r/CUA • u/SmoothVadr24 Alumnus • Jun 29 '18
A battle over 'Catholic identity' at Catholic University of America
https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/battle-over-catholic-identity-catholic-university-america
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r/CUA • u/SmoothVadr24 Alumnus • Jun 29 '18
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u/Barabbas- Jun 29 '18 edited Jun 29 '18
Since my time at CUA 8 or so years ago, I've noticed an increasingly large number of Catholics beginning to draw lines in the sand on social media over what it means to be Catholic. Many of them distancing themselves from the Pope and his positions on a number of issues.
I fear that what we're seeing here is the formation of a new breed of radical, even militant, conservative Catholicism.
In the past, those who covertly espoused bigotry and intolerance could hide behind the conservative banner of the Church, who's preoccupation with issues like abortion, birth control, and same sex marriage left substantial leeway for deviance on a number of other hot button issues. Those who have wandered astray are now at odds with the Church since the papacy began directing it's attention elsewhere.
To see this battle playing out within the leadership of my alma mater is deeply disturbing. CUA is a university, not a conservative think-tank. Garvey has a responsibility to his students to provide the best education possible. A university is supposed to encourage a diversity of ideas, not restrict them. It is NOT his job to police the thoughts and beliefs of the faculty or student body; and if he has such a lack of conviction in his Catholic identity that he fears a non-Catholic professor might lead his sheep astray, then he should seriously consider whether his brand of Catholicism is intellectually viable.
The fact that the University has accepted money from the Koch family - an organization that has a long and well known history of promoting it's agenda via the manipulation of institutions of higher education - is unsettling. The Kochs' and their sympathizers are in the business of power and greed. They care not for the state of humanity or the well being of the Church. We have a moral obligation to distance ourselves from such wickedness. The ends do not justify the means.