And so it begins

I was wondering how long it would take for the Observer to publish a letter (responding to another student's defense of Catholic teaching on homosexuality) that accuses observant Catholics of "bigotry" and homophobia. I actually thought it would come a lot faster. Observer, you slay me.

This is why I believe that a change in the non-discrimination clause opens the door to disciplinary and legal actions against students who hold Catholic convictions about sinfulness of homosexual acts. If a student can be slandered openly as a bigot for daring to quote the Catechism, well, it doesn't bode well, does it?

I have to say I really don't understand these students at all. If I was going to a school whose policies I discovered to be utterly against my most deeply-held beliefs, I think I might transfer rather than trying to remake an entire university in my own image. But hey, apparently what Notre Dame really needs is to become another Purdue or UC Berkeley or Yale, devoid of any vestige of that icky-sticky Catholicism stuff. Sure, we could keep the nice art, and that cool teaching about social justice, but all that medieval blather about sin and natural law needs to go! All hail Progress!

Keep the stained glass and the pretty statues but pull the moral and theological foundation from under them - that seems to be the prevailing line of thought amongst some of the students agitating here. It makes no sense to me - perhaps because I have come to understand that the Catholic Faith is a beautiful and coherent whole. If the Catholic Church has no authority to teach the truth about homosexuality or birth control or any one of a host of "difficult topics," how can we trust Her authority on anything else? This schizophrenic mindset is one that is present among so many today. We accept the teachings only when they make us feel good, only when they coincide with our particular world view. I know this is a challenge that I struggle with myself.

I am so very much looking forward to the Edith Stein conference this year - not just for the petty pleasure (and I freely admit it is petty - I've never claimed to be a saint) of being amongst like-minded people, but for the insights I will gain about theology, about the universal call to chastity, about God and man and the relationships thereof. Notre Dame is one of the few places I would have such an opportunity every year. God grant it may always be so.