Archbishop Elden Curtiss
Posted on 08/30/2007 12:33:53 PM PDT by NYer
Archbishop Elden Curtiss
Omaha, Nebraska, Aug 30, 2007 / 10:34 am (CNA).- Creighton University has been in the news lately, but not because of a new research breakthrough or one of its athletic team’s good records. The Jesuit-run university is in the limelight because of what seems to be a pattern of disagreement with the Archdiocese of Omaha within which it is located.
The most recent development in the relationship between the two Catholic institutions is the invitation, and then a last minute retraction by the university for the pro-assisted suicide speaker Anne Lamott to speak.
Creighton University officials said they invited Anne Lamott to speak before her book "Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith," came out in March 2007, according to the AP. The book describes her personal experience in helping a friend commit suicide.
"Everybody knew what they were getting so it is hard to understand a last minute disinvitation," said Fr. Joseph Taphorn, chancellor for the archdiocese. "All you have to do is put the name in Google and you see what she believes."
On Wednesday, the author's booking agent, Steven Barclay, said Lamott's opinions were no secret. He said university officials sent a letter earlier this summer asking Lamott not to speak about assisted suicide and abortion. Creighton has since rescinded its invitation to Lamott.
Creighton is run by the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic order more commonly known as the Jesuits. According to the order, part of a Jesuit university's mission is to remain in good standing with the Catholic bishop.
This latest disagreement is causing many local Catholics to lose patience with the university because its part of a larger series of run-ins with the archdiocese.
This past June, CNA reported that the Archbishop of Omaha, Elden Curtiss, officially disassociated the Archdiocese from the university’s Center for Marriage and Family after two of its researchers published an article in US Catholic magazine encouraging couples to have sex and children before marriage as long as they are engaged.
One of the center’s researchers, Michael Lawler, also co-wrote an article in the academic Heythrop Journal with the chairman of the school's theology department, suggesting that some homosexual sex is actually permissible under Catholic doctrine.
The Associated Press spoke with Fr. Ryan Lewis, the vice chancellor of the archdiocese who said, "If you're seeing a pattern, you're seeing correctly. And we just appreciate that Catholic Omaha is starting to lose patience with some of this stuff."
While Fr. Taphorn will not say if the Archdiocese has discussed the possibility of the Archbishop Curtiss removing Creighton’s status of being a Catholic university, it is a possibility if the relationship continues to deteriorate.
The removal of the school’s Catholic designation could result in an identity crisis and make fundraising from alumni harder.
Ping!
Just another sick freak. How dare she even think about setting foot on the grounds of a Catholic institution. In the old days, the responsible parties at the university would have been sacked. Would that it were so again.
Creighton is one of my Alma Maters...I’m very disappointed by what the University has been doing of late and I have not donated any monies for the past 3 years.
It was a great place during the time I attended law school there, but that was quite some time ago.
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Whenever I read about Anne Lamott I feel as if I want to either embrace her and weep on her shoulder, or take her by the lapels and shake her hard.
If you read her stuff (Traveling Mercies, Blue Shoe, Crooked Little Heart, Operating Instructions) this woman has suffered a great deal with alcoholism and drug abuse and bulimia and depression, and with grief overbrimming her baffled lacerated heart, and she STILL can't admit the very thing she's alluded to in all her books and practically tattooed all over her body: "It Kills Me That I Killed That Baby."
I wrote to her once, trying to remind her gently that Jesus has ALWAYS loved her, even when she was Fetus Anne, and that we are called to love like Jesus does. No response.
The story of her "helping" her dying friend to die quicker and better by spooning poisoned applesauce into his mouth--- the only consolation I can have on that one is the hopeful thought that maybe she's lying.
Dave Andrusko of NRLC wrote a really insightful 2-part article about Lamott which you can read here and here.
She may be on a path to salvation, but it's not going to be easy. FReeper friends, if you are prayin' people, please pray for Anne
Glad to see the Archdiocese of Omaha put their foot down on this.
Why the University would invite her (hint they have wolves in sheep’s duds working there) is the question.
Invite her to a debate but not to speak.
I have one of her books, couldn’t finish it. Tried but
she espouses anti Christian ideas and is not that
compelling a writer.
She has been beaten down by life.
But she needs to give it up - her guilt, her rage, her pain. Only by giving it up can she try to make things right.
Self justification is silly.
A strong bishop who excommunicates masonic catholics and keeps the Jesuits in line could be the reason....
I know a lot of people like her, they are mad at themselves (they don't forgive themselves) and they go to extremes, almost totally bad or fanatically good. My prayer is with her.
I am an alumnus of Creighton’s school of arts and sciences (1983)and also, like you, of their law school.
I’ve been disappointed in Creighton over its position with Michael Lawler and its old and tired “acedemic freedom” posturing it takes with the blather coming out of Lawler’s marraige institute.
I had Dr. Michael Lawler as a theology professor in two classes and found him overall to be a very good professor. Although he was very critical of John Paul II and clearly, at least when I had Dr. Lawler for class, did not anticipate the impact of JPII’s pontificate. It’s sad that theologians like Michael Lawler can not come to grips with reality and give up their out dated and misguided notions of Catholicism.
I have not, I am happy to note, waisted any of my time reading Anne Lamott. I have listened to her being interviewed (Wikipedia’s page on her has a replay of an NPR interview from last April). All I can say is “Yikes!” Why would anyone at Creighton want to listen to her talk? May God bless this disturbed woman. After listening to her drivel my thoughts are she is either well intentioned but very confused or she’s just not that smart. I have a feeling she’s smart but lost. Either way, people should not have to worry about writing checks in the tens of thousands of dollars to attend, or for their children to attend, a Catholic institution and be subjected to that utter nonsense.
On the brighter side at Creighton, there is the Paul VI Institute and a very reputable theologian on their faculty, R.R. Reno (who’s published often in Fr. Richard John Neuhaus’ magazine, First Things).
Also, on an anecdotle point, the vast majority of fellow Creighton alumni I know are pretty orthodox in their faith - much to the horror of Michael Lawler no doubt.
Keep The Faith.
It's disturbing to see Christians serving as her protectors and enablers. I am very grateful that Creighton was pressured into disinviting her. She needs love, criticism, exorcism.
God bless you! The sin of pride can overtake our sensibilities which, I fear, is the case for this woman. She is trying to be rational in an irrational world. Like the Chinese government which now prides itself on eliminating the birth of 800,000 children, there are those who in this world feel convicted to vouchsafe it from the burden of more life than (they believe) it can support. This is utter nonsense as we know that God's plan is far greater than anything a human can ever concoct.
Creighton does not dishonor any saint.
Getting back to May 2005 and Marymount Manhattan, I sent some emails that may have caused a ruckus in a number of places. At that time, I was told by the head of Priests for Life to use the priestsforlife.com domain for sending private emails -- since at that time I was a PFL employee.
At the time of the ruckus over Hillary Clinton giving the commentment speech at Marymount Manhattan, I was furious over living in NYC and not able to do much about this. Someone on Freerepublic suggested sending emails to Pope Benedict. But what I did was send emails to Pope Benedict, but CC: the president of Marymount Manhattan. What I did not realize is how that looked -- both to the Vatican and Marymount Manhattan -- someone sending emails from Priests for Life on this subject.
I don't know if that meant that the Vatican gave these emails special attention. And I don't know if the president of Marymount Manhattan complained to Cardinal Egan about these emails from Priests for Life.
It is quite possible that the emails that I sent, because they came from Priests for Life at the time, might have caused Cardinal Egan to act quickly and unfavorably against Marymount Manhattan college.
At the time, I was trying to vent my frustration, and the only reason I used the PFL email was that the head of PFL told us to us that for private emails...
In a sense, it is a funny story... I just hope that emails were not given special significance and reached the eyes of Pope Benedict XVI.
Or maybe they should have...
My fiance and I are taking a 6 week NFP program from the Marguerite Bourgeoys Centre here. It’s a program designed by Creighton U and staffed by practitioners who are young Catholic mothers trained in Omaha. I can’t speak more highly of these dedicated Catholic people offering real expertise to newly married people to live the truth of Humane Vitae and JPII’s Theology of the Body. I was really pissed to read about the heretical garbage pouring out of the faculty at Crieghton of late. I reprinted some of their articles and handed it to the centre director and encouraged her to contact the Omaha diocese. It’s really annoying that the wonderful work these women at the centre do is so callously undermined by the Jesuit dissenters and faculty queens at Creighton U.
Wow, I have heard some evil excuse-making but this is one for the books. She came up with a brand new "moral necessity" SO far removed from Jesus' words as to be straight from Satan.
Sounds to me like she had a direct pipeline to the prince of darkness himself.
But, that isn't probably true. No doubt she came up with her evil all by herself with the help of her monstrous ego, arrogance, self-importance and hatred of self.
After all, we ARE like God in that we all have free will. Therefore she CHOSE to bring forth this evil into a book.
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