College Needs to Change and St. Joseph the Worker Agrees

I was excited to read about a new college in Steubenville, OH that opened this fall. The first class at the College of St. Joseph the Worker is now learning more about their Catholic faith and also learning a trade. Let's face it, the typical college experience these days is too expensive and many graduates end up driving trucks and working as wait staff in local restaurants. We have some of those in my own extended family. 

Don't get me wrong, there's no shame in working those jobs; but do they take a $60,000 to $100,000 diploma to do them?

An Anniversary from Hell

St. Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California

Today is the 50th anniversary of the Land O' Lakes Conference.  Isn't Land O' Lakes a kind of butter? Not that Land O' Lakes although that's what I thought of when I first heard about the infamous event years ago.

No, the Land O' Lakes conference was organized by Holy Cross Father Theodore Hesburgh who was the president of Notre Dame University. It's purpose? To revamp the idea of a Catholic University and bring it into the "modern world."

Actually it was more about being accepted by the world and getting a hand in Uncle Sam's generous pockets. The way to do that was to separate the idea of Catholic education from Catholic authority which their statement did.

Time to Strip these Universities of the Name Catholic

Let's have a little truth in advertising for parents paying the bills. And even for students putting themselves deep in debt for their "education." Do they have to be buried deep in doo-doo as well?

Lecture ‘Not for a G-Rated Audience’ during LGBTQ History Month at Fairfield University 

Homosexual-Themed Productions Take the Stage at Notre Dame

Georgetown Univ. Celebrates ‘LGBTQ History Month’ with ‘OUTober’

Thank God for some Catholic schools upholding the truth!

Vocations Continue to Pour from Thomas Aquinas College

Liberals' Rag Publishes Hit Piece on Cardinal Newman Society

Is anybody surprised that the National Catholic Reporter (aka "the fishwrap") would go after an orthodox group that urges Catholic colleges to return to their roots? A newspaper that features columns by dissenters like Sr. Joan Chittister and frequent articles by radical feminist Rosemary Ruether is an unlikely source for an unbiased article on any orthodox group. And there are no real surprises in NCR's hit piece. The article attacking the Cardinal Newman Society starts out pretending to be somewhat balanced before moving into serious attack. By the time one nears the end it is "Sic 'em, boys!":

A statement by the president of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities pulled no punches. Jesuit Father Gregory F. Lucey quoted Ex Corde Ecclesiae's call "to explore courageously the riches of Revelation and of nature so that the united endeavor of intelligence and faith will enable people to come to the full measure of their humanity." 

He then added, "This exploration is not without tensions, but Jesuit institutions continuously engage in rich dialogue to further understanding and to ensure that many voices are heard.

The Cardinal Newman Society chooses not to engage in such dialogue, but instead chooses to criticize and make distorted claims against Catholic colleges, oftentimes maligning them in the process. This hardly fulfills the mission of the Cardinal Newman Society, which is to 'renew and strengthen Catholic identity.' Neither the university nor the Church is well served by such irresponsible actions."

Ah...reason itself, eh? When one considers the state of Jesuit education today

Is Fighting Dissent Effective? You Bet Your Sweet Bippy!

Cardinal Newman Society reports 29 Catholic colleges expunge Planned Parenthood from their websites.
See here...

Catholic Schools for Scandal: Trinity D.C. is one of them

Is there any common ground between the largest abortion killer in the world, Planned Parenthood and the Catholic Church? Hell no! And I mean that literally. Is there any common ground between heaven and hell?

And yet the Cardinal Newman Society has found over 150 so called Catholic schools partnering with Planned Parenthood, one of the most diabolical organizations on the planet. Not included in the Newman list is my own college (now university), Trinity in Washington, D.C. Perhaps they haven't had any internships at Planned Parenthood though it wouldn't surprise me. While Trinity may not be on the Newman list, they deserve exposure as an unfaithful Catholic school. So I'll include some data to warn Catholic parents who may consider sending their girls to this "Catholic" school.

Pray for Students: Most College Campuses are the Devil's Workshop

Yesterday while marching I had a conversation with a gentleman, a Catholic from Baltimore, carrying a little boy on his shoulders. I commented on the number of young people at the march and the danger of them being perverted when they go to college. He agreed. Yes, sad to say, colleges today are hell holes where student dorms are more like brothels than homes and classrooms are indoctrination centers for liberalism and relativism. And they've been that way for a long time. I could tell some dicey stories from my oldest two's experience of dorm life at the University of VA! Even most Catholic colleges scandalize students and lead them down the "primrose path of dalliance."

One example: Next month The V-Monologues will be produced on many college campuses leading students to grunt and groan in simulated sex and fill their minds with filthy images under the masquerade of fighting violence against women. How a play that glorifies lesbian seduction can be seen as non-violent is beyond me. The play is about making young women animals in heat -- for each other. Psychological and spiritual violence can be more deadly than the physical kind. A soul alienated from God is a sad thing. (Read Dr. Faustus.)

The Cardinal Newman Society which addresses the problems on Catholic campuses solicits prayer warriors to support them in their battle to restore the faith on campuses darkened by the secular world's fascination with depravity. Go here to sign up and offer prayers and encouragement for their work. If you can make a donation all the better.  Pray for our young people. Those who embrace the culture of death mostly don't have children; they want yours. Don't make it easy for them!

What Ever Happened to Bishop Joseph Martino?

Do you ever wonder what happened to Bishop Joseph Martino, the bishop of Scranton, who retired suddenly for "insomnia and fatigue" (although, pro-lifers believe he was forced out)? He's the bishop who appeared at a meeting of liberal Catholics promoting the USCCB letter on "faithful citizenship" with an interpretation that voting for pro-abortion politicians was okay. The bishop made it clear the only letter that carried weight in his diocese was his own pastoral letter.  Les Femmes supported the bishop in his strong pro-life advocacy which included upholding canon law 915 and forbidding pro-abortion politicians from speaking in his diocese from Catholic podiums. We still mourn his disappearance from the Catholic scene while scandalous bishops like Roger Mahony and Matthew Clark continue on the scene.

I received an email today from Bishop Martino today via the Cardinal Newman Society supporting their work. Here it is and I'm glad to see the bishop resurfacing. May God bless him and make him a strong voice for the truth in his too early retirment.

_______________________________

Most Rev. Joseph Martino
Bishop Emeritus, Diocese of Scranton
December 7, 2010
Second Week of Advent

My dear friend in Christ,
I write to you today with great pastoral concern for the young people in Catholic education, and on behalf of my friends at The Cardinal Newman Society.
Did you know that nearly 1-in-8 Catholics will leave the Faith while attending a Catholic college?
On many of our Catholic campuses, there is a crisis that imperils the souls of tens of thousands of the Church's sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, brothers and sisters, and nieces and nephews.

This Advent season, I am asking you to join The Cardinal Newman Society, which has tirelessly worked to end this crisis for more than 17 years.
Today's Gospel reads: "If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them should go astray: doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the mountains, and go to seek that which is gone astray?... [I]t is not the will of your Father, who is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish."
My friend, Scripture here reminds us of why we must be vigilant in protecting the faith of every son and daughter.

We also must fight for a return to the flock of those colleges that are, perhaps unwittingly, teaching false theology and condoning promiscuous student life.

What the hell is going on at Catholic Colleges?

Actually, the question is the answer. Most Catholic schools are raising hell --literally. Their administrations are busy drilling a shaft straight down to the sulphurous depths to give the demons access to their students. Welcome, Screwtape, Wormwood, Fleascratch, Snakebite, and all you other minions of his Lowness, the satanic father below.

Hungry for a few coeds? - Help yourself. The dorms are filled with fornicators, drunks, and child-killers all enabled by liberal professors and pro-abortion guest speakers. Safe sex is the mantra at many campus health services with condoms freely available. As for parents, they never see the lewd ads and abortion clinic promos on bulletin boards because they're cleaned up for Parents' Weekend. Gotta keep the checkbook happy.

No curfews, no rules about who's in your room any hour of the day (or night), a wink and a smirk over the necktie on the doorknob to tell the roommate to take a hike.

Yup, it's hell on many Catholic campuses today and that doesn't even include promoting and enabling the "gay" lifestyle with "pride" and "gender bender" events.

Check out the studies: Cardinal Newman Society study and study by sociologist Amy Adamczyk that show kids at Catholic schools are more likely:

to abort
lose their faith
fornicate
contracept
approve of same-sex marriage

And this is why Catholic parents sacrifice to send their kids to Catholic schools?
A pox on all your campuses, I say, especially Notre Dame.

But there's good news too. Faithful Catholic Colleges like Christendom, Magdalen, Steubenville, St. Thomas Aquinas, and a handful of others are producing vocations to the priesthood and religious life. They offer many opportunities to grow in the faith. And they are often the best educational value for the money among Catholic schools as well.

Don't let fake Catholic schools that have sold out to the Rockefeller foundation and the federal government corrupters undermine and steal your children's faith. Go for the real thing, or keep the kids at local community colleges for two years and let them get a little more maturity under their belts before going to state schools. That way they can avoid the dorm brothels and live off campus.

But avoid the bad Catholic schools like the plague. Young people who play with devils are likely to get burnt.

Does Academic Freedom Exist at Notre Dame?

We constantly hear those at so-called Catholic colleges demanding the "academic freedom" to feature the enemies of the Church on campus. These champions of "free speech" like to demonize those who dare to suggest that Catholic schools shouldn't give a podium to those who advocate killing the unborn, advancing same-sex marriage, and espouse views totally at odds with the Catholic faith.

But do these apostles of liberalism follow their own pious statements? Not if Notre Dame is typical which seems likely. Check out Were Views of Pro-Life Notre Dame Officials, Professors Suppressed on Obama? There appears to be an "atmosphere of intimidation" on the campus according to anonymous staff and professors who fear retaliation if they speak out. The article's author asks the question, "If this is happening at Notre Dame, then at what other Catholic universities and colleges is this also occurring? And isn’t this just the sort of pressure to conform that mars many secular universities, leading one to wonder: what is now distinctive about the intellectual atmosphere at University of Notre Dame, or any number of other Catholic schools?"

Good question, which is why new, small orthodox schools are popping up around the country. See the Cardinal Newman Society for information on solid Catholic colleges.

Truth in Advertising - Call it "Cafeteria Catholics United"

If anyone wonders if the devil is alive and well and busy as a nest of termites, he has only to examine the George Soros-funded "Catholics United." The group is currently running 1,150 radio ads in 5 states touting the moral nature of the budget.

It would be laughable if it weren't so despicable. The fact that this group operates thanks to one of the most anti-Catholic rich guys in the country (who also funds Catholics for a Free Choice) stinks to high heavens. At the end of their lying ads should be the statement, "This spot was paid for by George Soros and other anti-Catholic sources."

With regard to the "morality" of the budget, it at least doubles the national debt which puts our grandchildren and even their children in hock. This is justice? It also steals from current taxpayers to fund all kinds of unconstitutional pork barrell projects. This is moral? Worst of all it includes multi-millions to fund abortion, chemical birth control, immoral and ineffective AIDS programs, pornographic sex education for kids, etc. both here and in the third world. What do these bogus Catholics not understand about, "Thou Shalt not Kill?" and "Thou Shalt not Steal?" What does dismembering unborn babies and stealing from present and future generations have in common with God's laws?

Cafeteria Catholics United is also shilling for Notre Dame as a counter response to the protests and petition begun by The Cardinal Newman Society to disinvite President Obama from graduation. With the chutzpa so typical of liberal liars they say, "Regrettably, the individuals leading the charge against Notre Dame are partisan operatives who routinely use a single-issue analysis to divorce the Catholic faith from its longstanding commitment to social justice and the sanctity of all human life." This implies, of course, that they aren't "partisan operatives," which couldn't be further from the truth. They are in bed with the pro-abortion, pro-gay crowds who are the enemies of God. You cannot be Catholic and in favor of abortion, sodomy, and same-sex marriage, but you can play "Let's pretend."

As for the bogus accusation that pro-lifers only care about the unborn - that is nothing but a smear. The difference between liberal "charity" that Cafeteria Catholics want and the charity of the pro-life community is that the bogus Catholics demand "forced charity" through taxation backed up by the iron fist of the IRS and jail terms for resisters. They want to play Robin Hood. That way, they can get their pet programs funded that feed buckets of money to administrators and staff who "do charity" as a profession. Pro-lifers prefer to share from their own pockets, run free clinics and crisis pregnancy centers, offer shepherding homes to unwed moms, and depend on the generosity of voluntary charity.

Cafeteria Catholics United has a friend in the White House and the force of the government leviathan behind their partisan views. What they don't have is the power of the Holy Spirit or truly Catholic minds and hearts. Pray for them and expose their hypocrisy.

V-Monologues continue to pollute Catholic campuses

According to the Cardinal Newman Society, performances of the V-Monologues, Eve Ensler's lewd play celebrating lesbianism, group masturbation, and lesbian seduction is down this year. From a high of 32 Catholic schools polluting the minds and hearts of their students, "only" 15 will engage in the scandal this year.

Don't be deceived about the nature of this play. I've read sections of it and stopped because the level of filth is so great I did not want the ideas in my head. And yet this poison is sold as "empowerment of women." One monologue has a teen minor describe her lesbian seduction as her "salvation." (She was also raped by her father. No surprise - lesbians love to demonize men, particularly dads.) And yes...we all know that the way to heal rape by incest is to commit statutory lesbian rape.

The V-monologues is one more illustration of the pornification of the culture reducing us to the level of animals, less than animals actually, because animals act in accordance with the natural law. I make my apologies to the barnyard for the comparison.

Many articles about V-M performances describe a theatre filled with coeds moaning and groaning simulating the sounds of sex. One monologue talks about the smells of female reproductive organs. This is barnyard imagery with animals sniffing each other's hindquarters and howling and grunting as they mate. But at least their mating has a purpose -- the birth of spring calves, piglets, and lambs. February's V-Monologues offer no such future hope, only the brutalization of women snuffling and grunting after one another like animals rolling in their own excrement. When all is said and done and the pigs lie satiated, however, the barnyard will be as empty as the Oklahoma dust bowl.

Why not pick a school off the list below, go to its website and protest this piece of porn being presented on campus. I'm choosing John Carroll. My dad attended the school for two years in the mid 1930s before applying and being accepted to the Naval Academy. From there he went out to the west coast, married my mom, deployed to Pearl Harbor where he, Mom, and my oldest brother survived the bombing. Daddy went on to father twelve more children; ten grew to adulthood. I wonder what he would think about the depths to which his alma mater has sunk. On second thought, I know, and it's a good thing for the president of the school, Fr. Robert L. Niehoff, S.J., that my admiral dad isn't alive to tell him.

And by the way, nine of the fifteen schools listed are run by Jesuits. Consider that their motto is Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam, For the Greater Glory of God. What an obscenity to present the V-Monologues under the Jesuit banner. May St. Ignatius intercede for the repentance and conversion of the order he founded as the pope's men. If they don't, may God wipe them from the face of the earth. They have done more to destroy the innocence of Catholic students than any other single order, I believe, although the Sisters of Mercy may be a close second.

Bellarmine University
College of SaintRose
College of the Holy Cross
DePaul University
Fairfield University
Fordham University
Georgetown University
John Carroll University
Loyola University Chicago
Regis College
Saint Mary’s College of California
Saint Xavier University
Seattle University
University of San Francisco

Great Catholic Colleges Part I - WCC

In light of my post about the scandal at the University of San Francisco, I thought it would be good to present the flip side: great Catholic Colleges that celebrate their orthodoxy. This will be the first of several posts.

One of my favorite Catholic colleges is a new kid on the block -- Wyoming Catholic College. The school describes itself this way:

"Wyoming Catholic College is a four-year college committed to offering a liberal arts education that steeps its students in the awesome beauty of our created, natural world and imbues them with the best that has been thought and said in Western civilization, including the moral and intellectual heritage of the Catholic Church. The college strives to promote a love of learning, an understanding of natural order, and the quest for virtuous living so that its graduates will assume their responsibilities as citizens in a free society.

"The curriculum and campus are devoted to the formation of the whole person, i.e., the spiritual, physical and intellectual dimensions. Studies include the classics of imaginative literature, history, mathematics, science, philosophy, fine arts, and theology. They employ the great and good books as well as the natural created world, effecting a rich combination of intellectual and experiential or poetic knowledge. Students’ imaginations are enriched and their capacity for wonder deepened. Moreover, students and faculty share in a campus life that reflects the ideals taught directly and indirectly in the classroom.

"In this Catholic tradition, emphasis lies not on the dissemination of information, but on the development and perfection of the intellect, the passions, and the will, enabling students to approach and embrace the good, the true, and the beautiful throughout their lives.

"In addressing the whole person, the college contributes to the students’ spiritual and moral formation. This is done via Catholic culture, context, and traditions. The faculty and college are faithful to the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church and the deposit of faith handed down over the past two thousand years."

If I were college age how I'd love to sign up for a four-year adventure at WCC. The Cardinal Newman Society included them in their latest College Guide of twenty-one authentically Catholic schools in the United States. Sad, isn't it that with hundreds of so-called Catholic schools only a few really teach and defend the faith? All the more reason to give WCC a serious look if you have children, relatives, or friends approaching college age.

Pray, hope, don't worry and take a young person to lunch.

One of my favorite groups working for restoration of Catholic culture is the Cardinal Newman Society. Those who influence the young own the future and CNS's activity on college campuses offers hope that Catholic truth will survive the dark ages we presently face. When my old eyes look out and see young Catholics like Patrick Reilly of CNS, David Bereit of 40 Days for Life, Eric Scheidler continuing the legacy of his heroic father at the Pro-Life Action League, Eduardo Verastegui of Bella fame, and many others I am hopeful for the future. These leaders are just the vanguard of an army of youth, many coming out of the home school movement and others being raised from the very stones (of secularism) as God promised. Don't ever give up hope. Dispel the darkness: light a candle and take a young person to lunch. Listen to their hopes and dreams and share your faith.