The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS), an organization dedicated to restoring the Catholic identity to Catholic universities and colleges in the U.S., is reporting that after receiving its report on Tim Miller, a performing artist and gay activist who often appears nude on stage, it will no longer allow him to host a week-long workshop on campus in April.
“Villanova University embraces intellectual freedom and academic discourse," the school said in a statement. "Indeed, it is at the very heart of our University and our Augustinian Catholic intellectual tradition. With regard to the forthcoming residency and performance workshops by Tim Miller, we had concerns that his performances were not in keeping with our Catholic and Augustinian values and mission."
Miller gained notoriety in 1990 when he and three others had grants vetoed by the National Endowment for the Arts due to his obscene "art." He's been arrested dozens of times, is an outspoken advocate of gay marriage and abortion rights, and is a member of the anti-Catholic group ACTUP which sends protesters into Sunday Masses and has desecrated the Eucharist. According to Facebook, Miller says the group's confrontational tactics are "the single most influential thing in my life."
"Miller’s 'art' has reportedly included simulating intercourse and lewdly exposing his naked body," CNS reports. "He has criticized the 'hideous religious baggage' that Americans have and said laws defending traditional marriage are 'right out of the Third Reich'.”
Miller responded to Villanova's decision by calling the school "homophobic."
“The thing that they worry about, I think, is that I am a gay person,” he said. “Being a gay person with political opinions.”
He told the Associated Press, " . . . It’s clearly homophobia and panic" and blamed Catholic blogs, saying that they were spreading “this bizarre lie that I’m anti-Catholic … People tell these lies and it gets people who read these blogs worked up.”
Heidi Rose, the assistant professor of communications who booked the residency months ago and is a member of the university's Gay Straight Coalition, said she was told by university officials not to talk about the event.
She said the workshop, which had been scheduled for April 16-21, would take students "through an intimate process of self-discovery and exploration, focusing on identity and culture, questions of diversity and difference, knowledge of self and others, etc."
The University defended itself against these allegations. " . . .Villanova University is an open and inclusive community and in no way does this singular decision change that.”
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