tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695096.post7432400135127931592..comments2024-02-14T03:56:12.027-08:00Comments on La Salette Journey: Kristine Maloney, Spokeswoman for Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts: Advancing a false understanding of academic freedomPaul Anthony Melansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08455719838570381999noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695096.post-40326537832243927682009-04-23T02:54:00.000-07:002009-04-23T02:54:00.000-07:00It is interesting that Kristine Maloney has sudden...It is interesting that Kristine Maloney has suddenly lapsed into silence. One would think that she would want to defend her assertion that criticism of Holy Cross College has been "unfair."Eric Levannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695096.post-56700848506709540182009-04-22T06:23:00.000-07:002009-04-22T06:23:00.000-07:00I sent this post to Ms. Maloney a couple of days a...I sent this post to Ms. Maloney a couple of days ago. She never did respond. It wasn't "convenient" to do so I guess.Michael Colehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17489929697997071892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695096.post-1829635206474976112009-04-22T04:39:00.000-07:002009-04-22T04:39:00.000-07:00The reason I quoted so extensively from Fr. Vincen...The reason I quoted so extensively from Fr. Vincent Miceli, S.J. is that 1. His refutation of a false notion of academic freedom is excellent; and 2. He was a brilliant Jesuit philosopher who was educated in "the Jesuit tradition." Ms. Maloney's idea of "Jesuit tradition" is a chimera.<br /><br />I'm here should Ms. Maloney care to debate the point. But I won't be holding my breath.Paul Anthony Melansonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08455719838570381999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695096.post-58745113293474280042009-04-21T13:09:00.000-07:002009-04-21T13:09:00.000-07:00Unfortunately too many institutions priding themse...Unfortunately too many institutions priding themselves on a so-called Jesuit tradition are led by deep seated homosexuals who cannot carry their burden. So they try and drag others down to promote a sense of solidarity in dissent.MichaelTDnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695096.post-35483799456905317452009-04-21T12:39:00.000-07:002009-04-21T12:39:00.000-07:00Georgetown To Honor Pro-Abort Catholic and Vice Pr...Georgetown To Honor Pro-Abort Catholic and Vice President Joe Biden<br /><br />By James Todd <br />Pewsitter.com<br /> <br />Georgetown is honoring Vice President Biden tomorrow. Biden is a Catholic that supports abortion rights. Washington DC - April 21, 2009 - Georgetown is honoring Vice President Joe Biden tomorrow at a Symposium Celebrating the 15th Anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Biden will receive the Legal Momentum Hero Award.<br /><br />Geoergetown’s decision to honor Biden, on the heels its acquiescence to the White House’s request to cover the IHS symbol at Gaston Hall last week when President Obama spoke, combined with the current imbroligio over President Obama’s scheduled commencement speech and honorary degree at Notre Dame, is certain to cause more outrage among Catholics. <br /><br />Biden’s honor tomorrow is problematic on several fronts. It violates the USCCB document "Catholics in Political Life" from 2004. This document directs Catholic schools not to honor pro-abortion politicians. Moreover, unlike the situation at Notre Dame with President Obama where some have argued that the USSCB statement doesn’t apply because Obama isn’t Catholic – Biden clearly is. Lastly, the award tomorrow commemorating the Violence Against Women Act represents a patent hypocrisy: Abortion is a violence against women, but Georgetown has decided to honor the Vice President who is pro-abortion and therefore by definition, supports this violence against both women and their unborn children. <br /><br />Our Catholic institutions are selling out to the secular society. I don't hold out much hope for the Church in the United States. Not with Catholics voting en masse for Obama and the universities kneeling before the world.Henrynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695096.post-48524843082830894572009-04-21T03:25:00.000-07:002009-04-21T03:25:00.000-07:00I'm not sure Holy Cross can be called Catholic any...I'm not sure Holy Cross can be called Catholic any longer. Parents should opt to send their children to a more faithful institution of higher learning. For example, Magdalene College in New Hampshire or Franciscan University at Steubenville etc. I don't hold ot much hope for any improvement at Holy Cross and the Bishop doesn't really seem to care.Margaretnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695096.post-65966374970611854362009-04-20T17:39:00.000-07:002009-04-20T17:39:00.000-07:00Those "special–interest groups" that Holy Cross' K...Those "special–interest groups" that Holy Cross' Kristine Maloney criticizes as "try(ing) to force everyone into a very narrow version of Catholic teachings" include the complete body of U.S. bishops in their 2004 document, "Catholics in Political Life," which says that "the Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions"--as well as almost three dozen bishops who have made individual statements asking Notre Dame to rescind its invitation to Obama and also more than 300,000 people who have signed petitions such as that of the Cardinal Newman Society requesting the same.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695096.post-54370854303608483662009-04-20T16:20:00.000-07:002009-04-20T16:20:00.000-07:00I have tried writing the Bishop on several occasio...I have tried writing the Bishop on several occasions but I never received any response. Does he care?George-2009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695096.post-64643444891095846152009-04-20T15:15:00.000-07:002009-04-20T15:15:00.000-07:00This is ridiculous. If the Worcester Diocese is n...This is ridiculous. If the Worcester Diocese is not actively engaged in promoting New Age - like the Commission for Women linking to Joyce Rupp's website and inviting her as a guest speaker - it's allowing the promotion of homosexuality at FSC's "Newman Center" or dissent from other groups such as Pax Christi. What, if anything, is Bishop McManus doing to address these problems?Stewartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695096.post-33796158868389856782009-04-20T11:43:00.000-07:002009-04-20T11:43:00.000-07:00Notre Dame is experiencing the same woes:
Notre D...Notre Dame is experiencing the same woes:<br /><br />Notre Dame students, alumnae: It's OK for president to be speaker<br /> <br />By STEVEN SPEARIE<br />THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER<br />Posted Apr 19, 2009 @ 12:18 AM<br /><br />Controversy hasn’t been in short supply since President Obama accepted the University of Notre Dame’s invitation to be its main commencement speaker next month and to accept an honorary law degree.<br /><br />But graduating seniors from the Springfield area, even those who disagree with Obama’s pro-choice views, are amped for a visit from the president.<br /><br />“I think the invitation was appropriate,” said Leo Rubinkowski, 22, of Springfield. “It speaks well of the university.<br /><br />“There are a lot of people who take issue with the invitation, but I don’t think (Obama) is going to pound policy into people’s heads.”<br /><br />“He’s coming to celebrate with us,” said Michelle Hall, 22, also of Springfield. “We’ve worked hard for four years, and this is supposed to be our day.”<br /><br />Hall, a graduate of Sacred Heart-Griffin High School, said she’s heard of some students who are skipping out on their commencement because they don’t believe a Catholic institution like Notre Dame should be honoring Obama, a proponent of abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research.<br /><br />“Some are deciding not to go, but it’s a personal choice,” Hall said.<br /><br />A mechanical engineering major, Hall said she has “no problem” separating her views as a Catholic and endorsing Obama as the commencement speaker.<br /><br />“I’m hearing him speak as the president, not someone who is pro-choice,” Hall said.<br /><br />“I stand in line with Catholic social teaching (against abortion),” said Rubinkowski, an SHG graduate who plans to pursue film studies at the graduate level at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. “But one of the things that distresses me is that this has dissolved into a single-issue argument.<br /><br />“(That argument) doesn’t represent what I think the university produces as far as moral depth.”<br /><br />Many local Notre Dame alumni support the Obama invitation, though some draw the line at giving him an honorary degree.<br />“Notre Dame is not part of the Catholic hierarchy and does not define Catholic doctrine as far as the church is concerned,” noted Tom Londrigan, a 1959 graduate.<br /><br />“You can’t make those decisions for other people. You can’t dictate religious moral doctrine to people not of your faith.”<br /><br />Londrigan said Catholic leaders who have spoken out, such as Cardinal Francis George of Chicago and Bishop John D’Arcy of the Ft. Wayne-South Bend diocese, should tend to their own flocks.<br /><br />“(Notre Dame president, the Rev. John Jenkins) isn’t taking orders from the cardinal or the bishop,” Londrigan said. “It’s not helped by turning this into a political football. You’re going to polarize people.”<br /><br />Dr. James McDermott said he understands the school’s invitation, but added that “it’s hard to get past Obama’s voting record” on abortion while a member of the Illinois Senate.<br /><br />“Whether it’s intended or not, there’s an anointing when you give someone an honorary degree,” said McDermott, a 1982 graduate. “That’s an affirmation of who he is and what he stands for.”<br /><br />Peter Garvey of Springfield believes Notre Dame isn’t compromising its Catholic principles by inviting Obama.<br /><br />“Many thoughtful Catholics and Notre Dame graduates voted for Obama for president very aware of his pro-abortion position,” said the 1978 graduate. “There’s no doubt (in my mind) that Obama’s position on abortion is abhorrent, but I don’t think his coming to Notre Dame is an endorsement of that position.<br /><br />“I’d be cited among those glad to see him coming to Notre Dame, but the one question I’d ask is: Do you have to give him an honorary degree?”<br /><br />“It’s a non-event to me,” said Patrick Reilly of Springfield, Class of ’60. “The ruling bodies are free to invite whoever they want.”<br /><br />Obama won’t be the first politician to rankle Notre Dame supporters, according to Reilly. Death penalty foes greeted President George W. Bush at the 2001 commencement. New York Gov. and would-be presidential candidate Mario Cuomo, a Catholic, said Catholic politicians could be anti-abortion and uphold the law of the land in a 1984 address at the South Bend campus.<br /><br />In a column that appears in this week’s edition of Catholic Times, Springfield Bishop George Lucas says Notre Dame is sowing confusion “where there is clarity in Catholic teaching on the sanctity of human life and the evil of abortion.<br /><br />“We are not being unreasonable,” Lucas adds, “when we expect the value of human life to be a central focus of a Catholic university.”<br /><br />E-mails from The State Journal-Register to the communications office of the Peoria Catholic Diocese seeking clarification of Bishop Daniel Jenky’s position on the Obama matter went unanswered. Jenky’s diocese covers part of the newspaper’s northern readership.<br /><br />Jenky is a member of the Congregation of the Holy Cross Fathers, the order that runs Notre Dame. In 2003, he was elected a fellow and trustee of the university.<br /><br />Kaitlin Moredock, a Springfield native and first-year student at Notre Dame’s law school, is taking a different approach. Moredock, through the Notre Dame Action Coalition, is putting together a speakers forum aimed at undergraduates that focuses on Catholic teaching and political engagement.<br /><br />Life issues, religious freedom and the philosophy of Catholic universities are some of the topics being taken up by Notre Dame professors, said Moredock, an SHG and University of Dayton graduate.<br /><br />“(Obama’s coming to Notre Dame) exposes the different ways Catholics can be engaged in politics,” she said. “It begs the question: Can you be pro-life, then vote for someone like Obama?”<br /><br />Rather than protesting Obama’s appearance, Moredock said, energy should be put into “reaffirming the dignity of life central to the Catholic faith.”<br /><br />Hall said pro-life issues “are still relevant on Catholic campuses,” perhaps more so because of Obama.<br /><br />“There should be opinions exchanged on these issues,” she said. “Maybe that dialogue will open up more.<br /><br />“In the long run, I’ll be lucky enough to have had the president of the United States speak at my college commencement. That’s the exciting part of this.”<br /><br />Steven Spearie can be reached at spearie@hotmail.com or 622-1788.<br /><br />Commencement speakers at Notre Dame:<br /><br />*Dwight D. Eisenhower (1960)<br /><br />*Jimmy Carter (1977)<br /><br />*Ronald Reagan (1981)<br /><br />*George H.W. Bush (1992)<br /><br />*George W. Bush (2001)<br /><br />Franklin D. Roosevelt and Gerald R. Ford received honorary degrees.Stewartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695096.post-41173169770343714362009-04-20T11:16:00.000-07:002009-04-20T11:16:00.000-07:00In Ex Corde Ecclesiae (From the Heart of the Churc...In Ex Corde Ecclesiae (From the Heart of the Church) Pope John Paul II said that, "it is evident that besides the teaching, research and services common to all Universities, a Catholic University, by institutional commitment, brings to its task the inspiration and light of the Christian message. In a Catholic University, therefore, Catholic ideals, attitudes and principles penetrate and inform university activities in accordance with the proper nature and autonomy of these activities. In a word, being both a University and Catholic, it must be both a community of scholars representing various branches of human knowledge, and an academic institution in which Catholicism is vitally present and operative." (14).<br /><br />Catholicism is not "vitally present and operative" at Holy Cross. Not as long as this false notion of academic freedom reigns there.<br /><br />Truly sad.Ted Loiseaunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695096.post-46859749921710412352009-04-20T10:54:00.000-07:002009-04-20T10:54:00.000-07:00Paul, what a powerful post. Kristine Maloney's di...Paul, what a powerful post. Kristine Maloney's distorted idea of academic freedom is obviously welcome at the CFP. But this post totally refutes it. Thank you!Ellen Wironkenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15037753678014941848noreply@blogger.com