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Academic Apostasy
Spirit and Life | May 18, 2007 | Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer,

Posted on 05/17/2007 6:15:12 PM PDT by franky1

Why do Catholic colleges and universities honor those who are advocates and leaders of the Culture of Death? Unfortunately the majority of Catholic universities in the United States have followed the "John F. Kennedy" model of Catholicism, which holds that Catholicism won't "get in the way" of the really "important" work. Since those days, the early 60s, these schools have followed the secular model reflective of the desire of many Catholics at the time to gain acceptance into the wider American culture.

In those days rebellion against the "establishment" was seen as a virtue and the Church was seen by many as a rule-bound, integral part of this "establishment" bent on restricting human freedom. A lack of evangelization, proper catechesis and understanding led to views that the Church was something to be freed from rather than freed by.

Aging professors are still mesmerized with a 1960s utopian dream and invite impressionable students into their childish and outdated radicalism. The Catholic identity of these institutions is reduced to slogans like "faith, peace and justice" or "faith that does justice."

Justice is properly defined as depriving another of what is rightfully his. To claim to espouse justice as a "Gospel value" while depriving others the right to be born by killing them in the womb is a mockery and a lie. Political correctness, it seems, has supplanted the true Gospel at many Catholic universities.

The scandal occurs when the administration, sometimes including the priest-presidents of these institutions, goes along with the program of treating Church authority as an "outside influence" interfering with "academic freedom" when the Church calls them to fidelity. They forget that the Church, far from opposing intellectual inquiry, invented the university. Catholic fidelity is never in conflict with truth.

As Americans we respect the right of others to hold and express viewpoints different from ours, but we are not required to respect those viewpoints, especially when they involve the murder of the innocent. In fact, the Gospel requires us to oppose such viewpoints. Yet it is a modern scandal in the Church that those who hold, advocate and promote evil are not merely respected at Catholic colleges and universities, but are actually honored, by being selected as commencement speakers and given honorary degrees.

Make no mistake. The Catholic Church has enemies - mortal enemies. She always has. Jesus Himself spent much of His public life in mortal danger, and He told us that we could expect the same. Those who publicly advocate the killing of innocents are the enemies of the Catholic Church. We are called to love and pray for our enemies, yes, but not hold them up as models for those embarking on their adult lives and give them honorary degrees. To do so is to become cooperators with evil, not the justice of Christ. It is spiritual treason.

Action Item:

Villanova University has invited pro-abortion advocate Chris Matthews for their graduation where he will receive an honorary degree. In his television commentary and newspaper columns, Matthews has publicly supported abortion rights, even suggesting the validity of partial-birth abortion for severely handicapped babies.

The Graduate School of Notre Dame University has invited Mary Sue Coleman of the University of Michigan's center for stem cell research. She has argued that creating stem cell lines from unwanted embryos is "highly ethical." She also refused to cancel a course at the university teaching students "How to Be Gay" despite protests and efforts of the state legislature to cut university funding.

You may write to the President of Villanova, Fr. Peter Donohue, OSA at: president@villanova.edu

You may write to the Vice-President of Notre Dame Graduate School, Mr. Michael Edwards at: medward1@nd.edu

Please, be polite and charitable in your messages.

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Sincerely Yours in Christ,

Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, President, Human Life International


TOPICS: Current Events; Religion & Culture
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1 posted on 05/17/2007 6:15:13 PM PDT by franky1
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To: franky1
Why do Catholic colleges and universities honor those who are advocates and leaders of the Culture of Death? Unfortunately the majority of Catholic universities in the United States have followed the "John F. Kennedy" model of Catholicism, which holds that Catholicism won't "get in the way" of the really "important" work. Since those days, the early 60s, these schools have followed the secular model reflective of the desire of many Catholics at the time to gain acceptance into the wider American culture.

They have caved to Americanism and its value system and culture

I think we can rightfully reiterate what St. Hilary, bishop of Poitiers said and apply it to the to the American Culture

'"But nowadays, we have to do with a disguised persecutor, a smooth-tongued enemy, a Constantius who has put on Antichrist; who scourges us, not with lashes, but with caresses who instead of robbing us, which would give us spiritual life, bribes us with riches, that he may lead us to eternal death; who thrusts us not into the liberty of a prison, but into the honours of his palace, that he may enslave us: who tears not our flesh, but our hearts; who beheads not with a sword, but kills the soul with his gold; who sentences not by a herald that we are to be burnt, but covertly enkindles the fire of hell against us. He does not dispute with us, that he may conquer; but he flatters us, that so he may lord it over our souls. He confesses Christ, the better to deny him; he tries to procure a unity which shall destroy peace; he puts down some few heretics, so that he may also crush the Christians; he honours Bishops, that they may cease to be Bishops; he builds up Churches, that he may pull down the Faith".

-St. Hilary, bishop of Poitiers

2 posted on 05/18/2007 5:39:02 AM PDT by stfassisi ("Above all gifts that Christ gives his beloved is that of overcoming self"St Francis Assisi)
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To: stfassisi; franky1

I read that USF (U of San Francisco) is inviting Nancy Pelosi, that fine Catholic grandmother and proponent of the death penalty for the unborn, to give their commencement address.

Of course, since it’s a Jesuit school, and the Jesuits have already successfully argued in court that “Jesuit university” does not necessarily mean “Catholic university,” I guess it’s OK.


3 posted on 05/18/2007 6:16:17 AM PDT by livius
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To: livius; franky1; jo kus; NYer; Campion; Salvation

None of this should be a surprise because if you follow a Puritan Calvinistic system(what our country was founded on) of total depravity to its end ,you will end up with a culture where everything must be tolerated.
It builds things up only to bring it down,thus over time it confuses the minds of generations.
The end result is a society of people NOT willing to take a stance against what is morally right in fear of being labeled anti American.
Can anyone deny we are already headed deep down this path?
You will see this go into full force if we Elect a Democratic President along with control of the House and Senate


4 posted on 05/18/2007 6:20:25 AM PDT by stfassisi ("Above all gifts that Christ gives his beloved is that of overcoming self"St Francis Assisi)
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To: stfassisi
None of this should be a surprise because if you follow a Puritan Calvinistic system(what our country was founded on) of total depravity to its end ,you will end up with a culture where everything must be tolerated....You will see this go into full force if we Elect a Democratic President along with control of the House and Senate

Who's to blame? Which group votes for liberal Democrats more - Catholics, or Protestants?

5 posted on 05/18/2007 1:45:09 PM PDT by Alex Murphy (FR Member Alex Murphy: Declared Anathema By The Council Of Trent)
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To: Alex Murphy
“””Who,s to blame?”””

Catholic,s who vote for candidates for abortion, gay Marriage and other immoralities should not call themselves Catholic.They are NOT following what the Church teaches.
Therefore polls mean nothing to me

Dear Brother,I think you,re not seeing the full picture here.
America was founded on “certain” Calvinistic ideas because the puritans were mostly Calvinists.

A major component of this is what I would call “the cancer”,it the Calvinists doctrine of total depravity and how it tricks people, which eventually decays a society morally for the better good of the state or country,In other words the country becomes more important then God,thus removes God from everything to please all the groups within.This is already happening here.
This system prides itself upon recognizing the uselessness of the divisive, polarizing intellectual and spiritual battles which have troubled society in the past. It rejoices in the discovery that peace and stability can be shaped from the integration of disparate groups on the level of the one thing all men “truly” share in common concupiscence.

Take a look at Western Europe and you can clearly see where this whole system fails.
In Calvinist influenced Switzerland you will go to Jail if you speak out against homosexuality,also non Doctor assisted euthanasia is allowed..

Is there any doubt that we are not far behind this coming to America? The Terri Schaivo case has already opened the door for euthanasia and there are people already in congress wanting to pass laws for gay marriage and from speaking out against homosexuality as a hate crime.

Dear brother, I,m not sure this beast can be tamed once we join with the rest of the World in acceptance of these horrific immoralities.
I also doubt that Calvin could have foreseen all of this either.

So ,to answer you question as to "who is to blame" for all of this.
My answer is....

For this kind is only cast out by fasting and prayer and “Woe be onto us” if we fail to recognize the signs of the times.

We better start “moving some mountains” before it too late!

6 posted on 05/19/2007 11:30:56 AM PDT by stfassisi ("Above all gifts that Christ gives his beloved is that of overcoming self"St Francis Assisi)
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To: stfassisi; Dr. Eckleburg; Gamecock; HarleyD; topcat54; OrthodoxPresbyterian
Catholic,s who vote for candidates for abortion, gay Marriage and other immoralities should not call themselves Catholic.They are NOT following what the Church teaches.

We are constantly being reminded of the growth of Roman Catholicism here in the USA, as compared to (shrinking) mainline Protestant denominations. Yet simultaneously, we (occasionally) are told that not everyone who calls themselves Catholic are - even to the point of saying that many have excommunicated themselves by their beliefs and actions.

And yet those "not really Catholics" remain on the membership rolls, they remain (when they attend) in communion with Rome, and the comparative membership statistics get thrown in our faces when it benefits the Catholic side.

You can't have it both ways. Either a significant percentage of Catholicism is made up of fake phony frauds (to quote Bob Grant) and you should stop bragging about the false appearance of growth - in which case you're saying that you know better than those who are doing the counting - or else you should start accepting responsibility for the actions and voting records of all whom Rome has included in her numbers. If you claim they're excommunicated, then why don't your bishops excommunicate them? Which group better represents the authoritative interpretation of the Catholic faith - the laypeople, or the priesthood?

A major component of this is what I would call “the cancer”,it the Calvinists doctrine of total depravity and how it tricks people, which eventually decays a society morally for the better good of the state or country,In other words the country becomes more important then God,thus removes God from everything to please all the groups within.This is already happening here.

And you believe atheistic democratic statism is the result of Calvinism, and not from the rejection of Calvinism, or of Christianity of any kind? Why do the actions of our apostates count against our denominations, and yours don't count against your own?

Exit polls indicate that a majority of Catholics voted Democratic on Nov. 7, helping the party to take control of the House of Representatives and possibly the Senate. According to The New Republic, 52 percent of Catholics voted Democratic, compared with 47 percent who voted Republican. George W. Bush won the Catholic vote in 2004 by the same margin.

The Catholic Vote 2004: “Religious” Voters Aren’t Always “Right”
The Election: Catholic Voters and Issues
Nuns urge Catholic voters to challenge church

7 posted on 05/19/2007 12:01:20 PM PDT by Alex Murphy (FR Member Alex Murphy: Declared Anathema By The Council Of Trent)
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To: Alex Murphy
“And you believe atheistic democratic statism is the result of Calvinism”

No, The doctrine of total depravity when God is removed from it is a system to which can be applied to many things and it has been applied to many things

I did not specifically blame everything on Calvinism.

Look Brother, I,m not breaking any new ground here, many historians have made this connection

8 posted on 05/19/2007 12:11:35 PM PDT by stfassisi ("Above all gifts that Christ gives his beloved is that of overcoming self"St Francis Assisi)
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