Free Republic

Marking the culmination of a four-year legal effort that went all the way to the United States Supreme Court, the U.S. government on Friday agreed to a settlement that will permanently exempt Thomas Aquinas College from the so-called HHS Contraceptive Mandate of the Affordable Care Act. “This is an extraordinary outcome for Thomas Aquinas College and for the cause of religious freedom,” says Thomas Aquinas College President Michael F. McLean “It is a relief to know that the College can continue its 46-year mission of offering excellent Catholic liberal education without facing the threat of crippling financial penalties resulting from...

A Georgetown University professor who wished for violence against white Republican men went after conservatives again last week on Twitter.C. Christine Fair, who is on administrative leave after the first violent tweet, called Fox News employees “terrorists” on Oct. 28, according to the Washington Free Beacon.“When your plane lands late, you and your colleagues are met on the tarmac, and ferried to the Presidential Palace for an intimate dinner with the president,” Fair wrote on Twitter. “Thanks Fox News Terrorists!” When your plane lands late, you and your colleagues are met on the tarmac, and ferried to the Presidential Palace...

A Georgetown University associate professor had a month-long meltdown after a Muslim woman explained why she voted for President-elect Donald Trump. Asra Q. Nomani, a former Georgetown journalism professor and Wall Street Journal reporter, wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post Nov. 10 explaining why she, as a Muslim woman and “long-time liberal,” voted for Trump. “I support the Democratic Party’s position on abortion, same-sex marriage and climate change,” Nomani wrote. “But I am a single mother who can’t afford health insurance under Obamacare.” C. Christine Fair, a previously “friendly colleague,” went on a 31-day screed against Nomani spanning across Twitter...

Georgetown University will give preference in admissions to the descendants of slaves owned by the Maryland Jesuits as part of its effort to atone for profiting from the sale of enslaved people, the president of the prominent Jesuit university in Washington announced Thursday.

At least eight Catholic colleges across the country are hosting “lavender graduations” this spring — many of them as part of an annual campus tradition — to celebrate and honor students with same-sex attraction (SSA) or who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ). Lavender graduations and similar ceremonies for seniors have been announced at the College of St. Rose, DePaul University, Georgetown University, Loyola Marymount University, St. Mary’s College of California, Santa Clara University, Seattle University and the University of San Francisco. Although intended as a compassionate gesture to students, the ceremonies reinforce harmful ideologies about sexuality...

Georgetown University students who attended last week's March for Life in Washington, D.C., recently told The Cardinal Newman Society that student groups at the University are finding success in driving pro-life outreach and discussion on campus despite the University's lack of support for their events and activities, or for Church teaching on life issues."I think that given a campus culture that's often hostile to pro-life views, it's extremely helpful that there exists organizations like Georgetown Right to Life," Michael Khan, president of the student-run Right to Life group, told the Newman Society. "With contraceptives allowed in dorms and faculty...

A New Jesuit Approach to Higher Education?Gonzaga University graduate Autumn Jones asks a provocative question in a December 30 piece for The Atlantic, “The New Brand of Jesuit Universities.” Jones chronicles a rebranding effort by Jesuit universities across the country, and considers “whether this rebranding attenuates the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church.” In search of an answer, Jones solicits comments from Jesuit faculty members, students, and administrators. Running throughout the piece is a straw man argument, expressed by some interviewees, namely: Catholic universities can either “fall in line” with the Church, or they can be “places where young adults...

The Vatican’s Congregation for Education has said that a drag show that occurred last year on the campus of the University of San Diego (USD) caused “scandal,” according to a letter revealed by the group Alumni for a Catholic USD.Nevertheless, the student organization PRIDE at USD will again be hosting a drag show next week called “Celebration of Gender Expression: Supreme Drag Superstar” on the campus of the Catholic institution, according to the group’s Facebook site.“Transgender & Transsexual? Gender expression & gender identity? Drag queen & drag king? What do these terms mean?,” the group asks. “At this Changemaker event,...

In a powerful statement encouraging fidelity and strong Catholic identity in Catholic higher education, Pope Francis today urged the University of Notre Dame to be an “uncompromising witness… to the Church’s moral teaching” and to resist “efforts, from whatever quarter, to dilute that indispensable witness,” according to a translation by Vatican Radio.

Two gay seniors at George Washington University say they feel alienated because the chaplain at George Washington’s Newman Center rejects homosexuality, and they aren’t going to take it anymore. The seniors, Damian Legacy and Blake Bergen, have announced a coordinated campaign to rid the campus of the Roman Catholic priest, reports The GW Hatchet, the school’s independent student newspaper. They also assert that 12 or more students have quit the Newman Center in recent years because they can’t tolerate Father Greg Shaffer’s ardent anti-gay and, for the record, anti-abortion — beliefs. Shaffer has worked for five years at George Washington’s...

(CNS) - The Cardinal Newman Society has confirmed that at least 12 Catholic colleges and universities will be hosting on-campus productions of the play The Vagina Monologues in 2013. That number is up from nine last year. Proceeds from performances at the University of San Francisco will support a group that advocates “reproductive justice” and homosexual rights. The V-Day organization reports that students at Marquette have plans for a performance benefiting Planned Parenthood. Catholic bishops and college presidents have pointed out that The V-Monologues distorts human sexuality and celebrates sinful behaviors, including lesbian activity and masturbation. One scene even declares...

The campus of the University of Notre Dame. January 21, 2013 (CNS) - Fr. John Jenkins C.S.C., president of the University of Notre Dame, will march in the March for Life along with about 600 students and more than a hundred faculty, according to students with the University’s pro-life student group. Fr. Jenkins has walked in the March for Life since the 2010 event. This year, however, is a little different as Notre Dame students were asked to lead the March for Life. “In addition to the faculty and students attending the March, alumni and friends of ND will also...

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The images will be vivid, history will be haunting, ghosts will be everywhere.This is Knute Rockne versus Bear Bryant, Touchdown Jesus versus Dreamland Bar-B-Que, Four Horsemen versus Lynyrd Skynyrd, Joe Montana versus Joe Namath, and, of course, in the battle of the little guys, Rudy versus Nick.It will be a football game bathed in a complicated mess of legend, religion and roughhousing, but most folks think Monday's BCS national championship heavyweight fight between Alabama and Notre Dame can be symbolized by a single disparity.

"Catholic" schools showing the Vagina Monologues: Loyola Marymount St. Mary's College of California Georgetown University DePaul University Saint Xavier University Loyola University-Chicago University of Notre Dame Loyola University-New Orleans St. Mary's College of Maryland Holy Cross Mount Holyoke Boston College Saint Louis University College of Saint Mary-Nebraska (Where is Abp. Bruskewicz?) Marymount College of New York College of St. Rose University of Detroit/Mercy Marist College Mt. Saint Vincent Fordham University Marymount Manhattan College St, John Fisher University of Dayton Lehigh University St. Francis University of Penna. Providence College St. Benedict College There are several other school son the list which...

Catholic colleges that have maintained a strong religious identity also have the strongest core curricula, according to a new study from The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS). The study finds that students at most other U.S. Catholic colleges can avoid the study of Catholic theology altogether. Dr. Kimberly Shankman, dean of Benedictine College and a research fellow for the CNS Center for the Advancement of Catholic Higher Education, finds that Catholic colleges generally devote a larger share of undergraduate requirements to general education than other U.S. colleges. Many also require particular courses for all students instead of offering a menu of...

In what the University of Notre Dame’s student newspaper is calling “a historic decision,” the University announced plans for a University- recognized homosexual student organization as well as a full-time student development staff position focused on LGBTQ issues. The announcement was made as the result of a long review of the University’s policies. According to the student newspaper, Fr. John Jenkins, the president of the university, said that the plan “grows out of our mission as a Catholic university” and is “directed by that fundamental mission in a profound way.” But although the plan describes the student organization as acting...

Catholic colleges with these clubs are listed here After meticulous examination, TFP Student Action volunteers found pro-homosexual student clubs at 111 Catholic institutions of higher learning.  Of the 211 Catholic universities and colleges listed by Ganley’s Catholic Schools in America, 52 percent appear to sponsor organizations which undermine Catholic morality. From 2009 to 2012, the number of pro-homosexual clubs operating on Catholic campuses has risen by 7 percent. Research conducted in 2009 found clubs at 45 percent of Catholic colleges.   Many of these clubs act as platforms of dissent.  They sponsor sinful events and promote ideas that advance the...

I loved Georgetown from the first day that I set my footlocker down in Healy Circle and asked an upperclassman how to find a room to put it in. I loved the Jesuits, too. In my novel “The Exorcist,” I thanked them for “teaching me to think.” Georgetown gave me the gift of a liberal education that included the keys of reason to unlock the mysteries of faith. Throughout an undeservedly wonderful life, I have been guided by the light of my Georgetown education, grounded firmly, as I had been even in my youth, in the unmatched intellectual wealth of...

Over 200 students from Virginia Catholic college pray outside D.C. abortion facility by Thaddeus Baklinski Mon Oct 29 12:27 PM ESTWASHINGTON, DC, October 29, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Shield of Roses, the student pro-life group at Virginia’s Christendom College, held its biggest abortion protest in the 35 years of its existence this past Saturday. On October 27, over 225 students, faculty, staff, and visitors traveled to Washington, D.C., to peacefully protest abortion at the Planned Parenthood clinic, located just north of the White House, on 16th Street. “I am so happy that we were able to get so many to come...

Despite Catholic outrage over the University of Notre Dame’s 2009 invitation to President Barack Obama to address its graduates, the University has again invited the President to speak on campus as a candidate for reelection. From the Notre Dame news release: The University of Notre Dame’s president, Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., and student body president Brett Rocheleau have joined in inviting both President Barack Obama and Republican presidential nominee Gov. Mitt Romney to speak at the University during the fall election campaign.Continuing a long-standing tradition, Father Jenkins and Rocheleau addressed letters to each of the presidential aspirants, offering Notre...