That bacon you smell frying is Fr. Jenkins of Notre Dame fame. . .
Just announced: Mary Ann Glendon has declined the Laetare Medal awarded to her by the university and has said that she will not attend this year's graduation honoring our Abortionist-in-Chief, the Obamessiah.
The letter is posted at First Things. Demand on the site is causing a slow download, so be patient.
The most telling element of this letter is Prof. Glendon's assertion that she is declining the medal and the invitation b/c Jenkins used her attendance in his "talking points" to cloud the issue of The One's invitation with a thin veneer of "balance." She also spanks him for ignoring the USCCB's guidelines on not inviting and honoring pro-abortion speakers on Catholic campuses.
Good for her!
Just announced: Mary Ann Glendon has declined the Laetare Medal awarded to her by the university and has said that she will not attend this year's graduation honoring our Abortionist-in-Chief, the Obamessiah.
The letter is posted at First Things. Demand on the site is causing a slow download, so be patient.
The most telling element of this letter is Prof. Glendon's assertion that she is declining the medal and the invitation b/c Jenkins used her attendance in his "talking points" to cloud the issue of The One's invitation with a thin veneer of "balance." She also spanks him for ignoring the USCCB's guidelines on not inviting and honoring pro-abortion speakers on Catholic campuses.
Good for her!
No joke. I did not care about Obama coming to ND for a while but after finding out that he was getting an honorary PhD in law from there, I changed my mind about it. Hopefully either Jenkins is fired (and I do not know hwy the Bishop does not do so) or he sees the error of his ways.
ReplyDeleteGood For Glendon, she did the right thing
Creative Minority Report has the letter at their blog too.
ReplyDeletewww.creativeminorityreport.com
Daniel,
ReplyDeleteThe bishop has no authority to fire Jenkins. Catholic universities are not subject to Church authority in any way. Since the 1967 Land O'Lakes Declaration, most all Catholic universities are operated under lay-dominated boards. This was a deliberate move to undermine the teaching authority of the local bishop.
Daniel,
ReplyDeleteThe bishop has no authority to fire Jenkins. Catholic universities are not subject to Church authority in any way. Since the 1967 Land O'Lakes Declaration, most all Catholic universities are operated under lay-dominated boards. This was a deliberate move to undermine the teaching authority of the local bishop.
In the future, the bishops or the Holy Father or somebody should compel Catholic university presidents, during their inaugural ceremonies, to take an oath renouncing the Land O'Lakes agreement, complete with a ceremonial burning or shredding of a copy of the Land O'Lakes text.
ReplyDeleteIt has become clear to me that Father Jenkins knows exacrtly what he is doing. He is taking the biggest gamble of his life. If he loses, his losses will be huge, but he's struggling to take the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church in America away from the hierarchy to make it the possession of Notre Dame. He aspires to be American Catholicism's moral compass, and if in the public eye he wins this contest, he will indeed be the victor. This is what we are up against. Secondly, it is time this minute for all bishops with Catholic colleges and universities in their dioceses to be proactive and to contact the presidents of those institutions to make sure they are not planning on making similar awards this year. It would become a passionate mission of the Sisters-without-habits to influence any colleges with whom they were or are associated to make a choice like this. Bishops will feel diffident about doing this, but being in the middle of a Notre Dame scandal is the opposite consequence. The call must be made. One would like to say to today's (silent) bishops what St. Catherine of Siena once had to say to a weak and indecisive Pope, "It's time to act like a man!" The problem is that it has taken Mary Ann Glendon to stand up and be a man in this present debacle. God bless her.
ReplyDeleteTotally off subject but the Land o Lakes (LOL) conference will make a great dissertation 100 years from now. From what I’ve gathered, this wasn’t ground breaking at the time but today - watch out. Father states,” This was a deliberate move to undermine the teaching authority of the local bishop.” I respectfully disagree.
ReplyDeleteI submit the aftermath of the LOL should be classified under the law of unintended consequences. Catholic colleges were beginning to suffer the beginnings of what Father calls the “biological solution.” They wanted to educate the growing second generation of middle class American Catholics (the first being the GI Bill Vets) but they didn’t have the capability (money. teachers from the order, facilities etc). Establishing these lay boards of trustees allowed Catholic colleges to expand separate of their stasis orders. ND is a perfect example. It grew exponentially (students and endowment) through the seventies. Also worth remembering, most Catholic colleges before the 70s were male only. This expansion gave women higher educational opportunities.
It makes sense orders wanted to protect what I think was the visual representation if not culmination of 150 years of blessed work in this country. Perhaps the LOL authors didn’t have enough foresight or prudence. I have to think their hearts were in the right place- just goggle the LOL statement and see some of its authors-some great names in recent catholic history. Also, there is nothing that radical in the statement itself. On the other hand, even before LOL, bishops never had a lot of control over colleges (at least of religious orders).
Two interesting side notes for consideration: 1. Most colleges considered Orthodox (Av Maria, Christendom, Catholic University of America and even Father’s U of Dallas) are run by trustees. 2. If LOL didn’t formally separate colleges form their orders, I think it’s possible some Catholic colleges would have closed in the pedophile scandals. When an order gets sued the college can’t be touched. A perfect example is the NW province of the Jesuits (currently being sued); without Gonzaga and Seattle U their assets are two million but with the colleges their assets are hundreds of millions if not billions.
Solution…I have no idea! I only find it a fascinating subject. My worry is this: It seems our orthodox schools our too liberal arts oriented. I think catholic colleges must be at the forefront of our professional subjects. I’m a Physician Assistant student and I can’t tell you how many Catholic educated doctors don’t know the basics of the faith. If you don’t know the basics, how do you fight for conscience clauses, NFP only practices, end of life issues, etc. and how do you evangelize to your skeptical collogues there is no contradiction between faith and Hippocratic medicine? Actually, the two are mutually supportive! This is why I would argue Fathers science/reason dissertation is so important (shameless suck-up???). I can’t help but wonder if colleges should return to “common cores” in their first two years of study regardless of major. On the other hand, professional studies (prelaw, science, engineering, accounting, medicine, etc) seem so specialized I don’t know if that can be done.
Ok Father Powell, I’m dug in on my hill….attack!!!!!
As always, respectfully
chris
Go Woman!!
ReplyDeletebut BO coming to ND HAS been beneficial to the Catholic Church....as I told Subvet....WHEN have you EVER seen 25 (and counting) Bishops speak out in agreement on ANYTHING ELSE???
The #1 fastest and easiest way to unify any group of people is to give them a common enemy.
Chris,
ReplyDeleteI'll simply quote the first paragraph of the LOL declaration as my evidence:
"The Catholic University today must be a university in the full modern sense of the word, with a strong commitment to and concern for academic excellence. To perform its teaching and research functions effectively the Catholic university must have a true autonomy and academic freedom in the face of authority of whatever kind, lay or clerical, external to the academic community itself. To say this is simply to assert that institutional autonomy and academic freedom are essential conditions of life and growth and indeed of survival for Catholic universities as for all universities."
Father
ReplyDeleteIt's been a long week and I know this is a bit late. First off, if this is your idea of a frontal attack my only question is when did you become a Chaplain for the French Army?
Seriously, in regareds to LOL, I'm glad you actually read it; most people I debate this with don't bother.
Some thoughts:
1. Have you ever heard of a MSGR John Ellis? His claim was Catholic Universities of the early/mid 20th century were poor academic institutions. That's the purpose of this document. You quote the beginning....well here's the ending sentence, "the Catholic university of the future will be a true modern university but specifically Catholic in profound and creative ways for the service of society and the people of God" Do you disagree and what other institution can serve the church in this function?
2. This document has one small section that deals with the University's relation to the Church Universal, "Hence, the university should carry on a continual examination of all aspects and all activities of the Church and should objectively evaluate them. The Church would thus have the benefit of continual counsel from Catholic universities." How is this radical?
3. When did Bishops ever "control" or "loose control" of universities and how has that changed over the years? Especially religious universities? Nothing stops a Bishop from issuing or announcing the NON ISSUE of a mandatum.
Respectfully and God Bless
Chris Seeber
Chris,
ReplyDeleteWhen you asked for comment on the LOL text, I was in the throes of Manuscript Mania...thus, the down and dirty defense of my assertion.
To answer your points in order:
1). I simply do not know what it means for a Catholic univ. to be a truly "modern university but specifically Catholic in profound and creative ways..." What makes a diocese truly Catholic is its unity with the Holy Father through its bishop. What makes a Catholic truly Catholic (as opposed to a Baptist or a Buddhist) is the Catholic's participation in the baptized life of a truly Catholic diocese. LOL explicitly argues: "To perform its teaching and research functions effectively the Catholic university must have a true autonomy and academic freedom in the face of authority of whatever kind, lay or clerical, external to the academic community itself." It follows from this quote and the one you cited that a truly modern Catholic univ. exists and thrives only outside the teaching authority of the Church. I do not know what this means. The portion you cite is extraordinarily vague. The portion I cite is quite specific.
2). There's nothing particularly radical about this statement on its face. However, what's missing from the statement is any indication of what counts as a standard of objective evaluation. LOL has already rejected the authority of the Church as relevant to the work of a Catholic university, so by what criteria does LOL purport to offer as an objective standard? Regardless of what LOL intended by this, the result has been that Catholic univs. operating under LOL have used increasingly aggressive anti-Catholic, secular "sciences" to oppose the truth of the faith. How does this promote a "profoundly Catholic" identity in the univ.?
3). This is not as issue of bishops "losing control" of Catholic univs. This is an issue of Catholic univs. declaring themselves liberated from the teaching authority of the Church. Univs. are corporations, that is, legal persons. If, as a Catholic person, I declare that it is necessary to the development and perfection of my Catholic identity that I remove myself from the teaching authority of the Church, I have effectively declared myself non-Catholic. It makes no sense to argue that I am most truly Catholic only when I am freed from the teaching office of the Catholic Church. By analogy: I cannot argue that I am most truly an American only after I have renounced my US citizenship. I can call this a "profound and creative of being American," but the fact is that I am no longer an American.