I point the attention of the readership to something at American Catholic. This is dreadful, but I sense that much of our struggle for our Catholic identity will be circumscribed by situations like this.
The University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, MN) says, “Stick it in your ear!”
The folks over at The College Fix have done their homework, exposing how administrators at the University of St. Thomas (UST)—a “private Catholic liberal arts school” located in St. Paul, MN—are standing by their decision to let students to gain academic credit by serving as interns at a Minnesota-based National Organization for Women (NOW) chapter, even though the organization advocates for abortion on demand, LGBTQ rights, same-sex marriage, and its brand of so-called “racial justice.” UST’s Women’s Studies Department is sponsoring the internship opportunity.
This decision comes after the folks over at TFP Student Action also did their homework, organizing a successful petition drive garnering 10k+ signatures admonishing UST for offering internships at Planned Parenthood and Minnesota NARAL. Quickly after that email was forwarded to UST President Julie Sullivan, the listings were removed.
Now, that administrative fiat might satisfy some people.
However, what’s noteworthy about the NOW incident is not that diversity and inclusion means providing students opportunities to intern in organizations whose purpose contradicts official Church teaching. Nor is what’s noteworthy that academic administrators and professors sincerely believe that providing students those internships advances the institution’s mission as Catholic.
What’s noteworthy about this incident is that doing so provides additional evidence of a pattern of conduct on the part of academic administrators and professors at many of the nation’s Catholic universities and colleges. Namely, tacitly allowing opportunities like those internships at NOW to proceed. How? Perhaps through a “wink and a nod” or, even better yet, “Don’t inform me.” The idea is that if nobody finds out, all the better. And, if a crazy conservative Catholic does find out and complain, assert plausible deniability.
[…]
Read the rest there.
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Somehow this is appropriate for Catholic Schools’ Week that just concluded yesterday.
If I were footing the bill for a child attending this school I might raise the argument that by advertising itself as a ‘Catholic’ school, the University had engaged in fraudulent advertising (‘Catholic’ being actually both a commercial ‘brand’ and standard, if you will) and I would threaten legal action if the costs paid toward tuition were not forthcoming.
I would petition the Bishop of the Diocese and the Diocesan Tribunal for such ecclesiastical remedies as may be available under Canon Law including, but not limited to, directing the University to cease advertising itself publicly and privately as ‘Catholic’.
We have a similar scandalous event going on in Green Bay. St. Norbert’s University is hosting Gloria Steinem this spring, but our bishop, Bishop Ricken strongly condemned the move. They proceeded to tell him that he is welcome to his opinion but they disagree. While her visit is still planned, at least there is now a line in the sand for CINOs and faithful to rally around.
There was actually a mass email petition and the University has pulled this.
Oops, didn’t read the whole post and realized that was in there. Whoops.
It’s never been any big kind of a coup to get secular campuses energized about such pro death in the name of sexual libertinism programming. The real operatives are on the ground on Catholic campuses. If that is not anti-Catholic bigotry, and the targeting of one sort of religious adherent and a blatant violation of civil rights then I don’t know what is.
Our Catholic universities have been treasonous for quite some time – at least for the last 50 years, although in a cumulative fashion – but it’s reaching a point where there must clearly be a decision on what may or may not call itself a Catholic university. Since rumor has it that the Pope’s confidant, Abp. “Tucho” Fernandez, rector of the somewhat dubious Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina, of which the current Pope had been chancellor, will be heading the Congregation for Catholic Education, I think people should probably brace themselves because it will only get worse.
Georgetown, which recently accepted millions of dollars from the Saudis to establish an Islamic studies institute and program, was the one that hosted and arranged the Muslim Brotherhood/US State Dept./Obama meeting a few days ago.
There’s a serious problem with “Catholic universities.”
There is a serious problem with non correctly catechised ‘so called’ Catholic people. They often teach in any Catholic schools whether they are elementary, high schools or colleges.
Unfortunatey many so called Catholics really do not ‘get’ their faith.
Then they go out either intentionally or unintentionally and teach heresy.
We are in the middle of a new springtime….new growth thank God!
But there are still some weeds to remove and they have deep roots.
Clarity of truth must be taught waaay more than it is. Plus those real live Catholics who are rubbing elbows with the heretics must learn their faith so as to speak truth.
Thank God for the Newman list but this is far wider than they can deal with at this moment.
Thank God for the truth.
I remember when Notre Dame was a Catholic school.
Sounds like the emphasis is on “liberal arts” rather than on “Catholic.” Didn’t that St. Paul/ Minneapolis diocese recently bankrupt itself paying abuse victims?
This isn’t just at Catholic Universities, though much more prevalent. There is a rot in all Catholic Schools. My Diocese is rather conservative; however, they fall into that category of Catholic School being a moneymaking enterprise. So, non-Catholics are invited (so long as they are amenable to Catholic Religious classes), and “c”atholics also pour in from the rich section of town with their soft serve Catholicism, their board memberships to the local PFLAG organizations, and their otherwise secular memberships. Then, there is the wonderful alumni associations who jump in at every controversy, claiming, “this is why I am not Catholic anymore!” every time a controversy is halted by the Bishop and his representatives and the schools are turned back towards traditional Catholic teaching.
In short, I find that the Bishops of the Diocese where these schools and Universities are located are trying to serve both God and Mammon. As Our Lord said, it cannot be done. You end up either serving one or the other.
One last thing…what does the melting pot of Non-Catholics, “c”atholics, and Catholics get you? Last week at the local high school, one of the kids attended Mass, went to communion, placed the body of Our Lord in his pocket, and in the middle of the lunch room that day, he proceeded to pull it out of his pocket and stomp on it. Did this result in expulsion? No. The incident was kept quiet and the individual was “suspended”.
Now, if the incident were a Nun teaching Church Doctrine about homosexuality, all hell would have broken loose.
Simply put, there are two problems: a lack of knowledge of even elementary Catholic teaching among the students and the shield of government or big-donor funds for the administration. This could be easily fixed if the school were totally beholden to the diocese for support (with the bishop holding the purse strings) and if every student and faculty, upon entering freshman year or first year teaching, had to pass an entrance test on basic Catholicism, or else be forced to take remedial classes taught by really tough nuns. Of course, the money is the shield preventing this from happening.
The Chicken
Isn’t the ‘wink-and-nod’ approach just another version of the Kasperite proposal (allegedgly) supported by His Holiness: don’t change doctrine or dogma, but pastoral practice…… ?
What irks me most is MY alma mater, where the priests who taught in the school of theology were like of Fr. Z, is the other University of St. Thomas. I have to specify the city to avoid being painted as heterodox!
Many of the comments seem to echo this article about Catholic Schools’ Week:
http://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/articles/item/1452-catholic-schools-week-2015-can-catholic-schools-become-catholic-again
This place went south quite some time ago.
I’d say round about the time they got a Women’s Studies Department.
From there, it was only a matter of when.
Not to defend this part of the University, but the philosophy department, where the seminarians take most of there classes at UST, is outstanding and is chaired by a perpetual virgin. All new interviewees are asked if they are faithful to the magisterium, and if they answer no they aren’t given a second thought. Also, the university gives a tuition discount to seminarians (greatly helpful!) that comes to an almost $2 million donation essentially every year.