Matt Abbott at Renew America has an interesting article covering the on-going scandal at Ave Maria University. Ave Maria named their sports complex after Tom Golisano in exchange for a $4 million grant. Galisano's also funnelled millions of dollars into the campaign chests of NARAL-endorsed candidates including the most pro-abortion politician in history, Barack Obama. But Galisano claims he has "always" been pro-life. Wow! Our mothers told us actions speak louder than words, but when you want a piece of the Golisano pie maybe the only action that matters is the hand filling out the "pay to" line on the fat check.
Apparently some prominent Catholics think the scandal is insignificant. Deal Hudson and Keith Fournier are cheerleading for Ave Maria's decision to honor Golisano while attacking The Wanderer for covering the scandal and dismissing the "peanut gallery of whining negative critics" (like me) who think honoring Golisano is wrong. Seems money covers a multitude of sins including using your millions to facilitate the murder of the innocent by electing radical pro-aborts. Galisano contributed big bucks to 50 such candidates (endorsed by NARAL), 47 of whom were elected. Perhaps the next folks who will get a pass for "always" being "pro-life" will be all those "personally opposed to abortion" politicians who consistently vote to advance child-killing while claiming that in their heart of hearts they oppose it.
Deacon Fournier says he is saddened by all this and I agree. The bible says love of money is the root of all evils and Catholic universities have, for the most part, sold their Catholic souls for it. That is certainly something to mourn. This time Ave Maria sold a building which will forever bear the name of a man whose money has done some legitimate charity (just like Bill Gates) but is also closely associated with the culture of death. What will Ave Maria put on the auction block next?
Unlike Deacon Fournier I cannot congratulate Ave Maria's president. I think the decision to honor Golisano is a scandal and I applaud The Wanderer for having the guts to call it what it is. Actions still speak louder than words and Golisano's aren't pro-life at all despite his verbal assurances to Ave Maria.
Too many judges, not enough saints.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the saints part. As for being judges, we are all called to make judgments and public scandals should be rebuked publicly.
ReplyDeleteI don't agree its a scandal. Its not reasonable to believe that Ave Maria would intentionally deceive about the 'worthiness' of the donation. They have proven their 'prolife' stripes with their daily lives ...unlike most 'Catholic' institutions. (Newman list excepted)
ReplyDeleteThis non-scandal is as counter-productive as it is counter- intuitive.
I guess we'll have to disagree on the scandal issue. Honoring a person who has pumped multi-millions into electing the most radical pro-abortion politicians teaches that defending the unborn isn't really all that important. I would have little problem with the donation if they hadn't named the building after him. At least that would be some money kept out of the coffers of extremists like the president. But that building is named for him, presumably forever crowning him with the lie that he is pro-life. That's what he bought with his money.
ReplyDeleteI would like to be able to support Ave Maria. We started out as members of their founders' club. But their actions have been problematic on many fronts. See http://avewatch.com/.
We can probably agree on one thing -- to pray for Tom Monaghan and Ave Maria.
I would rather err on the side of giving the benefit of the doubt. Its just possible that he is more aware now than previously- I believe that Ave Maria has several meetings with him to determine and accomplish this. (Have you checked out his charity org?) Also, I would tend to lend more credibility to those at Ave Maria. Using the same 'fruit of the tree' argument, the fruit from Ave Maria is good.
ReplyDeleteA good commentary on attitude is at the '40 Days For Life' devotional for today. Humility...
I viewed the grants and see a lot going to the disabled which is praiseworthy. But it also leaves me scratching my head because of his support for NARAL-endorsed politicians. It's schizophrenic. Abortion is a leading cause of premature births and prematurity is a leading cause of mental and physical disabilities. So with one hand Golisano spends to increase disability and with the other contributes to alleviate it. Sort of like politician who claim to want abortion to be "safe, legal, and rare" while voting to restrict medical oversight of abortion mills and block parental consent laws, etc.
ReplyDeleteGolisano is also a major underwriter of Clinton's global initiative. Now the Clinton's are leading supporters of expanding abortion world-wide and their goals include "women's health" and "environmental issues" which translates to me as promoting abortion and population control in the third world. That's been their agenda all along.
Golisano's support for pro-abortion extremists is recent (the fall), so I find his claim to be "pro-life" disingenuous.
As far as giving him the benefit of the doubt, I think Reagan's quote applies: "Trust but verify." I don't think Golisano fairs well under scrutiny.
I don't see how Golisano not meeting your standards of prolife purity, makes the acceptance of his gift a scandal. Seems to me that 'Ave Watch' are busier being scandal mongers than doing any actual good. Do they do 'good'? I'm no more convinced by their 'bad news' now then I was when I first looked at the story months ago.
ReplyDeleteI guess we do disagree. pax.
The issue is the honoring of Golisano, not the acceptance of the gift. Catholic Charities can accept money from the Bill Gates Foundation for Haiti. But, you don't see Catholic Charities giving Gates its platform or naming a building after him.
ReplyDeleteAve Maria exchanged an honor for money. That honor - the naming of a campus building - went to a man who used his millions to get pro-abortion politicians into office. The honoring is a clear violation of the USCCB's 2004 statement on Catholics in public life.