Rick Majerus standing by his beliefs

From what I know of Jesuits today, his resignation won’t be requested. I was educated by Jesuits, but that was many years ago and things were very different. They always stood a bit apart in some ways, but today they seem to stand not just apart but openly against the Church.

Denial of communion: OK, that’s the church’s perogative. Efforts to get him disciplined: not OK; he was hired as a coach and was expressing a personal opinion and not speaking for the university or the church.

Re: "Rick Majerus had no intention of creating such a firestorm when he made an appearance at a Hillary Clinton"

Hmmm... actions often have consequences.

Maybe it’s me getting cynical as I age, but is there anyone besides myself that thinks Mr. Majerus planned it all out in advance as a kickoff to running for office himself?

Under the Dem flag, presumably.

Hey, maybe Hillary will let him give the convention speech...

He’s been basketball coach at St Louis since April 30, 2007.

Have another burrito, Rick.

So he says, "At the same time, when I took this job, I didn't check my heart at the door."

No one said anything about the fat guy's bloated & cholesterol filled heart. As an employee of a Catholic university he should publicly and privately adhere to the morals and values of the Faith he purports to represent. If not, he should get out!

Not sure where you’ve been employed in your life, but I have had to sign media disclosure documents wherever I’ve worked and at both of the private clubs that I belong to.

Nobody is interested in what Rick Majerus has to say because they think he’s some brilliant constitutional law expert. They want to hear what he has to say specifically because of where he works and has worked. Period.

Putting that aside for a second, I will take Weiss at his word: That Majerus is speaking as a “devout” and “practicing” Catholic. Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI have been very clear on the fact that you can not be “pro-choice” and be practicing Catholicism. Final decisions on Catholic doctrine are not “inclusive,” as Majerus wants them to be. Therefore, what Majerus really is is a Protestant who attends Catholic services. We welcome him to do so, and hope that he ends up seeing the light. Nevertheless, it is insulting when we see someone like him speaking on our behalf for someone like Hillary Clinton.

Shut up and coach, Rick! If you want to use your semi-celebrity status for a soapbox, get a job coaching at a public university. Maybe Colorado at Boulder, for example.

Efforts to get him disciplined: not OK; he was hired as a coach and was expressing a personal opinion and not speaking for the university or the church.

Of course it's OK.He works for a Catholic university.

Canon lawyer, Dr. Edward Peters, weighs in on the discussion.

Does Coach Majerus really think he can out play Abp. Burke?

I'm not making this up.

Jesuit-run St. Louis University's basketball coach Rick Majerus (yes, a basketball coach) is telling St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke (yes, the canonist archbishop), to mind his own business regarding Majerus' outspoken support for (get ready for it) abortion and experimentation on embryonic humans! If it weren't that expressing support for such deeply offensive conduct is so deadly serious, I'd be laughing.

Majerus boasts a long career in lefty politics going back to the 1960s, so maybe that's why he apparently never noticed that the Second Vatican Council, in its only display of anger, denounced abortion as an "unspeakable crime" (GS 51). An unspeakable crime, folks, for which Catholics are liable to excommunication (1983 CIC 1398), which St. Louis University official Rick Majerus publically and repeatedly supports.

Majerus' claim that the "First Amendment right to free speech supersedes anything that the archbishop would order me to do" rated (sorry, I couldn't help it) an 8.5 on the laugh-out-loud scale. SLU's basketball coach should walk across the quad to SLU's law school and ask any second year student to explain the notion of "state action" before he asserts any more grandiloquently wrong theories about the law of Church and state.

And if Majerus thinks that the Post-Dispatch is on his side, he should think again. News reporter Bernie Miklasz opined "If Burke is expecting an apology or silence from Majerus, it won't happen" and "If Burke hopes Majerus will fall in line with the Roman Catholic church's official positions on these two issues, it won't happen." That's not reporting news, that's fanning the flames of conflict. The secular press loves to play "Let's you and him fight", especially when the 'him' is a faithful Catholic bishop. Majerus is walking right into it.

I'm going to assume that Majerus knows even less about canon law than he apparently does about Church teaching, constitutional law, and media management, and offer the following thoughts.

Update: Culling a variety of sources, it appears that Abp. Burke has said that he is prepared to withhold Communion from Majerus. Denial of Communion is not a sign that the archbishop doesn't like Majerus or that he disagrees with his political views. Rather, it would be a determination by a highly-educated, deeply-dedicated successor to the apostles of Jesus Christ that the coach's conduct is tantamount to obstinate perseverance in manifest grave sin per 1983 CIC 915. Such a serious situation would require immediate attention.

Moreover, Majerus had better not provoke Abp. Burke into ordering him by penal precept (1983 CIC 1319) to retract his public support for experimenting on and killing pre-born human beings. Should Majerus receive and refuse such a precept, sanctions up to and including formal excommunication are possible against the St. Louis University official. A busload of First Amendment citations won't protect Majerus against that kind of canonical sanction.

For that matter, Abp. Burke doesn't even need to resort to a penal precept if he doesn't want to, because Majerus' public advocacy of gravely immoral behavior and his use of the press to reiterate his horrible views have already placed him at risk for sanctions under 1983 CIC 1369.

Majerus still has time to get out of this mess, but probably not much time. Abp. Burke has considerably more experience defending Church teaching and enforcing ecclesiastical discipline than Majerus has experience dealing with principled stands by conscientious bishops. The last thing a SLU basketball coach should want is a certified letter from a determined archbishop whose office is just six blocks west of SLU's campus.

So I wonder, how far will things have to go before Majerus admits that maybe, just maybe, a 2,000-year-old Church founded by Jesus Christ knows more about the dignity of innocent human life than does Hillary Clinton?

How far? Only Majerus knows.

Edward Peters
SLU Class of 1979

Of course it's OK.He works for a Catholic university.

So because he gets a paycheck they own him? My employer doesn't tell me what I can or can't say here on FR or anywhere else.

I disagree. The Catholic Church, as a PRIVATE employer, is free to discipline Majerus for publicly taking a position antithetical to the Church’s teachings. He has no First Amendment rights in that regard [no government action]. They should fire him. But then again, they should excommunicate the Kennedys, Cuomos, Pelosis, and Majerus.

You may not agree with him, but Majerus has a right to be heard on important topics that affect our society, just like the rest of us. Rick Majerus is a man for all seasons, much like the martyr St.Thomas More, and feels strongly enough to resign over this if asked.

And as the local Ordinary Archbishop Burke has the right to declare him excommunicate and have sacraments with held from him in his diocese.

And the School has the right to suspend him and refuse to renew his contract.

Lets hope that the coach is smart enough to realize his soul and his lively hood are both in danger.

Efforts to get him disciplined: not OK; he was hired as a coach and was expressing a personal opinion and not speaking for the university or the church.

Usually when one accepts a job at a religion-based institution it is customary to sign a doctrinal statement as well as a public behavior agreement. This is done for a number of reasons, almost all in order to protect the institution's reputation as a whole.

I have no idea if Majerus signed any such agreement. But his behavior demonstrates why institutions require it.

So because he gets a paycheck they own him? My employer doesn't tell me what I can or can't say here on FR or anywhere else.

Try going out and making very public statements that run directly counter to your employer's interests. I work for a pharma company; how long do you think I should keep my job if I appeared in a Michael Moore documentary?

So because he gets a paycheck they own him?

Certainly not.But they do get to evaluate,on a continuing basis,his fitness to retain the position that they granted him.

My employer doesn't tell me what I can or can't say here on FR or anywhere else.

Try getting a job at DNC Headquarters and then publicly endorse Romney and see how fast your employment prospects change.

Thank you for that very thorough insight into the Archbishop’s history and positions. I do regard him highly for his adherence to the truth. My question would be: Does his authority allow him to order the Jesuits to fire Majerus? And, if so, would the Jesuits comply? I graduated from Wheeling College (now known as Wheeling Jesuit University) back in ‘71 and before that from a Jesuit high school in D.C., but, as I said, Jesuits are differnt now - and not in good ways.