Hey! Let’s Go Look at a Few “Catholic Colleges”
No gas to burn. No roads to trek. Just look at The Cardinal Newman Society’s output. The past Friday (Feb. 28th) newsletter carried stories by Matthew Archbold, Kelly Conroy and others giving insight into a number of Catholic Colleges, some real and some only imagining their Catholicism. These articles were published in their journal: CATHOLIC EDUCATION DAILY. How could it not start with Notre Dame?
NOTRE DAME and the Pope Francis Impact?
“Pope Francis’ Words to Notre Dame May Be ‘Rallying Cry’ for Catholic Universities,” wrote Nicholas G. Hahn III, editor of RealClearReligion.org, in a piece for the Chicago Tribune suggesting that Catholic universities may have “found a new rallying cry” in Pope Francis’ potent message to Notre Dame: “And this is important: its identity, as it was intended from the beginning. To defend it, to preserve it and to advance it!” Hahn wrote that many Catholic universities have fallen into secularism, but “now they have a pope telling them they can’t have one foot in each world.” He continues: “The very public decline of Catholic higher education traces to July 1967, when the president of Notre Dame, the Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, and his friends in the Ivory Tower produced a … declaration of independence [which] … gave cover for dissident Catholic intellectuals teaching in theology departments. Professors such as Charles Curran [who wreaked havoc] at the Catholic University of America could oppose papal encyclicals without the slightest pause…. Hahn recalled one moment that “crystallized” the debate over Catholic identity when, in 2009, the University of Notre Dame honored President Barack Obama, whose pro-abortion rights position and record were well-known, and a number of students and alumni boycotted the ceremony.” Well, if it seems an irony that Notre Dame now seems singled out among Catholic Colleges given no quarter on complying with the HHS mandate, one can contemplate if this is part of the meaning of being turned over to one’s own sin? Read: “Federal Appellate Court Denies Injunctive Relief” here.
Loyola University in Chicago (where else?) feels the sting!
And, on the subject of irony, here’s an almost incredible story: “A group of students at Loyola University Chicago who were taught how to protest in class are now protesting the University for discontinuing those classes, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. A number of students enrolled in the Jesuit University’s master’s program in social justice and community development delivered speeches and waved signs which read ‘Who Is Loyola Loyal To?’ in protest of a decision to discontinue the community development courses in which students learned social activism techniques.” Well, duh? What should Loyola have expected anyway? If there is any good news at Loyola, perhaps it is that the only weddings that will be permitted in the chapel are Catholic Weddings (effectively blocking same-sex “marriages.” However, Loyola wants the world to know they are still willing to host all receptions.
Georgetown: Another Jesuit College that has lost its way
Guess who is coming to dinner, and to the Georgetown campus, to present the Hilary Rodham Clinton Awards this year? Yes, of course, Hilary the candidate. The college that covered up all crosses and signs of faith so President Obama would speak there, will host the Benghazi Overseer (another B. O.) for an award just created in 2011, by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security. Isn’t THAT ironic! And it was Hilary Clinton who “once reportedly called a ban on partial birth abortion an ‘erosion of our constitutional rights.’” For additional perspective, Georgetown is one of the stops recently scheduled for “Nuns on the Bus,” and this story as well as their more outlandish quotes can be found here.
Lest anyone surmise that Georgetown is a victim of the heady political atmosphere of Washington, D. C. which cannot be resisted by any college located there, please consider The Catholic University of America just across town, 3 miles from the Capitol, which, having recovered from the likes of Rev. Charles Curran of the Rochester Diocese, now continues to make the lists of truly Catholic Colleges.
Holy Cross College offers platform for dissenter
College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., will be hosting Boston College’s controversial law and theology professor, Cathleen Kaveny, to speak about “Prophetic Rhetoric in the Public Square.” A lecture originally scheduled for February, has been rescheduled to April. Kaveny recently left the University of Notre Dame to join the faculty at Boston College. The Irish Rover reported that, during a Princeton University conference on abortion in 2010, Kaveny said, “I do not believe [the mother] has an obligation to provide support to the unborn if pregnancy imposes a significant burden on her health or if she was raped.” The upcoming lecture will be sponsored by the McFarland Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture at Holy Cross which “supports programming that explores basic human questions of meaning, morality, and mutual obligation.” Meanwhile, on the good news side, and on the side of sanity, Billings Central Catholic School in Montana refused to renew a contract for a women’s softball coach because she works at Planned Parenthood, showing more common sense than one of the most touted “Catholic” colleges in the U. S.
The hero of publicizing such stories is the Cardinal Newman Society who is worthy of our support.
The online weekly subscription is free. Without this kind of effort and consolidation of information in its archives, how else is a parent supposed to know the difference between sending their offspring to Georgetown vs Catholic University? Or to Holy Cross vs. ____(fill in the blank)____?
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Tags: Catholic Schools, News and Media
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Meanwhile, on the good news side, and on the side of sanity, Billings Central Catholic School in Montana refused to renew a contract for a women’s softball coach because she works at Planned Parenthood, showing more common sense than one of the most touted “Catholic” colleges in the U. S.
I don’t see this getting much press because it wasn’t a firing. I wonder if Catholic institutions will end up adopting yearly contracts for everything. That is, when one of your faculty does something that thumbs the nose to Catholic principles, you just put up with them for a few months and simply don’t renew the contract and avoid the ugly PR that comes with it.
@ Scott W.
This would be an excellent way to handle the situation, avoid court costs for the most part, and keep the renegade potential to a low. Given the many oppressive social issues which can blow up, I hope you are right and that this 1 year contract idea really catches on. Thanks for calling it out.