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This Insights eNewsletter was sent to subscribers on April 5, 2013.

eNewsletter Subject: Easter at the University in Short Supply

Despite advances in Catholic institutional integrity over the past decade or so, the mission of the Church continues to suffer in many university settings. At Jesuit-run Gonzaga University, the Knights of Columbus was refused status as a student organization because it admits only Catholics.

And at the secular George Washington University, two gay students are asking for the removal of the Catholic chaplain because he counsels homosexual students to live chastely. Both issues are highlighted in this Catholic World News story: Jesuit school denies recognition to Knights of Columbus; gay students seek chaplain's removal.

A more promising but still mixed barometer of Catholic social health is the case of the Long Island parish which removed a lector and religious education teacher after he entered into a same-sex "marriage". But if you read between the lines, you'll wonder whether acceptance was not unacceptably high before the formal removal.

It is odd that even Catholics in our culture cannot see the moral, spiritual and physical problems of sexual relationships between adults outside of the context of (real) marriage, but can see the closely-related problem of sexual abuse of children. Earlier today, Pope Francis made a point of reaffirming an aggressive role for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in stamping out such abuse....

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