Three weeks ago The Cardinal Newman Society President Patrick J. Reilly wrote to inform Rev. Joseph McShane, S.J., President of Fordham University, of Justice Breyer's record. Reilly urged him to rescind the offer of the Fordham-Stein Ethics Prize to Breyer. No response was given.

"This amounts to nothing less than Fordham University thumbing its nose at the US Bishops, whose opposition to such honors is clear." said Reilly.

Earlier this year The Cardinal Newman Society led a coalition of prominent Catholic organizations and released a statement in support of the US Bishops' speakers policy. In the 2004 statement, "Catholics in Political Life," the Bishops stated: "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."

In the 2000 decision Stenberg v. Carhart, Supreme Court Justice Breyer wrote in the majority opinion: "this Court, in the course of a generation, has determined and then redetermined that the Constitution offers basic protection to the woman's right to choose."

In contrast, New York Archbishop, Edward Cardinal Egan recently lambasted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for defending the so-called "right to choose." Egan said: "Anyone who dares to defend that they [children in the womb] may be legitimately killed because another human being 'chooses' to do so or for any other equally ridiculous reason should not be providing leadership in a civilized democracy worthy of the name."

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, in his dissenting opinion in Stenberg, wrote: "I am optimistic enough to believe that, one day, Stenberg v. Carhart will be assigned its rightful place in the history of this Court's jurisprudence beside Korematsu and Dred Scott. The method of killing a human child . . . proscribed by this statute is so horrible that the most clinical description of it evokes a shudder of revulsion."

"The choice by Fordham University of Justice Breyer to receive this prestigious award," said Patrick Reilly, "is a far cry from an award established to recognize the 'positive contributions of the legal profession to American society.' Justice Breyer did not act objectively in Stenberg, but rather overstepped his authority and legislated from the bench."
“"f Fordham truly aspires to follow its own mission statement and be 'Guided by its Catholic and Jesuit traditions,' then it must rescind the offer of this award to Justice Breyer," said Reilly.

Howard Dean, Obama Campaign at Saint Louis University

2008-09-09T18:43:00.003-04:00

Howard Dean, Obama Campaign at Saint Louis University

Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, will bring presidential hopeful Barack Obama's Register for Change tour to Saint Louis University tomorrow. It is only the latest incident of a Catholic college hosting a campaign event for the pro-abortion presidential candidate.

Howard Dean, who is also the former Governor of Vermont, is notorious in American politics for his support of legalized abortion. In addition to campaigning for pro-abortion Obama, in 2002 Dean defended the legality of the barbaric practice of partial-birth abortion, in which a third trimester half-delivered baby's skull is evacuated. "The notion of 'partial birth abortion' is nonsense," said Dean. "This is a rare procedure used only to save the life or health of the mother."

"The Bishops have been very clear," said Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS). "Catholic institutions must not give a public platform to politicians who are publicly opposed to Catholic teaching. The Obama Campaign should not be welcome at Saint Louis University."

This is not the first time this year that Saint Louis University has come under criticism for abusing its Catholic identity. In January, Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis, Missouri, urged the university to discipline its basketball coach for public statements in support of abortion and stem cell research, while campaigning for pro-abortion candidate Hillary Clinton.

During this presidential campaign season, The Cardinal Newman Society has lamented other appearances of pro-abortion politicians on Catholic university campuses. In February, Sen. Hillary Clinton spoke at St. Norbert College in Wisconsin as well as St. Mary's University in Texas. In January, Saint Peter's College in New Jersey hosted a rally for Sen. Barack Obama. And in March 2007 Loras College did the same, while Michelle Obama spoke at Villanova University in March 2008.

The Cardinal Newman Society also opposed appearances of Sen. John McCain at Catholic Xavier University and Villanova last spring because of his support of embryonic stem-cell research.

Last February, CNS led a coalition of 18 Catholic organizations in support of the US Bishop’s speaker policies. They issued a statement urging Catholic institutions to "refrain from all activities that provide a public platform to, or imply support or even neutrality toward, political leaders and candidates who advocate positions on serious moral issues that are clearly contrary to Catholic teaching."

Notre Dame Scholars Begin Lining Up Behind Efforts to Re-Catholicize Notre Dame

2008-09-01T08:33:00.003-04:00

Notre Dame Scholars Begin Lining Up Behind Efforts to Re-Catholicize Notre Dame: Author and Prof. Ralph McInerny Calls Sycamore Trust a Model of the Restoration Efforts

8/24/2008 10:37:00 AM
By William H. Dempsey (ND Class of 1952) -Sycamore Trust

Alma mater, By Ralph McInerny
The University of Notre Dame has always been blessed by loyal and generous alumni. This has never been truer than in the case of Project Sycamore, whose president is Bill Dempsey '52, retired after a most distinguished legal career that began with a clerkship under Chief Justice Earl Warren. Dempsey has rallied fellow alumni to address current campus outrages, and thousands of alumni have subscribed to the Sycamore website (www.sycamoretrust.org). The extremes of alumni sentiment might be called unquestioning, on the one hand, and carping, on the other. Project Sycamore, as evidenced by Dempsey's letters to ND president Father John Jenkins and his analyses of university proposals, is a model of calm and reasonable yet unrelenting friendly questioning of recent events on the South Bend campus.

The trigger for the Project was the incredible waffling of Father Jenkins about, and ultimate allowing of, campus presentations of the infamous and pornographic play The Vagina Monologues. The very title is an affront. Imagine Penis Ponderings, Malice Aforeskin or Anal Analyses. That such a patent effort to corrupt the young and to trash common morality, to say nothing of the enforcement and enlargement of that morality by Catholic moral teaching, should not require five minutes of reflection before being dismissed. Yet the unthinkable has happened, again and again. If only Father Jenkins had simply sought his mother's advice, none of this would have happened.

A meeting of bishops, scheduled to be held at Notre Dame, was moved because the prelates were given no assurance that the Monologues would not be shown again. Bishop John D'Arcy had previously, and publicly, expressed his dismay to Father Jenkins, in firm but gentle pastoral terms. Jenkins' latest compromise has been to meet the Monologues with -- dialogue; that is, to schedule discussions of this monstrosity after it is enacted. The problem is that those who had not fled gagging beforehand did not stay around for the "academic" discussion that followed.

The controversy brought to the surface the disturbing fact that a significant number of Notre Dame faculty are pleased as punch at the showing of the Monologues and characterize objections to it as an assault on - you guessed it - academic freedom. This led Project Sycamore to examine the alarming drop in the percentage of Catholics on the faculty, now hovering around 50 percent. To its credit, the administration too is concerned about this - a concern that would have been quickened by Pope Benedict XVI's remarks during his recent visit to the United States. The plan to remedy this that was proposed by the university revealed, upon analysis by Project Sycamore, that, far from meeting the problem, it would exacerbate it; the analysis is a model of the incisive comments one has learned to expect from Project Sycamore.

The administration would be less than human if they did not wish that Project Sycamore would just go away. What can one do with a group that does not accuse you of malice but rather exhibits the naivete and ineffectiveness of your actions? I doubt very much that Project Sycamore will become deciduous soon. They love Notre Dame too much for that. They are not trying to score points against Father Jenkins. They are appealing to his undoubted intelligence and good will. In the end, it is, in its way, a lovers' quarrel.

A few issues ago, The New Criterion ran a symposium on the parlous state of higher education. All of its exempla horribilia took place on secular campuses. Alas, many of them are what Notre Dame has come to refer to as peer institutions, a designation which is perhaps more wishful than factual. The New Criterion was only one of hundreds of lamentations about our colleges and universities that have appeared over the last decade or so, some of them written by former presidents of as well as by professors in those institutions.

Notre Dame is not a secular university. It is a Catholic university, as indeed were all the original universities. Universities arose, as John Paul II pointed out, ex corde ecclesiae. What the times require is not for Catholic universities to become more like their chaotic secular counterparts, but to recover and celebrate the great tradition in which they stand. The future of Catholic universities could be even more golden than their past, but only if they set aside an indecent respect for the opinions of mankind and celebrate the complementarity of faith and reason.

No one could imagine that Father Jenkins would take exception to this ideal. Only a churl would imagine that there is some plan to secularize Notre Dame. Our president is a good and holy priest, although a philosopher. Project Sycamore and Father Jenkins are children of the same mother, the lady atop the golden dome. She will bring them together in her historic roles as Advocata nostra and Sedes sapientiae.

#####

Notre Dame professor Ralph McInerny gave the inaugural Schall Lecture,"There was a man! On learning to be free" , at Georgetown University on April 10.

A NEW LOW, EVEN BY JESUIT STANDARDS: Georgetown Univ.

2008-09-01T08:22:00.002-04:00

Our take: I don't want to be accused of stating the obvious but this pathetic display is completely contrary to the mission of a Catholic University and not befitting the oldest Catholic school in America. There is a clear teaching on the issue of homosexuality and anything that condones, empowers or glosses over the morally and naturally disordered act of sodomy is contrary to it. Sex outside marriage is sin. homosexual sex is sin plus disorder. Yet at Georgetown it is being glorified with a "temple" and is draining resources, energy and attention away from the mission of the school. Teaching truth isn't even a consideration since it might offend someone. Shame, shame, shame.

A NEW LOW, EVEN BY JESUIT STANDARDS: Georgetown Univ. Announces Director for Their New Lesbian, Gay, Transgendered, and Queer Resources Center

8/24/2008 9:34:00 PM
By www.thehoya.com -Connie Parham

Matthew 18:6 - He that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea. As painters work to put the finishing touches on the newly created LGBTQ Resource Center, the center's first director, Sivagami Subbaraman, has been working to make a presence for the center as students arrive back to campus.

Subbaraman arrived at Georgetown four weeks ago to begin preparing the center, located adjacent to the Women's Center on the third floor of the Leavey Center.

GU Pride began pushing for the resource center last fall after two alleged hate crimes against Georgetown students, kicking off a university-wide movement led by GU Pride for increased inclusion of and education about the LGBTQ community on campus.

In October, University President John J. DeGioia approved several of GU Pride's requests, including the formation of three working groups that would address reporting, resources and education. Four months later, DeGioia announced his approval and backing of a proposal created by the working group on resources for an LGBTQ resource center.

After DeGioia's announcement, a committee began a nationwide search for the LGBTQ director. Subbaraman said she was invited to two interviews on campus, and, in May, Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson issued a letter to the university community naming Subbaraman as the center's first director.

"I really hope the center will be a space for LGBTQ students, faculty and staff as well as non-LGBTQ people," Subbaraman said of her vision for the center.

Subbaraman, originally from India, came to the United States almost 26 years ago to complete her education, attending graduate school at the University of Illinois, where she studied English and Women's Studies. Most recently, Subbaraman served as associate director of the University of Maryland's Office of LGBT Equity.

Subbaraman said she has a broader vision for the center that extends beyond her experience at the University of Maryland.

"I learned a lot from [Maryland]," she said. "But I think what I will bring to this job is where LGBT issues fit into general diversity."

Subbaraman said that one of her visions for the center is to help LGBTQ issues to be seen as part of a larger set of diversity issues, rather than in its own category.

"I don't want to be put back into the closet," she said.

Subbaraman said she plans to hire a full-time program coordinator by the end of the fall, as well as possibly a few student employees.

Subbaraman said at this early point, she is not sure what other concrete goals she has for the center and that she will first need to start a discussion with faculty, administrators and students.
"I need to build on that momentum and keep up that energy," she said of the work done by students and faculty last year.

Subbaraman said that working at Georgetown, which has such a strong Jesuit identity, will bring a "different set of challenges" than those that came with working at the University of Maryland, a school without a religious affiliation. She added, though, that she attended Catholic school in India, which made her "very comfortable in the Catholic education environment."

"I feel the university is committed to making this succeed," she said. "The center exists. That says something."

Jack Harrison (SFS '09), co-chair of GU Pride, also said he hopes to work closely with the new director in developing programming for the year.

While she said she could not comment on GU Pride's demonstrations last year, she did say that she hopes to work with the group to look at new ways to lead the community.

"In general the model that prevails is activism," she said. "We need to create other forms of leadership that will take us from the activist mold."

Harrison said GU Pride is looking to launch efforts this year to make the campus more "trans-friendly" by working to provide bathrooms and better housing options for transgender individuals.

In addition, he said he believes it is important to bring more diversity to the organization, particularly in bringing a greater variety of political views to the group.

Harrison said Subbaraman's work as the first director of the center will help to catalyze these efforts.

"Having a person who can advocate for our issues is a big achievement," he said.

He said Subbaraman has already emerged as a leader over the past week in training and giving presentations to members of various groups such as Young Leaders in Education about Diversity, New Student Orientation and Residence Life.

"I think that as people become slightly more sensitized, that will start to have a big effect on how LGBTQ people are treated on campus," Harrison said.

Subbaraman said she will be holding an open house on Tuesday afternoon and plans to make herself visible among students and parents throughout move-in weekend.

Looking on as workers finish construction of a large window next to the entrance to the center, Subbaraman said she hopes to continue the hard work of students and faculty in order to raise awareness for the LGBTQ community at Georgetown.

"The message it sends is 'we are open,'" she said of the new window. "We are open. We have nothing to hide."

Pro-Abortion/Same-Sex "Marriage" Belinda Stronach to be Keynote Speaker at Catholic College in Western Canada

2008-08-19T13:43:00.005-04:00

Pro-Abortion/Same-Sex "Marriage" Belinda Stronach to be Keynote Speaker at Catholic College in Western Canada

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski

MUENSTER, Saskatchewan, August 18, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - St. Peter's College, a Benedictine liberal arts school affiliated with the University of Saskatchewan, and which describes itself as being deeply rooted in the Catholic tradition, has invited Belinda Stronach, known for her support of abortion and same-sex marriage, to be the keynote speaker at its fund-raising dinner to be held September 16, 2008.

A spokeswoman at St. Peter's college told LifeSiteNews.com that Stronach was chosen to speak at their Gala dinner because of her business experience and fund-raising acumen, but declined to comment on whether the college was concerned about Stronach's position on issues which put her in direct opposition to the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Stronach has a lengthy history of actively promoting abortion and homosexual "marriage." Earlier this year LifeSiteNews.com reported that the Liberal MP was one of a handful of Canadian politicians photographed marching in the raunchy Toronto Gay Pride Parade. She has also participated in the parade in previous years.

In 2006 LifeSiteNews reported that Stronach told the Toronto Star that she believed that only pro-abortion women's groups should receive government funding. Stronach said, "[Pro-life women's groups] should be rejected because they're anti-choice and they're also anti-equal rights. They don't support equality."

Stronach's comments to the press closely resembled those she made in the House of Commons the day before the Toronto Star published its story. Stronach slammed the government for even hearing the opinions of REAL Women, a pro-life and pro-family women's group. "This is a group that is anti-choice, anti-gay, does not support equality for women and wants to obliterate the Department on the Status of Women," said Stronach. "This group's website even has links to sites that suggest that day cares do not care and homosexuality is a psychological disorder."

The politician has made numerous other statements throughout the years affirming her support for numerous issues that run directly in opposition to fundamental Catholic moral teachings.

A request for comment to the president of St. Peter's College was not answered by press time.

No one was available for comment at the office of the Bishop of Saskatoon.

To express your concern to St. Peter's College please contact:

Robert Harasymchuk, President
St. Peter's College
Phone: 306.682.7888
Fax: 306.682.4402
Email: spc@stpeters.sk.ca
Website: http://www.stpeterscollege.ca/
Mailing Address
RPO Box 40
Muenster, SK S0K 2Y0

To express your concern to the Bishop of Saskatoon please contact:

Most Reverend Albert Francois LeGatt, Bishop of Saskatoon
100 - 5th Avenue North
Saskatoon, SK S7K 2N7
Phone: (306) 242-1500
Toll Free: 877-661-5005
Fax: (306) 244-6010

In addition, the following may be contacted:

Peter Novecosky OSB - Abbot of St. Peter's Abbey, as he is Chancellor for the College
Phone: 306.682.1777
Fax: 306.682.1766
RPO Box 10
Muenster SK S0K 2Y0
abbotpeter@stpeters.sk.ca,

Demetrius Wasylyniuk OSB, as he is the Chair of St. Peter's College Board of Governors
Phone: 306.682.1777
Fax: 306.682.1766
RPO Box 10
Muenster SK S0K 2Y0

"VAGINA MONOLOGUES" AUDIENCE SHUNS "DIALOGUE WITH THE CATHOLIC TRADITION"

2008-08-11T08:43:00.001-04:00

AT NOTRE DAME UNIVERSITY, "VAGINA MONOLOGUES" AUDIENCE SHUNS "DIALOGUE WITH THE CATHOLIC TRADITION" PRESCRIBED BY FR. JENKINS

8/10/2008 12:16:00 PM
By William Dempsey, President -www.projectsycamore.com

How much more can Catholics take?!?

In our letter of July 10, 2008, to Father Jenkins, we pointed out how this year's student production of The Vagina Monologues failed to meet his requirement that the students in the audience receive an explanation from panelists of relevant Catholic moral doctrine, and we urged that accordingly he should not approve such performances in the future. Here, we summarize and supplement our letter.

Father Jenkins's prior decision

Father Jenkins has not taken a benign view of the play. It contains, he has conceded, "graphic descriptions of homosexual, extra- marital, heterosexual, and autoerotic experiences" - including "depiction of seduction of a sixteen-year-old girl by an adult woman" - in "portrayals [that] stand apart from, and indeed in opposition to, the view that human sexuality finds its proper expression in the committed relationship of marriage." "There is," he said, "no hint of central elements of Catholic sexual morality." (For the repellant but compelling evidence, see our our description of the play.)

While Father Jenkins initially declared that, because of his appraisal of the play, he thought it "problematical" whether he should approve its performance, he ultimately receded in the face of determined faculty opposition. But he did so only on condition that the play be "brought into dialogue with Catholic tradition through panels" following each performance. Through "serious and informed discussion" of the moral issues," he declared, there could be "creative contextualization" of the play and a "constructive and fruitful dialogue with the Catholic tradition" in an "academic setting."

The performances

As we reported in our letter, this rationale was completely undermined during this year's three performances by the emptying of the auditorium when the play ended and the panel discussions were about to begin. With some 80% of the students - 900 or so - shunning the discussions, any "dialogue with Catholic tradition" took place in a largely empty 450-person auditorium.

This alone should end the matter. But there is a good deal more, as we explain in detail in our letter. For example, the divided views of the panelists conveyed the impression that the teachings of the Church on these fundamental moral issues had an uncertain hold in the Notre Dame and St. Mary's faculties; and audience participation at times included immoderate assaults on positions of the Church and the Bishop that robbed the discussion of standing as an academic event.

In sum, the notion that this sort of staging could transform a largely pornographic performance into some sort of "creative contextualization" that would illuminate Catholic tradition for the students has proved utterly fanciful. In these circumstances, Father Jenkins can be true to the terms he has set only by ending this play's long run.

The Pope's Address

There has been another relevant recent development that we discussed briefly in our last newsletter, the Pope's address to Catholic educators.

Since the performances have been justified in terms of academic freedom, and since as we note in our letter two of the panelists reportedly cast doubt on the Church's teaching respecting lesbian and homosexual sex, it is useful to consider what the Pope said about academic freedom:

I wish to reaffirm the great value of academic freedom. In virtue of this freedom you are called to search for the truth wherever careful analysis of evidence leads you. Yet it is also the case that any appeal to the principle of academic freedom in order to justify positions that contradict the faith and the teaching of the Church would obstruct or even betray the university's identity and mission: a mission at the heart of the Church's 'munus docendi' and not somehow autonomous or independent of it [emphasis supplied].

But there is an even more fundamental principle at the center of the Pope's address. "Catholic identity," the Pope declared, "demands and inspires...that each and every aspect of your learning communities reverberates within the ecclesial life of faith."

It is preposterous, to put it conservatively, to view these performances of this meretricious play as reverberating with "the ecclesial life of faith." They reverberated, rather, with a quite different, and quite malign, culture.

To any who think that the Pope's declaration does not indict Notre Dame's embrace of The Vagina Monologues, George Weigel has proposed a simple test. He writes:

Whether or not to produce Eve Ensler's "Vagina Monologues" - a "play" that mocks the settled teaching of the Catholic Church - has become a tedious annual ritual on many Catholic campuses. Prominent among them is Notre Dame: to the public mind, the flagship among U.S. Catholic institutions of higher education. There, the university's president, Father John Jenkins, CSC, has allowed Ensler's 'play' on campus, acquiescing to the demands of some Notre Dame faculty while rejecting the counsel of other distinguished faculty members and the arguments of the local bishop....So here's my proposal and my test-case: Let Father Jenkins send Pope Benedict XVI a copy of Ensler's 'play,' asking the Pope whether he considers this material appropriate for production or useful for discussion on a Catholic campus. The answer, I predict, will not please the spin machine.

Action

If this past year's experience does not bring this annual celebration of wanton sex to an end, it is hard to imagine what will. It is time to add your names to our petition if you have not done so, and it is not too early to write Father Jenkins yourselves to urge that Notre Dame relinquish the leadership of the small and shrinking band of Catholic institutions still hosting this pernicious play.

Sincerely,

Project Sycamore Officers and Directors, Officers, William H. Dempsey ('52), President; Joseph A. Reich, Jr. ('57) Vice President; George L. Heidkamp ('52), Treasurer & Secretary;

Directors: Richard V. Allen ('57, '58); Dr. Daniel M. Boland ('56, '61); Lauren Galgano ('05, '08); Timothy M. Dempsey ('89); Dr. John A. Gueguen, Jr. ('56, '58); Dr. Susan Biddle Shearer ('88)

email: news@projectsycamore.com; web: http://www.projectsycamore.com

To add your name to a petition to have this outrageous scandal at Notre Dame STOPPED CLICK HERE

http://sycamoretrust.org/phpPetition/index.php

A Look Back: Liberal Professors Didn't Get What They Wanted

2008-07-17T16:31:00.004-04:00

Note: It is a rare day indeed when I use a post to America Magazine to make a point. You can be assured that the point is about dissent which that magazine is the best source of. Usually I use Catholic sources but this will have to do. I wonder how exactly this guy "ministers" on campus?

San Jose Employs Dissenter as Professor and Campus Minister

Ron Hansen is a contemporary "Catholic" novelist, a married deacon in the liberal diocese of San Jose, California, and member of the Campus Ministry staff at the Jesuit Santa Clara University, where he is also the Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J., Professor--especially of "creative writing."

His religious opinions in the April 25, 2005, issue of America magazine entitled "What Should the Next Pope [after John Paul II] Do?":

The first thing I would like to see changed is the current restriction limiting priesthood only to those who are male and celibate. Also, the questions of Humanae Vitae should be revisited. A culture of suspicion, particularly concerning the American church, seems to exist in the Curia now. I find it unnecessary and in many ways evil. I hope the next pope will ratify the brilliant new English-language Sacramentary that has been waiting, unused, for too long. And I would like to see intensified an ecumenical outreach, especially to those Protestant denominations with which we have much in common.

(http://www.americamagazine.org/gettext.cfm?articleTypeID=1&textID=4136&issueID=528)

His endorsement of a liberal Protestant Bible with "inclusive" language:

"I HAVE USED THE HARPERCOLLINS STUDY BIBLE FOR LITERATURE CLASSES AND FOR MY PRIVATE PRAYER. THE NRSV [New Revised Standard Version] TRANSLATION IS OUTSTANDING." (http://www.nrsv.net/purchase.html)

Thus, he dissents from important matters of Catholic discipline (clerical celibacy) and infallible teachings on faith (priestly ordination only for baptized men) and morals (the "questions" of Humanae Vitae: marriage as well as the authority of the papal magisterium and of the natural moral law). Also he thinks highly of two literary works which (while being translations rather than novels) have both been discredited by the Holy See especially for their use of inclusive language and "deconstructivsm" (the text means whatever the writer or translator wants it to mean); so much for his literary tastes.

Heresy Not Corrected at Bishop's University

2008-07-17T08:55:00.002-04:00

Note: People such as this professor, allowed by their Catholic University presidents to openly defy and degrade Catholic Church teaching from their safe tenured perches, are what got this writer to start this blog in the first place. The professor is only partly right. It is lukewarm assent and even open dissent from Humanae Vitae that undermines the Church. The dishonest reaction by CUA is typical these days, claiming that "private opinions" held by faculty members are OK when the opinion is obviously quite public or we wouldn't know about it. If strong action were taken by the university, terminating or publicly rebuking this professor, it would not only send a clear sign that the university is indeed Catholic, but would also defeat the professor's argument. Doing otherwise confirms it - that the leadership in the Church does not support Catholic moral teaching.

"Dishonesty at Heart of System" Keeps Catholic Church "Pretending" on Birth Control, CUA Prof Says
Catholic society says Catholic University prof undermining Catholic Church's "message of sexual purity"
By Peter J. Smith

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 16, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A history professor at Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, D.C. has blamed Paul VI's 1968 encyclical "Humanae Vitae," for creating what she calls "paralysis" in the Catholic Church that constitutes "dishonesty at the heart of the system." The 1968 encyclical was a response to calls during the Sexual Revolution of the 1960s to permit artificial birth control; Pope Paul VI, however, surprised those agitating for a loosening of the Church's "rules" on sexuality, by instead teaching that the use of artificial contraception is a grave sin that would harm human love and have disastrous effects upon society.

"Nothing was as devastating to the Church's credibility as Humanae vitae and the paralysis it generated," CUA History Professor Leslie Woodcock Tentler told the National Post, a national paper in Canada, for an article on the document's upcoming 40th anniversary.

"It makes for dishonesty at the heart of the system. Do ordinary Catholics believe it's a mortal sin? No, they do not. Do they believe their leaders think it's a mortal sin? No, they do not. Yet we keep pretending."
Tentler has taught at CUA as a history professor since 1998, and made the comments for the July 12 article "A hard pill to swallow."

Patrick Reilly, President of the Cardinal Newman Society, which lists CUA among the most orthodox Catholic institutions, said Tentler was completely out-of-line in her remarks.

"At a time when all Americans, whether Catholic or not, are coming to the realization that the 'Sexual Revolution' has destroyed lives and tarnished souls, Professor Tentler is using her influential position at the U.S. bishops' university to undermine the Church's message of sexual purity," Reilly told LifeSiteNews.com.

However this is not the first time the professor, who teaches at an institution founded by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and committed to presenting Catholic orthodoxy to its students, has been critical of the Church for its stand on artificial birth control.

In an April 23, 2004 article in Commonweal, "A bitter pill: American Catholics & contraception," Tentler criticized the US bishops for developing what The New York Times described as "an easily understandable booklet," presenting the Catholic Church's reasons against artificial contraception.

Tentler maintained in the article that the teaching on contraception creates "major credibility problems for the Church" and said of Catholic leader Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput "he - along with many younger advocates of a harder line on contraception - simply underestimates the damage done to the church by Humanae vitae."

Tentler went on to contest "the bishops' seeming assumption that collectively reiterating the church's teaching on contraception will have only transitory negative effects on the laity." She concluded her article saying that both priests and laity "deserve better" than an "episcopal fait-accompli" about why artificial birth control is wrong.

Tentler also was a contributor to the one-sided PBS documentary "The Pill," and has written a book called "Catholics and Contraception: An American History."

Philosopher Janet E. Smith's review of the book said Tentler "maintains that as Catholics become more mature, they reject their Church's teaching on contraception."

LifeSiteNews contacted Tentler several times over several days through e-mail to ask her if as a Catholic and a professor she assented to the Church's teaching in Humanae Vitae. While Tentler did respond to one of the e-mails, she did not clearly state whether or not she accepted the teaching in Humanae Vita.

Comment was also sought from CUA; however, in a response to LifeSiteNews, a spokesman for the university neither addressed the substance of Tentler's statements in the National Post nor Tentler's position on Humanae Vitae.

"The Catholic University of America is the national university of the Roman Catholic Church in our country. As such and because of its special status as a pontifical university sponsored by the bishops of the United States, The Catholic University of America fully embraces all the teachings of the Catholic Church in their entirety," CUA spokesman Victor Nakas said in a statement. "Although some members of its community may privately hold contrary positions on some matters - as may be the case within the Roman Catholic Church at large - the university itself professes an unambiguous institutional commitment of fidelity to the Church and all its teachings."

However Reilly told LifeSiteNews that Tentler's criticism of Humanae Vitae fly in the face of her responsibility as a Catholic educator. Reilly quoted Pope Benedict XVI's April 17 statement to Catholic educators: "any appeal to the principle of academic freedom in order to justify positions that contradict the faith and the teaching of the Church would obstruct or even betray the university's identity and mission." "As a historian, she violates the principles of academic freedom by wading into matters properly discussed by theologians," Reilly continued. "As a Catholic historian at a Catholic university, she has an added obligation to support the mission of Catholic education - which Pope Benedict describes as providing 'a place to encounter the living God who in Jesus Christ reveals his transforming love and truth.

'"Read the National Post article "A hard pill to swallow":http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=649220

Read Prof. Leslie Tentler's April 23, 2004 article in Commonweal, "A bitter pill: American Catholics & contraception": http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1252/is_8_131/ai_n6242935/pg_10?tag=artBody;col1

Read Janet Smith's review of "Catholics and Contraception: An American History"http://aodonline.org/aodonline-sqlimages/shms/faculty/smithjanet/publications/HumanaeVitae/CatholicsandContraception.pdf

Read the transcript of the PBS documentary "The Pill": http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/filmmore/pt.html

To contact respectfully Catholic University of America's President:

Very Reverend David M. O'Connell, C.M.
The Catholic University of America
620 Michigan Ave., N.E.
Washington, DC 20064
Telephone: 202-319-5100
E-mail: cua-president@cua.edu

Notre Dame Faculty Senate Scores are in -- Hetrodox Faculty 1, Pope Benedict, nothing

2008-07-11T10:25:00.002-04:00

Notre Dame Faculty Senate Scores are in -- Hetrodox Faculty 1, Pope Benedict, nothing
7/5/2008 6:49:00 PM -www.projectsycamore.com

"The University should not compromise its academic aspirations in its efforts to maintain its Catholic identity." Notre Dame Faculty Senate, April 9, 2008

On April 17, 2008, the Pope, in his address to Catholic educators, described a Catholic university in terms of the fullness of its Catholic identity. The day before, the Notre Dame Faculty Senate urged that the University's "academic aspirations" take precedence over its Catholic identity.
This startling disjuncture evidences both the degree to which secularization has already taken hold at Notre Dame and also the grave risk that this process will continue until the University's claim to Catholic identity has been entirely undermined.

The Pope delivered a pastoral address that was warmly received. He chose not to discuss any of the particular issues that have troubled some educators. Rather, he held up a radiant image of a truly Catholic university as the proper goal for all Catholic institutions.

The address has been comprehensively reported, and we need not replicate that coverage. The text itself is its own best guide (link above). We recommend in particular the National Catholic Reporter's overview and the commentary of George Weigel.

We will, however, discuss certain elements of the address pertinent to issues that have arisen at Notre Dame.

We defer to our next newsletter an analysis of the Pope's address in relation to the Vagina Monologues controversy. Here, we describe the collision between the recent statement of Notre Dame's Faculty Senate (the "Senate"), on the one hand, and both the Pope's address and Notre Dame's Mission Statement, on the other.

Both the Pope and the University's constitutive documents describe a university in which faith and reason together infuse the life of the institution. Thus, for example:
The Pope: "The Catholic identity of a university demands "that each and every aspect of your learning communities reverberates with the ecclesial life of faith."

Notre Dame's Mission Statement: "A Catholic university draws its basic inspiration from Jesus Christ as the source of wisdom and from the conviction that in him all things can be brought to their completion."

To this end, the Mission Statement declares: "The Catholic identity of the University depends upon, and is nurtured by, the continuing presence of a predominant number of Catholic intellectuals" on the faculty.

We have repeatedly described how this essential foundation of Catholic identity has been seriously eroded. All agree that under the Mission Statement a majority of genuinely committed Catholics is required. Yet, the proportion of Catholics has declined from 85% in the 1970's to about 52% today. Worse, with a reduction to account for dissident and nominal Catholics, there is no longer a faculty sufficiently Catholic to sustain the school's historic claim to Catholic identity.

The Mission Statement tells us so. And still worse, as we have shown, the Administration's new goal of hiring 50-plus percent Catholics is a recipe for turning Catholics into a permanent minority. The demographics of an aging and rapidly retiring Catholic cohort tell us so. (see, New Faculty Hiring Policy).

The Senate statement, to which we now turn, is striking evidence of the attenuation of Catholic identity that has already occurred as well as a portent of more to come.

The Faculty Senate Statement

The Senate is elected to represent the faculty "in the formulation of policy affecting the entire life of the University." Its "Response to University's Initiative on Hiring Catholic Faculty" was directed at statements of Father Jenkins and Provost Burish respecting Catholic identity and the Mission Statement.

The Faculty Senate opened by describing how it had canvassed faculty opinion in order to "speak for the entire faculty." It then proceeded to urge the demotion of Catholic identity to secondary, even tertiary, importance. Concomitantly, it disparaged the Mission Statement requirement of a majority of Catholic faculty and even the Administration's inadequate 50-plus percent hiring goal.

The statement is animated principally by a driving ambition for recognition of Notre Dame as a top-tier research university. An important subtext is the aim that the University's "commitment to racial, ethnic, gender, and religious diversity" take precedence over hiring Catholics. There is, the Senate warns, "widespread concern among the faculty that too narrow a focus upon Catholic hiring will seriously jeopardize our chances of achieving [these] other two goals."

Still, the Senate says reassuringly, "[T]here is no reason why Notre Dame cannot...remain a Catholic university." All that is necessary is to move the goal post, so to speak, by repealing the mission statement requirement of a Catholic faculty majority. Thus, the Senate asserts, while "the number of Catholic faculty is a significant component...of the Catholic character of the University," it is "not the primary determinant." It is necessary only that there be a "significant presence" of Catholic intellectuals." Accordingly, the administration "should not impose numerical targets."

What this all amounts to is summarized in the Senate's jarring first recommendation:
"The University should not compromise its academic aspirations in its efforts to maintain its Catholic identity."

A faculty in which committed Catholics predominated surely would invert this declaration to read:

"The University should not compromise its Catholic identity in its efforts to achieve its academic aspirations."

And while the Senate doubtless did not speak for every faculty member - 500 of some 800 faculty members responded to its questionnaire, and surely they were not of a single mind - the Senate's statement does correspond with the results of a 2003 study by Baylor scholars that we have previously described. There, a solid majority of the faculty opposed taking religion into account in hiring.

Conclusion: Of course diversity is important, and seeking top-tier research status may be a worthy goal as well, though not all would agree. But the soul of Notre Dame is its Catholic identity; that identity is in jeopardy; and once lost it would never be regained. A secularized faculty would stand in the way. In contrast, improving diversity and academic standing are long-term goals that, if affected at all, would not be foreclosed by according priority to the most urgent need, shoring up Catholic identity

Nevertheless, the Senate has proposed offering up a Catholic Notre Dame as the price of admission to the inner circle of secular universities. Surely the Senate does not expect those in governance to embrace this policy. What it may hope for is silence or a muffled reaction that pronounces all goals as important and assigns no priorities. Such a mixed-signal environment, together with the existing inadequate hiring goal, is an open invitation to the further weakening of Catholic identity.

####
Project Sycamore Officers and Directors

Officers
William H. Dempsey ('52)

President
Joseph A. Reich, Jr. ('57)

Vice President
George L. Heidkamp ('52)

Treasurer & Secretary
Directors

Richard V. Allen ('57, '58)

Dr. Daniel M. Boland ('56, '61)

Lauren Galgano ('05, '08)

Timothy M. Dempsey ('89)

Dr. John A. Gueguen, Jr. ('56, '58)

Dr. Susan Biddle Shearer ('88)

Email: news@projectsycamore.com

web: http://www.projectsycamore.com

Catholic University of San Diego Honors Radical Non-Christian Feminist With Theology Chair

2008-07-11T10:20:00.003-04:00

Catholic University of San Diego Honors Radical Non-Christian Feminist With Theology Chair
By Peter J. Smith

SAN DIEGO, July 10, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - This year the University of San Diego has awarded an honorary chair in its Catholic theology department to a radical eco-feminist theologian, who calls God "Gaia," supports abortion and contraception, and a host of other views that put her in conflict with essential Catholic and Christian beliefs. The selection comes just months after the Pope's April visit to the United States in which he told Catholic educators to be faithful to Church teachings.

The USD Department of Theology and Religious Studies says Professor Rosemary Radford Ruether is a "leading Church historian and pioneering figure in Christian feminist theology" and will accept the honorary Monsignor John R. Portman Chair in Roman Catholic Theology for 2009-10 academic year.

A USD press release says Ruether will be teaching one undergraduate course in the fall semester of 2009 and will also deliver the annual Portman Lecture on a date to be determined to USD students.

When the Portman Chair was established in 2000, USD President Alice Hayes said, "It will be a strong and palpable symbol of the depth of the university's commitment to Catholic theology as an academic discipline and another sign of the Catholic character of the university."

Oddly enough, however, Ruether has a rather undisguised rejection of and antipathy toward Christianity, especially the Catholic Faith.

A regular columnist for the National Catholic Reporter, Ruether boasts multiple professorships, twelve honorary doctorates, and an extensive list of books, including The Church Against Itself (1967), Sexism And God-talk: Toward a Feminist Theology (1983), Gaia and God: An Ecofeminist Theology of Earth Healing (1992), Goddesses and the Divine Feminine: A Western Religious History (2005), Integrating Ecofeminism, Globalization, and World Religions (January 2005)and America, Amerikkka: Elect Nation and Imperial Violence (2007).

California Catholic Daily reports that Prof. Ruether is an advocate of women's ordination and since 1985 has served as a board member for the pro-abortion dissident Catholics for a Free Choice - now Catholics for Choice (CFC). The group has been described by the US Bishops as "not a Catholic organization, does not speak for the Catholic Church, and in fact promotes positions contrary to the teaching of the Church" and is "an arm of the abortion lobby in the United States and throughout the world."

In 2005 Ruether explained to an audience at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles her view that "Christianity is not necessarily worse than other religions, but it is the vehicle of Western Civilization."

Reuther has stated Christianity is riddled by hierarchy and patriarchy that created a social order in which chaste women on their wedding night "were, in effect, raped by young husbands whose previous sexual experience came from exploitative relationships with servant women and prostitutes."

In the CFC article "Sexual Literacy" from its Summer 2003 Conscience magazine, Ruether continued in this vein saying "The young bride went into marriage without knowledge of how to experience pleasure or prevent pregnancy."

Ruether added, "the Christian Right, Catholic and Protestant, is trying to roll back the sexual revolution by returning to a patriarchal puritanism based on a classist separation of females into 'good' girls and 'bad' girls, exploiting the bad girls while denying the good girls personal freedom."

Ruether has also rejected the notion that Man has a higher dignity than the animals in creation.

USD's selection of Reuther to the honorary theology professorship is a rejection of Pope Benedict XVI's admonition given to Catholic educators during his papal visit to the United States to be faithful to the Church and its teachings. "

Any appeal to the principle of academic freedom in order to justify positions that contradict the faith and the teaching of the Church would obstruct or even betray the university's identity and mission," the Pope told Catholic university and college presidents in April.

Benedict also spoke openly about "the scandal given by Catholics who promote an alleged right to abortion."

State's Most Pro-Abortion Judge on the Board of Catholic University

2008-07-11T10:15:00.002-04:00

State's Most Pro-Abortion Judge on the Board of Catholic University
By Tim Waggoner

MINNEAPOLIS, July 10, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - LifeSiteNews has learned that a notorious abortion advocate and Appeals Court Judge is holding an executive position at a large Catholic university in Minneapolis.

Judge Diana Murphy is the chairwoman of the Executive Committee for the Board of Trustees of the Catholic University of St. Thomas. However, throughout her tenure as a judge with the Eight Circuit U. S. Court of Appeals, she has consistently overturned legislation seeking to further the Culture of Life.

On September 11, 2000, the appeals court judge ruled against multiple legislators, pro-life groups, physicians and citizens, who objected to the State of Minnesota paying for abortions with their tax dollars. The federal government had banned such use of taxpayer funds and so had the Minnesota legislature. Murphy and the State Supreme Court, however, found the State ban on funding to be unconstitutional and ruled the plaintiffs had no standing, preventing the case from being reviewed at higher levels.

On October 25, 2006, Judge Murphy ruled in favor of Planned Parenthood, striking down legislation that would have required doctors to inform women that an abortion will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being.

Judge Murphy is also a donor and Vice Chair of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB), which, according to Dr. David Pence of the DocSociety, is intent on severing the university's ties with the Church. According to its website, DocSociety is "a brotherhood of Catholic men working to restore fatherhood and fraternity among Catholic priests and laymen."

Dr. Pence and the DocSociety have been for years closely monitoring the questionable happenings at St. Thomas University.

"Why is a notorious pro-abortionist judge holding a executive position at a Catholic University?" asked Pence in a LifeSiteNews interview.

Pence said that one might expect that given that the chairman and vice-chairman of the university Board of Trustees are the former Catholic bishop of the diocese, Archbishop Flynn, and former Vicar General of the diocese, Rev. Kevin McDonough, the board of the Catholic university would be composed of members who preserve Catholic teachings.

But considering the track record of Archbishop Flynn and Rev. McDonough, Pence said he is not surprised that pro-abortion Judge Murphy is chairing the Executive Committee for the Board.
Archbishop Flynn retired from the diocese after years of complaints by faithful Catholics over his handling of a host of scandals involving homosexual activists both within and without the archdiocesan administration. Under his rule, a notoriously pro-homosexual parish, St. Joan of Arc, was allowed to continue openly supporting the Gay Pride parades and the homosexual lifestyle. The parish's opposition to Catholic teaching was so brazen that it resulted in a 2004 rare direct intervention by the Vatican. Flynn was named by homosexual political activists as one of the US's four most "gay friendly" bishops.

McDonough came under fire in 2006 after he attempted to brush off the rampant homosexuality in the diocese, stating, "I don't believe in this archdiocese there has ever been an active subculture of homosexual priests who were sexually active and justifying their behavior."
McDonough's public assertion was surprising, especially since his own brother William McDonough, a priest (active as such at least until 1998) in the diocese, is on public record going against Church teaching on homosexuality.

To add to the controversy, LifeSiteNews covered a story in November of 2007 that saw the board vote unanimously to remove a 125 year-old bylaw that declared the chairman and vice-chairman of the board should be the sitting Bishop and Vicar General of the Diocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis. The board, headed by Flynn and McDonough, made this strategic move just five months before Archbishop Nienstedt was to be installed as the new archbishop of the Minneapolis diocese, thereby preventing him from assuming the position of chairman of the Board of Trustees of St. Thomas University.

The board of directors also voted to re-install Flynn and McDonough as chairman and vice-chairman for an extended five year term. The move was feared to be an effort by the university to override the authority of and possible reforms by Archbishop Nienstedt, Flynn's more orthodox Catholic coadjutor bishop who has since succeeded him as head of the archdiocese.

The vote thereby extended the contracts of chairman Flynn and vice-chairman McDonough for five more years, after which the board could vote in whomever they desire to fulfill the roles - essentially eliminating the Church's and, more specifically, Nienstedt's role in the university.
Archbishop Nienstedt's authentic Catholicity was not welcomed by the Board of Trustees after he said he would not accept a proposed plan by one of the board members that sought to merge the school with a medical association, because the move would involve teaching abortion procedures as part of the curriculum. This happened only weeks before the vote was cast that saw the removal of the bylaw.

The spokesperson for St. Thomas University did not respond to calls by press time.

Catholic Boston College Sponsors Panel Focusing on Homosexual Couples

2008-06-17T07:05:00.003-04:00

Note: For those who believe the scandal has passed and all is well in the Archdiocese of Boston, read this closely. A Catholic institution is promoting immoral counterfeit arrangements between homosexuals and the Church leaders are hiding and doing nothing.

Catholic Boston College Sponsors Panel Focusing on Homosexual Couples

BOSTON, MA, June 16, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today criticized Jesuit administered Boston College for sponsoring and hosting Love Across Boundaries, which is being advertised as "a panel conversation with Boston couples who focus on their own interracial, interfaith and same-sex Love Across Boundaries". Featured participants will include Paul McLaughlin, Assistant Dean of Harvard College and his homosexual partner Jason Shumaker, Assistant Director of Financial Aid at MIT.

The event, sponsored by the New Center for Arts and Culture and Boston College's Office of the Provost, will be held this afternoon and this evening at BC's Bapst Library as part of Bloomsday Boston, the annual celebration of James Joyce and his novel Ulysses. Among those reading excerpts from the book will be former Lieutenant Governor Thomas P. O'Neill III, who is a longstanding supporter of legal abortion.

The Catholic Action League has called the event "another shameless betrayal of Catholic principles by the leadership of Boston College and its parent religious order, the Jesuits".
Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle stated: "No reasonable person could be expected to believe that the Catholic Church is serious in its opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage as long as Catholic institutions publicly affirm homosexual relationships and prominently showcase pro-abortion political figures. Boston College, with the complicity of the New England Province of the Society of Jesus, continues to flaunt its infidelity to Catholic moral teaching and callously compromise what is left of its Catholic identity, while the Archdiocese of Boston, through its silence and inaction, functions as its enabler".

"This disgraceful episode is one more example of the systemic collapse of Catholic loyalties in the very leadership of the Church in the United States"

LifeSiteNews attempted to contact the Archdiocese of Boston, but they were not immediately available for comment.

URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/08061605.html

"Catholic" University Hires Homosexual Director for Gay Campus Centre

2008-06-06T14:43:00.002-04:00

Note: Georgetown is the gift that keeps on giving for those of us looking for evidence of apostasy in Catholic higher education. They're so far gone they don't even know it. Is this their response to the Pope's call to fidelity?

Catholic University Hires Homosexual Director for Gay Campus Centre

By Tim Waggoner

Washington, D.C., June 5, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Georgetown University, the oldest Catholic University in the U. S., has hired lesbian Shiva Subbaraman to act as director for its new Homosexual Campus centre that is to be opened in the fall.

Subbaraman was formerly the associate director of a homosexual equity office at the University of Maryland campus in College Park. After the school threatened to cut funding for the office, Subbaraman started looking for a new job.

The pro-homosexual newspaper, The Washing Blade, reports that Georgetown decided to start the LGBT Equity office after two "anti-gay incidents" occured on campus. In the first case a student was arrested and accused of assaulting a homosxual student and shouting anti-homosexual slurs at him. The case, however, was dropped due to lack of evidence. In the second incident campus police prevented a group of homosexuals from presenting a petition for the LGBT resource center to the university president. According to the Blade, the police said they were restricting access to the building due to the fact that there was a special event going on inside.

Georgetown University, which is fully funding the new homosexual campus centre, including paying for two full time staff members, has been known to proclaim itself a Catholic institution while going out of its way to support things dramatically opposed to Catholic teaching, including abortion, homosexuality and certain bioethical issues.

In one of the more obvious examples, the institution's High School Bioethics Curriculum Project seeks to provide high school teachers literature on bioethics in an attempt to "enrich their high schools' curriculum." The curriculum however, conveys messages contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church, and poses questions on bioethical quandaries that are worded in such a way as to lead students to make conclusions that oppose Catholic morality.

One sample of the curriculum referring to anencephalic babies (available at http://highschoolbioethics.georgetown.edu/units/unit1_3.html) states that, "They will never be able to think or achieve what is called 'personhood.'"

"Yet there is general consensus that heroic measures should not be used to keep them alive. In fact, anencephaly may be one of the few medical conditions that all doctors agree is futile to treat," continues the sample.

After statements such as these, the section describes a mother who was forced to go to the Supreme Court to force doctors to continue to treat her child, entitled Baby K.

The section then asks questions that seem to ascribe a monetary value to human life, such as, "Do you think individuals have the right to demand and get expensive long-term care in futile cases such as the case of Baby K?"

Similar questions ask: "Baby K lived for 2.5 years; her medical bills totaled half a million dollars. Do you think this is an appropriate use of the money? Do you think Baby K's mother's religious beliefs should trump issues of fair distribution of resources?"

The high school curriculum project is partially funded by a grant from the Greenwall Foundation, an organization known to support the culture of death. (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/1999/feb/99021705.html)

The latest news about the founding of the LGBT resource center comes as little surprise to those who have been following Georgetown's movement away from its Catholic identity:

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Catholic Georgetown University to Fully Fund Campus Gay Center
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/oct/07103008.html

SHOCKER: Catholic Georgetown U. Will Now Fund Law Students to Lobby for Abortion
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/sep/07092605.html

Georgetown, "Catholic" University Honours Abortion Crusading Jesuit
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/oct/06102506.html

URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/08060508.html