It’s funny watching how liberals react when conservatives start playing in their sandbox. Rather than embrace diversity, they get all huffy and self-defensive. To wit, this article in the Chronicle of Higher Education on the new wave of Catholic colleges that adhere to the teaching magisterium of the Church and encourage the practice of the faith among students and faculty.
note to Monika – you’re right – I don’t think most “Catholic” colleges are properly Catholic. Take LeMoyne(please) – a small Jesuit college in Syracuse. NY. On a panel discussion of marriage was an assistant(visiting) professor who claimed that because a survey indicated that married people were healthier, we discriminate against gays by not letting them marry and therefore enjoy those health benefits! See the local diocesan newspaper for the whole story.
See the transcript of the Chronicle’s e-mail colloquy on that same topic on Wednesday April 7th afternoon at http://chronicle.com/colloquylive/2004/04/catholic/
The guest was Prof. David O’Brien from Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts.
That same (Wednesday) evening he participated in a debate at Holy Cross College on same sex marriage. Guess what side he took: Pro. The con was led by Prof. Michael Pakaluk of the Philosophy Department at Clark University in Worcester. At one time Catholics regarded Clark University as a “godless” institution vis a vis the “godly” Holy Cross College.
I did not attend the debate and do not yet have any information on it. I will supply anything that I find about its proceedings when it beomes available—some time within the near future.
Nonetheless, I presume that Prof. O’Brien argued along the line as his op-ed article piece on the same topic in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette at http://www.hccns.org/Docs/CourtRulingAffirms.doc
Also, I presume that Prof. Pakaluk argued along the line as his op-ed article in the same newspaper et al.:
http://www.hccns.org/Docs/CounterToOBrien.pdf
http://www.hccns.org/Docs/MouseCookieJar.doc
http://www.hccns.org/Docs/PakalukTearsOBriens.doc
Please be patient with the slowness with some of these links load, but I conveniently found and linked them from a source which collected them and also included an original contribution not avilable elsewhere.
Correction or “Oops, right church [i.e., place] but wrong pew [i.e., date]”
I got the date wrong on the debate on same sex marriage at Holy Cross Cross in Worcester—although for the better. The debate is next Wednesday April 14th not last Wednesday. No wonder that I could find no news about it “after the fact.” Nonetheless, the above links of various statements by two of the opposing participants will serve as a good preparation of what to expect.
I’m a little late
joining this discussion, but I have some thoughts which are in essential agreement with the tone of the foregoing posts:
The so called “conservative Catholic colleges and universities” are, so long as they remain orthodox (a word I prefer over conservative) in the teaching and practice of the faith. Orhodoxy means, among other things, adherence to the doctrines and teachings of the teaching office of the Church (the Magisterium, the legitimate successor of Peter, and those bishops in union with him).
Those so-called Catholic colleges which have abandoned some or all of the doctrines and teachings are not fully Catholic because by this abandonment they reveal they are not in full communion with the pope.
The Roman Catholic Church is NOT a democracy as many liberals like to think. It IS a theocracy with God the Son as its head and founder. Is dissent permitted? Yes, until the pope and the Magisterium have spoken definitively. Then the dissent must cease because we are bound, if we are loyal disciples of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to do as He directs. As His disciples we are to be submissive to Him and to those in whom He has vested authority. The pope is the Vicar of Christ, His representative and spokesman on earth. His authority stems from the authority given to Peter first and to his cuccessors and then was given to the rest of the apostles as well.
To refuse to do as the pope and the Magisterium directs is tantamount to disobeying Christ Himself and is, therefore, a serius denial of the Son of God which requires repentance and a change of heart.
The liberal “Catholic” universities, if they have not crossed that line, are very close to it and, therefore, are not truly Catholic in both letter and spirit.
Mike Ryan