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Catholic Coach at Catholic University Announces Support for Abortion/Embryo Research

By Hilary White

ST. LOUIS, Missouri, January 25, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The basketball coach at St. Louis University, Rick Majerus, appeared at a Hillary Clinton rally last Saturday night in St. Louis and made public his support for legal abortion and research using human embryos on local television news.

Majerus is a Catholic and so is his employer St. Louis University, which was founded by the Jesuits in 1818. The statement was quickly followed by both support in the media and the condemnation of Majerus' Archbishop, who called upon the Jesuits to discipline the coach.

Archbishop Raymond Burke said on Tuesday from Washington, where he was attending the March for Life, "It's not possible to be a Catholic and hold those positions."

He continued, "When you take a position in a Catholic university, you don't have to embrace everything the Catholic Church teaches. But you can't make statements which call into question the identity and mission of the Catholic Church."

Majerus remains indifferent to Burke's point, however. He told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "These beliefs are ingrained in me, and my First Amendment right to free speech supersedes anything that the archbishop would order me to do."

Archbishop Burke expressed his "confidence" that the university would "deal with the question of a public representative making declarations that are inconsistent with the Catholic faith."

But a university spokesman told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Majerus' comments were not related to his role at the university.

"Rick's comments were his own personal view. They were made at an event he did not attend as a university representative," said spokesman Jeff Fowler. Since then, no further comment has been forthcoming from the university.

"These are my personal views," Majerus said. He was quoted by the St. Louis Daily News saying, "I'm respectful of the archbishop's position, but it's not going to change my mind. We're given free will and the right to vote for changes. I think religion should be inclusive. I would hope that all people would feel welcome inside a church, and that the church would serve to bring people together, even if they happen to disagree on certain things."

Having made his position against the doctrines of the Catholic Church public, Majerus falls under the sanction of Canon 915 of the Church's Code of Canon Law that prohibits those in a state of "manifest grave sin" from receiving Communion. 

In 2004, when he was bishop of LaCrosse, Wisconsin, Archbishop Burke issued a ruling, or "canonical notification" that no public figure who opposes the right to life can receive Holy Communion. The bishop made his ruling as the head of his diocese during the storm of debate surrounding the Democrat candidate for president, John Kerry, who made a point of playing on both his Catholicism and his support for abortion.

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