On Tuesday, members of the faculty and administrative governance group passed a resolution that defies the school president, the Rev. Dennis Dease. Last week Dease announced that the school would prohibit unmarried faculty or staff members who are in romantic relationships from rooming together on school trips that involve students.
By a 43-26 vote, the Senate said the policy was a violation of the school's nondiscrimination policy and "cannot be tolerated." StarTribune
Wouldn't it be wonderful to see St Thomas Professors on a picket line chanting "More Adultery Now!
3 comments:
I wrote a letter to Father Dease supporting his decision. I encourage anyone else who supports him to do the same. I think he would like to hear some words of encouragement since it appears he's surrounded by dissenters.
There was a good Letter to the Editor in the Pioneer Press this morning expressing the fact that the sinners today always seem to want public approval of their sin.
I like your note Ray. Any protest at UST would essentially be saying that. Of course, they'll use the usual liberal double-speak: "Freedom from Oppression Now" "Justice for All" Blah, blah, blah
I've said it before and I'll say it again. You don't like/agree with the policies of the place in which you are employed and collect a paycheck? Leave. You don't like the policies and beliefs of the school you are attending? Go somewhere else. Of course, it's easier to dissent within an established institution then it is to start from scratch.
I would go further and say people that did not agree with the beliefs of the Catholic Church never should have sought employment or education there in the first place. But, we all know how watered down Catholic doctine at "Catholic" schools has been for the last 30 years. If I have any sympathy at all for the faculty at UST it is in that they are now realizing that their free ride of dissent and immorality is coming to an end.
Praise God, more Catholic schools are actually becoming Catholic again.
Cathy_of_Alex
One of the reasons that Catholic colleges and universities have these problems with faculty and administrators is that the American educational system is turning out many more PhD's than are needed.
I have a friend who I lived with as an undergraduate at the UofMN. Very brilliant. Did graduate work at the Universities of Muenster and Munich, West Germany and the University of California, Berkeley, where he got his PhD with distinction in the Philosophy of Religion. I'm not sure what his career hopes were, but he ended up as a theology teacher at a small Catholic women's college. He spent his first ten years worrying as to whether or not he would get tenure. He got it, but there he still is. The job market in his field is small and the applicants are many. I don't think that being there was in his original career plans.
I would that protestant faculty members at St Thomas never in a thousand years dreamed that they would end up teaching at a Catholic university, and being thrilled that they got a job at a good school in a big area. They certainly never thought that their personal behavior might be controlled by the Catholic Church. And of course, most Catholic faculty probably reflect national statistics with many not attending Mass regularly.
A couple of years ago I attended a seminar at a parish where the main speaker a professor of Theology at St John's in Collegeville and he was there to speak on the movie, The Passion of the Christ.
For some strange reason the first question posed to him was "What do you like about your job?" I don't know what his religion was, but without hesitation, he replied: "The Church doesn't tell me what to do."
In academia, modernism and relativism rule!
You know, I supported Fr Dease's decision. But legally this is a gray area. And I know many of those people upset by his decision--I used to work there. Some may be trying to skirt the realities of a catholic school, but many want to embrace an understanding of Catholic identity within the school. The Catholic identity is always balanced with the university's committment to the free and open exchange of ideas in a quest for truth, and that's a tension. Just to say--these folks are trying to do the right thing as they understand it. Don't do too quick to toss them "out".
Sorry, I'm extremely tired and not expressing my thoughts well. The Catholic Spirit had a really good article on this, I thought (2 weeks ago?).
All to say--I know the folks involved and they are all good people and committed educators, truly. Let's pray for them all, OK?
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