From a reader:
Georgetown Law will be giving [Vice-President] Biden the Legal Momentum Hero Award on Wednesday. Would a non-disruptive protest be acceptable? For example, standing at the back of the room with my back turned.
Hmmm… I didn’t know about this.
Some questions spring to mind.
Is Georgetown Law still connected with Georgetown University? Do they claim a Catholic or Jesuit identity? Do they refer to the same when fund-raising? Who is really giving this award? What is the connection with Georgetown?
Vice-President Biden, Catholic, is on record as a clear supporter of abortion.
If Georgetown Law is still in some way Catholic, then they are about to at least participate in honoring a pro-abortion public figure.
So… what is this award?
The award is to be given during the Symposium Celebrating the 15th Anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).
This symposium is sponsored by the Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law and Legal Momentum.
The VAWA was originally drafted by then-Sen. Biden with the support of organizations such as, wait for it, Legal Momentum (note the name of the award!) and NOW.
I assume that, because of the name of the award, it is really being given by Legal Momentum, rather then directly by Georgetown. But the event is co-sponsored by an entity of the University.
It is ironic that this is about the Violence Against Women Act, but somehow the people involved don’t see that the act of abortion and the industry of abortion is really all about violence against women at the deepest level. Not to mention that at least half of the children to whom this violence is done are female… more more in some cultures.
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I suspect there are some “Catholic” universities who will want to grab a piece of the Notre Shame scandal notoriety. “Don’t forget us! We thumb our noses at authority too!”
What I find very reassuring is the fact that letters on this subject and the same responses will be essentially the same one hundred years from now.
Dear Fr. Zuhlsdorf,
The dispositions of the USCCB regarding giving awards to Catholic pro-abort politicians were designed to provide clarity in these sorts of cases.
Vice President Biden supports the “right” to abortion, and so no Catholic university ought to be involved in any way in honoring his person.
That he is being honored for work to prevent violence against women only adds to the callousness of the thing.
C.
As a graduate of a Jesuit school (St. Joe’s in Philly) I have a problem with honoring ANY person who supports abortion in any fashion. Georgetown U. really isn’t Catholic anymore. What a shame.
Father Z wrote: “Is Georgetown Law still connected with Georgetown University? Do they claim a Catholic or Jesuit identity?”
A review of the Georgetown Law website (accessible as a link from the main Georgetown site) reveals a link entitled “History and Identity.” Underneath that link is a sub-title which reads, “History of the Law Center Jesuit and Catholic Identity.” When you click on the link, the only reference to anything remotely Catholic is the following: “Georgetown University Law Center began in 1870 and was the first law school established in the United States by a Jesuit institution of higher learning.”
That’s about all I could find. Sounds like they still claim their identity with the Church and the Jesuits..
Another tragedy.
I have pretty much settled on the Newman Society’s list of 21 truely Catholic colleges and univesities as being the definitive list of which ones are Catholic in more than name only. Georgetown is not on that list.
When I read news like this, I am saddened that Cardinal Hickey is no longer alive – since we can be assured here in DC that Archbishop Wuerl will do absolutely nothing about it. What a travesty.
To answer Father’s questions:
Georgetown Law is considered an entity of the University. It is overseen by the same group that oversees the main campus. It is viewed as a “college” within the university.
Tuition money is being used to fund this event.
The Dean of Georgetown Law will be the one presenting the award. He is considered the Executive VP of the University.
He’s being honored for one very specific act, which is a laudable act. This is clearly not an endorsement of his views on abortion. I don’t see the problem and I don’t see how it violates the bishops’ guidelines. It’s not analogous to the situation at ND.
Erin, the problem is, the USCCB guidelines do reach this situation. Tom
ps: he’s also a serial prevericator. Another reason not to honor him
Erin wrote: “He’s being honored for one very specific act, which is a laudable act. This is clearly not an endorsement of his views on abortion. I don’t see the problem and I don’t see how it violates the bishops’ guidelines. It’s not analogous to the situation at ND.”
Erin, here it is in a nutshell:
1. Georgetown claims to be a Catholic university.
2. Vice President Biden claims to be a practicing Catholic but does not support the Church’s teaching on abortion (violence against children males and females and grown women), which is not a laudable act.
3. Georgetown, who claims to be Catholic school, is giving an award to Vice President Biden, who claims to be a practicing Catholic but does not support Church teaching on this fundamental issue of life and essential element of our Faith.
4. When one thinks about the fact that Vice President Biden considers himself a practicing Catholic and President Obama is not Catholic, it may very well, as you have pointed out, analogous to the situation at Notre Dame. It could be argued that it is even worse.
TNCath and TJM, Catholics in Political Life states:
“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.”
This is not an honor, award or platform which suggests support for Biden’s actions in defiance of fundamental moral principles. This is an honor that suggests support for Biden’s laudable work on VAWA, and nothing else.
Father Z,
I don’t know about everybody else, but I’m having trouble typing in your com-box. It is very diffficult to delete words and letters and the cursor keeps jumping around. Here is my correct copy of my last posting, I hope!
Erin wrote: “He’s being honored for one very specific act, which is a laudable act. This is clearly not an endorsement of his views on abortion. I don’t see the problem and I don’t see how it violates the bishops’ guidelines. It’s not analogous to the situation at ND.”
Erin, here it is in a nutshell:
1. Georgetown claims to be a Catholic university.
2. Vice President Biden claims to be a practicing Catholic but does not support the Church’s teaching on abortion (violence against children –males and females as well as grown women), which is not a laudable act.
3. Georgetown, who claims to be Catholic school, is giving an award to Vice President Biden, who claims to be a practicing Catholic but does not support Church teaching on this fundamental issue of life and essential element of our Faith.
4. When one thinks about the fact that Vice President Biden considers himself a practicing Catholic and President Obama is not Catholic, it may very well not be analogous to the situation at Notre Dame. It could be argued that it is even worse.
“This is not an honor, award or platform which suggests support for Biden’s actions in defiance of fundamental moral principles. This is an honor that suggests support for Biden’s laudable work on VAWA, and nothing else.”
Regardless, Erin, he is a dissenting Catholic who should not ever be honored by any Catholic institution for any reason whatsoever.
Erin, you are contradicting what you just cited. By awarding this to Biden you are in fact providing an award to those who act in defiance of our fundemental moral principles. I get it. You voted for Abortion King and Little Abortion King for President and Vice-President. So transparent. Tom
That’s right, Tom, anyone who supports VAWA or pays attention to what the bishops actually say is a Democrat. Good work. [This shouldn’t, for us, have anything to do with political parties.]
Erin, you obviously aren’t paying attention to what the bishops are saying. Abortion is an intrinsic evil, never justified. Abortion is part of the
Democratic Party’s official platform, in other words it supports an intrinsic evil contrary to Church teaching. Biden is therefore in violation of Church
teaching and so it sounds are you. You probably are a site pest looking for a thrill who doesn’t care about the Church or the truth. [Dial it back.]
Kindly return to moveon.org your spiritual home. Tom
Why on earth would ANY law school give Joe Biden an award, especially for drafting VAWA? The act’s key provisions were adjudged unconstitutional.
I don’t know why it’s necessary to call anyone a site pest, nor do I necessarily think that if a pro-abortion Catholic actually did something truly laudable that an institution would be categorically barred from recognizing him for it. That said, I can’t imagine what would motivate Erin to describe work on VAWA as laudable: sure, nobody wants there to be violence against women, but I also would like not to pay $2.00/gallon for gasoline. That doesn’t mean any collection of words labeled “the gas price reduction act” would be a good government endeavor. VAWA is in large part a legal monstrosity for which Biden et al. ought to be hounded, not honored. That doesn’t have anything to do with where anyone goes to church.
Why are we still celebrating the Violence Against Women Act? The Supreme Court struck down that law as unconstitutional on Commerce Clause grounds. United States v. Morrison, 529 U.S. 598, 120 S.Ct. 1740, 146 L.Ed.2d 658 (2000). Did I miss something?
Erin,
Neither Obama nor Biden should be given any sort of award at any university. Obama’s and Biden’s support for something as heinous and intrinsically evil as abortion renders them both totally unfit for public leadership. It really makes no difference what Obama and Biden do in other areas. It can never be overlooked that these two leaders support the so-called right of Americans to KILL other unborn Americans who are in the womb.
It is sad that we have such pathetic leadership in the United States. I personally believe that we should marginalize and isloate our leaders when they support the killing of their own people. We should also pray that these leaders will stop violating the common good of society through their support of abortion.
May the good God have mercyy on us! At the first Right to Life March in San Francisco a few years ago my husband and I carried signs that said, “WOMEN DESERVE BETTER THAN THIS”. This cruel insanity. Could there be anything more destructive even of our earthly future? The devastation of much in family life has greatly contributed to our economic crisis. See “Demographics and Depression” by David Goldman At firstthings.com
Re discussion: Pro-abortion Catholic? Isn’t that an oxymoron? It was formerly considered that a non-practicing Catholic was considered non-Catholic. Now it seems that anyone who was baptized a Catholic at 6 weeks of age is a Catholic at sixty no matter what kind of nefarious activities they engage in. How did this change? Perhaps it goes back to Bugnini at VII who was a Catholic and a Mason and a Protestant?