The occasional, often ill-considered thoughts of a Roman Catholic permanent deacon who is ever grateful to God for his existence. Despite the strangeness we encounter in this life, all the suffering we witness and endure, being is good, so good I am sometimes unable to contain my joy. Deo gratias!


Although I am an ordained deacon of the Catholic Church, the opinions expressed in this blog are my personal opinions. In offering these personal opinions I am not acting as a representative of the Church or any Church organization.

Saturday, November 13, 2021

“Catholic” Universities

Every so often I come across news stories about some aspect of the Church, stories that too often lead to scandal. And if they scandalize me, a deacon of the Church, I can only imagine their effect on others, regardless of their religious affiliation. This past week presented me with a pair of these offensive stories, each centered on a university that defines itself as Catholic.

Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles provides us with our first story. It seems this Catholic, Jesuit university permitted a student group to hold an on-campus fundraiser for Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider. In fact, in 2020 Planned Parenthood performed more than 354,000 abortions — that is, they murdered that many innocent unborn babies — a total representing nearly 40% of all abortions in the U.S. last year. Yes, indeed, Planned Parenthood seems to enjoy profiting off the killing of babies.

The student group sponsoring the fundraiser call themselves Women in Politics and obviously support abortion. A group of alumni and students petitioned the university, urging it to cancel the event, calling it “an egregious violation of LMU’s Jesuit, Catholic identity.” The petition went on to state that “As a Catholic university, LMU has a responsibility to stand up for Catholic values.” Samantha Stephenson, an alumna involved in preparing the petition, said Women in Politics should support charities that “more effectively support women’s dignity…not at odds with the Catholic Church.” Stephenson also quoted Pope Francis, a Jesuit, who recently stated:
“Is it right to eliminate, to take a human life to solve a problem? Is it right to hire a hitman to solve a problem? That’s what abortion is.”
Thank you, Pope Francis, for showing us that Planned Parenthood and their ilk are nothing more than a collection of hitmen whose victims are the most innocent among us.

In response, a statement from the university’s administration argued that the fundraiser, although held on campus, was not a “university-sponsored event,” and went on to state that “The events, actions, or positions of student organizations, including Women in Politics, are not endorsed by the university.” The university’s statement also informed the world that it remains fully committed to its “Catholic, Jesuit, and Marymount heritage, values, and intellectual traditions.” Its demonstration of this commitment is apparently carried out in secrecy because it’s certainly not done publicly. Oh, yes, the school’s statement continued by declaring the activities of its student groups as “living examples that LMU embraces its mission, commitments, and the complexities of free and honest discourse.” 

To read more about this travesty, click here: Loyola Marymount University and Planned Parenthood.

I think we can dismiss the idea that Loyola Marymount University remains a Catholic university. It has instead caved to the reigning zeitgeist, a culture of death supported by far too many Catholics on the political left, including more than few Jesuits. As a result, this Catholic university is actively supporting the nation’s largest abortion provider. One recalls Jesus words…
“He said to his disciples, “Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the person through whom they occur. It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin” [Lk 17:1-2].
And that’s just for those who cause little ones to sin. What about those who murder the most innocent little ones among us?

St. Louis University is a Catholic university that is also — surprise, surprise! — a Jesuit university. The school’s Students for Life chapter made a pro-life, cross-shaped, flag memorial on the campus of this Catholic university. Although the memorial was approved by the university, some students apparently did not agree. As always today, there are videos. They’re rather disturbing, so I won’t include the videos here, but if you like you can watch them on other sites. 

The students who objected to the memorial decided they had to destroy it. Two young women, identified by the media as Fiorella Michelis and Olivia Jarrell, began to kick the flags, pull them up out of the ground, and stomp on the memorial. They also confronted Nick Baker, a Students for Life member who objected to their actions. 

When Baker told them the Students for Life had created the memorial, one responded with, “So, you just love disrespecting women.” The other added, “Yeah, a man who has absolutely no right telling women what to do with their bodies or trying to shame them or trying to make them feel guilty about their decisions that they have absolutely all the right to do.” 

They objected also to the effects of the memorial on those women who have had abortions: “If a woman was walking by who had an abortion, how do you think she would feel about this?” 

A male student replied saying, “I’m sure she wouldn’t feel great, but that’s why we need to reach out to them and help them.”

The two women students also demonstrated that their remarkable vocabularies matched their destructive actions and the ideology behind them. One of the students approached Baker and said, “People hate you. You’re a disgusting misogynist, and you know karma is going to f*****g get you. You’ll see that when you die and hopefully you f*****g go to hell.” She then added, “You can see my pictures, you can see how pretty I am, how good a life I have. And what do you have? You’re a f*****g loser, and you think you can tell other people what to do with their f*****g bodies.”

When Baker told her that most Students for Life members were women, she replied with a remarkable non-sequitur, “You just really enjoy your life, ‘cause I’ll enjoy mine. And I’ll f*****g keep killing babies.”

“…keep killing babies.” I don’t know about you, but all I hear here is Satan speaking through these young women. How very sad. 

Several other students tried to destroy the memorial but left when confronted by Students of Life members. 

The university issued a statement: It is conducting an investigation, and it “takes seriously any alleged violation of our Community Standards, and has policies and processes in place to address concerns when they are reported.” Hmm…after reading that little piece of administrative cover, I suspect nothing will happen.

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