Posted on 10/26/2006 6:18:18 PM PDT by franky
One of the plagues of the Catholic Church in modern America is the barely-disguised faith abuse of many of our so-called Catholic universities. The actions of some of these universities are just intolerable from the viewpoint of authentic Catholicism, and they should be exposed and rebuked for the heresy, apostasy or the just plain pathetic Catholicism that they advocate. This week saw one of the most egregious slaps in the face to the Catholic Church that has been seen in a long time: an award for an abortion-advocating priest. The culprit? Georgetown - again.This fallen-away Catholic school in DC has an astounding history of offensive actions against the Catholic Faith. Remember the scandal of the removal of Crucifixes from the classrooms despite student protests? How about the sponsorship of the V-Monologues and endorsement of the openly gay advocacy group on campus? They also hosted pornographer Larry Flint with honors but then staged a pretty nasty walkout on Cardinal Arinze, of all people, because he dared to mention homosexuality as a threat to the family. Not surprising really, when you consider that this is the same university that taught Bill Clinton how to be a politician.
The shenanigans of the Georgetown University Law Center this week, however, top them all. Georgetown Law established an endowed chair for "human rights" in the name of Fr. Robert Drinan, the Jesuit priest who unwaveringly supported abortion while he was in Congress (1971-1981) and even defended the despicable partial birth abortion. Why this scandal of a priest was not summarily run out of the priesthood by his superiors or at very least silenced for his shameless blessing of abortion is beyond me. But what inevitably happens when heretics are not disciplined by their superiors is that they end up being celebrated and honored with silly awards like this. Well, if Fr. Drinan is a human rights hero then Attila the Hun was a diplomat. Maybe Georgetown Law should name a chair of humanitarian law after Atilla just to be consistent. This incident, of course, touches upon the open, gaping wound in Catholic higher education these days. Western culture owes the very concept of the university to Roman Catholicism, which brought this institution to society for the purpose of evangelizing culture and saving souls through intellectual pursuit and formation in virtue. What passes for Catholic universities today is sometimes a pure mockery of that great tradition. Schools that routinely violate authentic Catholic teaching and refuse to discipline heretics in their midst under the rubric of "academic freedom" should not be called Catholic - pure and simple. They should have their status to teach as representative institutions of the Catholic Church revoked because they violate their very reason for existence, which is to bring souls and societies to Christ, Truth Incarnate.
We can lay the blame at the feet of bishops who don't supervise the Catholic credentials of these places, religious superiors who allow their subordinates to get away with heresy and school administrators who just don't seem to care about the mission of Christ. Parents would do well to stop investing upwards of $40,000 a year in Georgetown and other formerly Catholic universities just to have their kids lose the Faith and very possibly their souls.
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Rev. Thomas J. EuteneuerPresident, Human Life International
Wise words!
In other news, Georgetown just accepted $22 million from a Saudi (?) prince to build an Islamic studies center at the university. Maybe they can have an Al Qaeda Chair in addition to the Attila the Hun Chair.
http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=5143320&siteId=106
Lawmakers bid Drinan goodbye
By Evan Lehmann Sentinel & Enterprise Washington Bureau
Sentinel & Enterprise
Article Launched:02/02/2007 10:54:33 AM EST
WASHINGTON -- Free after eight years in a Soviet gulag, dissident Natan Sharansky scanned the crowd of supporters at a Capitol reception in the mid-1980s, settling on Father Robert Drinan near the back of the pack, one of his most tenacious champions.
"That was Father Drinan -- eager to help all in need, slow to accept credit," Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi recalled in a eulogy at Drinan's funeral in Washington Thursday.
No longer sheltered in the shadows, the Massachusetts priest and congressman was honored in a high profile Catholic ceremony strewn with lawmakers, scores of priests and hundreds of mourners at the massive Church of St. Aloysius on Capitol Hill.
Reflecting his characteristic modesty, the Jesuit priest's coffin was covered with an unadorned beige fabric as it was rolled down the center aisle of the towering church behind a procession of perhaps 30 priests.
Following Drinan, who died Sunday, was a two-by-two line of lawmakers, including much of the Massachusetts delegation. Reps. Edward Markey, James McGovern, Stephen Lynch and Sen. Edward Kennedy, all Democrats like Drinan, filed through.
Rep. Barney Frank, who succeeded the pro-choice priest when the Vatican barred Drinan and other clergy from politics in 1980, idled in a rear pew.
Frank, who represented Fitchburg until the district was redrawn in 1982, gripped both arms of a priest in a friendly gesture as he left the building.
After communion moments earlier, Kennedy expressed sadness at the absence of Drinan's wit, legal intellect and commitment to humanitarian causes. Kennedy, the only member of the delegation to have preceded Drinan in Congress, said the priest's presence was like a streaking "meteor."
"His election to Congress was a dramatic turning point in the effort to end the tragic, misguided, and wasteful war in Vietnam," Kennedy said from the lectern. "We miss him more than ever in the halls of Congress today, when that cruel history is repeating itself."
The 90-minute ceremony was punctuated by tears, laughs and memories.
Max Kampelman, a longtime friend of Drinan and a former U.S. ambassador that worked on nuclear weapons issues with the Soviet Union, recalled a recent lunch with the 86-year-old priest. Kampelman said Drinan expressed interest in the ambassador's ideas surrounding a global commitment to reducing weapons of mass destruction.
"I promised to keep him informed," Kampelman said. "I will. Death, after all, is only a horizon. And the horizon only reflects the limit of our sight."
In a lighter moment, Pelosi played off another speaker's joke that Drinan's forced departure from politics was eased by the fact that the Massachusetts delegation would be left in the care of a liberal senator, Kennedy -- an ironic offset of the Vatican's conservative edict.
"And I know (Drinan) was happy to hear that the district would be in the good hands of Barney Frank," Pelosi said, referencing the gay, pro-choice, Jewish liberal. The crowd hesitated, then laughed and erupted in a delayed applause.
Drinan will now be judged.
I added the funeral article onto the Human Events background post.
Thanks for sending it.
Oh, very good!
In 1995, and maybe still now, the introductory religion course was called "The Problem of God."
Unfortunately, most Catholic parents are blinded by the 'excellent academics' at these schools, and don't even pay attention to the fact that their kids are more likely to lose their religion at one of these alledged Catholic universities, than they are at a public college. At least at a public school they won't come out HATING the Church, they may just end up being indifferent to it.
So it is with the Left. War is peace, Freedom is slavery, etc.
Good, that you knew where to post it.
Thanks.
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