CNS protests commencement honors

 

For several years CNS has protested Catholic institutions' selection of commencement speakers and honorees whose public opposition to the Catholic Church or its teachings are a scandal to students and the public.  This year's protests target such leading institutions as Boston College, Loyola Marymount University, Santa Clara University and the University of Notre Dame.

 

"Just weeks after Notre Dame capitulated to organizers of the offensive and sexually explicit play, 'The Vagina Monologues,' the nation's best-known Catholic university will publicly honor a public leader who has stridently ridiculed the Vatican and urged dissent from infallible teaching," said CNS President Patrick J. Reilly.  "Other Catholic colleges and universities will honor pro-abortion politicians and notorious dissident Catholics.  These awards directly violate the U.S. bishops' 1994 ban on such honors by Catholic institutions, and they offend faithful Catholics who expect fidelity in Catholic education."

 

Many Catholic colleges and universities are just now announcing their commencement plans.  Announced speakers and honorees protested by CNS include:

 

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will receive an honorary degree and deliver the commencement address at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, on May 22.  Rice, a possible 2008 contender for the White House, has publicly declared herself "mildly pro-choice" and "kind of libertarian" on government regulation of abortion.

 

On Saturday, May 6, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa delivered the undergraduate commencement address and was awarded an honorary degree at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California.  Touted in a university press release as "one of the leading progressive voices in our country today," Villaraigosa also is a Catholic who publicly dissents from Catholic teaching, including his support for abortion rights.  In 2001 the Los Angeles Times reported that Villaraigosa was "strongly, strongly pro-choice," dissented from Catholic teaching on the all-male priesthood, attended Mass only about 12 times a year but received the Eucharist, and was "troubled" by Catholic teaching on homosexuality.
 
U.S. Congressman John Dingell will receive an honorary degree and deliver the commencement address at Marygrove College in Detroit, Michigan, on May 13.  An abortion rights advocate, Dingell pledged to fight to uphold "a woman's right to choose" during his 2004 reelection campaign and received a 100 percent rating from the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL) in 2005.  Dingell has opposed a ban on abortions at overseas U.S. military hospitals and supported Medicaid funding of abortions.
 
Gen. Colin Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State, will receive an honorary degree and deliver the commencement address at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia, on May 14.  Powell has publicly and repeatedly declared his support for "a woman's right to choose" abortion, even disagreeing with President George W. Bush's restrictions on federal funding for pro-abortion organizations working overseas. 

 

During a 2002 MTV program, Powell commented on the Catholic teaching against condom use: "I respect the views of the Holy Father and the Catholic Church, but in my judgment, condoms are a way to prevent infection, and therefore I encourage their use. [F]orget about taboos, forget about conservative ideas with respect to what you should tell young peopl

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