May 1
Catholic law school just says no to Planned Parenthood
By Denise Ross
Students at the University of St. Thomas school of law in neighboring Minnesota cannot fulfill their 50 hours of required community service at Planned Parenthood.
The school’s decision is erupting into controversy just as finals bear down on students, but that doesn’t seem to be dampening opinions on both sides of the issue.
At first a committee struck a compromise, saying a student could volunteer at Planned Parenthood in areas that do not deal with contraception or abortion. That sparked angry missives from devout Catholics who say that anything Planned Parenthood does undermines Catholic teachings.
So a dean banned Planned Parenthood service (for credit) altogether, which sparked a predictable wave of protest from another group of folks.
The latest controversy has forced St. Thomas’s law school to weigh its secular, prestige-oriented ambitions, underlined by its recent ascension to third-tier status in the influential U.S. News & World Report rankings, against the pressure to hew to the Catholic Church’s doctrinaire leadership …
Is there any way to say if anyone is right or wrong in this?
Given the coming storm of another round of vigorous debate over abortion - and by extention this time, birth control - will this figure in to SD’s abortion ban election?
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Maybe the Catholic school will let them volunteer at an abused boys home instead.
This seems a particularly obtuse policy given the Pope’s recent visit and his calling for reconciliation. But I suppose if you’re a Catholic College Administrator, you have to be careful with this stuff. You could end up having to go to hell or something for allowing people to help other people in need and giving them college credit for it.
Would there be a controversy if a private Jewish College refused to give credit for working on behalf of an organization intent on the destruction of Jews or Israel?
Would there be a controversy if a private Black College refused to give credit for working on behalf of the KKK?
Would there be controversy if a private all-female college refused to give credit for working on behalf of rolling back woman’s suffrage?
The only controversy I can see is that anyone would think a private Catholic Law School should give credit for working on behalf of an organization performing acts that the Catholic Church teaches as a matter of Truth is “intrinsically evil.”
The Pope said to Catholic educators just last month:
“(a)ny appeal to the principle of academic freedom in order to justify positions that contradict the faith and the teaching of the Church would obstruct or even betray the university’s identity and mission; a mission at the heart of the Church’s munus docendi and not somehow autonomous or independent of it.
Teachers and administrators, whether in universities or schools, have the duty and privilege to ensure that students receive instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice. This requires that public witness to the way of Christ, as found in the Gospel and upheld by the Church’s Magisterium, shapes all aspects of an institution’s life, both inside and outside the classroom. Divergence from this vision weakens Catholic identity and, far from advancing freedom, inevitably leads to confusion, whether moral, intellectual or spiritual.”
I don’t think that equating family planning with radical jihadists or Nazis or the KKK is very helpful, Troy. There are a lot of Catholics who don’t have issues with birth control methods beyond the rhythm method. Besides, are all the students in the school Catholic? If not, why insist that they must behave as if they are?
I’ll bet there are a lot of men and women in that school, both catholic and non-catholic who use birth control pills and other contraceptives. By your logic, are you thinking they should be expelled?
This page from the St. Thomas website is pretty interesting in the context of this post, Troy, Denise, don’t you think? It certainly doesn’t seem to say what Troy seems to be saying. Are they just kidding?
http://www.stthomas.edu/law/current/spiritual/default.html
Hmmm. Seems to be some incongruity there. -Denise
It is one thing to say that people at a Catholic University should be able to have views contrary to the church. But certainly a Catholic University shouldn’t be expected to award someone for acting for an organization that the Catholic Church opposes. If you don’t like it, don’t go to a Catholic university!
Sorry Gatsby, but I don’t agree with you. Your position makes the student responsibile for the School’s intellectual dishonesty and bad faith in marketing its brand. We, as consumers, have a right to expect that an advertiser is telling the truth in its marketing and advertising materials.
The Schools page on Spiritual policy is grossly misleading.
I guess I don’t see any incongruity or anything misleading. Please illuminate me.