Rome, We Have a Problem

The Cardinal Newman Society has recently shed some additional light on the ongoing scandal of Catholic colleges including links and referrals to various pro-abortion groups, including Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider.

CNS has called on 11 institutions — including Loyola Chicago, the alma mater of both Annie and me — to remove such links from their websites:

Whether it’s internship and job placements with abortion-rights groups, or health center referrals to Planned Parenthood, or general “resource” links, the Web sites of Boston College, DePaul University, Dominican University of California, Georgetown University, Loyola University of Chicago, Loyola University of New Orleans, Our Lady of the Lake University, Santa Clara University, Seton Hall University and the University of Detroit Mercy are under criticism by CNS.

Another Catholic college-the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota-posts online information encouraging students to use contraceptives and abortifacient devices.

Considering the former greatness of the Society of Jesus, I find it especially disappointing that schools run by their order account for over half of those on CNS’s list (BC, Georgetown, the two Loyolas, Santa Clara, and U of D). The hanged, drawn, and quartered body of the great Jesuit Saint Edmund Campion must be turning over in his grave.

And while the Jesuits still have a number of priests, brothers, and scholastics within their membership who have an undying love for the Faith — some of whom I was privileged to encounter while at Loyola — sadly, an increasing sense of disloyalty has crept its way into the order. This sense of disloyalty allows for an environment in which pro-abortion viewpoints are tolerated out of a misguided sense of respect for “intellectual freedom”.

Does this mean that all Christ-loving, college-bound teens should never consider attending one of the schools listed above? Not at all. Many who are especially strong in the faith may be called by Our Lord to attend just such a school so that they can fight the good fight within the ranks of the student body.

Still, the scandal of abortion-friendly Catholic universities remains an enormous problem, and improvement in this area will likely take a long, long time. If the universities don’t start to reform themselves — and I’m guessing most of them won’t — individual bishops will eventually have to start telling them that they can no longer call themselves Catholic unless they shape up.

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