"I'm sorry, sitetest, I strongly disagree."
Gee, I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm not sure you do.
"Kreeft may not be an 'idiot' but he's wrong."
As I pointed out to Smedleybutler, there is a sense where Smedley is right, and Mr. Kreeft is wrong, but that Mr. Kreeft, nonetheless, is not an "idiot". You appear, perhaps, to agree.
Mr. Kreeft describes BC as a top Catholic university as a rhetorical tool. He identifies the school as having a Catholic identity, and as being a top university. But he is implicitly critical of the school, and finds something lacking in his overwhelmingly Catholic students: a personal love for Jesus Christ.
He is saying that entities with "Catholic" identities, and individual Catholics ourselves, need to focus more on the central object of our fatih: Jesus Christ.
Read for yourself:
"Do you think I exaggerate? I teach philosophy at Boston College — one of the top Catholic universities in America. Eighty percent of my students are Catholics who have had twelve years of catechism. Yet when I ask them what they would say to God if they died tonight and were asked why they should go to Heaven, only one in 20 even mentions Jesus Christ. (Only one in 20 Evangelicals, Pentecostals, or Fundamentalists would not know that answer.) This is worse than a 'problem;' this is an inexcusable scandal, an unmitigated disaster."
He is contrasting what a top Catholic university, with the best of Catholic students, is with what it should be. He then states that Eucharistic Adoration is a perfect means to return Jesus Christ to the center of our faith and affections.
Sorry you find that message objectionable.
sitetest
That's not the message I object to, and I trust you're not patronizing me. Let me try to make it clearer.
Mr. Kreeft describes BC as a top Catholic university as a rhetorical tool. He identifies the school as having a Catholic identity, and as being a top university. But he is implicitly critical of the school, and finds something lacking in his overwhelmingly Catholic students: a personal love for Jesus Christ.
"Implicity" critical of the school? Sorry, I don't see it. Mr Kreeft is critical of the students and not BC. He is critical of the students' prior 12 years of "Catholic" education. He is not critical of Boston College. I am critical of the College, not the students.
He is saying that entities with "Catholic" identities, and individual Catholics ourselves, need to focus more on the central object of our fatih: Jesus Christ.
Boston College has given awards to pro abortion speakers for two years in a row. Do you think Mr. Kreeft would have the nerve to make a public statement critical of the school's policy? Being a strong pro life Catholic yourself, I am sure you would take issue with that policy, so why shouldn't Mr. Kreeft?
It's easy (and safer for ones career) to blame the students, but what kind of message are students getting when they go to schools such as BC or SFU and witness this kind of new tolerance/academic autonomy from Catholic institutions? Is it any wonder that Catholics procure abortion in the same percentage as the population at large? What kind of message is "Catholic" Boston College giving to Catholic young people?