Even while the Vatican meets to address sexual abuse by Catholic priests, students at U.S. Catholic colleges will stage theatrical performances that glorify—with explicitly religious language—an adult’s creepy and manipulative seduction of a 16-year-old.
It’s an outrage, especially given the similarity of the play to the abuse of young boys and men, and in some cases girls, by many Catholic priests. Yet Catholic colleges have repeated this celebration of sexual abuse and perversion for 20 years.
Will any Catholic college leader apologize for The Vagina Monologues? Every year, just as the Church approaches the holy season of Lent, Catholic college students—and the faculty departments and college leaders who enable their performances—continue to perform this play and dance on the broken souls of sexual abuse victims.
I am proud that The Cardinal Newman Society has led the fight against The Vagina Monologues on Catholic campuses. Shame on those who have allowed and even defended it!
Every spring, usually around Saint Valentine’s Day, colleges nationwide host the Monologues, a vile play in which a character reminisces happily about her own sexual abuse while a troubled 16-year-old. She recalls how a 24-year-old woman plied her with alcohol then had sexual relations with her. But instead of condemning the act, the victim declares the rape her “salvation” that “raised her into a kind of heaven”—a claim that glorifies homosexual predation.
This resembles many of the crimes involving Catholic priests. And we know from victims’ testimony the severe harm and anguish—not heavenly bliss!—that is caused by such abuse.
Moreover, the age of consent for sexual activity is 17 or 18 in 20 states, which means The Vagina Monologues promotes statutory rape. The play originally had the girl at 13 years old, stating defiantly, “If it was a rape, it was a good rape.” The playwright, Eve Ensler, later dropped the line admitting rape and changed the character’s age to 16 to match the legal age of consent for sexual activity in many states. Still, the play clearly describes a rape.
At Least Eight Colleges This Year
Performances of the Monologues at Catholic colleges began in 1999 and peaked at 32 campuses in 2003, according to the Newman Society’s annual tally. Thankfully, the number has declined as the novelty of the play for students has diminished and Catholic leaders have condemned the play.
One of the most forceful critiques was published in 2008 by former Bishop John D’Arcy of Fort Wayne-South Bend, who opposed performances at the University of Notre Dame:
While claiming to deplore violence against women, the play at the same time violates the standards of decency and morality that safeguard a woman’s dignity and protect her, body and soul, from sexual predators… The play depicts, exalts and endorses female masturbation, which is a sin. It depicts, exalts, and endorses a sexual relationship between an adult woman and a child, a minor, which is a sin and also a crime. It depicts and exalts the most base form of sexual relationship between a man and a woman. These illicit sexual actions are portrayed as paths to healing, and the implication is that the historic, positive understanding of heterosexual marriage as the norm is what we must recover from.
But still today—even amid the worsening crisis of clergy abuse and cover-up, implicating even the most prominent bishops—some Catholic colleges persist in the scandal of hosting and even sponsoring The Vagina Monologues. Two colleges will brazenly host the play at the same time that the Vatican holds its conference on sex abuse from Feb. 21-Feb. 24.
The Newman Society has confirmed performances on eight Catholic campuses, with others likely. Confirmed performances include:
- Boston College (Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts): The Vagina Monologues is on the public events calendar of the Jesuit College’s Robsham Theater Arts Center for Valentine’s Day, with repeat performances on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 15 and 16.
- College of the Holy Cross (Worcester, Massachusetts): According to the Facebook page of the Feminist Forum, a Monologues performance is scheduled on the Jesuit college campus on Wednesday, Feb. 13.
- DePaul University (Chicago, Illinois): The Vincentian university hosted its 20th annual production of the Monologues with four on-campus performances between Feb. 7 and Feb. 10.
- Gonzaga University (Spokane, Washington): The Jesuit university’s performance of the Monologues—open to the public for the first time—is scheduled for Valentine’s Day. It is sponsored by the Theatre and Dance Department.
- Holy Names University (Oakland, California): By email to the Newman Society, the organizer of several “information sessions” about The Vagina Monologues confirmed that a public performance is scheduled on Thursday, Feb. 21, at the College’s Valley Center for Performing Arts. The College is affiliated with the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus.
- Loyola University Maryland (Baltimore, Maryland): Sponsored by the Gender and Sexuality Studies Department, the Monologues will be performed on the Jesuit university’s campus on Valentine’s Day and Friday, Feb. 15.
- Regis College (Weston, Mass.): The College sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph will host the Monologues on campus on Friday, Feb. 22, and Saturday, Feb. 23.
- Xavier University (Cincinnati, Ohio): The Monologues will be performed on Saturday, March 2—the last weekend before Lent begins—at the Jesuit university. It will be sponsored by the Theatre Department.
In addition, according to a student Facebook page, auditions for the Monologues were held at the Jesuit Loyola University of Chicago on Feb. 6 and 7. No performance date was announced.
On its website, V-Day also claims that performances are scheduled at three other Catholic colleges which could not be verified. In an email to the Newman Society on Monday, a Merrimack College spokesman said that he is unaware of any plans for a performance, despite campus performances in prior years and a V-Day announcement indicating that proceeds will be donated to Planned Parenthood Boston.
Gonzaga Doubles Down
Perhaps the most astonishing of this year’s performances of The Vagina Monologues is that at Gonzaga University.
In 2002, when most Catholics first became aware of the sexual abuse cover-ups in the Archdiocese of Boston and elsewhere, Gonzaga’s Jesuit president rightly banned the play from campus. Father Robert Spitzer, S.J., was especially offended by the play’s celebration of rape. He said that the play is opposed to the “Catholic and Christian view of marriage.”
That ban was reversed in 2011 by Father Spitzer’s successor, Thayne McCulloh, who remains president of Gonzaga today. The 2011 performance was sponsored by the English Department, Honors Program, Institute for Hate Studies, Sociology Department, and Women and Gender Studies Program.
But the Monologues did not return to Gonzaga until this year—of all years, given the new revelations of sex abuse and cover-up. Moreover, this will be the very first time that Gonzaga invites the public to share in its celebration of sexual abuse and perversity, with the official sponsorship of the university’s Theatre and Dance Department.
“The Vagina Monologues are powerful for the voices they give to so many people who are usually silenced by society,” Leslie Stamoolis, assistant professor of theater and dance and director of the play, told The Gonzaga Bulletin. “And telling those stories, in those voices, gives power to the narratives — it reminds us all that these stories matter, and in fact every woman’s story matters.”
Except, apparently, for the agonizing testimony of those women and men who have been victimized by sexual abuse—whose hellish ordeal is declared by Gonzaga to be their “salvation.” The crimes of some priests and the failure of bishops to disclose the crimes is appalling. But when Catholic students parade sexual perversion and abuse onstage in the midst of this crisis, the crimes are compounded. And the complicity of academic leaders and their blindness to the harm perpetuated by The Vagina Monologues is indefensible.
This article was first published at the National Catholic Register.
Dating 101 at a Catholic College
/in Blog, Student Formation Commentary, Sexuality and Gender Newman Guide Articles/by Kelly SalomonMany young Catholics find more than truth on campus—they may just find a future spouse! Faithful Catholic colleges are uniquely positioned to promote healthy and holy relationships between men and women, while teaching the fullness of truth about marriage and sexuality.
Through courses like Theology of the Body, campus speakers who discuss Catholic marriage and family, and respectful policies like single-sex dorms, many Catholic colleges take seriously their mission of Christian formation. Graduates of these colleges are bright lights in a culture that often distorts the true meaning of relationships.
It’s no secret that courtship on college campuses has been replaced by a rampant hook-up culture. But Jason Evert, a graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, encourages students to “Keep it chaste both emotionally and physically. In other words, if you’re single, don’t pretend like you’re dating. If you’re dating, don’t behave like you’re married.”
Evert, who is a popular speaker on chastity, also suggests that young adults work on perfecting themselves rather than finding the “perfect person.” He encourages them to take an inventory of their interior lives and “root out all the things that would be toxic to a future marriage, such as porn, alcoholism, self-absorption, anger, etc.”
Cecilia Pigg—a graduate of Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan., another faithful Catholic college recommended in The Newman Guide—thinks that students need to be reminded to actually “ask people out on dates.” “If you are asked out by someone, say yes,” she says. “It’s just a date. Dates are opportunities for growth.”
Her only caveat is that she suggests freshmen avoid dating someone exclusively. “If you are both still interested sophomore year, go for it. But most people change a lot freshman year, and it is better to be single and navigate life and yourself without the added pressure of a relationship,” Pigg explains.
While a student at Benedictine, Pigg discerned her vocation to marriage during spiritual direction, and she met her husband Ryan on campus. Now she serves as the editor of CatholicMatch.com.
Another couple credits their faithful Catholic education with influencing their marriage for the better. Andrew and Michelle Ouellette recall that Northeast Catholic College in Warner, N.H., provided them with “wonderful teachers and thought-provoking texts, particularly senior year Theology,” which gave them “solid reasons for living a truly Catholic marriage.” They also have the “memories of the ups and downs, struggles and triumphs, amusing and tragic experiences we shared as classmates and friends” as a basis for their relationship.
A graduate from The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack, N.H, says that prayer and study helped him discern his vocation.
“If it were not for the demanding education at Thomas More College, I would not have been able to see that I had so great a need to practice the self-discipline and sacrifice necessary for loving one’s spouse. It was in Rome where I discovered that God was not calling me to the priesthood, and it took almost a year of reading St. Benedict’s Rule (a text I was introduced to through Thomas More College’s curriculum) for me to learn that I was not to be a monk either. Shortly after this decision my wife and I began courting,” he explained.
For students up for a challenge to make the most of dating while in college, he suggests: “wake up before the sun, never trust yourself, put all your trust in God, and pray Thomas More’s Psalm of Detachment every day.”
On Saint Valentine’s Day, young people are presented many images of romance that can be selfish and even self-destructive. May all young Catholics learn that true love consists in respect, self-sacrifice, and joy in doing God’s will, and never settle for anything less.
While Vatican Meets, Catholic Colleges Celebrate Sexual Abuse
/in Blog Latest, PR Register Column/by Patrick ReillyEven while the Vatican meets to address sexual abuse by Catholic priests, students at U.S. Catholic colleges will stage theatrical performances that glorify—with explicitly religious language—an adult’s creepy and manipulative seduction of a 16-year-old.
It’s an outrage, especially given the similarity of the play to the abuse of young boys and men, and in some cases girls, by many Catholic priests. Yet Catholic colleges have repeated this celebration of sexual abuse and perversion for 20 years.
Will any Catholic college leader apologize for The Vagina Monologues? Every year, just as the Church approaches the holy season of Lent, Catholic college students—and the faculty departments and college leaders who enable their performances—continue to perform this play and dance on the broken souls of sexual abuse victims.
I am proud that The Cardinal Newman Society has led the fight against The Vagina Monologues on Catholic campuses. Shame on those who have allowed and even defended it!
Every spring, usually around Saint Valentine’s Day, colleges nationwide host the Monologues, a vile play in which a character reminisces happily about her own sexual abuse while a troubled 16-year-old. She recalls how a 24-year-old woman plied her with alcohol then had sexual relations with her. But instead of condemning the act, the victim declares the rape her “salvation” that “raised her into a kind of heaven”—a claim that glorifies homosexual predation.
This resembles many of the crimes involving Catholic priests. And we know from victims’ testimony the severe harm and anguish—not heavenly bliss!—that is caused by such abuse.
Moreover, the age of consent for sexual activity is 17 or 18 in 20 states, which means The Vagina Monologues promotes statutory rape. The play originally had the girl at 13 years old, stating defiantly, “If it was a rape, it was a good rape.” The playwright, Eve Ensler, later dropped the line admitting rape and changed the character’s age to 16 to match the legal age of consent for sexual activity in many states. Still, the play clearly describes a rape.
At Least Eight Colleges This Year
Performances of the Monologues at Catholic colleges began in 1999 and peaked at 32 campuses in 2003, according to the Newman Society’s annual tally. Thankfully, the number has declined as the novelty of the play for students has diminished and Catholic leaders have condemned the play.
One of the most forceful critiques was published in 2008 by former Bishop John D’Arcy of Fort Wayne-South Bend, who opposed performances at the University of Notre Dame:
While claiming to deplore violence against women, the play at the same time violates the standards of decency and morality that safeguard a woman’s dignity and protect her, body and soul, from sexual predators… The play depicts, exalts and endorses female masturbation, which is a sin. It depicts, exalts, and endorses a sexual relationship between an adult woman and a child, a minor, which is a sin and also a crime. It depicts and exalts the most base form of sexual relationship between a man and a woman. These illicit sexual actions are portrayed as paths to healing, and the implication is that the historic, positive understanding of heterosexual marriage as the norm is what we must recover from.
But still today—even amid the worsening crisis of clergy abuse and cover-up, implicating even the most prominent bishops—some Catholic colleges persist in the scandal of hosting and even sponsoring The Vagina Monologues. Two colleges will brazenly host the play at the same time that the Vatican holds its conference on sex abuse from Feb. 21-Feb. 24.
The Newman Society has confirmed performances on eight Catholic campuses, with others likely. Confirmed performances include:
In addition, according to a student Facebook page, auditions for the Monologues were held at the Jesuit Loyola University of Chicago on Feb. 6 and 7. No performance date was announced.
On its website, V-Day also claims that performances are scheduled at three other Catholic colleges which could not be verified. In an email to the Newman Society on Monday, a Merrimack College spokesman said that he is unaware of any plans for a performance, despite campus performances in prior years and a V-Day announcement indicating that proceeds will be donated to Planned Parenthood Boston.
Gonzaga Doubles Down
Perhaps the most astonishing of this year’s performances of The Vagina Monologues is that at Gonzaga University.
In 2002, when most Catholics first became aware of the sexual abuse cover-ups in the Archdiocese of Boston and elsewhere, Gonzaga’s Jesuit president rightly banned the play from campus. Father Robert Spitzer, S.J., was especially offended by the play’s celebration of rape. He said that the play is opposed to the “Catholic and Christian view of marriage.”
That ban was reversed in 2011 by Father Spitzer’s successor, Thayne McCulloh, who remains president of Gonzaga today. The 2011 performance was sponsored by the English Department, Honors Program, Institute for Hate Studies, Sociology Department, and Women and Gender Studies Program.
But the Monologues did not return to Gonzaga until this year—of all years, given the new revelations of sex abuse and cover-up. Moreover, this will be the very first time that Gonzaga invites the public to share in its celebration of sexual abuse and perversity, with the official sponsorship of the university’s Theatre and Dance Department.
“The Vagina Monologues are powerful for the voices they give to so many people who are usually silenced by society,” Leslie Stamoolis, assistant professor of theater and dance and director of the play, told The Gonzaga Bulletin. “And telling those stories, in those voices, gives power to the narratives — it reminds us all that these stories matter, and in fact every woman’s story matters.”
Except, apparently, for the agonizing testimony of those women and men who have been victimized by sexual abuse—whose hellish ordeal is declared by Gonzaga to be their “salvation.” The crimes of some priests and the failure of bishops to disclose the crimes is appalling. But when Catholic students parade sexual perversion and abuse onstage in the midst of this crisis, the crimes are compounded. And the complicity of academic leaders and their blindness to the harm perpetuated by The Vagina Monologues is indefensible.
This article was first published at the National Catholic Register.
Yes, Let’s ‘Expose’ Catholic Schools
/in Blog Latest, PR Register Column/by Patrick ReillyFaithful Catholic education is under attack. And since we just celebrated Catholic Schools Week, it’s a great time to launch a counter-offensive that goes beyond clichéd cheerleading for lukewarm schools.
Consider what has occurred over just the last few weeks: First, leftist activists pilloried Second Lady Karen Pence for volunteering at an evangelical Christian school—one that upholds the same standards for teachers that Catholic schools should embrace, when they are courageous enough to insist on the moral formation of their students and the consistent witness of every teacher.
Among the critics was a professor who taught 10 years at the Catholic Dominican University in Illinois. He used the controversy to target not only Pence’s school but all religious schools and colleges with moral standards for employees, calling them “anti-American.” He argued that “no one, anywhere, ever, should risk employment because of who they love or what consensual activities they choose to engage in with other adults.”
Except that such behavior is an example to kids. And if Catholic schools want to claim that teachers are “ministers of the faith” under law—as they should—then pervasive sin ought to be a disqualifier.
Then, as we all witnessed ad nauseum, the media piled on Nick Sandmann and his fellow pro-life students from Covington Catholic School, before realizing that a widely circulated video actually shows that the boys were the victims of an aggressive and hateful confrontation while waiting for their bus home to Kentucky. It’s not the error that was most offensive. It’s the vitriol with which the media quickly turned on pro-life Catholic kids. (Sure, the MAGA hats drew fire too, but I’m convinced that Catholic identity added fuel to the fire.)
To cap it all off, New York Times reporter Dan Levin jumped on the bandwagon and announced plans to write about the social media campaign #ExposeChristianSchools, which was launched as an attack on religious education. I suspect that the Times intended to accumulate allegations of discrimination—especially in the realm of sexuality and gender—but in fact Levin received a flood of very positive reports from Catholic and others defending and celebrating their schools.
Give Your Testimony
So what’s a good Catholic to do about the growing animus toward our faith and Catholic schools? The response to the New York Times project, which resulted in a biased article that could have been much worse had Christians not intervened, suggests a counter-measure. For Catholic Schools Week and throughout the year, let’s keep highlighting the best of the best Catholic education.
To be clear, I’m not particularly interested in the broad marketing messages for Catholic schools that have poured out this week. Although it’s encouraging that our dioceses increasingly promote Catholic identity and are not shy about the mission of Catholic education, nevertheless they are unable to distinguish lukewarm Catholic schools from those that inspire and excite faithful Catholic families.
What would truly be exciting—and what would truly stand up to the anti-Catholic bigots who look to tear down or at least water down Catholic education—is for Catholics to witness to the impact of those Catholic educators who are extraordinary. I mean they are not just great with kids, but they truly lead young people to sainthood.
I’m biased in this project, because for many years The Cardinal Newman Society has been devoted to publicly recognizing model Catholic schools and colleges by our Catholic Education Honor Roll and Newman Guide. This week and every week, my staff already works hard to make Catholic families aware of truly faithful Catholic education—and not just the brick-and-mortar institutions, but also the great blessing of homeschooling to many Catholic students.
But the most powerful testimonials are the personal stories from students, parents, alumni and teachers. Those we can’t produce on our own, but we’re eager to re-tell what others can share.
The truth is, despite the growing secularism that corrupts many Catholic institutions, there is also a renewal of faithful Catholic education that is underway in many homes, schools and dioceses. Instead of cowering before the critics and subversives who hate Catholic moral formation, parents and Catholic educators are taking up the front lines, standing firmly and confidently in the truth of our Catholic faith.
It’s stories of truly faithful Catholic education that others need to hear. Because given the scandals at even the highest levels of the Church, I’m not sure that many Catholics believe the good news when we report it.
Families Need Hope
Think about it: most Catholic adults today have never experienced faithful Catholic education as it should be. We’ve done a poor job of catechesis over the last few decades, and many of today’s adults experienced the post-Vatican II meltdown of schools and their presiding religious orders, followed by the rapid hiring of laypeople who didn’t belong in a Catholic classroom. The rapidly declining enrollment in Catholic schools—which still has not leveled off—means that an increasing portion of Catholics never had even a year or two of weak Catholic education. And of course there’s the shameful secularization of many Catholic colleges since the late 1960s.
We might be tempted to conclude that the era of Catholic education is over in the United States. However, a renewal of faithful Catholic education is key to the renewal of the Church and society—to increased vocations and holy priests, well-formed parents and citizens, doctrinal literacy and fidelity, appreciation for Catholic culture and liturgical beauty, and ability to reason with compassion and respect for the common good. Giving up hope for Catholic education is, in my view, giving up on our youth.
In a time when even celebrated priests and once-admired bishops have let us down, it’s all the more difficult to persuade families of the necessity of sainthood—and the value of forming young people for sainthood. But such formation is the vocation of Catholic parents.
By the Grace of God, there are today young people who have been blessed by truly faithful Catholic education. We need to hear from them… to learn from them.
So, if you can testify to the renewal of faithful Catholic education, please tell your story. Find an outlet: a local newspaper, a Catholic blog, a parish lecture, a letter to your niece. Use the hashtag #FaithfulCatholicEd to share your story on social media—it’s wonderful how many Americans have interrupted this anti-Christian campaign with beautiful stories of faithful religious education. Share your story with me at the Newman Society (president@cardinalnewmansociety.org), and it may help us make a stronger case.
Catholic families need good reason to return to Catholic education and reject hollow secular education. The testimony of those who have been blessed by faithful education is key to bringing them back.
But marketing lukewarm schools and scandalous colleges with state-of-the-art facilities and exorbitant tuitions just won’t cut it.
This article was originally published on January 31, 2019 at the National Catholic Register.
Catholic High Schoolers Give Extraordinary Witness at March for Life
/in Blog, Student Formation Commentary, Pro-Life Witness Latest, PR Register Column/by Patrick ReillySome of the nation’s best Catholic high schools will be displaying their strong Catholic faith by joining the March for Life in Washington, D.C., this Friday.
These are schools recognized by The Cardinal Newman Society and our Catholic Education Honor Roll. They agree to uphold key principles of Catholic identity, and participation in the March for Life is an excellent way of witnessing to human dignity and teaching a Christian worldview.
Many of the school groups are traveling significant distances to make it to this year’s March, including The Atonement Academy in San Antonio, Texas; Everest Collegiate High School and Academy in Clarkston, Michigan; Bishop Thomas K. Gorman High School in Tyler, Texas; John Paul the Great Academy in Lafayette, Louisiana; The Lyceum in South Euclid, Ohio; St. Francis Xavier High School in Appleton, Wisconsin; St. James Academy in Lenexa, Kans.; St. Joseph High School in South Bend, Indiana and West Catholic High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan
These schools make the most of their time in D.C. St. Francis Xavier, for instance, has an impressive agenda! Students will attend the pro-life youth rally and Mass before the March, visit and celebrate Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, visit the Holocaust Museum (a great pro-life activity), celebrate Mass at St. Matthew’s Cathedral, visit the St. John Paul II National Shrine, pray outside of a Planned Parenthood center, participate in Eucharistic adoration and confession, and share their experiences and impressions during small-group sessions and talks. On the way home, they will stop at Mundelein Seminary for Mass, a tour and breakfast sponsored by the Diocese of Green Bay Vocations Office.
Students in the Schola Cantorum at The Lyceum will sing Palestrina’s Missa Brevis during an Extraordinary Form Mass at St. Dominic’s Church in D.C. before the March. They too will visit the Holocaust Museum and President George Washington’s Mount Vernon.
In addition to several sites in D.C., John Paul the Great Academy makes its long journey from Louisiana a pilgrimage, stopping along the way at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama; the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland; and the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Shrine in Emmitsburg.
Students from schools closer to Washington are able to participate more easily, and their numbers are impressive. More than 250 students from Paul VI Catholic High School in Fairfax, Virginia, will be marching this year, after attending the pro-life rally and Mass with Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Arlington Diocese that morning.
Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, Virginia, is closing its doors on Friday to allow a group of more than 150 students and chaperones to attend the March in person – and many more are with them in spirit. As part of their “March for Me Initiative,” students from the school’s Pro-Life Club visited parishes in the area and solicited names of parishioners unable to attend the March. The students carry the names with them and pray for their intentions while marching.Other schools may not make it to the March for Life in Washington, but that doesn’t stop them from attending other pro-life events around the country. Students from St. Anne Catholic School in Rock Hill, South Carolina, partnered with the parish youth group to attend last weekend’s March and Rally in Columbia, South Carolina. And in Spring, Texas, Frassati Catholic High School’s Culture of Life Club will sponsor a daylong pilgrimage to the Texas Rally for Life in Austin on Jan. 26.
Faithful Catholic schools play no small part in the renewal of our culture, especially when they bear witness to the dignity of all human life. The sacrifice and witness of these students and their families is an inspiration and blessing.
This article was first published at The National Catholic Register.
Faithful Catholic Colleges Join March for Life
/in Student Formation Commentary, Pro-Life Witness Newman Guide Articles/by Cardinal Newman Society StaffFaithful Catholic colleges give witness to the dignity of human life all year long—but this Friday, January 18, will be special. Students, faculty, staff and presidents from colleges recommended in The Newman Guide will be leaders once again at this year’s March for Life in Washington, D.C.
“It would be a tragedy if an institution that spent so much time studying the humanities failed to stand and defend the dignity of all human life,” explained Dr. William Fahey, president of Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack, N.H. He said that the College’s participation in the March for Life “is intrinsic to our Catholic mission.”
Dr. Fahey is one of several Catholic college presidents who will march against abortion. He will be joined by Ave Maria University President Jim Towey, Belmont Abbey College President Dr. Bill Thierfelder, Benedictine College President Stephen Minnis, Christendom College President Dr. Timothy O’Donnell, Franciscan University of Steubenville President Fr. Sean Sheridan, TOR, Northeast Catholic College President Dr. George Harne, University of Mary President Msgr. James Shea, and University of St. Thomas (Houston) President Dr. Richard Ludwick.
Catholic families are grateful for the witness of these presidents and the hundreds of students who join them. These students make great sacrifices—including long bus rides, braving cold temperatures, and sleeping on the floors of church halls—to peacefully protest abortion.
“It pains me to know that there were babies who were not able to take their first breath. Babies who were not able to say their first words or take their first steps,” said Dalton Guinn, a senior accounting major at the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D.
“We are committed to something bigger than ourselves,” he said. “We are motivated to fight for the right to life. We care enough to stop our busy lives as students, drop anything and take a 30-hour bus ride to Washington, D.C., to make it known that what is happening is wrong and change is in order.”
The University of Mary will be traveling more than 1,000 miles from Bismarck, N.D., to attend the March for Life. Other long-distance travelers include marchers from Ave Maria University of Ave Maria, Fla., Benedictine College of Atchison, Kan., and University of St. Thomas (UST) of Houston, Tex. Ave Maria will be bringing approximately 50 students, and Benedictine College and University of Mary will each be bringing more than 200 students.
Sr. Theresa Marie Chau Nguyen, O.P., an assistant professor of theology at UST, said that she was a “regular Marcher” during her time as a student at The Catholic University of America and now is “delighted” to be returning with 27 “enthusiastic UST students.”
Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, N.C., will send about 100 students, faculty, staff… and monks! About half of this group will be going to Washington, D.C., a day early to make a pilgrimage to the Saint John Paul II National Shrine.
Christendom College in Front Royal, Va., has always closed its campus on the day of the March so that the entire student body and members of the faculty and staff can attend. Other Catholic colleges that cancel classes during the March include The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, and Northeast Catholic College in Warner, N.H.
Catholic University and Franciscan University of Steubenville have a huge representation at the March, with more than 500 students from each university. For high school and church groups traveling from across the country, many are provided with food and lodging by Catholic University and Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md.
One Mount student, Elizabeth O’Hare, who will travel with more than 200 students and seminarian to the March, shared how the “strong Catholic foundation” at the University has enabled her “to grow in relationship with the Lord and His One True Church” while also convicting her on the “beauty and sacredness of all human life.”
Even more Newman Guide-recommended institutions, including DeSales University in Center Valley, Penn., and Walsh University in Canton, Ohio, will be attending the March. Both will be sending around 50 students. Holy Apostles in Cromwell, Conn., is bringing nearly 100 students, seminarians, religious, faculty and staff. Additionally, students and staff from Our Lady Seat of Wisdom College in Barry’s Bay, Ontario, are also making the trip to the March.
Newman Guide colleges located on the other side of the country—including Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, Calif., Wyoming Catholic College in Lander, Wyo., and John Paul the Great Catholic University in Escondido, Calif.—will participate in the West Coast Walk for Life on January 26.
How Some Faithful Catholic Colleges are Fighting Pornography
/in Student Formation Commentary, Pornography Newman Guide Articles/by Kelly SalomonAt The Catholic Herald, Newman Guide programs director Kelly Salomon shows how some faithful Catholic colleges are taking positive steps to combat pornography:
Continue reading at The Catholic Herald.
Statement Regarding Franciscan University of Steubenville and The Newman Guide
/in Blog Newman Guide Articles/by Cardinal Newman Society StaffEarlier this week, a report by Church Militant revealed that the chairman of the English department at Newman Guide-recommended Franciscan University of Steubenville (FUS) assigned a blasphemous and pornographic book in an upper-level class last spring. The University’s spokesman initially seemed to defend the choice as part of the University’s intellectual formation to prepare Catholic students for a secular world.
The Cardinal Newman Society and many others, including Franciscan University parents and alumni, expressed deep concern. We reached out directly to the University and have been communicating with the president, Father Sean Sheridan, TOR.
Yesterday Father Sheridan issued a strong apology and an affirmation of the University’s Catholic identity. He apologized for the University’s initial weak response and acknowledged that the assigned book is “so directly pornographic and blasphemous that it has no place on a Catholic university campus.” He promised action “to immediately review and revise our existing policy on academic freedom to prevent future use of scandalous materials,” and the Newman Society hopes to be able to share that new policy with other Catholic colleges to prevent similar scandals.
Although Father Sheridan insisted in his statement that the professor who assigned the book—then chairman of the University’s English Department—had no “malicious” intent and sought to prepare students “for challenging conversations” with non-Catholics, the professor was quickly replaced as department chair.
Franciscan University’s Catholic Identity
What to make of this? First, it is important to stipulate that an English reading assignment that viciously blasphemes the Mother of God and is explicitly pornographic—all with the apparent intent of leading readers away from God—is reprehensible, disgusting, and without academic merit. It is contrary to the mission of a Catholic college. Catholic families who send their children, at great expense, to Newman Guide colleges do so precisely because they are avoiding these types of problems.
Second, to defend assignment of the book on academic freedom grounds completely warps the true meaning and purpose of academic freedom. As Saint John Paul II explained, academic freedom protects teaching and research within the confines of a professor’s discipline and in conformity to truth, which is foundational to the college’s Catholic mission. (Here are some resources on the often misunderstood notion of academic freedom: LINK and LINK and LINK.)
Third, Father Sheridan’s apology was clear and strong, he promised policy changes that would prevent future scandals, and the University appears to have acted quickly in replacing the professor as chair of the English Department. In charity, we should accept the apology while watching to confirm that this indeed never happens again.
While disappointed and shaken by the scandal, we see very encouraging signs that Franciscan University continues to uphold its much-deserved reputation as a strongly faithful Catholic college. How many other Catholic college presidents would have condemned this error, apologized publicly, and promised to ensure that it will never happen again? What other colleges would have responded with a Holy Hour of Reparation to Mary, Mother of God, and a request that all faculty members—in all academic departments—profess the Oath of Fidelity during a forthcoming Mass? We have long said that no Newman Guide college is immune from error, but Franciscan University is one that retains our great admiration, not least because it has been a leader in the renewal of faithful Catholic education for more than four decades.
This scandal comes on the heels of a series of articles late last year that claimed that Franciscan University administrators were working, or at least hoping, to water down its faithful approach to Catholic higher education. The articles were deeply disconcerting, but they relied primarily on anonymous quotes and conjecture. We responded by reaching out to trusted professors and to University leadership. The professors did express some concern for Franciscan University’s future; they worried about the intent of actions to promote “diversity,” and they cited claims by other professors that Catholic teaching might be undermined. But none of them could or would provide conclusive evidence of any actual problem, on the record. None suggested that faithful Catholic families should avoid Franciscan University or that the Newman Society should remove it from the Newman Guide. On the contrary, they continued to value Franciscan University as a place where students would be strengthened in their faith from the classroom to the dorm room.
Moreover, Franciscan University has an army of faithful faculty members, students, parents, and alumni who are watchmen for the University’s Catholic mission. In that we have great hope! Deo gratias!
The Newman Guide
The fact is that every Catholic college today faces a strong pull from the culture, secular society, and even some Church leaders to compromise Catholic identity in order to be more “modern,” “diverse,” “welcoming,” or “pastoral.” Only those Catholic colleges that are intentional about remaining faithful to their Catholic mission—at all times and in all areas of campus life—will be able to avoid the temptation of compromise and hypocrisy and withstand society’s assault on morality and religious freedom.
Newman Guide colleges are not immune to this pressure to secularize, and they are neither perfect nor identical. To their credit, however, we find that when they discover things contrary or threatening to their mission, they fix it. The Newman Society quietly works with many of our recommended colleges each year to help make them aware of problems, which they diligently work to correct.
More than that, most of the Newman Guide colleges have begun to collaborate with each other through a series of working groups that we established. These help college leaders and staff support each other and learn from each other, developing best practices for maintaining and enhancing Catholic identity. This is good news for the Church and for Catholic families.
The Newman Guide has and continues today to proudly recommend Franciscan University of Steubenville to Catholic families. None of the Newman Guide colleges is right for every student; no college is. But we strongly believe that Catholic education is valuable and that Catholic families should give preference to our recommended colleges, including Franciscan University, for an authentic and faithful Catholic education. Collectively they are the best the Church has to offer today, and with the support and encouragement of faithful Catholic families, God willing they will continue to renew and improve faithful Catholic higher education.
Finally, it is important to note that our recommendations are not written in stone, and the college leaders know this well. Today, we are confident that the ten percent of Catholic colleges recommended in the Newman Guide are serious about upholding their Catholic mission—but if we find sufficient reason to doubt this, after careful review and documentation, we will remove them from the Newman Guide without hesitation. Ultimately the Newman Society’s first priority is to serve the needs of Catholic families and to uphold the authentic mission of Catholic education, wherever and however it may be provided to our precious young people, who deserve genuine Catholic formation.
With Second Miracle, Will Newman Be Canonized Soon?
/in Blog Latest, PR Register Column/by Patrick ReillyDeo gratias! The Vatican reportedly has recognized a second miracle through the intercession of Blessed John Henry Newman, paving the way to a possible canonization next year.
Newman—a champion of both fidelity and reason, both of which are sorely lacking in the Church today—could be the perfect saint for our times!
In his sermon, “The Infidelity of the Future,” delivered to seminarians preparing for the priesthood, Newman seemed almost to foresee the great damage that scandals among our priests would cause the faithful, especially in a secular society that is eager to destroy religious faith altogether.
As Newman told the seminarians:
I think that the trials which lie before us are such as would appall and make dizzy even such courageous hearts as St. Athanasius, St. Gregory I, or St. Gregory VII. And they would confess that, dark as the prospect of their own day was to them severally, ours has a darkness different in kind from any that has been before it.
His concern?
The special peril of the time before us is the spread of that plague of infidelity, that the Apostles and our Lord Himself have predicted as the worst calamity of the last times of the Church. …I do not mean to presume to say that this is the last time, but that it has had the evil prerogative of being like that more terrible season, when it is said that the elect themselves will be in danger of falling away.
Already in the 19th century, Newman saw the radical turn against religion by intellectuals and social leaders. He expressed concern that Catholics “shall become more and more objects of distrust to the nation at large,” and perhaps “we may suffer disadvantages which have not weighed upon the Catholic Church since the age of Constantine.”
A special danger to the Church would be the sins of its priests.
With a whole population able to read, with cheap newspapers day by day conveying the news of every court, great and small to every home or even cottage, it is plain that we are at the mercy of even one unworthy member or false brother. …There is an immense store of curiosity directed upon us in this country, and in great measure an unkind, a malicious curiosity. If there ever was a time when one priest will be a spectacle to men and angels it is in the age now opening upon us.
How appropriate to these dark days of scandal, cover-up and denial, reaching to the very highest ranks of our priests and bishops!
But if Blessed Newman only foresaw the problems ahead, he would not be so important a model and sage for our present day, without also leading us to reform and renewal. This he did, especially in his devotion to faithful Catholic education—a key means of evangelization in a highly secular age.
In The Idea of a University and his other writings, Newman shows his conviction that authentic education ultimately leads one to the fount of Truth, the Creator, and therefore has the same object as theology in each of the ways it teaches knowledge.
Blessed Newman’s very first sermon in his university church in Dublin is particularly helpful. He recalled mankind’s creation, when by grace all the human faculties acted “in common towards one end.” But because of the fall of Adam and Eve, Newman argued, the young person has “all these separate powers warring in his own breast—appetite, passion, secular ambition, intellect, and conscience, and trying severally to get possession of him.”
The object of the Church in promoting Catholic education, then, “it is to reunite things which were in the beginning joined together by God, and have been put asunder by man.”
How much today has been put asunder, causing great confusion and even dissent among our young people?
Newman is often wrongly portrayed as emphasizing the intellectual purposes of education over the religious aspects. Quite the contrary, Newman viewed his role as rector of a Catholic university, above all, as a pastoral duty. He wrote in his journal this prayer for his students:
May I engage in them, remembering that I am a minister of Christ… remembering the worth of souls and that I shall have to answer for the opportunities given me of benefitting those who are under my care.
It is this sort of educator, this sort of education, this sort of pastoral care, that offers the promise of improving and correcting a society that neglects Truth and has turned against Faith.
Newman was certainly correct about the immense challenges facing the Church in a secular society. Nevertheless, he also knew how the battle ends. We know, too.
We look with hope to Blessed John Henry Newman’s eventual canonization, knowing that he can be a powerful patron for the renewal of Catholic education and the whole Church.
This article was first published at The National Catholic Register.
3 Eye-Opening Lessons for Catholics under Common Core
/in Academics, Blog Commentary, Common Core Latest, PR Register Column/by Patrick ReillyIt’s been five years since controversy peaked over the Common Core State Standards and their use in Catholic schools. What have we learned?
By 2013 the Common Core was being adopted rapidly by Catholic schools and dioceses across the country, prompting deep concern among Catholic families. The Cardinal Newman Society launched its Catholic Is Our Core initiative to press for authentically Catholic standards. Urgent meetings with Catholic education leaders and bishops were convened to explain why the Common Core was the wrong approach for Catholic schools.
Thanks be to God, shortly thereafter the U.S. bishops’ conference advised dioceses to “review, study, consultation, discussion and caution,” noting that the Common Core was “incomplete” and not designed for Catholic schools.
Today, many dioceses have moved toward genuinely Catholic standards for their schools, but the Common Core has never been fully rooted out of Catholic education. It continues to impact testing, curriculum, and textbooks in many dioceses—although the impact varies and is never quite clear.
While the experience has been messy, hopefully it has given new insight to Catholics and Church leaders and reminded educators of the primary mission of Catholic education. Here are three key lessons that have emerged:
1. The Common Core seems unable to live up to its promises.
National test data suggest that the Common Core has failed thus far to live up to its promise of strengthening student achievement in math and language arts, even in public schools.
In an analysis of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) published this week by Denise Donohue, deputy director of K-12 education programs for the Cardinal Newman Society, she finds, “Neither public nor Catholic schools experienced the upswing that was promised by the authors of the Common Core Standards.”
The U.S. Education Department’s NAEP, Donohue observes, has never been re-aligned to the Common Core like many state tests, so it is a good measure of pre- and post-Common Core achievement. International benchmarking tests also indicate that American students have not made any substantial progress relative to other nations, Donohue finds.
2. Catholic education needs Catholic standards.
Aside from the impact of the Common Core on secular education, the standards are simply wrong for Catholic schools. As the U.S. bishops conference declared in 2014:
The Common Core controversy helped many Catholics become aware that dioceses around the country had been relying heavily on secular state standards for many years. That is how the Common Core was initially adopted by Catholic schools without due caution and analysis. When the standards were adopted by states, dioceses quickly and voluntarily followed suit.
Now there is a greater realization that authentically Catholic standards are needed. Many dioceses have made great progress in this direction, such as the Diocese of Grand Rapids and the Diocese of Venice, which both work from the faithful Catholic Curriculum Standards published in 2016 to provide Catholic schools with an alternative.
3. Parents are the primary educators.
Many national, state and local organizations produced important analyses of the Common Core that ultimately halted its spread in Catholic schools. But it was parents who had the most important and influential voice—some voting with their feet and turning to independent Catholic schools and homeschooling.
The Common Core experience has helped remind Catholic bishops, educators and even families that parents are the first educators of their children. Catholic education serves the needs of families in educating and forming children, or it is not Catholic education at all.
Canon law states, “Catholic parents also have the duty and right of choosing those means and institutions through which they can provide more suitably for the Catholic education of their children, according to local circumstances.” If local Catholic schools aren’t enthusiastically and fully providing a truly Catholic education, parents are fully within their rights, and may have a duty, to find better, more faithful options for their children.
As Catholic school enrollment continues to decline, the Church urgently needs to renew the Catholic identity of Catholic schools to support only those that serve parents and the mission of the Church well.
For their part, parents should continue to find their voice and explain to their pastors what genuinely helps them form children for sainthood. This does not include secular fads such as the Common Core.
T This article first appeared at The National Catholic Register.
Catholic Schools Not Improving Under Common Core
/in Academics Common Core, Research and Analysis/by Dr. Denise Donohue Ed.D.The Nation’s Report Card1 administered by the U.S. Department of Education reveals stagnant and even slightly declining test scores among Catholic schools since 2013, when many embraced the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).
Public schools also are showing no marked improvement, which is not what many had claimed would result from “internationally benchmarked” and globally competitive standards.2
With more than 100 Catholic dioceses implementing the CCSS to some degree3 in Catholic schools, it’s worth taking a look to see how Catholic schools are faring.
NAEP Assessment Results
Catholic schools are one of the largest private school groupings in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data collection, perhaps because their involvement is encouraged by the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA). The NAEP was last re-worked in 2009 and was never re-aligned to the Common Core, so it is a good measure of pre- and post-Common Core achievement.
Historically, Catholic schools have scored well above public schools in both 4th and 8th grade reading and math,4 and they continue to do so. Over the last two decades, reading scores have averaged 19.5 points higher for 8th graders in Catholic schools and 16.1 points higher for 4th graders. In math, Catholic schools have scored 12.7 points higher in 8th grade and 7.6 points higher in 4th grade.
The scores of both public and Catholic schools have remained largely stable over the past 8 years, with a small decrease in Catholic school scores that slightly narrows the gap with public schools.
(Sources: Math, Reading)
(Sources: Math, Reading)
This isn’t what was supposed to happen, is it? Neither public nor Catholic schools experienced the upswing that was promised by the authors of the Common Core Standards. Public school scores from 2009 (pre-CCSS) to 2017 (post-CCSS) are relatively the same and are categorized in the “basic” range on the academic standards scale for the NAEP, whereas Catholic school 8th grade math scores have slid three points in the pre-test/post-test scenario (297 in 2009 to 294 in 2017). Interestingly, the cut-off for “proficient” according to the NAEP literature is a score of 2995, leaving Catholic schools that much more to attain before reaching the mark. Meanwhile, the opportunity costs are unknown. Perhaps Catholic schools’ 8th grade math and reading scores might have continued their positive upward trend before the onset of the CCSS.
As for international benchmarking, the 4th grade U.S. scores in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS) remained the same in 2015 at the internationally low benchmark.6 The 8th grade TIMMS scores went up,7 but they are still at the internationally low benchmark.8
In reading, scores for U.S. 4th grade students on the Progress for International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) have declined from 556 in 2011 to 549 in 2016 (the most recent year for scores).9 The United States is currently sitting in 15th place in reading achievement for 4th graders, down from 6th place in 2011.10
Common Core and Catholic Schools
What the test scores don’t measure is the loss to Catholic identity when Catholic schools conform to secular school standards that fail to consider essential differences in faithful Catholic education.
Recognizing that the CCSS would drive textbook publishing, teacher preparation programs, state assessments, teacher professional development11, and college-entry exams12, the NCEA encouraged Catholic schools to adopt the CCSS as they saw fit or as they were compelled to do, based on state and accreditation requirements.
But with parent concerns rising across the country and Catholic parents wondering why Catholic schools were using the same academic standards as public schools, The Cardinal Newman Society launched Catholic is Our Core13 in 2013 to evaluate the CCSS and counter many of the dangerous and progressive claims advanced by Common Core proponents.
In December 2013, the Newman Society expressed serious reservations14 about the use of the CCSS in Catholic schools, especially since historical data for Catholic high school graduation and college attendance was consistently outstanding and there seemed no need to work from standards designed primarily to raise academic achievement of students in the lower national quartile.
Moreover, the utilitarian underpinning of the CCSS stands in stark contrast to the full flourishing of the human person, as promoted in Church documents on education. Children and young adults are not to be viewed as components of an economic machine to be manipulated and directed toward labor slots in manufacturing15, as some would like. An impoverished view of the human person, which pervades society, is not how the Church has traditionally approached Catholic education. To take on such limiting constraints is unworthy of the dignity of the educational institution.
In 2014, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a statement recognizing the limitations of the CCSS for faith-based formation:
Embracing subsidiarity and local decision-making, the USCCB directed that each bishop, along with their education leaders, decide whether to adapt, adopt, or reject the CCSS. About 33 dioceses17 announced they would not use the CCSS, preferring to retain their already workable standards and curricular frameworks. Most of the others, though, chose to work with the Common Core in some fashion.
Today, we can see the wisdom of the Newman Society’s warnings against the rapid adoption of CCSS in Catholic schools, “a mistake that will be difficult or impossible to undo for years to come.” The NAEP scores suggest that the Common Core comes with empty promises, and it may in fact hinder progress toward excellence in both public and Catholic schools.