Conservative watchdog group criticizes GU, others

[DanMcQ]

I'm surprised nobody posted this yet...

Catholic watchdog group urges purging of 'pro-death' professors

www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2005/08/16/catholic_watchdog_group_urges_purging_of_pro_death_professors/

BOSTON --A conservative Catholic watchdog group wants 18 academics, including three professors at Boston College, purged from campus for perpetuating "a culture of death" by supporting abortion rights or siding against Terry Schiavo's parents in their efforts to keep her feeding tube.

The Cardinal Newman Society also says in a fund-raising appeal that administrators at BC, Georgetown University and elsewhere should be warned their school risks being "stripped of its Catholic identity by the bishop who has authority over that college."

The Cardinal Newman Society also named the Rev. Kevin O'Rourke, a professor at Loyola University's bioethics institute; Tom Beauchamp, a philosophy professor at Georgetown; Maxwell Gregg Bloche, Lawrence Gostin and Peter Rubin, Georgetown law professors; Howard Freed, Lauro Halstead and John Collins Harvey, past or current medical professors at Georgetown; Daniel Maguire, a theology professor at Marquette University; Rev. Richard McBrien, a theology professor at the University of Notre Dame; Curtis Naser, a philosophy professor at Fairfield University; and Kenneth Wing, a professor at the Seattle University School of Law.

www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/08/17/catholic_group_rips_3_at_bc_for_stance_on_schiavo/

[SFHoya99]

I was not aware a bishop had any authority over Georgetown.

Somehow, I can't imagine Jesus trying to get someone fired.

[StPetersburgHoya (Inactive)]

The Arch-Diocease of Washington does not have authority over Georgetown, the Jesuit order and the Pope do. But what a shocker - university professors who strongly hold controversial views ...

It also seems like if the Cardinal Newman Society had its way there would be very few Catholic schools in this country.

[SFHoya99]

The truth is, the vast majority of the thinkers that are revered in the Catholic Church now would have been branded and outcast by conservative elements -- and sometimes were!

Regardless, here's a tip for the Cardinal Newman society. Life is certainly a "good," but in Catholic philosophy it is not the ultimate "good." I'm not saying you kill people, or that abortion is right; but for a group of people who are supposed to believe in eternal life, we are certainly afraid of death.

Of course, the bigger issue here is the sad pathetic ideal that apparently the Catholic faith is not strong enough to stand up to alternate viewpoints and thinking about it; no, we must be certain to brainwash our members because if they ever were to hear something else they would lose faith immediately.

[Deleted]

I took a bio-ethics course with Beauchamp. We covered three broad topics the entire semester, one of which was euthanasia.

Whether or not you agree with the practice, and - I guess more to the point - whether or not you agree with Beauchamp's stance on the subject, I found that class to be one of my three favorites during my four years on The Hilltop. The man ran (perhaps he still does?) the Kennedy Institute of Ethics for a reason - he's a brilliant mind and, more importantly to me in this context, a fantastic teacher. Not to mention a GU alum.

As a private institution with ties to a larger one such as the Catholic church, I understand it is their prerogative to teach what they want and hire who they want to do so. I think it would be a huge, HUGE mistake to let someone like him go for simply expressing his opinion on an issue he spends his life studying.

It will be interesting to see if G'Town replies to this call from the CNS. I can't imagine they'll take it TOO seriously, as G'Town has always seemed to me to promote the expression of diverging and unique viewpoints, but it bears watching I think.

Come to think of it, it seems odd that these were the only professors singled out. I'm sure there were dozens of professors on both sides of the Shaivo issue expressing their opinions in class. Do these professors only come under fire because it was on their syllabi?

And do the CNS' concerns only apply to this alleged "culture of death?" Why not go after all non-Catholic subjects. Ban classes about Islam or Hinduism why you're at it. Or horror films (my favorite class ever).

Question - what sort of pull does this watchdog group have with the church? Is it possible they could get any of the Bishops to go along with this and revoke a schooll's "Catholic identity?" If they did, would that actually mean anything to G'Town and its day-to-day operations?

[StPetersburgHoya (Inactive)]

I don't think that Georgetown's Catholic identity would ever get pulled. The fact is that since it is a school that is not run by the Archdiocease of Washington, the Pope himself would have to stip the identity from the school and Popes traditionally don't have education as a very high priority.

I don't think that CNS did their homework here or in general - it seems like they have a list of law professors who are very well known to support Roe v. Wade and a number of bioethicists who support the right to die or are pro-choice. I'd imagine other people on the faculties of each of these schools feel that way but CNS didn't do any checking into them.

The real issue here is an interpretation of what your faith means to you. How do you know that you believe in something if you just stick your head in the sand? - I'd rather have what I believe in tested by the best minds on the subject. I think that what CNS assumes is that Georgetown has hired these professors of ethics and law in order to propogate a message of death that is officially endorsed by the school - I think that really misses the point of Jesuit education and Jesuit ideology.

[DFW HOYA]

Quick thoughts:

1. CNS is an advocacy group and less interested in policy change than stirring the waters. There are some in CNS who regard anything to the left of Steubenville as candidates for apostasy, and that's clearly wrong, too.

2. I can't recall any professor I took in my four years that openly espoused political views. None. (Then again, not much room for discussion of politics in Intermediate Accounting, either.)

3. I have some mixed feelings when faculty sell the "Jesuit education" and downplay "Catholic education". Georgetown should never hide from its role of leadership as the proto-Catholic university in the nation, and yet often seems to do so.

[CAHoya07]

The CNS's criticisms look pretty ridiculous to me. Just because a school is Catholic doesn't mean its professors have to have their heads in the sand and avoid discussing a variety of viewpoints. The intellectual health of a university relies on a free exchange of ideas, some of which may very well be controversial. "Free exchange of ideas" is the key phrase here. Berating schools for not being "Catholic" enough seems idiotic and pointless to me, and goes against what a college education should be.

I feel like ranting on right-wing Catholics, conservatives petrified of change, and organized religion altogether, but I'll leave it at that for now.

[StPetersburgHoya (Inactive)]

Do you think that they demand that public universities become more Catholic and eliminate their culture of death as well? That would seem to be a logical extension of what they are doing here.

[HoyaNCCT]

St.Pete's - that's as far from logical as I can imagine. A public university, is simply that - public. In a society that holds dear the idea of separation of Church and State, a public school will have to uphold this idea as well. The courts will find this to be true when dealing with funding issues, etc at public universities.

That said, Georgetown has and continues to call themselves a Catholic institution. That said, yes, we should espouse JS Mills' marketplace of ideas. That said, the university must be true to itself and what it stands for. If you or I state we stand for something, then we need to make sure our actions and messages reflect such beliefs. that idea extends to the institution.

So no, public universities, which are led via a state affiliation are not subject to Catholic laws. That said, the CNS and most Catholics that believe that the church is the truth, believe that, at the end of the marketplace of ideas, when truth is no longer debated and held up for question because there are no questions, we will, in fact, be at the truths of the church.

[StPetersburgHoya (Inactive)]

My thouht was that if CNS wants to counter this culture of death and make everyone see this singular truth in the church then they should be doing that everywhere and not just at Catholic schools.

[HoyaNCCT]

That has never been CNS's view though. It just looks to makes sure that Catholic schools remain authentic.