During the family crisis over the weekend, I inadvertently left my paper copy of the Catholic Standard at an undisclosed location. (No, I know exactly where I left it.) However, I did have a chance to look through it before returning to my domicile.
If I remember correctly there was an article regarding the fact that US News and World Report came out with their college rankings. (Although I have always been very dubious of the rankings, nonetheless, many colleges love them.) The article focused on the fact that there were a couple of "Catholic" colleges on the list, Georgetown being one of them.
However, I came across a very interesting Commentary by Diogenes over on the Catholic Culture website. According to Diogenes:
A recent issue of the Georgetown Magazine contains an article titled "Out on the Hilltop," which treats of gay students at Georgetown over the years, and advances the University's efforts to make its connection to Catholic teaching totally opaque. We're given a number of brief profiles of gay students and alumni and their triumphs over homophobia and internalized shame. The Catechism's instruction concerning homosexual acts is stated correctly in the article, and thereupon the administration's response is given in the wooly prose that conveys the fact that the administration does not wish to communicate its mind on the matter.
If you've been paying attention to the way these battles are waged among Catholics, you won't be surprised that the issues are not subjected to a moral or theological assessment, but instead contradictory positions are elicited from a diversity of "Catholic voices," with the implication that no stance is more Catholic than another, but personal and arbitrary inclinations will steer different Catholics to different conclusions.
In the original article, two priests both graduates of Georgetown are interviewed. Once who upholds the Catholic faith and the other who believes that being gay and Catholic is a "matter of ongoing negotiations."
Personally, I have a real problem with a "Catholic" university (and a Catholic priest) basically supporting an immoral lifestyle. However, this is not just an issue for the university but even one for the USCCB.
How so?
When the Pope came to visit the USCCB created a Papal Blog. One of the postings discussed the number of Catholic universities and colleges. I posted the following, which was removed in a short time:
How many of those who are listed as Catholic colleges and universities are really Catholic? Georgetown and Trinity in the Washington DC area both have homosexual organizations and regularly go against Catholic teaching, such as Trinity's invitation to Nancy Pelosi.
And, let us not forget that Archbishop Wuerl has himself washed his hands of such matters.
So, what do you expect when the USCCB and the Archbishop refuse to take a stand. You get a Georgetown and a Trinity. Both Catholic in name only.
3 comments:
Still nothing has been done or said to Georgetown???
You have to separate 'being' gay from 'acting' gay. Nobody, including the most enlightened (no irony intended) in the Church leadership can say definitively that 'being' gay is not a genetic or physiologic trait. You have to leave open the possibility that the being is NOT a choice while also acknowledging that the acting takes many forms, not all of them morally unacceptable (e.g., sex). What you have to give (relatively) liberal Catholic colleges credit for is allowing these young people a safe and open environment to reconcile this conflict - without judgement.
After all, the Catholic church is first and foremost, catholic, and colleges are first and foremost institutions of learning not indoctrination.
Why on earth would you believe the USCCB would address this issue? This is the same organization that facilitated the sex abuse scandal. While some of it's members are good holy priests, MANY have blood on their hands. Nobody has been relieved of their post or otherwise punished by Rome. Cardinal Law is gone, but got a promotion to a key, high-visibility job! As we have learned from subsequent legal proceedings, some of the activity was less pedophile in nature than homosexual attacks of young boys in their mid to late teens. Law enforcement describes the USCCB as the "Conference of Unindicted Co-conspirators." Expect more of the same.
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