Not Very Catholic

I was over perusing the articles at National Review Online and came across this one by Colleen Carroll Campbell. It is titled Be Not Afraid and asks the question "Is there room for Catholic teaching at a Catholic commencement?"

Here is an excerpt:

When the students, faculty, and staff of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., elected Ben Kessler as “Tommie of the Year” and student speaker for this year’s commencement, they got more than they bargained for.

Kessler, a straight-A student and ESPN Academic All American football player who plans to be a Catholic priest, shocked the crowd at his May 20 commencement by delivering an address that elicited catcalls, boos, and obscenities. The controversial content of Kessler’s speech led several professors and students to walk out of the ceremony, while other audience members chanted “Stop it! Stop it!” One graduate told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that Kessler “ruined the day” and another told InsideHigherEd.com that Kessler’s words made her cry. Two days later, University of St. Thomas president Rev. Dennis Dease apologized for the remarks in a prepared statement that included an apology from Kessler for any hurt feelings he had caused.

So what did Kessler say to incite such hysteria in this mild-mannered Minnesota crowd and compel an official apology from the president of his Catholic university? Judging from the reactions, one might assume that he had rattled off racist epithets or intoned neo-Nazi chants. In fact, Kessler did something that has become nearly as controversial on many Catholic campuses today: He defended the Catholic Church’s teaching on sexual ethics.

Isn't this a sad thing? A Catholic defends the Catholic Church at a Catholic university commencement and is treated like Hitler.

Bravo, Ben Kessler!

My college years were spent at Gonzaga, a Jesuit university. Having attended an excellent Catholic grade school and an excellent Catholic, Jesuit high school, Gonzaga Prep, I expected GU to further my Catholic faith and be a wonderful experience.

I was quite mistaken.

Unfortunately, it seems that Catholic universities are no longer very Catholic.

There are too many examples to list here, but my 4 1/2 years (I got my teaching certificate) at Gonzaga were full of incidents, events, and attitudes that were, frankly, anti-Catholic. I experienced some and heard stories from others.

One would expect that, at a Catholic school, Catholic teachings and doctrine would be the foundation for and central focus of all classes. These have been replaced with Liberal "theology."

Professors, even in the Theology Department, haven't a care for what the Catholic Church says. My sister even had one who taught that Jesus was not divine (Jesus' dual humanity and divinity is a basic belief of the Catholic Church), among other outrageous things. Philosophy professors also prefer to focus on other forms of philosophy and ethics, rather than center classes around the very thorough and intellectual scholarship of countless Catholic philosophers and theologians. My required ethics class never touched on Catholic ethics, but only evolutionary and blah blah blah ethics. Nary a mention of St. Augustine or St. Thomas More or any other Catholics.

While a liberal arts education is supposed to encourage one to be open to learning, a liberal arts education at a Catholic University ought to be founded on a strong Catholic identity. If you don't want that, then go to a non-Catholic school.

Just look at the little "motto" in the upper right corner of GU's homepage: "Our Humanistic, Catholic, Jesuit Tradition." Catholic is placed second. That's truly because being a Catholic university is not as important as being secularly "humanistic." That's not ok. I paid all that money to attend a Catholic university, not a humanistic one.

Here is a portion of the Mission Statement:

As humanistic, we recognize the essential role of human creativity, intelligence, and initiative in the construction of society and culture.
As Catholic, we affirm the heritage which has developed through two thousand years of Christian living, theological reflection, and authentic interpretation.

Humanism comes first and I don't see the Catholic part having that big of a place on campus. The word Catholic is only used in the mission statement that one time, while humanism is used again. Catholicism ought to be the focus.

Yes, there are certainly good Catholics at Gonzaga, who teach and live the Word of God according to the practices, doctrines, and teachings of the Catholic Church. Yes, there are good classes, activities, and other such things. But, that's just not good enough. Everything, everything ought to be based on the Catholic Church.

Aside from classes, there are plenty of examples of Gonzaga failing to live up to Catholic expectations. For one, every year Gonzaga has a week long gay celebration on campus, promoting the gay lifestyle and berating those of us who hold traditional Catholic beliefs that homosexuality is a Sin. The Women's Studies Club (should that have a "y" instead of an "e"? lol) tried to bring the horrid Vagina Monologues to campus and when Father Spitzer, the President, who tries to keep Catholicism on campus, says no, the feminazis act like he denied them the right to breathe. They were still able to pass out horrid suckers and put posters up all over campus, not to mention call him horrible things. When we College Republicans attempted to counter their posters with one of our own (which was approved for posting by the proper people, our club president was physically intimidated and followed, and our posters were torn down. It turned into a huge thing. We, who had followed the rules, were threatened with an official reprimand, while those who wrongfully tore down our posters were patted on the back.

Groups that preach anti-Catholic positions are always given benefits: their mass e-mails are sent out, they are able to use certain rooms or buildings for speakers or meetings, they can put up whatever they want to, etc. Groups that try to practice Catholic teachings, or at least morality, run into all sorts of difficulties in attempting any of these things.

Even at the law school Catholics run into problems. Recently a group of pro-life students were attempting to create an official group. They only wanted to allow Christians into the leadership, to insure that the leaders remained pro-life and Christian (as it was a pro-life, Christian group). The school refused them official status because this discriminates against those who are not Christian or pro-life. If the group had been a gay group, and only wanted to allow gay students into leadership, do you think it would have been denied official status? No way.

And did I mention the faculty inviting Noam Chomsky as a special speaker last April? I sent a letter with my objections to the contact person (Patrick McCormick), who happens to be a "Catholic" in the theology department, and received a patronizing, very rude e-mail in response. Oh, yes, and last fall the College Republicans were hosting David Horowitz. One of the philosophy professors (who I, unfortunately, had for Ethics), Mark Alfino, sent out a hate-filled letter lambasting Mr. Horowitz and saying awful things about him. So professional.

There are, of course, numerous more examples, but I've thought about this subject all I can at this moment.

I did not very much enjoy my years at Gonzaga University. I can count on one hand the number of truly great things I experienced there. I would NEVER recommend it to anyone and I certainly will not be donating any money there.

Not, at least, until Gonzaga becomes a Catholic university.

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