By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
Only weeks after offending Catholics by covering symbols of Christ from the stage where President Obama spoke, Georgetown University is adding insult to injury by presenting an award to pro-abortion Catholic Vice President Joe Biden tomorrow.
On April 23, the Vice President will receive the Legal Momentum Hero Award at a symposium celebrating the 15th Anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act. The symposium is sponsored by the Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law and Legal Momentum, a women’s rights advocacy group that sharply conflicts with the Catholic Church by promoting “reproductive rights,” advocating same-sex “marriage” and opposing abstinence-only education programs and pro-life crisis pregnancy centers.
“Georgetown’s decision to honor Biden, on the heels of its acquiescence to the White House’s request to cover the IHS symbol at Gaston Hall last week when President Obama spoke, combined with the current imbroligio over President Obama’s scheduled commencement speech and honorary degree at Notre Dame, is certain to cause more outrage among Catholics,” writes James Todd of Pewsitter.com.
Biden’s honor tomorrow is problematic on several fronts, Todd says. First, it violates the USCCB document “Catholics in Political Life” which directs Catholic schools not to honor pro-abortion politicians.
“Moreover, unlike the situation at Notre Dame with President Obama where some have argued that the USSCB statement doesn’t apply because Obama isn’t Catholic – Biden clearly is.”
Second, the award tomorrow commemorating the Violence Against Women Act represents a patent hypocrisy. “Abortion is a violence against women, but Georgetown has decided to honor the Vice President who is pro-abortion and therefore by definition, supports this violence against both women and their unborn children.”
Todd asserts that Catholic educational facilities such as Georgetown and Notre Dame have not only alienated themselves from authentic Catholic educational norms and principles, they have abrogated the right to be called, “Catholic” as part of their titles.
“The presentation of the Legal Momentum Heroes Award to Vice President Biden provides another failed opportunity for a Catholic University to proclaim and profess its adherence to the Magisterium. Instead it has chosen to promote a secular culture of death and disregard the sanctity of all human life.”
Patrick Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society, an organization dedicated to restoring the Catholic identity to U.S. Catholic universities, agrees.
“Even as Notre Dame publicly snubs the Catholic bishops, Georgetown appears to be saying, ‘Me, too!’” Reilly said. “Just last week, Georgetown covered the name of Jesus Christ at the request of the White House. Scandal after scandal at Georgetown, including the stunning 2007 law school policy that offers paid internships for students to work at organizations that advocate for abortion rights, has severely compromised its integrity as a Catholic institution.”
Faithful Catholics are being urged to make their disapproval known to all of the supposed “Catholic” educational facilities that promote activities and lifestyles contrary to authentic Catholic principles.
For more information, visit The Cardinal Newman Society website at http://cardinalnewmansociety.org/
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