{"id":530,"date":"2021-11-07T16:33:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-08T00:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/?p=530"},"modified":"2022-07-11T15:38:35","modified_gmt":"2022-07-11T22:38:35","slug":"catholic-colleges-that-are-not-catholic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2021\/11\/catholic-colleges-that-are-not-catholic\/","title":{"rendered":"Catholic Colleges That Are Not Catholic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
Isn\u2019t the purpose of a Catholic college to strengthen and promote the Catholic faith through its students? <\/strong>To educate future Catholic leaders in their spiritual development and cement their Catholic principles?<\/p>\n
The Catholic nature and environment of a school should permeate student education and not be altered to accommodate forces outside the Church.<\/p>\n
Loyola Marymount University and Planned Parenthood<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The shocking situation at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles this past week is an example of how far astray from its mission a Catholic college can get.<\/p>\n
One of the student organizations, Women in Politics, hosted an on-campus fundraiser for Planned Parenthood, the nation\u2019s largest abortion provider.<\/p>\n
Despite an enormous outcry, the LMU administration refused to cancel the event. Instead, it lamely stated: \u201cThe events, actions, or positions of student organizations, including Women in Politics, are not endorsed by the university.\u201d<\/p>\nPhoto by Sean Kong on Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Further, LMU claimed it maintained a commitment to its \u201cCatholic, Jesuit, and Marymount heritage, values, and intellectual traditions.\u201d It said the activities of its student organizations are \u201cliving examples that LMU embraces its mission, commitments, and the complexities of free and honest discourse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Discourse, yes, in the tradition of academic freedom. A fundraiser for an organization that exploits women and kills children? No!<\/p>\n
The Outraged Reaction <\/strong><\/h3>\n
A petition signed by nearly 20,000 people asked LMU\u2019s president to cancel the event because it was an \u201cegregious violation of LMU\u2019s Jesuit, Catholic identity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Los Angeles Archbishop Gomez negotiated with LMU officials to no avail. He said that he was \u201cdeeply disappointed\u201d because \u201crespect for the sanctity and dignity of all human life is central to Catholic identity and must be a core commitment in Catholic higher education.\u201d<\/p>\n
Archbishop Gomez is absolutely correct, but the commitment to a Catholic identity and adherence to Catholic ethics seems to have faded dramatically at many Catholic colleges.<\/p>\n
Other Colleges, Other Incidents<\/strong><\/h3>\n
I have been worried about this problem for a long time. Not only have there been Catholic colleges like Notre Dame and Georgetown who have invited<\/em> abortion or euthanasia activists to speak, but also I have observed at other Catholic colleges a rampant rejection of Catholic values in policy and practice.<\/p>\n
Coincidentally, I have personally been involved in other such conflicts with LMU. In 2000, in conjunction with the Democratic Party national convention in Los Angeles, Democrats for Life of America (DFLA) hosted a reception at LMU.<\/p>\n
A number of prominent pro-life Democrats were invited, including members of Congress. It was an elegant and dignified event.<\/p>\n
We foolishly thought that meeting at a Catholic college would ensure cooperation. However, just a few days beforehand, someone at LMU called to tell me that we were being cancelled because they thought we were too \u201ccontroversial.\u201d<\/p>\n
I shamed them into letting us go ahead, but they insisted we hire security in case there were protestors. Of course, there weren\u2019t any.<\/p>\n
That was 21 years ago with different administrators, but I think the mentality and atmosphere were already much as it is today.<\/p>\nPhoto by DDP on Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Further irony came last summer when DFLA planned to have its annual conference on the campus of \u2013 you guessed it \u2013 Loyola Marymount. My spidey sense prickled and, sure enough, LMU imposed such extreme COVID restrictions (citing the California government) that we had to move the event on short notice to Ohio.<\/p>\n
The COVID restrictions may have been legit, but do I detect a pattern here, nonetheless?<\/p>\n
Scandal and Tragedy<\/strong><\/h3>\n
How is it that the administration of a \u201cCatholic\u201d university can turn a deaf ear to the archbishop and ignore 20,000 petitioners, but defend and lend its facilities to an abortion-supporting organization?<\/p>\n
Adding to Catholic embarrassment, more than 30 news services carried the story, from the Washington Post<\/em> to Breitbart News.<\/p>\n
One story interviewed the president of the LMU College Republicans. When I couldn\u2019t find a pro-life student group listed at LMU, I contacted this Republican student.<\/p>\n
He replied, \u201cWe don\u2019t have a pro-life group on campus. The only group that unanimously advocates for the unborn is College Republicans. Even our Christian Life Community is overwhelmingly pro-abortion.\u201d<\/p>\n
How tragic. Abortion, a grave moral error, is rampantly supported on a Catholic campus. I\u2019d say LMU is not fulfilling its purpose.<\/p>\n
The Desired Mission<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Catholic colleges are private institutions with a specific, religious charter. They can and should step in when a campus organization strays from Catholic ethics, not to condemn, but to dialogue and evangelize.<\/p>\n
Catholic schools are supposed to exemplify, teach and support our religion. How else can they claim to be Catholic? They need to be reminded of this mission and called to task if they are failing in it.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Isn\u2019t the purpose of a Catholic college to strengthen and promote the Catholic faith through its students? To educate future Catholic leaders in their spiritual development and cement their Catholic principles? The Catholic nature and environment of a school should permeate student education and not be altered to accommodate forces outside the Church. Loyola Marymount […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4580,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[188,406,409],"class_list":["post-530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-patheos-catholic","tag-catholic-colleges","tag-loyola-marymount","tag-planned-parenthood"],"yoast_head":"\n
Catholic Colleges That Are Not Catholic<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"LMU's failure to cancel a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood on its campus, despite a large outcry, indicates a failure to follow its Catholic mission.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2021\/11\/catholic-colleges-that-are-not-catholic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Catholic Colleges That Are Not Catholic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LMU's failure to cancel a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood on its campus, despite a large outcry, indicates a failure to follow its Catholic mission.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2021\/11\/catholic-colleges-that-are-not-catholic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Musings From the Pew\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lois.kerschen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-08T00:33:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-11T22:38:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1433\/2021\/11\/sean-kong-i5nMmbr8JYg-unsplash-300x158.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lois Kerschen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@llkerschen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lois Kerschen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2021\/11\/catholic-colleges-that-are-not-catholic\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2021\/11\/catholic-colleges-that-are-not-catholic\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic Colleges That Are Not Catholic\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-08T00:33:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-11T22:38:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/#\/schema\/person\/69dc96c459773f7eaf12d1f5bdfd1d44\"},\"description\":\"LMU's failure to cancel a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood on its campus, despite a large outcry, indicates a failure to follow its Catholic mission.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2021\/11\/catholic-colleges-that-are-not-catholic\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2021\/11\/catholic-colleges-that-are-not-catholic\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2021\/11\/catholic-colleges-that-are-not-catholic\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Catholic Colleges That Are Not Catholic\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/\",\"name\":\"Musings From the Pew\",\"description\":\"Commentary on being Catholic; observations and experiences.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/#\/schema\/person\/69dc96c459773f7eaf12d1f5bdfd1d44\",\"name\":\"Lois Kerschen\",\"description\":\"There have been many different titles for the work I have done \u2013 Educator, Writer, Editor, Administrator \u2013 but the one that has applied to me from birth is that of Catholic. With rare exceptions, I am in a pew on Sunday trying to be attentive and prayerful. My mind wanders a lot, and not just to problems or plans, but also to what I would like to say about things I hear in the homily or the readings. Thus the name \u201cMusings from the Pew.\u201d This column will be about life as a Catholic and the challenges we face. I have been a pro-life activist for many years, so life issues will be discussed frequently. I have also traveled to a lot of parishes, so I want to share what I have seen or experienced with other Catholics in a different setting. Call it \u201cThe Wandering Pew\u201d within \u201cMusings from the Pew.\u201d My blogs will not be theological treatises but the observations and suggestions of an active, answer-seeking mind. I find great joy in the Catholic faith and want to defend the Church so that others may find that joy. Background: Bachelor's in chemistry\/biology\/history; Master's in creative writing; doctorate in English literature. Have published American Proverbs About Women and various literary and scholarly articles. Co-founded Democrats for Life of America; currently serve as Consistent Life Network board member and with the Proportional Representation Coalition of California as the American Solidarity Party representative. Music minister at my church.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lois.kerschen\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/lois-kerschen-94850611\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/llkerschen\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/author\/lkerschen\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Catholic Colleges That Are Not Catholic","description":"LMU's failure to cancel a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood on its campus, despite a large outcry, indicates a failure to follow its Catholic mission.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2021\/11\/catholic-colleges-that-are-not-catholic\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Catholic Colleges That Are Not Catholic","og_description":"LMU's failure to cancel a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood on its campus, despite a large outcry, indicates a failure to follow its Catholic mission.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2021\/11\/catholic-colleges-that-are-not-catholic\/","og_site_name":"Musings From the Pew","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lois.kerschen\/","article_published_time":"2021-11-08T00:33:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-07-11T22:38:35+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1433\/2021\/11\/sean-kong-i5nMmbr8JYg-unsplash-300x158.jpg"}],"author":"Lois Kerschen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@llkerschen","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lois Kerschen","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2021\/11\/catholic-colleges-that-are-not-catholic\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2021\/11\/catholic-colleges-that-are-not-catholic\/","name":"Catholic Colleges That Are Not Catholic","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-11-08T00:33:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-07-11T22:38:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/#\/schema\/person\/69dc96c459773f7eaf12d1f5bdfd1d44"},"description":"LMU's failure to cancel a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood on its campus, despite a large outcry, indicates a failure to follow its Catholic mission.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2021\/11\/catholic-colleges-that-are-not-catholic\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2021\/11\/catholic-colleges-that-are-not-catholic\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/2021\/11\/catholic-colleges-that-are-not-catholic\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Catholic Colleges That Are Not Catholic"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/","name":"Musings From the Pew","description":"Commentary on being Catholic; observations and experiences.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/#\/schema\/person\/69dc96c459773f7eaf12d1f5bdfd1d44","name":"Lois Kerschen","description":"There have been many different titles for the work I have done \u2013 Educator, Writer, Editor, Administrator \u2013 but the one that has applied to me from birth is that of Catholic. With rare exceptions, I am in a pew on Sunday trying to be attentive and prayerful. My mind wanders a lot, and not just to problems or plans, but also to what I would like to say about things I hear in the homily or the readings. Thus the name \u201cMusings from the Pew.\u201d This column will be about life as a Catholic and the challenges we face. I have been a pro-life activist for many years, so life issues will be discussed frequently. I have also traveled to a lot of parishes, so I want to share what I have seen or experienced with other Catholics in a different setting. Call it \u201cThe Wandering Pew\u201d within \u201cMusings from the Pew.\u201d My blogs will not be theological treatises but the observations and suggestions of an active, answer-seeking mind. I find great joy in the Catholic faith and want to defend the Church so that others may find that joy. Background: Bachelor's in chemistry\/biology\/history; Master's in creative writing; doctorate in English literature. Have published American Proverbs About Women and various literary and scholarly articles. Co-founded Democrats for Life of America; currently serve as Consistent Life Network board member and with the Proportional Representation Coalition of California as the American Solidarity Party representative. Music minister at my church.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lois.kerschen\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/lois-kerschen-94850611\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/llkerschen"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/author\/lkerschen\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4580"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/musingsfromthepew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1433\/2021\/11\/sean-kong-i5nMmbr8JYg-unsplash-300x158.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1433\/2021\/11\/ddp-MhbBgL5Y5dw-unsplash-158x300.jpg\")