Still Running Off at the Keyboard

Father Drinan and Attila the Hun

One of the plagues of the Catholic Church in modern America is the barely-disguised faith abuse of many of our so-called Catholic universities. The actions of some of these universities are just intolerable from the viewpoint of authentic Catholicism, and they should be exposed and rebuked for the heresy, apostasy or the just plain pathetic Catholicism that they advocate. This week saw one of the most egregious slaps in the face to the Catholic Church that has been seen in a long time: an award for an abortion-advocating priest. The culprit? Georgetown - again.

This fallen-away Catholic school in DC has an astounding history of offensive actions against the Catholic Faith. Remember the scandal of the removal of Crucifixes from the classrooms despite student protests? How about the sponsorship of the V-Monologues and endorsement of the openly gay advocacy group on campus? They also hosted pornographer Larry Flint with honors but then staged a pretty nasty walkout on Cardinal Arinze, of all people, because he dared to mention homosexuality as a threat to the family. Not surprising really, when you consider that this is the same university that taught Bill Clinton how to be a politician.

The shenanigans of the Georgetown University Law Center this week, however, top them all. Georgetown Law established an endowed chair for "human rights" in the name of Fr. Robert Drinan, the Jesuit priest who unwaveringly supported abortion while he was in Congress (1971-1981) and even defended the despicable partial birth abortion. Why this scandal of a priest was not summarily run out of the priesthood by his superiors or at very least silenced for his shameless blessing of abortion is beyond me. But what inevitably happens when heretics are not disciplined by their superiors is that they end up being celebrated and honored with silly awards like this. Well, if Fr. Drinan is a human rights hero then Attila the Hun was a diplomat. Maybe Georgetown Law should name a chair of humanitarian law after Atilla just to be consistent.

This incident, of course, touches upon the open, gaping wound in Catholic higher education these days. Western culture owes the very concept of the university to Roman Catholicism, which brought this institution to society for the purpose of evangelizing culture and saving souls through intellectual pursuit and formation in virtue. What passes for Catholic universities today is sometimes a pure mockery of that great tradition. Schools that routinely violate authentic Catholic teaching and refuse to discipline heretics in their midst under the rubric of "academic freedom" should not be called Catholic - pure and simple. They should have their status to teach as representative institutions of the Catholic Church revoked because they violate their very reason for existence, which is to bring souls and societies to Christ, Truth Incarnate.

We can lay the blame at the feet of bishops who don't supervise the Catholic credentials of these places, religious superiors who allow their subordinates to get away with heresy and school administrators who just don't seem to care about the mission of Christ. Parents would do well to stop investing upwards of $40,000 a year in Georgetown and other formerly Catholic universities just to have their kids lose the Faith and very possibly their souls.

Sincerely Yours in Christ,

Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer
President, Human Life International