it's about time$
By Diogenes ( articles ) | Apr 23, 2007
The patience of catholic college faculty and administrators is nearly limitless. Indeed, how many times have your heard them complain about the lack of respect and understanding secularists display about the purpose and the methods of the catholic college? Your Uncle Di has been listening for 40 years and hasn't heard a peep.
Their patience has been exemplary since the 1967 Land O' Lakes manifesto and it is finally paying off in some parts of the United States. Just the other day we read that the state that houses not one, but two Jesuit schools of higher learning (St Louis University and Rockhurst) has finally seen the light:
St. Louis University, a Jesuit school proud of its Catholic (sic) heritage, celebrated a legal victory last week that affirmed it is not controlled by the Catholic church (sic) or by its Catholic (sic) beliefs.
The Missouri Supreme Court agreed with the school in handing down a decision that the city of St. Louis did not violate state and federal constitutions by granting the university $8 million in tax increment financing for its new arena.
chop : because....
In a 6-1 decision, the court said SLU "is not controlled by a religious creed."
Just so. It's about time that the US courts caught up with our catholic colleges and these long suffering faculty and administrators.
Land O' Lakes Statement (1967)
To perform its teaching and research functions effectively the Catholic (sic) university must have a true autonomy and academic freedom in the face of authority of whatever kind, lay or clerical, external to the academic community itself.
[chop]
The student must come to a basic understanding of the actual world in which he lives today. This means that the intellectual campus of a Catholic (sic) university has no boundaries and no barriers.
Glad to know that town & gown are at last on the same page when it comes to knowing what's catholic. Now we'll just have to wait for the "Catholic" to go lower case in all those college fund raising letters to grandma and Aunt Betty. Given that the catholic college happily sold out its governing principles on Catholic education years ago to "perform its teaching and research functions... and to raise lots of cash" (this last fragment was stricken from the final draft), there's little need to fret about the case of $ changing any time soon.
All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a current donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!
-
Posted by: -
Mar. 31, 2010 1:02 PM ET USA
Our shepherds? Well, they are like the guardian of the flock, the boy who DIDN'T cry wolf, until the wolves had devoured most of the flock. Suddenly awake, they scream out now in panic - WOLF, WOLF! But there is only a remnant left to hear..... much less to obey.
-
Posted by: FredC -
Mar. 31, 2010 10:23 AM ET USA
Let's call for a survey: How many bishops voted for Obama and what percent of the bishops' staffs voted for Obama. They seem to be Democrats first, Catholics second.
-
Posted by: Louise01 -
Mar. 30, 2010 11:08 PM ET USA
The USCCB BETRAYED Catholics and all Americans. They are the experts on theology but they are NOT medical doctors! The Catholic Medical Assn opposed Obamacare because of interference between relationship of doctor and patient. USCCB NEVER mentioned subsidiarity
-
Posted by: voxfem -
Mar. 30, 2010 9:03 PM ET USA
The bishops did point out other problems with the bill. The letter written by Cardinal DiNardo, Bishop Murphy, and Bishop Wester to the Washington Post is linked on the USCCB site. http://usccb.org/healthcare/official_documents.shtml#letters It doesn't deal with subsidiarity but that's an idea which will be increasingly important as we continue into this presidency. We need to pray for all the bishops and "cry out to the Lord" to save us.
-
Posted by: Frodo1945 -
Mar. 30, 2010 7:11 PM ET USA
Lucius49 is right. What about the huge debt this country is now laying on the back of my kids and grandkids? There is something greviously wrong with that picture too. Not to mention the mandate on all Americans to buy insurance. There goes more of our liberty.
-
Posted by: -
Mar. 30, 2010 7:10 PM ET USA
Sorry, Lucius. Most of these episcopal mediocrities have never heard the word SUBSIDIARITY even though it's explained in some book called the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
-
Posted by: Hal -
Mar. 30, 2010 2:53 PM ET USA
He's probably referring to the courageous, pro life Catholic Democrats who provided such effective witness to their faith and its universal truths by voting against the massive expansion of the abortion franchise. Oh, wait a minute........
-
Posted by: -
Mar. 30, 2010 2:21 PM ET USA
His Eminence Francis Cardinal George is an amazing tight rope walker and fence straddler almost without a peer. My only concern for those who try and match his deft handling of two contradictory positions is that their eternity might be spent with one half of their person in bliss and the other in the infernal tanning parlor. Bummer!
-
Posted by: Lucius49 -
Mar. 30, 2010 1:41 PM ET USA
Abortion wasn't the only issue the bishops should have been concerned about with the current health care bill. They should have been concerned about other points of Catholic doctrine like that of subsidiarity and the teachings against encroachments on personal property. The statement is out of touch with political reality especially since there is an unwillingness to deal with Catholic pro-abortion pols almost always Democrats.
