Univ. of San Diego (‘c’atholic?) holds “drag show”, Holy See intervenes

Did you see this?

The Cardinal Newman Society (check out their feed on the sidebar of this blog) has a story about a “drag show” at the University of San Diego, which is supposed to be a Catholic school.

My emphases

Vatican Says Univ. of San Diego Drag Show Caused Scandal, New Show Planned Next Week

The Vatican’s Congregation for Education has said that a drag show that occurred last year on the campus of the University of San Diego (USD) caused “scandal,” according to a letter revealed by the group Alumni for a Catholic USD.
Nevertheless, the student organization PRIDE at USD will again be hosting a drag show next week called “Celebration of Gender Expression: Supreme Drag Superstar” on the campus of the Catholic institution, according to the group’s Facebook site.
“Transgender & Transsexual? Gender expression & gender identity? Drag queen & drag king? What do these terms mean?,” the group asks. “At this Changemaker event, we’ll explore these questions and how they impact the USD community and our lives. We will celebrate our diversity and the inclusion of *everyone* in our community. Join PRIDE for an evening of music, pageantry, and fabulosity!”
The official letter from the Congregation for Education was in response to communication from attorney Charles LiMandri, who founded Alumni for a Catholic USD, and Thomas McKenna, founder and president of Catholic Action for Faith and Family, who filed petitions with the Vatican to review the situation.
In the letter, the Congregation stated, “in view of the gravity of the case, it is worth mentioning that in light of the show and the scandal that it caused, this congregation intends to act through administrative channels to the competent ecclesiastical authority in San Diego.
The drag show at USD was first held in 2012 and repeated in 2013. LiMandri, a past president of the USD Alumni Association, originally went to the University with his complaint about the event, saying that “it was not in line with Catholic principles nor the Catholic values and vision of the University’s founders.”
But USD defended the drag show and released a statement in 2013 saying, “The event supports the Church’s teaching on the innate dignity of the human person, and by illustrating cross-dressing, it does not promote either behavior or lifestyle that is contrary to the teachings of the Church.” The Congregation’s letter would seem to contradict the University’s position.
McKenna, who attended both events with students, said, “I witnessed many examples of behavior and statements on moral issues which contradicted or ignored magisterial teachings.”
LiMandri and McKenna said they decided to make the Congregation’s statement public after consulting with Vatican officials, when it was learned that the third annual drag show is scheduled for April 10, 2014.
They have also written to the University president again this year, asking that the show be cancelled.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
This entry was posted in Our Catholic Identity, Pò sì jiù, Sin That Cries To Heaven, You must be joking! and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

22 Comments

  1. Blaine says:

    “The event supports the Church’s teaching on the innate dignity of the human person, and by illustrating cross-dressing, it does not promote either behavior or lifestyle that is contrary to the teachings of the Church.”

    There is no way that could have been said or even typed with a straight face. Funniest thing I’ve read in a while. Wow.

  2. Salvelinus says:

    I really hate to sound negative, but I dont think the ecclesiastical authorities will do anything to the college.
    I went to “catholic” college in Central Massachusetts, and these types of things were common place.

    I do think that if they hosted a speech from an “irregular” priest with a great devotion to Fatima, or exclusively offered the TLM, the school would be in big trouble…. But then again, the latter wouldn’t be having “drag queen” shows in that case.

  3. Justalurkingfool says:

    Funny? I sincerely hope you are being sarcastic?

    “The event supports the Church’s teaching on the innate dignity of the human person, and by illustrating cross-dressing, it does not promote either behavior or lifestyle that is contrary to the teachings of the Church.”

    This a delusional or satanically influenced. It is utter madness!

  4. majuscule says:

    Blaine–some people actually believe that statement with a straight face.

    Justalurkingfool is entirely correct.

  5. Nicholas Shaler says:

    When I went to do a campus tour there it didn’t seem very Catholic, I don’t plan on applying in the Fall.

  6. mike cliffson says:

    Im old enough to still be irked at the forced totalitarian takeover of “gay” as a word – jolly, merry, etc don’t quite have the debonair bit- samelikey,”drag” this side of the pond at any rate used to be for British ( and Irish ) St Steven’s day pantomimes, with “pantomime dames” , or later TV “Dame Edna average” , a comedian , male , taking the mickey out of women.
    Newspeak all the time. Ministry of love, yet.From Catholics worse.
    They could at least defend themselves with the immortal line from a more innocent age.”Nobody’s perfect”.

  7. LarryW2LJ says:

    “We will celebrate our diversity and the inclusion of *everyone* in our community. Join PRIDE for an evening of music, pageantry, and fabulosity!””

    Obviously, these kids (and I use that term on purpose) and their faculty would send an engraved invitation to Ol’ Scratch himself, in order to be “inclusive” enough.

    Seriously, there are ways to be inclusive, show mercy and love without holding an occasion for sin. This is a hare-brained scheme anyway you look at it. And if anybody tell you that Jesus associated with taxpayers and prostitutes, you can look ’em straight in the eye and mention the fact that He asked them to repent and change their ways and to live for Him – something higher than themselves.

    Again – I love that Catholic meme that I saw a few weeks ago on Facebook. “WWJD? Please remember that sometimes that involved the use of whips and flipping over tables.”

  8. Justalurkingfool says:

    The only “drag queen” I recall from my ancient youth was Jan and Dean’s. “Little Old Lady From Pasadena”!

    Go granny, go granny, go granny, go!

  9. OrthodoxChick says:

    I wonder if the Congregation for Education is also aware that U. San Diego offers an LGBTQ course. Maybe it’s just me, but this school does not seem to be simply promoting treating LGBTQ people with charity while offering fraternal correction to them about actively living a homosexual/transgender lifestyle. Instead, the university’s Center for Inclusion and Diversity seems to promote acceptance of such lifestyles, which is contrary to Church teaching. This drag show is only the tip of the iceberg because U. San Diego appears to be a school that has rejected and abandoned its Catholic identity.

    http://www.sandiego.edu/inclusion/

    http://www.sandiego.edu/about/news_center/news/news_detail.php?_focus=42377

  10. Magpie says:

    ”Celebration of Gender Expression”

    ”More like ”Celebration of Gender Confusion”

    What a lot of disordered nonsense. I think a few people need to MAN UP and put away the lady’s clothing. This is really a problem best dealt with professionally.

  11. Michael_Thoma says:

    Can this reasoning be used to eliminate female “pastoral associates” playing dress up with men’s vestments and altar girls in drag wearing male server gear?

  12. MarthainCanada says:

    I actually didn’t even realize it was a Catholic school. True, there are lots of things I don’t know, but maybe that’s a sign of how little they promote their Catholic identity. Recently, I looked up Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA, which I know to be Catholic, and there was no reference to that on their website.

  13. Sandy says:

    My Alma Mater! No, don’t send your kids there! I’m showing my age, but when I graduated, the Religious of the Sacred Heart wore the traditional habit, we wore caps and gowns to First Friday Mass as a student body (Women’s College), etc., etc. You get the picture! This horror show we now hear about has been going on for quite a while. It’s one of the many catholic colleges which has not taken the oath to uphold Catholic teaching. Wonder how many alums send money and don’t know what’s going on! It’s disgusting!

  14. Blaine says:

    Funny in the shocked, bewildered, you’d think it’s a joke but isn’t sort of way. So yeah, fairly sarcastic. Sorry I wasn’t specific enough.

  15. BLB Oregon says:

    The event is either making fun of transvestites or else promoting cross-dressing. It could be both, but it cannot be neither.

    The Lord ate and drank with prostitutes, but he did not frequent prostitutes. There is a difference, which seems to be lost on the crowd that is so non-judgmental that it can’t recognize the concept of objective moral boundaries any more.

  16. chantgirl says:

    LarryW2LJ- I would gladly repent of paying taxes if the IRS would go along with it ;)

    To think, people are paying exorbitant tuition rates to receive such a poor product!

  17. mburn16 says:

    Just remember, error can occur to both the left and the right. But those who err on the left are far more sinister than their opposites.

  18. BLB Oregon says:

    Poor product? Their task is not delivery of a product but the formation of persons with immortal souls depend upon the truth. They’re paying exorbitant tuition in the false belief that the students are being taught and formed according to the faith in its truth! They are paying to be lied to! They are paying for the erosion of the Catholic faith!

  19. JustaSinner says:

    Just remember what LGBTQ stands for:
    Little
    Gross
    Bigots
    That
    Quack

  20. Sonshine135 says:

    The insurgency in the Catholic Church grows, and the enemy is within the gates. After the verbal berating Father Kauth took at Charlotte Catholic High School last night from the “tolerant” and “loving” LGBTQ community and parents, I support anything the “Ecclesiastical Authority of San Diego” doles out to these people. What a mockery of our faith! Excommunication and removal of accreditation are very high on my list. They are not inclusive. They are cognitively dissonant.

    “innate human dignity.” Unless you’re a Priest!

  21. pj_houston says:

    So is the bishop of San Diego, Rev. Cirilo Flores, going to suppress the Novus Ordo Mass on the campus of the Univ. Of San Diego and replace it with the TLM? Don’t hold your breath. We have a double standard in the Church today.

  22. The Sicilian Woman says:

    “The event supports the Church’s teaching on the innate dignity of the human person, and by illustrating cross-dressing, it does not promote either behavior or lifestyle that is contrary to the teachings of the Church.”

    “innate dignity” and “cross-dressing” do not belong in the same sentence. What you support, you promote. Whoever wrote the above is not only delusional, but also lying.

    What a lot of disordered nonsense. I think a few people need to MAN UP and put away the lady’s clothing. This is really a problem best dealt with professionally.

    Disordered sexual orientations and their actions have been normalized. Bullying got homosexuality removed from Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
    Book by American Psychiatric Association. Counseling someone to heal their sexual activities or expressions is a no-no these days because they’re not disordered. See how this works?

    USD is Catholic in appearance only (appropriately abbreviated, “C.I.A.O.”) This isn’t the first time that USD has promoted depravity. The grounds and church there are beautiful, but I would not support the school at all.

Comments are closed.