Bishops are standing up all over, and about time. Last week it was Archbishop John Myers of Newark:
"As the shepherd of the Archdiocese of Newark, I am responsible for maintaining the Catholic identity of all Church institutions and organizations within the Archdiocese, and for ensuring authentic and orthodox Catholic teaching in all educational institutions and parishes," stated the archbishop. That responsibility extends to our Catholic elementary and high schools, to our parish religious education programs for both adults and children, and to the Catholic colleges and university operating within my jurisdiction."
His Excellency was responding to proposed course on same-sex "marriage" to be offered at Seton Hall University by a homosexualist professor. The course claimed to examine marriage from an "academic" perspective.
This week it is Bishop Jerome Listecki of Milwaukee, and Marquette University President Robert Wild. LifeSiteNews reports:
"An uproar among homosexualist forces has ensued after Marquette University President Father Robert Wild withdrew a job offered to an openly lesbian professor, citing her academic writings' sexually explicit content as out of line with Catholic teaching. According to some reports, Milwaukee Archboshop Jerome Listecki's input on the matter was a key influence his decision to withdraw the offer.
Jodi O'Brien, who is currently a Sociology professor at Seattle University, which is also a Jesuit Catholic Institution, had been offered the job of Dean of the Marquette College of Arts and Sciences, before Marquette University rescinded the offer Thursday....
One professor, speaking to Milwaukee Magazine on condition of anonymity, said that Fr. Wild told the faculty that Archbishop Listecki had expressed an opinion on the matter that had a bearing on his decision."
I bloody well hope so! Tom Peters at American Papist provides this helpful suggestion:
"So please, if you have a moment, write a brief note to Rev. Wild expressing your thanks and encouragement. His email is robert.wild@marquette.edu. It would be good if all the subject lines read “THANK YOU FOR BEING FAITHFUL.” After all the hate mail he has probably received, I’m sure it would be nice for him to open up an inbox full of these messages.
If you are feeling especially active, you can also copy the email to Most Rev. Jerome Listecki at archbishoplistecki@archmil.org.
I believe the Catholic community is best when we publicly support brave defenders of our Catholic faith and values like Rev. Wild and Bishop Listecki. The light of our faith is nothing if we hide it under a basket. "
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4 comments:
but isn't the university setting the most appropriate place for discussions like these? the issue won't just go away.
It is a truth of Revelation that marriage can only take place between one man and one woman. It is also a truth of reason--two members of the same sex can never “become one.” If Seton Hall wants to study same-sex “marriage” as a window into a pathologically narcissistic culture, that’s one thing. But if Professor Mott wants to treat same-sex “marriage” as something which has an actual reality and can thus be compared to natural marriage on an equal basis, no. That’s activism under the guise of scholarship—something we have grown quite familiar with.
Gibbons: you're wrong. There is a robust debate happening throughout the world right now on this topic. Pretending that is not the case is silly. Preventing the discussion from happening at this university is anti-intellectual. If you felt you could face down the arguments in favor of gay marriage, you'd allow the discussion to take place.
Quite the contrary, Pat. I’d love to see the debate take place, for instance in Massachusetts, where counterfeit marriage was imposed on the citizens by the courts. But the Massachusetts legislature refused to allow a 2007 constitutional amendment to be put on the ballot despite the fact that a record 170,000 citizens signed the petition. The amendment proposed to overturn the court-imposed redefinition of marriage, but the legislature refused to even allow the citizens to vote on the matter. So who exactly is afraid of the debate? Every time the issue has been debated the way we do in a democracy, the defenders of marriage have won.
I’ll grant that’s not the same kind of debate you are talking about--but it is a debate, and more important than what goes on in a few colleges. But why should a Catholic University set aside the definition and meaning of marriage which are Revealed truths?
Every debate begins with a definition of terms. The primary term in any debate about same-sex “marriage” is “marriage.” But here the whole debate is only about a definition of that term! I see one of two options: a) marriage is a union of one man and one woman; or b) marriage is a union between two or more persons of any sex.
Which is it? Before we start debating we have to decide. But Professor Mott has already decided. He says of his class “It is one thing to say ‘I am for or against gay marriage, it’s another to actually understand the issue.” He thus assumes right off the bat what remains to be demonstrated--that there is such a thing as “gay marriage.” As I said, that’s not scholarship, that’s activism.
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