USF Blacklists Walk for Life West Coast: "No Results Found"

An edited version of this post appeared in today's California Catholic Daily.

On January 24, San Francisco’s Walk for Life West Coast drew pro-life student groups from all over the western United States. The presence of such groups is one of the Walk’s distinguishing features. Every year, the Walk is covered from start to finish by EWTN. The coverage is led by Fr. Mark Mary, the host of Life on the Rock. Fr. Mark walks the Walk, and interviews participants along the way. Because Life on the Rock is geared to a younger audience, Fr. Mark makes a special effort to interview student groups. This year, at 3:01:53 into the coverage, Fr. Mark conducted an interview that provoked both concern and anger among Catholics. Here’s the transcript:

“Fr. Mark Mary: What group are you with?

Young woman: University of San Francisco.

How many are with you today?

We have 3 her, we were not allowed to post any flyers at our school.

Really? The administration wouldn’t let you?

Cause it was an off-campus function, so liability. But we are a Catholic school and there was no email or any mention of the Walk.

But you’re undaunted, you’re here anyway, and do you go to this every year?

Yes, this is our third year, well second year for USF Students for Life.

What does it do for you to come?

Um, it remotivates us to face our campus every day and to try to change our campus to pro-life and uphold authentic Catholic values.

Do you have hope for your fellow students, your peer group, that they’ll be converted on this issue?

Yes! Absolutely we do have hope.

Fr. Mark Mary then asked a young man with the USF group “Are you motivated by faith to come out?

By faith and reason, faith and reason, yeah.

OK, thanks for chatting with us.”

A search the website of the University of San Francisco supported the contention of the USF Students for Life representative that the university has blacklisted the Walk. A search for “Walk for Life West Coast” or “Walk for Life” returns absolutely zero results.

USF’s refusal to allow any publication of the Walk is in marked contradiction to the school’s attitude towards San Francisco’s annual celebration of sodomy, the gay pride parade. A search on the same website using the term “pride parade” returns 3,380 results:

 One example detailed participation in the 2014 gay pride parade:

“Proudly Part of the City That Defines ‘Pride’ Dons March in SF Annual Parade

“About 200 USFers took part in San Francisco's Pride Parade on June 29….Some USFers saw the event as a special way to bond with co-workers. ‘I don’t remember experiencing that much school spirit in my 10 years at USF,’ said Julia Hing, assistant director of employer relations at USF. ‘It was a fantastic day.’

The LGBTQ Caucus USF’s parade contingent, which was co-sponsored by the Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good, Human Resources, the Office of Diversity Engagement and Outreach, and the Office of Communications and Marketing. The groups say they will march again in 2015….”

The professed concern about “liability” at “off-campus” events does not bear scrutiny. The USF administration obviously has no problem about endorsing off-campus events when it fits the schools agenda, or even whether safety is an issue or not. On February 18, the San Francisco Chronicle reported the gay pride organizers had cancelled the so-called “Pink Saturday” event, held the day before the gay pride parade: “The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are pulling the plug on this year’s Pink Saturday due to ‘an escalation in violence’ that marred the staple of Pride weekend.”

Another result promoted a planning session for the 2015 gay pride parade. The faithful young woman interviewed on the EWTN segment asserted “but we are a Catholic school.” That, unfortunately, is incorrect. The Walk for Life West Coast, which USF refused to even mention, was attended by 12 Catholic Bishops as well as Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, and included a message of support from Pope Francis. A real Catholic school would have done everything in its power to support such an event. By contrast, there has never been one iota of Catholic support for the gay pride parade, indeed, there is opposition, yet USF supports it wholeheartedly.

Fr. Fessio New Chaplain of Walk for Life West Coast!

The following is a January 19 post on the blog of the Walk for Life West Coast. Fr. Joseph Fessio, SJ is the new Chaplain of the Walk for Life West Coast. The chaplaincy had been vacant since Fr. Malloy's passing last year. Fr. Fessio is a giant--one of those who has shepherded the Church into the 21st century and maintained the honor and fidelity of the Society of Jesus. I'm sure Fr. Malloy is delighted to see this true son of St. Ignatius take over the reins!

Prominent Jesuit New Spiritual Guide of Nation’s Second Largest Pro-Life Event

This year, for the first time ever, the Walk for Life West Coast will take place without the presence of its founding chaplain, the Reverend John Malloy, SDB. Fr. Malloy went home to the Lord on Wednesday of Holy Week in 2013. Fr. Malloy’s history with the Walk for Life West Coast began in April of 2004. That’s when Gavin Newsom, then the mayor of San Francisco, began issuing illegal “marriage” licenses to same-sex couples. San Francisco Catholics decided to respond with a rally and march to promote true marriage and the Faith. But they were not having much luck finding a host Church until Dolores Meehan, one of the Walk’s founders, spoke to Bill May, President of Catholics for the Common Good. Bill told Dolores: “Well, there is this one priest….”

When Dolores visited the 82 year-old Fr. Malloy, then the pastor of San Francisco’s Saints Peter and Paul, and asked him about holding a Mass and Rally in Defense of Marriage, he did not equivocate. Fr. Malloy, with Mimi the cat on his desk, just started flipping through his desk calendar looking for a date, and said “I don’t care if I go to jail!” The Rally in Defense of Marriage had found a home. The Rally drew 1,500 people—and from then on Fr. Malloy would refer to Dolores as “my Superior”!

The heartening response to the Marriage Rally gave organizers the courage to create the Walk for Life West Coast. Fr. Malloy was naturally the chaplain, and at the first Walk, in January of 2005, he became the first recipient of the now-annual St. Gianna Molla Award for Pro-Life heroism. We miss him very much, but we know that what we lost on earth we gained as a new intercessor in heaven. Fr. Malloy we love you and we thank you!

The Archdiocese of San Francisco has a number of heroic pro-life priests whom we considered asking to be our new chaplain. But there is one other priest who has also stood behind us, with us, and ahead of us from the very beginning and that is Fr. Joseph Fessio of the Society of Jesus.

Fr. Joseph Fessio, SJ

Fr. Fessio was born right across the bay, in Alameda. His achievements are legion, his determination legendary. He has become world-famous for his learning, his piety, and his unwavering dedication to the Society of Jesus and to the responsibilities of his ordination.

Lisa Hamrick, co-founder of the Walk for Life West Coast, said “I have had the great joy and honor to know and be associated with Father Fessio for most of my adult life — my first full-time job when I was fresh out of college was at Ignatius Press! Throughout the years, I have marveled at all of the great works and various apostolates that Father has founded. His personal fortitude, resolve, and leadership has carried each of these various endeavors forward and they have borne much fruit and countless blessings. Our dear Father Malloy was the beating heart behind the Walk for Life committee. Father Fessio will be the eyes and the vision to carry us forward and bring the Walk for Life West Coast to ever greater heights in the future! I couldn’t be more delighted to have Father Fessio as our new WFL Chaplain!”

Dolores Meehan added “Fr. Malloy is irreplaceable. But if he could choose his successor it is hard to imagine him picking anyone but Fr. Fessio. We’ve replaced a fighting Irishman with a fighting Italian!

We are honored and grateful that this true son of St. Ignatius has consented to be our new chaplain. We will count on him for spiritual direction, for advice, and for a share of the indomitable courage for which he is so well known.

USF’s Privett Compares “Vagina Monologues” to “Grammar School Christmas Pageant”

Departing President Gives Farewell Interview

The winter 2013 issue of USF Magazine, the magazine of the (Jesuit) University of San Francisco, profiled the school’s departing President, Fr. Stephen A. Privett. The interview began:

“USF President Stephen A. Privett, S.J., believes the time has come for new leadership at the university. Now in his 14th year as president—one of the longest tenures in USF history—he has formally announced that he will not renew his contract. This decision is not a surprise. When he renewed his contract in 2009, the USF Board of Trustees reluctantly agreed that his third five-year term would also be his last. The board has launched a search for Fr. Privett’s successor. Fr. Privett is a man of conviction, and he says what he thinks. That was on full display in his three-hour interview with USF Magazine.”

The laudatory interview mentioned almost none of the things that readers of the Cardinal Newman Society, LifeSiteNews, or California Catholic Daily would associate with Fr. Privett’s name. An exception was a question about “The Vagina Monologues.” When asked “Why does USF stage the Vagina Monologues when other Catholic universities have banned it?” Privett began his response: “As I tell our students, the Vagina Monologues has all the appeal of the annual grammar school Christmas pageant. It’s the same old thing year after year….”

Privett’s comparison of sixth graders singing Silent Night to a play which includes an approving scene of a teenager being sexually abused by an adult can be interpreted in one of three ways.

If we take him seriously, Privett either means he finds a play which approves of teenagers being sexually abused by adults as cute as sixth graders singing Silent Night. Alternatively, it can mean that he finds sixth graders singing Silent Night as disgusting as a play which approves of teenagers being sexually abused by adults.

The third possibility is that he is speaking ironically. In that case, it’s the response of a jaded sophisticate, way too hip and morally blasé to understand why either Eve Ensler or faithful Catholics would take “The Vagina Monologues” seriously, let alone why anyone at all might take a “grammar school Christmas pageant” seriously. He is not concerned with the content of “The Vagina Monologues” nor of a grammar school Christmas pageant but only that it’s “the same old thing year after year….”

The comment crystallizes Fr. Privett’s enfeebled sense of morality. It is a fitting coda to his Presidency.

The article also included a timeline of USF events during his presidency that either the interviewer or Privett thought important. The timeline did not include the closing of the school’s graduate program in Theology; the disemboweling of the school’s St. Ignatius Institute; the appointment as Chair of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies an open homosexual who left the Catholic Church to be ordained priest in a “Catholic” church not in communion with Rome; or the appointment of an open homosexual as Executive Director of University Ministry. It also did not list the hosting of any number of speakers, conferences, and guests, far too many to name here, who hold and promote positions in direct opposition to the Catholic faith, nor did it indicate that on at least two occasions speakers/groups were hosted in direct opposition to the wishes of then-Archbishop George Niederauer.

The search for a new President of the Jesuit University is underway. Those interested may visit: https://www.usfca.edu/presidentialsearch/ The webpage also accepts nominations for the position.

USF Update: Cardinal Newman Society catches them touting Planned Parenthood

From the CNS website:

"The University of San Francisco is scandalously suggesting to students that being a director at a Planned Parenthood clinic is a future job possibility.

The Jesuit institution’s School of Nursing and Health Professions website lists under the banner Careers in Public Health,'Director for Planned Parenthood.' The site promotes USF’s Master's in Public Health Nursing degree with suggestions of future job possibilities."

Following CNS's exposure, the Jesuit school has pulled the reference, but here is a screenshot from the cached webpage:

Jesuits Dominate "Modernity vs. Catholicism" Course

The March 3 issue of Catholic San Francisco included an interview by reporter Rick DelVecchio with the Jesuit Fr. Paul Crowley. The subject was a spring quarter course Crowley is heading at Stanford University called “Vatican II: Catholicism Meets Modernity.” The article begins:

“Catholics’ contentiousness over Vatican II reflects not merely factionalism but a crisis of meaning at the heart of the church, said Jesuit Father Paul Crowley, Jesuit Community Professor of Religious Studies at Santa Clara University and a visiting professor at Stanford.

‘Vatican II in the last 30 years has become the issue that, for various reasons, seems to be dividing the church into various factions, and it strikes me that the real issue is not Vatican II per se but something deeper than that, something that Vatican II addresses, which is ecclesiology,’ Father Crowley said in an interview with Catholic San Francisco. ‘It’s really the very nature of the church and how we arrive at consensus as a church.’”

Fr. Crowley did not specify who constituted the “factions” to which he referred and Mr. Del Vecchio did not ask. That’s too bad, because the half hath not been told, and readers of an Archdiocesan newspaper deserve more. An quick glance at the course presenters reveals that a more accurate title would have been Modernity vs. Catholicism. While the presenters give a clear enough idea of what is meant by “modernity” and certainly represent the modern “faction,” there is simply no Catholic faction to be found. A brief description of the first six presenters:

The April 1 presenter is Jesuit Fr. Stephen Schloesser, an Associate Professor in History at (Jesuit) Loyola University of Chicago. His subject is Against Forgetting: Memory, History, and Vatican II. In 2004, as Massachusetts was debating the legalization of counterfeit marriage, Fr. Schloesser sent a lengthy letter to Massachusetts state Senator Marian Walsh. An excerpt, from the website Queering the Church: “It seems helpful to me to recall what traditional marriage is: it is a community’s legal arrangement in order to pass on property. In it, a male acquires (in the sense of owning and having sovereignty over) a female for the sake of reproducing other males who will then inherit property.”  (See Footnote 1).

The April 8 presenter is Fr. Mark Francis who served as Superior General of the international Viatorian Community of brothers and, from 2000-2012. Before that, he was Professor of Liturgy at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. His subject will be Reforming the Church through the Liturgy: The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. In a 2007 article in The Tablet, Fr. Francis wrote about Pope Benedict XVI’s support of the Extraordinary Form Mass in the "Summorum Pontificum." From Fr. Francis’ article: “In short, ‘Summorum Pontificum’ weakens the unity of the Church by failing to support the foundational insights of the Second Vatican Council.” He also asserts that the (ex) Holy Father “is not a trained liturgist.” Fr. Francis is currently Visiting Scholar at the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education at Santa Clara.

The April 15 presenter is Professor Gary Macy, Professor of Theology at Santa Clara University and chair of the Religious Studies Department. His subject will be The Reconsideration of Orders by Vatican II. Professor Macy is a prolific writer on “the reconsideration of orders”: he is the author of “The Hidden History of Women’s Ordination”, co-author of “Women Deacons: Past Present, and Future”; and co-author of “A History of Women and Ordination.”

One of the April 22 presenters is Catherine Murphy, Associate Professor in Religious Studies at Santa Clara. Her subject will be Unexpected and Obvious: The Dei Verbum Doorway and What Lies Beyond. On March 26, 2006 Professor Murphy joined Fr. Cameron Ayers, SJ, and Professor Vincent Pizzuto at the “Alienated Catholics” forum at San Francisco’s St. Agnes Church. In her presentation, Murphy described herself as “…a Catholic lesbian Scripture scholar struggling with a faith tradition that grounds my hope and a church that poisons it.” Since the forum, Ayers has left the Catholic Church, while Pizzuto was ordained a priest in the Celtic Christian Church, and elevated to the Chair of Theology and Religious Studies at the (Jesuit) University of San Francisco. As noted, The “Catholic lesbian scripture scholar” Murphy serves as Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the (Jesuit) Santa Clara University.

The April 29 presenter is the ex-Jesuit Paul Lakeland, Professor of Catholic Studies and founding Director of the Center for Catholic Studies at (Jesuit) Fairfield University. His subject is The Rediscovery of the Laity: Overcoming Baptismal Amnesia. In 2009, Lakeland was a public supporter of Connecticut’s Senate Bill 1089 which would have wrested control of parishes away from the Bishops. Anthony Picarello, General Counsel of the U.S. Conference of Bishops described SB 1089 as “blatantly unconstitutional” and said that it “targets the Catholic Church explicitly and exclusively, and attempts to use the civil law to alter Church governance.” At the time Catholic News Agency reported “The premise of the bill is remarkably similar to the 2009-2010 Voice of the Faithful Strategic Plan.” According to the VOTF website, Lakeland is on its board of advisors. In 2012, Lakeland told The Daily Beast that the U.S. Catholic Bishops position in defense of marriage is “… an argument that’s based more on fear or repugnance.”

The May 6 presenter is Professor Jerome Baggett. His subject is In the Wake of Vatican II: Institutional and Cultural Dilemmas among American Catholics. Baggett is best known for his book Sense of the Faithful: How American Catholics Live Their Faith, a survey of Bay Area parishes, including San Francisco’s Most Holy Redeemer. In a striking example of Modernity vs. Catholicism, Bagget’s survey not only found that 93% of MHR’s parishioners thought that one could be a good Catholic while committing homosexual acts (not surprising) but also that 34% thought one could be a good Catholic without believing in the real presence; and 28% without believing that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Professor Baggett is Professor of Religion and Society at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University, located in Berkeley.

Course head Fr. Crowley himself carries more baggage than need be enumerated here. One example : on June 9, 2011 at the 66th Annual Convention of the Catholic Theological Society of America, he served as moderator for the session “When the Saints Come Marching Out: Same-Gender Relationships as an Embodiment of Christian Holiness.” That session was convened by the already-mentioned Reverend Vincent Pizzuto, Chair of Theology and Religious Studies at the (Jesuit) University of San Francisco. The presenters were Pizzuto and the ex-Jesuit priest James Nickoloff, College of the Holy Cross. In a 2009 lecture at the (Jesuit ) Santa Clara University, Nickoloff opened by saying “In the interest of ‘full disclosure,’ let me make it clear that I write as a professional Catholic systematic theologian who is also a self-affirming gay man and legally married in Massachusetts.”

It will be noted that five of the six presenters (and Fr. Crowley himself) are professors at Jesuit Universities. The sixth, Fr. Francis, is currently a visiting scholar at a Jesuit University.

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Footnote 1) In his 2006 essay called 'Beyond the Land O’ Lakes: Catholic Modernity and Jesuit Hybrids', Fr. Schloesser gives the game away: “An institution in the Jesuit tradition ought to be the place that reverences culture.” But “culture” does not exist in the abstract—particular cultures do. 

Fortunately, in the same essay, Fr. Schloesser does become more specific. He writes: “The crucial problem that I see for Catholic higher education is this: on the one hand, the institutional Church has almost entirely staked its identity on gender and sexual reproduction issues; on the other hand, for mainstream contemporary culture (at least in Western Europe and North America), these same issues of gender and sexual reproduction are the way the future’s moving — in exactly the opposite way the Church represents them.”

If, for the sake of argument, we accept Fr. Schloesser’s analysis of what the Church has “staked its identity” on, it becomes obvious that the Church cannot reverence “contemporary culture.” Further, if “an institution in the Jesuit tradition” does reverence “contemporary culture” it has, as Fr. Schloesser himself says, moved “in exactly the opposite way” from the Church.

More Jesuits and "Womenpriests"

Speaking of Jesuits concelebrating "Mass" with "Womanpriests" here's the famous John Baumann, SJ, (founder of the Obamite/Alinskyite group PICO) apparently celebrating a "Mass" with "womanpriest" Juanita Cordero at the February, 2006 retreat of the West Coast Companeros. The Companeros are a group of Jesuits from the California and Oregon provinces.

According to the Roman Catholic Womanpriests website, Cordero was "ordained" a deacon and thus excommunicated in 2006, and was "ordained" a "priest" in 2007.

So, instead of bringing her back into the church as she is falling away, Fr. Baumann is instead abetting her excommunication. And there is no doubt where she stood--earlier in the same retreat website there is a photo of her flashing a copy of the National Catholic Reporter with a cover story on  "Women Priests." On the website the photo is captioned "Juanita spreads the news".

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

"Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit" On Fire!

Joseph Fromm, over at "Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit" is on fire this week, exposing anti-Catholic machinations at various Jesuit institutions around the country:

Georgetown University Pays Homosexual Protestant Bishop to Speak to Students

(The absurd Gene Robinson visits Georgetown. You know they wish he was their Bishop!)

Wisconsin Jesuit Celebrates Mass With Woman His Priestly Faculties Suspended

(Guy in Milwaukee suspended at Bishop Listecki's request after celebrating "Mass" with womanpriest. Way to go, Excellency!)

Georgetown Jesuit Community hosts Catholic Anti-Catholic

(Same-sex attracted guy objects to Catholic teaching on same-sex attractedness).

And there's more. Check it out.

More on William Peter Blatty's Lawsuit Against Georgetown

Joseph Fromm, over at "Good Jesuit Bad Jesuit" is closely following Mr. Blatty's canon lawsuit against Georgetown University. Blatty's high profile gives him considerable leverage. Let's hope the Archdiocese of Washington DC finally realizes the need for action. From Mr. Fromm's latest post on the subject:

"William Peter Blatty and other concerned alumni have created an online petition -www.gupetition.org - on which he asks donors to curb their contributions to Georgetown for one year. It also states that the rights of Catholics to a Christian education have been violated by Georgetown's "21-year refusal to comply fully with the law of the Church." Because of this, he is initiating the canon lawsuit against Georgetown. Among the remedies the petition seeks is that there be a "declaration by the appropriate ecclesiastical authority that Georgetown University is no longer entitled to call itself a Catholic or Jesuit University."


There is precedent for this, said Father Michael Orsi, the Chaplain and Research Fellow in Law & Religion at the Ave Maria School of Law, a Catholic law school in Naples, Fla. "Catholic theologians are given a mandatum by the bishops of the dioceses that they are qualified to teach Catholic theology," he said. The rulebook for this is theEx corde Ecclesiae, an order issued by Pope John Paul II in 1990. It defined what Catholicism means for Catholic universities. All educational facilities must have the endorsement of the local bishop. "The other side of it is the bishop can remove a Catholic theologian," Orsi said. He mentioned two instances where this was done. One was the case of Father Charles Curran, a theologian at the Catholic University of America. He taught about subjects that were considered antipodal to Catholic teachings. He was determined by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to be ineligible to be a professor of Catholic theology and was fired from his teaching position in 1986. The Congregation was run by then-Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. The other cited by Orsi was more recent. St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix was stripped of its"Catholic" appellation in December 2010. Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted issued a decree dissolving the hospital's affiliation with the Catholic Church. He wrote in his decree that he could not confirm the hospital was providing its services in line with Catholic precepts. "It is not done enough," Orsi said.

 
If Blatty's lawsuit moves forward, a brief will be presented to the Archbishop of Washington, D.C. He must make the determination that Georgetown no longer conducts itself as a Catholic university should...."

William Peter Blatty Leading Canon Lawsuit Against Georgetown

The author of "The Exorcist" has had enough, apparently. From the Cardinal Newman Society: 

"Georgetown University alumni, students and others are preparing a canon law suit to be filed with the Archdiocese of Washington and the Vatican, seeking remedies “up to and including the possible removal or suspension of top-ranked Georgetown’s right to call itself Catholic or Jesuit in its fundraising and representations to applicants.”

The effort is being led by the distinguished Georgetown alumnus William Peter Blatty, who won an Academy Award for his screenplay and book The Exorcist and has been honored by Georgetown with its John Carroll Medal for alumni achievement."

h/t to Joseph at Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit, who includes the cool picture from the movie.

Marquette U: Money Well Spent, Questions Remain

Marquette University has reached a settlement with Professor Jodi O'Brien. She is the Seattle University professor whose offer of a deanship at Marquette was withdrawn when someone at Marquette read her published work. Her now-rescinded appointment caused Archbishop Jerome Listecki to share his concern with Marquette President Fr. Robert A. Wild, SJ. We've followed this story here.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports:

"Marquette offered the deanship to O'Brien, a lesbian who has written scholarly works on gender and sexual orientation, but withdrew the offer in early May, saying that some of O'Brien's writings "relating to Catholic mission and identity" made her an unacceptable candidate. The withdrawal was criticized by more than 100 faculty members at Marquette and hundreds of students."

The Journal Sentinel also cites a knowledgeable Marquette source to the effect that the university will offer a financial settlement to Professor O'Brien off, although the university had no comment. That would be money well spent if it ended the story, but the article implies there may be more than money involved:

"(University spokesman Pat) Pfeil said the university was considering research projects, conferences, courses and service learning projects exploring the topics of Catholic identity and gender and sexuality issues, and details about some of these projects might come out when the fall semester nears. Pfeil would not say whether the settlement requires Marquette to explore any of these issues.

O'Brien said: "I appreciate the responsiveness of the Marquette representatives to suggestions regarding a legacy of community betterment, including research and education regarding issues of gender and sexuality."

Let's see if I have this straight. Marquette is now taking advice from a Professor "regarding issues of sexuality and gender," whose writings on those very issues caused Marquette to rescind her appointment in the first place.

What could possibly go wrong?

h/t Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney