University asks cohabiting couple to get two rooms (Professors bow out of trip)

Twin Cities ^ | January 3, 2005 | Paul Tosto

[NYer]

Professors Ellen Kennedy and Leigh Lawton had traveled together before for the University of St. Thomas. Where they slept was never an issue.

But last month, as they prepared for a long-planned trip with students to Australia, they got a call from a St. Thomas official asking about their "living" arrangements for the trip.

Kennedy, 57, and Lawton, 61, live together as unmarried, heterosexual partners. The university decided they could go to Australia only if they took separate rooms. They refused, considering it deceitful.

The flight left Friday with other faculty on board. The controversy won't be leaving any time soon.

Kennedy and Lawton's story is the talk among faculty and staff at the Catholic university. It comes months after St. Thomas told a lesbian choral director she couldn't officially bring her partner along on a trip to France with a university choir.

That story, playing out the past few weeks in the campus newspaper, and the emerging account of Kennedy and Lawton have spawned a complex campus debate over Catholic doctrine, the teachings of Jesus and the university's legal reach.

There's no doubt where the church stands on homosexuality and unmarried couples living together. Others ask how far the university intends to go to enforce Catholic values.

"If sin and vice become disqualifying factors for university employees, then students might have to start teaching themselves," theology professor David Landry wrote in a recent faculty newsletter.

University officials acknowledge that the travel policy is ambiguous and say they hope to fix it in the coming months. It's unclear, for instance, whether it's OK for unmarried couples in relationships to attend a professional conference or if it matters whether students are part of the trip.

It's complicated, too, because the university was willing to let Lawton and Kennedy travel together as long as they pretended not to sleep in the same room. Officials told the pair just to get two rooms; no bed checks were planned.

There's been talk on campus that Archbishop Harry Flynn, chairman of the St. Thomas board, played a role, but university officials say that's not true.

"The bottom line is it's not appropriate, we don't feel as a Catholic university, for unmarried partners, homosexual or heterosexual, to travel together" officially with students, said Doug Hennes, vice president for university and government relations.

The issue surfaced earlier this year after Ann Schrooten, a temporary music instructor and interim director of the Liturgical Choir, planned to have her female partner and their son accompany her on the choir's trip to France. The administration stepped in after a couple of students raised concerns about the arrangement.

The university told Schrooten it wouldn't be appropriate for an unmarried partner, gay or straight, to travel with the choir. The university, however, was willing to help Schrooten pay for her partner's travel as long as the arrangements were separate from the school program. She chose not to go on the trip. (Schrooten said Friday that St. Thomas first argued her partner presented a "moral dilemma" to students and only later focused the issue on not being married.)

The campus newspaper Aquin reported the story in November, prompting a flurry of responses. Some students applauded the university's defense of Catholic values; others accused the university of bias. A university employment committee rejected Schrooten's claim that she was discriminated against because she is a lesbian.

Kennedy said university officials were always polite and at times seemed embarrassed about the questions. She and Lawton are longtime professors on campus who have lived together for 12 years and whose relationship is no secret. They led a St. Thomas-sponsored trip in 2002 and accompanied St. Thomas students on a 2003 Semester at Sea program; no one asked them then where they would sleep.

Kennedy began planning the month-long Australia trip two years ago. It included four departments and studies ranging from refugees to human rights. Lawton initially planned to come at his own expense but eventually took on an administrative role.

Neither is Catholic. They believe they got tangled in the hard line the university took with Schrooten. They say they're not angry with the university but want to know what the legal boundaries are.

"Where does the line get drawn?" Lawton asked.

Legally, St. Thomas seems to be on firm ground.

Religious institutions have had employment decisions based on moral conduct upheld, as long as that was the real reason for the decision and the rules were evenly applied to men and women, said Marie Failinger, who teaches law at Hamline University and edits the Journal of Law and Religion.

These conflicts have been an issue with religious Protestant universities more often than Catholic institutions, but "it's a growing trend for Catholic universities to take their Catholic identity more seriously," she said. "Maybe you'll see more of these cases in the future."

St. Thomas officials hope to draft a new travel policy this month. Faculty members are expected to discuss the issue at a meeting Feb. 3.

Landry, the theology professor, recently asked the question, "What would Jesus do?" and noted that in the Gospel of John, Jesus did not judge an unmarried Samaritan woman with a partner.

"He does not seem excessively concerned about the bad example she sets for her hearers, only that she is doing good and bringing others to faith," he wrote. "I thought I worked for the kind of institution that followed the example of Jesus."

Landry wrote in an e-mail that the response to his essay from faculty and staff has been overwhelmingly positive: "There are a lot of people who are worried and/or angry about this."

[frogjerk]

To be clear, the article says nothing of the couple "having sex." It is recognized that adultery, which is a sin, is the act of sex outside of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony. If the couple argues that they have never, nor intend to ever, have sex until they are married in the church, then the church could have difficulties

It is still a scandal and should not be OK'd by the Catholic university.

[Andy'smom]

If the women are heterosexual, then they should be called "roomates"

[Andy'smom]

Never mind, my bad.

[Restorer]

adultery, which is a sin, is the act of sex outside of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.

Unless Catholics have a different definition, these acts are not always adultery.

Adultery is sex when one or both of the participants are married to someone else. If both are unmarried, it is not adultery, and is more commonly referred to as fornication. My understanding is that most Christians consider adultery to be a more serious sin that fornication, as one adds betrayal of the mate and of marriage itself to the sin of sex outside marriage.

[Valin]

"If sin and vice become disqualifying factors for university employees, then students might have to start teaching themselves," theology professor David Landry wrote in a recent faculty newsletter.

Strawman argument alert! Sin and vice are not (or at least shouldn't be) the issue. It continueing to commit the same sin with no attempt to stop that's the issue. As any theology professor worth anything SHOULD know.

[dsc]

What's this? A Catholic school trying to act Catholic?

Be still, my beating heart.

[Galveston Grl]

Yes, he said "go and SIN NO MORE."

[steve8714]

Typical of a theology professor.

[doc30]

"He does not seem excessively concerned about the bad example she sets for her hearers, only that she is doing good and bringing others to faith," he wrote. "I thought I worked for the kind of institution that followed the example of Jesus."

Didn't Jesus command her to sin no more?

[Tenacious 1]

[It is still a scandal and should not be OK'd by the Catholic university.]

We agree. Read my whole post and what I was responding too.

[Tenacious 1]

[Unless Catholics have a different definition, these acts are not always adultery.]

Unless I learned wrong in 12 years of Catholic education, and unless I missunderstood Brother Dave and Father McNally, here is what the Roman Catholic Church believes about intercourse, copulation, sex, fornication, etc.:

(By the way, I do not agree with every detail of the Church's teachings...war, death penalty, etc., but I do know where they stand)

The act of sex (call it whatever you want) is the gift granted by God for souls joined by God in the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony. It's primary purpose is to procreate and raise children in the Catholic faith. It's secondary purpose is to emotionally unite the joined souls of the married couple. It biologically feels good for two important reasons. 1) So that the human race will continue to procreate and not lose interest 2) To remind the participants of the spiritual importance of the act. To make it special.

The selfish act of uncommitted sex for ones own gratification is considered adultery. The church believes that sex outside of the life long committment and recognition of Holy Matrimony is for gratuitous purposes and is therefore adulterous. If you want to go one step further, the Catholic Church believes that contraception is wrong. The only accepted forth of "birth control" by the church is the "rythm method."

[Mercat]

Hmmm, I think he told that to the woman they were going to stone. He said, he who is without sin, cast the first stone and as he said that he was writing in the dust. All the men left and he asked her where were they and then he said that he would not condemn her but to go and sin no more.

The woman at the well, John 4, he asked her where her husband was and she said she had no husband and he said, you have had five husbands and the one you have now is not your own. He told her he was the Messiah and she went back and told others. I don't think he told her to sin no more. That doesn't mean he told her that she could continue sinning. I love the old spiritual, Jesus met the woman at the well and he told her everything she'd ever done. Oh woman oh woman, you've had five husbands oh woman oh woman, you've had five husbands, etc. and the one you have now is not your own......... lalalala.

[AzaleaCity5691]

Add me to the catholic list as well

[markomalley]

Ellen Kennedy	Leigh Lawton

From St. Thomas' web site...just posting to make sure that there is no confusion on what we're dealing with here!

[Andy'smom]

Thanks! It would be less confusing if he just spelled it "LEE", though.

[Owen]

Thanks, guys. That makes it clear they are shacking up and that's not what a Catholic university should condone. I suspect what's in play here is one or both has some kind of non church approved divorce or something so they could not marry.

Interesting though, if they were same gender, declared heterosexuals and forthright about simply roommates and saving money, this would probably be okay.

[TChris]

Having a faculty and student honor code, including specific prohibitions on this kind of crap, has worked well for Brigham Young University and the LDS Church. I should think the Catholic Church could find qualified instructors who are willing to live up to high standards. I hope they do.

[TChris]

People always want to forget that Jesus forgave penitent sinners with a "Go and Sin No More," and never an "I'm OK, You're OK."

While I agree with the essence of your statement, I am one who does not agree that the Master forgave the adulterous woman at that time.

At other times, Christ specifically said "Thy sins are forgiven." However, in this instance, he said, "Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more." He did not mention forgiveness, but only pointed out that he did not join with the hypocritical voices of those who tempted him with their condemnation of her.

The command to "Go, and sin no more." was the instruction of the Lord for her to repent. Since she had committed adultery scarcely minutes before, she clearly didn't have time to have sincerely repented. Jesus instructed her to do so.

I think it is a dangerous thing to imagine such instantaneous repentance and forgiveness. I don't believe He forgave her at that time, though He certainly would after she had repented and gotten her life in order.

[kittymyrib]

Why are these moral reprobates still getting paychecks from a Catholic university? They should not be in a position to teach young people since their lifestyles are not Christian.

[coop71]

Then why oh why can I count tens of couples I know who lived together prior to marriage, the Church was fully aware of this, yet married all the couples anyway? Tons of my Catholic friends have been in this situation. Different diocese, different locations, etc., so it's not isolated to one church or area. Most recently I found out my best friend's sister, who lives in Maine, owns a home with her boyfriend and they are getting married in the Catholic church in July.