UPDATED*** 7:49 pm ET:
- UPDATE*** 7:49pm ET:
- A new email from the Editor to Dr. Rice is printed below. It appears that the Observer is still licking it's wounds from an earlier "incident." What better way to "repair" your image than print the teachings of the Church?? Guess they don't think that way..... (SEE BELOW FOR NEW EMAIL)
This is story is hitting just now in a few well respected Catholic News outlets:
Here is the article: Dr. Rice's - "Right or Wrong?" Column: March 1, 2010 - Homosexuality (from Fumare)
The Editor of the Observer didn't print it for a variety of reasons...or so they say. None of the listed reasons was legitimate. Now, as a former College Paper Editor, I know something about the role of an EIC. There are LEGITIMATE reasons for not printing certain things, and there are times when you don't WANT things printed so you CREATE a reason. This folks... is a brush off.
Below is the email exchange between Dr. Rice and the Editor.
From: Matt Gamber [mgamber@nd.edu] Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2010 1:24 AM To: Charles Rice Subject: Tuesday's column
Dear Mr. Rice,
I wanted to first introduce myself as Matt Gamber, the new Editor-in-Chief of The Observer. Thank you for your continued hard work and contributions to The Observer's Viewpoint section.
Second, I wanted to let you know why we chose not to run your most recent submission in Tuesday's Observer. First, it far exceeded our word limit guidelines, which I understand our Viewpoint Editor, Michelle Maitz, has shared with you in the past. Our daily space limitations require that we enforce this word limit, and we would appreciate your attention to this limit in the future.
Also, I personally had some concerns with the content of the column, particularly considering The Mobile Party comic incident earlier in the semester at The Observer. While your piece was well-researched and I trust the information was factually correct, I did not feel it lent itself to creating a productive discussion, all things considered. I was a bit concerned with certain language as well.
In the future, if you would like to examine this topic, we thought it might be beneficial to do so in a point-counterpoint format, perhaps with an author of an opposing or differing viewpoint. That way, each "side," to speak, would have the opportunity to present relevant facts, evidence and analysis to define its position.
As I began, I again thank you for your contributions to The Observer. Please let me know if you have any questions regarding this decision, and I look forward to working with you in the future.
Matt Gamber Editor-in-Chief The Observer Cell: (847) 287-1141 Office: (574) 631-4542
Dr. Rice's Response:
From: Charles Rice Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2010 3:04 PM To: Matthew Gamber Subject: Rice Column on Catholic Teaching on Homosexuality
Dear Mr. Gamber:
Thank you for your email informing me that my column presenting the teachings of the Church on homosexuality will not be published. Since 1992, I have been privileged to publish every two weeks a column, entitled “Right or Wrong,” in the Observer. I emphasize my appreciation for the unfailing professionalism and courtesy of the Observer editors with whom I have had contact over those years.
You mention the column “far exceeded our word limit guidelines.” It is in fact significantly shorter than each of the three previous columns published this semester in the Observer. I was not asked to shorten any of them. The rejected column accurately presented relevant teachings of the Catholic Church on homosexuality. I understand why you are concerned over the content of the column. You further propose that if I examine the topic of homosexuality in the future, “we thought it might be beneficial to do so in a point-counterpoint format, perhaps with an author of an opposing or differing viewpoint. That way, each ‘side,’ so to speak, would have the opportunity to present relevant facts, evidence and analysis to define its position.”
In a university that claims to be Catholic, I am not willing to restrict my presentation of Catholic teaching to a format that treats the authoritative teaching of the Church as merely one viewpoint or “side” among many. If you require that future columns of mine on homosexuality comply with a format such as you propose, it will be inappropriate for me to continue writing the column for the Observer.
Sincerely,
Charles E. Rice Professor Emeritus Notre Dame Law School
Words fail me. Dr. Rice is amazing, I had some limited interaction with him while at Ave Law, and he was nothing less than a gentleman and a scholar. This is another BLACK mark on the name of Notre Dame, and unfortunately, Dr. Rice is once again a target of Anti-Catholic thinking.
UPDATE*** 7:49pm ET:
Here is the most recent email from Matt Gamber, EIC to Dr. Rice:
From: Matt Gamber [mgamber@nd.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2010 5:29 PM
To: Charles Rice
Subject: Re: Rice Column on Catholic Teaching on Homosexuality
Dear Dr. Rice,
Thank you for your response. I appreciate your contributions to The
Observer and I hope that we will continue to work together. I do not
wish to question the Church teachings or argue the points you
presented in your essay, but rather, because the paper is still
recovering from the incident with The Mobile Party comic, we would
prefer to examine this issue at a later time.
I sincerely appreciate your understanding of our concerns, and I hope
you will not hesitate to contact me with any further questions or
concerns you may have.
Sincerely,
Matt Gamber
-Posted by: Joe
37 Comments so far - Click to Comment::
Sad story. Great response from Dr. Rice though.
That is the thing... he always knows exactly what to say, and how to say it.
I guess when a person is Christ centered... it makes their response more Christ centered in return.
I just wonder where I send my children for college... I mean so far Dr. Rice has been spurned by Ave Law and now Notre Dame.
Note that Mr. Gamber, an Editor-in-Chief of a University Journal:
(1) Apparently does not know how formally to address a university professor (c.f. the "Mr. Rice" in the first email),
(2) Apparently does not understand the use of the possessive "I do not
wish to question the Church (sic) teachings ..."
Of what age is Mr. Gamber? And by that I mean, if this is a school newspaper run by the ND students, then a childish response is not altogether shocking.
Not that I'm defending him, of course, but if this is some 21 year old terrified of stepping out into the world, it lessens the blow.
I don't think the fact that he is a student lessens the fact that his mentality minimizes the authority and importance of the Church, and thereby Christ.
Joe,
It looks like you've completely given up on Notre Dame.
I am a student here at Notre Dame and am more than disgusted at this. However, if you think about it, this is a student editor. It is students who have "gay" rallies. Students who go complain in the Observer about the Church. Think about this, though. It is also students who keep the Tridentine Mass on Campus, students who attend the March For Life, Students who organized NDResponse last year. It hinges on the students. If we want Notre Dame to change, we need good, strong, Catholic students. Send your kids here. Give them the tools they need to recognize the good that is here and they will be better for it. The center for ethics and culture is amazing. Notre Dame Right to Life is the largest student organization on Campus. I myself have started an organization for the promotion of a solid Catholic education here that is based on Newman's Idea of a University. (newtractarian.blogspot.com) We need good students to fill the ranks. We need your support.
Nate
What is this "mobile party comic" incident which seems so important that Professor Rice's column could not be published?
I notice that Matt Gambler does not admit that the word length issue was a lie.
Also, as it stands, will there be any more columns from Dr. Rice?
Susan Peterson
Nate,
You are right, it is really easy to sink the entire ship because one board looks warped.
I too went to a Catholic school which faced a lot of scrutiny and make some poor administrative decisions.
Focusing on the bad is often easier for blogs, it is more sensational and creates a bigger "stir."
I'd love to hear of the good things students at Notre Dame are doing; I know you highlighted some of them, so maybe it is our job as bloggers and "defenders of the faith" to highlight those things.
It is important though, to discuss these types of incidents. We can't simply put on rose colored glasses and hope that the good will simply outweigh the bad in the end.
But please let me know of the good things at ND. I would love to highlight these things, especially the group that is promoting the Catholic intellectual tradition. I look forward to helping you highlight that.
-Joe
Both disappointing and unsuprising that students believe that they are the University. To a very real degree students form an important and vital part of their University's culture, and Nate cites several examples of this in his post. A university, though is a collection of colleges and a college is its faculty. Students pay the faculty for the privelage of listening to them teach. This is as has always been and always will be, Mr. Gamber's views and positions and cowardly refusals to be instructed notwithstanding.
The Blogger is correct to decry the state of failure at Notre Dame. The student paper was tested and it failed.
Man, you all are a bunch of idiots.
The Observer is a student paper. It has the right to make guidelines about how an issue is presented.
The newspaper is not an organ of the Magisterium. It is not a catechism.
If the current editorial wants to use the paper as a forum for dialogue between authentic Catholic teaching and opposing views, then so be it. Nothing in Catholic doctrine or the US Constitution forbids free speech.
Those of you who criticize Notre Dame probably have never set foot on campus.
Why do you care so much about this institution? Were you rejected by this institution when you applied to college? You all have the biggest case of golden envy in the world.
The problem with Catholic higher education in America is part of the same problem the Church is experiencing as a whole in America. Who is the Church? Who is the University? It is true that Holy Mother Church is led by the Holy Father and his brother bishops, but it is also true that she is the Body of Christ, the body of believers, who live her teachings and bring Christ into the world. Likewise, the University is the faculty, who bring the teachings of the University to life in the classroom, and the students who then bring them to life in the public realm and thus (hopefully) transform society to be more Christ-like (at least, this is the hope for students graduating from an institute of Catholic higher education).
Fortunately and unfortunately, we live in a Democratic society. Fortunately because human dignity and the gift of human reason are acknowledged, but unfortunately because we sometimes forget to responsibly use such intellectual capabilities for the common good of society, but rather, apply them in selfish ways that bring about a culture of individualism where each person decides to become their own pope, bishop, or faculty. We live in an age where appreciating the wisdom of the solidly Catholic faculty members is not as common as it ought to be. We live in an age where appreciating the guidance of the bishops in their attempts to safeguard Truth in our Catholic higher education is not as appreciated as it ought to be.
And this is where Nate has a huge point. The only way to make it turn around is to change the part of the university that is the student body. They are the part that needs to learn to be receptive of Church tradition, like the laity are the ones that need to learn to be open to the beauty of the Magisterium. This isn't to belittle the role of the faculty in a University, but if the faculty aren't perceived as a wonderful fount of wisdom, the fact that they objectively are isn't going to transform the minds and hearts of students, and thus, transform society to Christ.
However, in the case of ND and many other larger (and smaller) Catholic universities, it can no longer be said that the problem is entirely the students and no faculty, because not all of the faculty are living witnesses of the Church and clear representatives of what a Catholic university ought to embody, either. Many think that the student body desires diversity of thought, which somehow gets translated into a lack of need for objective truth. And yet, even here, I believe that a student body that firmly stands up and proclaims their desire for Catholic orthodoxy will have a strong impact. As a student of a Catholic university myself, I have seen how my generation can join together and make an impact in this regard.
While this is not an easy task for any student body or any Catholic university, I would like to ask you to continue to pray for ND and all Catholic schools, wherever they are in this great struggle between the temptation to be like everyone else and the desire to be transformed to Christ, because it will take great "leaders of faith and character" (as one Catholic university president calls them) to make such an impact in Catholic higher education, and such leaders need to prayers of the Church.
Dear Anonymous,
The reason so many people care about ND is because it is a large Catholic university who is often a face of the Church to many in the public sphere. The education of future Catholic leaders is the concern of the entire Church. And while a student publication is not an arm of the Magisterium, it is a reflection of the orthodoxy of those students who run it, and it is the hope of many that students would choose to affirm and uphold Church teachings because in doing so, they affirm and uphold the dignity of the human person which is not only a matter for Catholics to be concerned about, but for society as a whole. I would encourage you to see the importance of a university not just as a self-serving entity, but as an institution that has the power and responsibility to serve the Church and the nation by affirming and upholding the Truth which is Jesus Christ.
Anonymous 557am:
We do get it. We love free speech, we love freedom. We also love the Church. Notre Dame is supposed to be THE Catholic University in America.
When one reads *Ex corde ecclesiae* they understand the role of the university. It mentions STUDENTS more so than almost anyone else. It mentions students over 15 times, but the faculty and administration only 6 times.
What is Ex Corde you ask? It is the premier encyclical on the operation and maintenance of Catholic Universities. The title, also the first line of the encyclical, translates to "Born from the Heart of the Church..."
Dialogue is one thing, yet the Observer doesn't want dialogue. If they did, they would have printed the TEACHINGS of the Church, and let others ring in, if they so wished. Instead, just like Administration, they wanted to give a platform to BOTH SIDES. In essence, giving a podium to both good and evil.
We are not spurned, we are not envious, we are in fact heart-broken and praying that the university in Our Mother's name will be restored to glory, so that it may greater glory to God.
What is this "mobile party comic" incident which seems so important that Professor Rice's column could not be published?
"The Mobile Party" was a comic strip published in The Observer for part of this academic year. The strip featured derogatory characterizations of Notre Dame students engaging in satirical renditions of what the strip authors apparently considered common interactions. One such strip depicted a character telling a joke about violence against homosexuals. It was not entirely clear from the context of the comic whether the author thought the joke was independently funny or whether the author regarded the joke as something a ND student would say and thus as a part of the satire---the subject, rather than the content, of his humor.
Needless to say, the comic strip sparked a small firestorm of protest. The Observer staff all pointed fingers at each other over the event. It is telling now that they use their prior incompetence to cover up their current cowardice.
Re: the Editor
As for the editor, the The Observer is entirely student run. The university provides it with financial support but undertakes essentially nothing in the way of oversight.
re: Notre Dame
Finally, as for the University itself, I dearly love her. There is immense good being done here, and the school remains a haven for numerous scholars and students whose contributions and learning would be thoroughly unwelcome anywhere else. The Church in the United States needs these contributions, and it desperately needs them to come from an institution of Notre Dame's stature. That said, it is hard to deny that the University suffers from diverse maladies: heterodoxy in campus ministry and the sacred sciences refuses to die; the love of money and fame among secular bean counters infects countless decisions; belligerent secularists have ensconced themselves in many departments; over-bureaucraticization sterilizes much of the university's inner workings. But the University is one cog in a much larger machine that has not run properly in many years. It needs better people at almost every level (and when has any institution not?), but if it is abandoned by its students, present or future, all hope of a recovery will be lost.
apparently my comment was too long for one post with this bit included---apologies
re: Mr. Anonymous
Initially, let me say that I am sitting in a campus building typing this at the moment, so spare me the sometimes-justified froth at criticism from non-Domers.
Secondly, nobody is disputing the newspaper's status as a non-magisterial voluntary association engaged in journalism. Both the original writer and subsequent commentators have, rather, decried the poor manners, reasoning, and decision making of the editorial staff. One's status as a journalism student, or even a full-blown journalist, does not excuse one from the obligations of these matters. Mr. Gamber's absurd treatment of Prof. Rice has garnered him a certain amount of well-deserved derision. Because, as you observe, "[n]othing in Catholic doctrine or the US Constitution forbids free speech," individuals are free to use this or almost any other forum to voice that derision.
Thirdly, recourse to "free speech" is entirely misplaced. The University is a private actor and neither it nor its agents falls within the ambit of the First Amendment's restrictions. Furthermore, while the Church recognizes a right to free expression, that right is not untrammeled. Every individual carries an overarching obligation to exercise his rights and freedoms in the service of the truth. There is no right in the Church to defame, blaspheme, or lie, although all are speech. Likewise, one who speaks---or in this case, uses his professional powers and prerogatives to apportion speech---in such a way as to interfere with the appropriate promulgation of the truth, or who by diminishing the authoritativeness of the Magisterium creates doubt or confusion about the truth, commits scandal. Scandal, a serious canonical delict, is a sinful act clearly prohibited by divine and ecclesiastical positive law. A disinterested factfinder could easily conclude, based on this evidence, that Mr. Gamber has announced an editorial policy of knowingly committing scandal and that he commits scandal by following that policy.
There is no journalistic exception or privilege from the obligations of the moral law. Nor does living in a country with wide-ranging expressive liberties excuse any of us from its ambit.
Just for kicks, "free speech" is a canard here regardless: Mr. Gamber's rejection of Prof. Rice's column clearly fails viewpoint-neutrality rules that would govern his conduct were he subject to the First Amendment in his editorial role. Prof. Rice has the free-speech claim, not Mr. Gamber.
Joe,
Great point about Ex Corde Ecclesiae. The New Tractarians (the Newman based group I mentioned) read that document at the beginning of the year. Great Encyclical.
Here are the groups, societies, etc. at Notre Dame that can give hope: The Center for Ethics and Culture, run by David Solomon, a Philosophy professor her at ND (ethicscenter.nd.edu), The Identity Project/The Edith Stein Project, a student organization devoted to promoting a Catholic understanding of personhood especially as relates to the dignity of men and women as such (http://www.nd.edu/~idnd/index.html), Notre Dame Right to Life, the largest Student Organization on campus (http://www.nd.edu/~prolife/), The Orestes Brownson Council, a group dedicated to reading Catholic Classics in order to better understand our rich tradition (http://www.nd.edu/~obcnd/) The New Tractarians, dedicated to renewing Catholic education as a cohesive, faithful Catholic education (newtractarians.blogspot.com)
Other groups that are dedicated to devotional life, not just philosophical idealism: Militia of the Immaculata, Children of Mary (reinvigorating interest in traditional devotions such as the Rosary, traditionally minded liturgy, both Novus Ordo and Tridentine, and Catholic movies. We have the oldest University Knights of Columbus, And an Opus Dei house down the road.
Ways you can't avoid Catholicism: Chapels in every dorm (albeit some are rather out there...) Mass celebrated daily at least twice in the Basilica, and in some dorm chapels. The Grotto. Crucifixes in every classroom.
I'm not saying there aren't problems, and substantial ones at that, but there is what some would call a "creative minority" working on the strong foundations that are here to fight those problems.
Nate
Am I the only one who sees the irony in Anonymous giving us a lecture on free speech in defense of a newspaper editor who censored a regularly contributing columnist?
Is Notre Dame Still Catholic?
http://www.culturewars.com/Reviews/NDad.html
I wanted to first introduce myself as Matt Gamber...
He lost me at the split infinitive.
I'm the father of a son who attends Notre Dame. Notre Dame has consistently betrayed us as Christian parents. Our own beloved son no longer wishes to be part of it. We don't blame him. The president so-called priest (actually a priest for Satan) of Notre Dame invites and lauds a wholesale baby-murder proponent, and a man who thinks letting born babies die is fine, for speaker at students' graduation. Serious Catholic priests are villified and arrested. Students are forced to betray their Christian principles or not go to their own graduation. The response of the feckless priests in the dorms? Nothing much. They're men who are too weak to take on the evil around them - too deep into political correctness and too afraid of offending those involved in evil. Notre Dame is NOT, I repeat NOT a serious Catholic univeristy, and it's LIE to sell it as such. I laud those students and faculty who fight to make it one, but it is not. Other outrages - the promotion of the Vagina Monologues - which celebrates the lesbian molestation of a teen girl, sexual organ worship, and sexual license and perversion (You'd think that a Church which is reeling, in several countries, from priestly homosodomite molestations of teenage boys would realize how bad that is - but no. Then there are celebrations of sexual perversion over Easter, constant attempts to stifle free speech in the dorms, so that no one be 'offended,' etc. etc. A pall of evil has come over this great university, as it swells in pride at being a 'great' wordly university. It can have the world. The Pope, the Magisterium, they're nowhere. No one ever does anything about such stuff. I have zero faith in the feckless Holy Cross priests at Notre Dame. Most of them are 1/2 men; the rest are imbued in evil.
Oh, yeah, and priest-for-Satan Jenkins refuses to meet with my son, so that my son may talk to him about the great lauding of Obama at last year's graduation. What a cowardly little evil-infected man.
NB:
I don't have a very strict comment policy... but let us please keep things above the fray.
We don't want to descend into scandal, so let us be mindful of what we say, and how we say it.
I disagree. I meant everything I said. I believe it to be true - and I have good reason for so believing. The scandal is at the university. You want to corrode a child's faith; send him/her to Notre Dame.
I recommend an alternative ND Newspaper. I'm sure Nate knows of it as does my ND student who is involved in many of the organizations he mentions.
http://www.irishrover.net/PDFs/2009-2010/Volume7Issue10.pdf
My child's faith is not corroded. If anything it's stronger for learning to defend it.
Thanks for posting this. I can see now that Dr Rice has touched on a huge problem for modern Catholic media.
Reprinting the text of the Catholic catechism is simply not allowed.
This is because any liberal-minded Catholic journo basically cannot stand to read it. It is the very heart of Catholic orthodoxy and succinctly puts forward the entire Catholic position in every paragraph.
If Catholic readers got to read the text of the catechism relating to a subject alongside a news article put forward on that same subject written by a Catholic journo, most 'Catholic' publications would go straight into the rubbish minutes after they were opened.
These faux Catholic journos and editors would have been revealed for what they are- dissenters who do not make mature contributions to Catholic thought and life.
It is very unfortunate that a university which claims to be open to dialogue can so easily close off a frank discussion about matters at the heart of the Church. Did we not just invite President Obama to give the commencement address on the grounds of "openness to dialogue"? And yet they silence their own.
However, Dr. Rice's response was brilliant. His reference to the previous three articles was spot-on and the simplicity of the response simply highlights the deficient reasoning laid forth by Mr. Gambler. It is clear that this has nothing to do with word limits.
Nate,
I appreciate your heart. But let's get some things straight.
Re: "It hinges on the students. ..... Give them the tools they need to recognize the good that is here and they will be better for it."
It does not hinge on the students. If what you claim were true you would not have to ask "Give them the tools they need ...". Such appeals demonstrate you and your fellow students are still coddled creatures who have barely fallen out of your mother's arms into the arms of the university staff and teachers.
The battle is raging far above your heads. If you want to make a difference, find the leaders in the battle that resided in your school and stand up strongly behind them. They, men like Dr. Rice, are the ones upon which the battle hinges.
Dont let your ego trick you into believing too deeply in their kind words, which spring from their humility and Charity, to students such as yourself.
We know there are young men and ladies such as yourself at ND. But greatness is found in one's place.
God Bless & God Speed.
HCS Knight
priest-for-Satan Jenkins
I don't want to be critical, but I think this degenerates into slander. Like him or not,the man has taken holy orders and is entitled to the respect due his ordination.
I am not sure it would be licit for a parent to send their son or daughter to ND, unless they were an unusually holy and intelligent child and for some weird reason they felt God was calling them to this sacrifice. Well, maybe one could study philosophy there, if he knew what profs. to take. But, if you are in for the academics and the Catholicism, why the heck would you choose ND?
HSC Knight,
Isn't it every parent's responsibility to give their kids the tools they need to face the evil in this world? I'm not suggesting anything new here, or even specific to Notre Dame. All I'm saying is that if a student has been brought up well, he/she won't have a problem at Notre Dame. I would argue that my appeal for the "tools they need" is the opposite of coddling. It's preparing them and then sending them out into the world, not protecting and coddling them.
If you think the battle is raging "far above our heads" then you are just wrong. I don't even know how you could possibly say that after I listed all the groups that are literally in the fray and are STUDENT organizations. And if you doubt for one second that we're behind the great leaders here, you are once again wrong. You can't just make statements like that.
"Don't let your ego trick you into believing too deeply in their kind words, which spring from their humility and Charity, to students such as yourself."
Who? Jenkins? The Administration? You must think that if someone goes to ND he must either be a heretic, a wimp, or naive. No one could be more displeased and less trusting of things around here than me. I just don't think that the response to disloyalty is to throw up your hands and yell "Go to hell."
helgothjb,
Licit according to what? I don't think the Church dictates what universities are licit and which aren't. And you know what, I do feel God calling me to a Sacrifice for ND. but is that so weird?
Philosophy is a strong point here, but so is Architecture. I've talked to David Solomon (Director of the Center for Ethics and Culture here and Philosophy prof.) and he's given me names of departments and deans that are sympathetic to true Catholic Education. Whatever anyone says, the academics here ARE good. Catholicism flourishes (maybe in a creative minority, but B XVI seems to like those)
However, I will say this. If a student isn't well formed, then I agree, don't go to ND. But it seems like everyone on here would try to form their children to be true Catholics.
Nate
Joe - Why and how do you have access to these e-mail exchanges?
Theresa
The first couple were published on several blogs, websites, and forums.
The later email was sent directly to me by someone when they realized that I have posted about this story.
In these situations, emails like this get out quite quickly, and quite easily. That is why it is important to always be careful what you write, and whom you write it to.
The Observer is entirely student run. The administration does not maintain editorial control. That should be the end of the story.
Yet, it doesn't surprise that the vultures are surrounding and claiming this is another institutional failure by ND.
I again agree with Nate. My student is well formed and perfectly able to stand their ground. In fact, freshman year Bishop D'Arcy approached them and said he was so glad that they hadn't gone to one of the wonderful Catholic Colleges such as Thomas Aquinas, Franciscan, etc. because they were needed at ND.
The students are definitely in the midst of battle and through God's amazing grace, I believe they'll turn the tide. It won't be overnight but it WILL happen!
The Center for Ethics and Culture is a spring of hope and David Soloman is a gem. Many from the center are leaving today for a medical ethics conference in Rome. They play hardball and like Dr. Rice won't back down from the teachings of the Church.
The ND Observer is just a student run newspaper, it's not the University. Visit ND and attend some of the conferences held by the The Center for Ethics or meet with the groups Nate listed.
The Catholic Church is alive and well at Notre Dame. Abandoning it now would be a travesty. Stand up and fight the good fight!
Three simple points.
First, Notre Dame is not a Catholic university. There are no Catholic universities in this nation as all of them either promulgate the heresies of Vatican II or completely reject all of the true teachings of the Catholic Church.
Secondly, what better way to silence those whose opinion is contrary to political correctness which permeates our entire culture than refuse to print objections to lies?
Thirdly, what organization practices sodomy, embraces sodomy, and covers up sodomy more than the members of the Vatican II church? Actions speak louder than words and the actions of the heretical Vatican II church are contrary to Catholic doctrine, Catholic tradition, and the truth of Jesus Christ.
As a gay Catholic student currently attending ND, I feel that the observer was protecting its own interests (to free itself from political correctness backlash which often silences true debate and dialogue) rather than the interests of free speech and discussion.
Professor Charles Rice deserves the opportunity to be published, speak his opinion, and quote church teachings.
I am saddened, however, by his interpretation of church teaching, a great deal of which is predicated on Augustine who continued the homophobia of Paul and earlier, the Greeks under Plato.
Homosexual acts are not intrinsically wrong, non-procreative sex respects the dignity of the human person, and the "Theology of the Body" unnecessarily restricts gender identity.
There are countless pronouncements from the church criticizing homosexuals and their practice of sex. I'd just like to say to all those gays and lesbians out there, you are made in god's image, your desires are normal and healthy, and your expression of your feelings is not wrong or sinful-it is right and good in the eyes of God.
God loves all, us gays included-so don't believe all the hatred and give in to self-loathing; it's just not worth it. You are your own unique self-don't be afraid to express it. You deserve to live a life free of oppression and hate-one of liberation and happiness!
Ramone, what you are saying is not Catholic teaching. If you believe it, you are NOT a Catholic. Everything you said is false..except that God loves you, which is true. Other than that, you can't believe what you are saying and be a Catholic. You can pretend to be a Catholic, but you are not. So either stop putting your own will and desires ahead of the truth and God's will for you, and repent, confess, and obey God, or, well, the eternal consequences are terrible, but if you really want people to tell you what you want to hear in this life, go be an Episcopalian.
Susan Peterson
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