Rick Majerus standing by his beliefs

New York Daily News ^ | Friday, January 25th 2008 | Dick Weiss

[presidio9]

St. Louis basketball coach Rick Majerus had no intention of creating such a firestorm when he made an appearance at a Hillary Clinton rally last Saturday night in St. Louis and answered questions regarding his pro-choice, pro-embryonic stem-cell research beliefs for a local TV affiliate.

Three days later, Archbishop Raymond Burke of the St. Louis diocese, who is very active in the pro-life movement and recently attended the March for Life conference in Washington, D.C., drew a line in the sand in response. Burke said St. Louis University, which is a university operated by the Jesuit fathers, should discipline Majerus for his comments. He then threatened to deny Majerus, a practicing Catholic, Holy Communion if the coach did not change his positions.

This is the same Raymond Burke who also threatened Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry over the same issue in 2004 and told Catholics not to attend a fund-raiser thrown by Bob Costas because Sheryl Crow, an advocate for stem-cell research, was performing.

And we thought the Inquisition ended in the 15th century.

No one has denied Burke his right - or anyone's right - to express his opinion on Roe v. Wade or stem cell research or any issue. But Burke seemed to overstep his spiritual boundaries when he threatened the First Amendment rights of a private individual in this supposedly free country and the free exchange of ideas in a university community.

Majerus, a highly intellectual person, has different philosophies, which have evolved from his life experiences and education that took place in the gyms around the country and the classrooms of Marquette High and University and in the home of his parents in Milwaukee, an equally devout Catholic city. Those philosophies are as well-researched as any opponent he has played.

"These are my personal views," Majerus said from St. Louis last night. "I'm respectful of the archbishop's position, but it's not going to change my mind. We're given free will and the right to vote for changes. I think religion should be inclusive. I would hope that all people would feel welcome inside a church, and that the church would serve to bring people together, even if they happen to disagree on certain things."

Majerus, 59, always has had a keen interest in politics. This could be in tribute to the work of his late father Ray and his 81-year-old mother Alyce, a daily communicant who was concerned her son might be excommunicated after this incident.

Although Ray did not have the benefit of being educated by the Jesuits like his son, there is no doubt he lived a life by the tenet they encourage - being a man for others. Ray Majerus became a union organizer in Milwaukee and later the secretary-treasurer of the UAW. He was not afraid to expose Rick to the picket lines for the famous Koehler, Wis., factory strike at the tender age of 7. Nor were his parents concerned when they let young Rick march in the deep South in places like Selma, Ala., with the Rev. James Groppi and Jesse Jackson when the civil rights movement was just starting to take root during the 1960s. His parents were even tear-gassed on one occasion. He campaigned with his father outside factory gates with Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale in 1976, campaigned for Kerry in three states in 2004 and plans to fly to Utah, where he is a registered Democrat, to vote in November. He also has participated in death penalty protests outside prisons, building a liberal philosophy that is ingrained in him.

Majerus is not pro-abortion, but he is pro-choice and believes a woman should have the right to choose what to do with her body, and can imagine the many facets of that anguished decision.

Majerus has yet to hear from Burke or St. Louis president Rev.Lawrence Biondi. "I understand the school can't say anything," Majerus said. "I didn't represent the school when I made those comments. At the same time, when I took this job, I didn't check my heart at the door. I understand discretion is the better part of valor, but I think I have a responsibility to speak out on something I believe in."

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.

[Emmett McCarthy]

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.

[John Jorsett]

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.

[Trajan88]

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.

[sinanju]

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...

[Zuben Elgenubi]

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

[Senator Goldwater]

Have another burrito, Rick.

[vox_freedom]

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!

[presidio9]

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.

[mconley22]

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.

[Gay State Conservative]

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.

[NYer]

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

[John Jorsett]

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.

[PzLdr]

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.

[verga]

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.

[fideist]

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.

[NittanyLion]

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?

[Gay State Conservative]

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.

[Emmett McCarthy]

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.