I’m not Catholic. But if I were, I should think that, since the church is an ordered institution that governs theologically from the top down, I would be obliged to abide by Catholic teaching. Or get out. And if I were a Catholic attending a Catholic university, I would presume to abide by and respect the tenants of those who founded and fund the college.
EXHIBIT A: Remember Sandra Fluke, the liberal show pony who testified before congress? She, a feminist, attended Georgetown University, a Catholic school. She testified before Congress that the school should be required to provide her with free birth control as a “health issue” to make her promiscuity possible.
EXHIBIT B: Two gay students at the same school are trying to get the chaplain of the school’s Newman Center fired for his opposition to homosexuality and abortion. (Newman Centers are Catholic sponsored student spiritual life organizations.) The last I heard, the Catholic Church is officially opposed to gay sex and abortion. So, the priest should be fired for adhering to his ordination vows because a student thinks otherwise?
What kind of new moral McCarthyism is this that wants to silence the opposition? Leave aside the issues of abortion, gay rights, and contraception. The point is the choice of an institution, founded on certain beliefs, to abide by those beliefs, especially when (right or wrong) they are institutionally ratified by a hierarchy that claims to speak for God. These students could have chosen any other school that permits their lifestyle and beliefs. It’s time to move away from these kinds of confrontations to a more civil way of disagreeing. We must listen to each other and not resort to force to stifle those with whom we differ. These students need to let Catholics be Catholics and transfer to another school.
