Politics
Friday April 11, 2008
See today's LifeSiteNews stories
Two Catholic Schools Refuse to Support Figures Opposed to Life and Family Values
By Michael Baggot
GRAND RAPIDS, MI, April 11, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - At the same time as Pope Benedict XVI reportedly prepares to exhort Catholic colleges to greater fidelity to Church teaching, two Catholic schools have recently stood fast to their Catholic identity and refused to support figures opposed to traditional life and family values.
The president of Michigan's Aquinas College, Ed Balog, announced his decision on Thursday to cancel homosexual activist Jeff Corvino's "What's Morally Wrong with Homosexuality?" presentation after its initial postponement.
"I'm not trying to keep people from seeing him. I'm trying to prevent the college from sponsoring an event that displays an attack on Catholic teaching values," Balog explained.
Balog announced that he had met "with members of the Programming Board, staff members from Campus Life, and other students to discuss the establishment of a policy regarding events on campus that might conflict with Catholic moral teaching."
A committee will gather to create a policy "designed to provide guidelines for speakers and activities, including performances of various descriptions."
Given the great amount of time such a policy will take to draft, Balog decided it best to cancel, rather than postpone Corvino's presentation.
"We want to explore the issue from an academic perspective, not from the perspective of an antagonistic attack to core Catholic values," said Balog.
The talk was organized by the student group Tree Top Productions, who said they still hope to host Corvino off-campus.
"Combining philosophical rigor with sensitivity and humor, Corvino examines and dismantles the most common arguments against homosexual conduct - including those based on nature, harm, and religion. In the process, he challenges those from various sides of the debate to rethink assumptions about both homosexuality and morality," states a Wayne State University website concerning Corvino's lecture.
"The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles, stated the US Conference of Catholic Bishops in their 2004 document Catholics in Political Life. "They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions."
Patrick Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society, explained to LifeSiteNews.com that lectures place speakers in the honorable position of teachers to students.
While students should be familiar with the arguments against Church teaching, he said, giving students such knowledge does not require inviting prominent individuals whose intention in visiting the college is to advance their work against the Church.
Even when speakers are invited under the pretext of better understanding opposite views, there is always the danger of bringing added "visibility to a person or organization" opposed to the Church, Reilly went on to explain to LifeSiteNews.com.
Reilly suggested that Catholic colleges have students learn arguments against Church teaching and engage in debates among themselves, rather than feel the need to invite outside figures who could cause scandal.
In related events, the Illinois Mater Dei High School retracted their invitation to Rep. Kurt Granberg to enter their "Hall of Honor" for accomplished alumni, due to Granberg's voting record.
"The school called me (this week) and informed me . . . that they had serious concerns about my voting record," stated Granberg.
"I said, 'Why is that?' They said they were very concerned I wasn't 'pro-life enough.'"
Granberg voted for House Bill 138 and 139, both of which support embryonic stem cell research and human cloning.
Mater Dei principal Dennis Litteken described the situation with Granberg as a "misunderstanding."
Litteken told LifeSiteNews.com that it was the policy of the committee of faculty, alumni, and citizens who reviews nominees to the "Hall of Honor" not to reveal the reasons why a particular nominee to the "Hall of Honor" is or is not inducted.
Contact the president of Aquinas College:
Ms. Jan Sommerville
Assistant to the President and Executive Secretary to the Board of Trustees
Office: (616) 632-2881
Fax: (616) 732-4589
E-mail: sommejan@aquinas.edu
Learn about speakers on Catholic Campuses:
http://www.cardinalnewmansociety.org/CampusSpeakerMonitoring...
Learn more about important pro-life legislation in Illinois:
http://www.ifrl-pac.com
Back to TopSHARE THIS STORY: E-mail Print Newsvine Digg Reddit Del.icio.us Facebook
Latest Headlines
- Pro-Abortion Expression Permitted, Pro-Life Forbidden on Campus at Australia University
- Quebec Mayor Vows to Continue Prayer Despite Human Rights Commission Order
- Ontario Forces Taxpayers to Pay for Sex-Change Operations
- California Supreme Court Asked to Stay "Gay Marriage" Order until November Public Ballot
- Anglican Acceptance of both Abortion and Sanctity of Life will Allow the Creation of a Gay Church Says Bishop
- Governor Schwarzenegger Vows to Fight Reinstatement of Traditional Marriage
- President Bush and California Bishops Oppose Judicial Activism
- Internet Expertise to Save You Time and Money
- Abortifacient Morning After Pill Now Sold off the Shelf in Canada
- UK Commons Embryo Bill Debate Heated with "Wooly Liberal Thinking"
- Letters to the Editor for May 16th, 2008
Most Read this Week
- Texas Pastor Connected with Prominent Gay Porn Website
- Texas Pastor Resigns After Involvement in Gay Porn Site Exposed
- Archbishop Publicly Tells Pro-Abortion Kansas Governor Not to Receive Communion
- Archbishop: For the Clergy Obedience to Church "Requires Preaching About the Moral Evil of Contraception"
- California Supreme Court Imposes Homosexual 'Marriage' on State
- Even the Leaders Think the Homosexual Activist Movement in Canada is Going Too Far
- Christian Ministry to Disabled Drops its Code of Conduct Under Human Rights Tribunal Pressure
- Time Magazine: "Want to wreck the environment? Have a baby." - Prince Philip Concurs
- More and More Seeing that "The Pill Kills"
- Pope Reminds Spouses of their "Responsibility To Generate New Children"
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any Internet re-publishing of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews that have come from other news sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.