By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist

The editor of Notre Dame’s campus newspaper has refused to publish a column by a faculty member because it supported Church teaching on homosexuality.

According to a report by www.Pewsitter.com, Matt Gamber, editor of Notre Dame’s Observer, in a blatant act of censorship, refused to publish a column by the prominent Dr. Charles E. Rice, Professor Emeritus and member of the law school faculty, because of its content.

Dr. Rice’s bi-weekly column, which he has been writing for the paper since 1992, states basic Church teaching on homosexuality such as the position that homosexual acts are always objectively wrong because they are contrary to nature as well as being extra-marital. It also states that the Church believes men and women with same-sex tendencies should live treated and are deserving of respect from society. 

Even though Dr. Rice’s column contained nothing other than established Church teaching on the subject, Mr. Gamber refused to publish it.

“I personally had some concerns with the content of the column,” he told Dr. Rice in an e-mail.

He went on to suggest: “In the future, if you would like to examine this topic, we thought it might be beneficial to do so in a point-counterpoint format, perhaps with an author of an opposing or differing viewpoint. That way, each ‘side,’ to speak, would have the opportunity to present relevant facts, evidence and analysis to define its position.”

Dr. Rice responded by stating: “ In a university that claims to be Catholic, I am not willing to restrict my presentation of Catholic teaching to a format that treats the authoritative teaching of the Church as merely one viewpoint or ‘side’ among many. If you require that future columns of mine on homosexuality comply with a format such as you propose, it will be inappropriate for me to continue writing the column for the Observer.”
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