Wednesday, October 10, 2007
ST. THOMAS UNIVERSITY IN THE NEWS AGAIN
Recently this Catholic school in St. Paul, Minn. made the headlines by barring Desmond Tutu from speaking on campus due to his alleged anti-Semitic remarks.
Today Matt Abbott's column points the way to a parents' website dedicated to the removal of the book THE HANDMAID'S TALE from required reading in all of the Freshman English classes. From the parent's website and also quoted in Matt Abbott's column is the following:
In the English Department, there is little uniformity in the books, or “texts” required. The faculty therefore, votes on a single book that they will use in all sections of freshman English. That "Common Text" this year is The Handmaid’s Tale. The book is about a future takeover of the U. S. Government by the “religious right.” The “regime” lynches abortionists and pornographers. Women can’t own property, or receive an education, they are only valued for their ability to bear children. They are ceremonially raped so that they will bear children.
The book is objectionable on several different levels:
First, the book is insultingly vulgar, boorish and obscene. It is an abuse of faculty authority to require students to read such obscenity. See Quotes , for examples.
Second, The Handmaid’s Tale is not great literature. It is politically correct agenda-driven literature that was chosen for its anti-Christian/anti-Catholic indoctrination value. For example, the totalitarian regime won’t allow abortion; ergo, the Catholic Church is totalitarian. The “commanders” read from the Bible and pray to God for help before ceremonially raping their handmaids.
Third, reading and analyzing this book is a profligate waste of the parent’s or student’s money, and a waste of the student’s time. It cheats the students of a truly quality education that includes great Western literature by Plato, Dante, Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, Chesterton, etc.
If you go to the parent's website you can read the quotes from the book. But be ready to be offended. When I was college age, material like this only appeared in pornography. Truly disgusting.
Fr. Dease, the President of St. Thomas, has been made aware of the protest and stated he would not intervene. Obviously he has no fear of the bishop's censor, and must have concluded that the parents have no power.
Is the objective of St. Thomas University the de-Catholising of their students?
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
