SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame will allow "The Vagina Monologues" and a gay film festival to continue on campus, the school’s president said Wednesday.
The Rev. John I. Jenkins 10 weeks ago questioned whether the two events belonged on the campus of a Roman Catholic university.
Since then, he said he has heard comments from both sides. Many who opposed the events said they went against the school’s "Catholic character."
"To them, we must say, with all respect: ‘This is a Catholic university,’" Jenkins said in a statement. "We are committed to a wide-open, unconstrained search for truth, and we are convinced that Catholic teaching has nothing to fear from engaging the wider culture."
But he said such events must be accompanied by Catholic teaching.
"The challenge is not to do just one of these – or even to do both of them in parallel – but to promote academic freedom and affirm our Catholic character in a way that integrates the two and elevates both," he said.
As a result of the debate, students who supported "The Vagina Monologues" have proposed to produce a play, describing their own experiences, titled "Loyal Daughters," he said.
Jenkins also will head a committee of students, faculty and administrators designed to foster a discussion of gender relations, sexuality and ways to prevent violence against women.
I though his original announcement back in January was a step in the right direction, but that the language that Fr. Jenkins used was not very strong and was watered down with so-called balance. It looks like he caved on this since how exactly can you have a gay film festival showing acts that are objectively disordered and also have it be accompanied by Catholic teaching? Could the KKK hold a rally just as long as they posted a statement from the Catechism on racism. The unequivocal statement of Father Brian J. Shanley, O.P., President of Providence College was much better.
Update: A reader sent me a link to the full address by Fr. Jenkins. One thing to note is that it says absolutely nothing about the "gay film festival" and concentrates mainly on VM and about the student created production of Loyal Daughters.
Some of the individuals I’ve talked with are adamantly opposed to the performance or expression on campus of a work, play, book, or speech that contradicts Catholic teaching. To them, we must say, with all respect: "This is a Catholic university." We are committed to a wide-open, unconstrained search for truth, and we are convinced that Catholic teaching has nothing to fear from engaging the wider culture.
This is true as far as it goes as long as your remember that error has no rights and where is occurs should be forthrightly labeled as such.
Others I talked to were appalled that we would raise any question about the content, message, or implications of a work of art, drama, or literature here on campus. To them, we have to say, with the same respect: "This is a Catholic university." It is founded upon our belief that love of God and neighbor are eternal teachings that give context and meaning to our search for truth. As I said, Catholic teaching has nothing to fear from engaging the wider culture, but we all have something to fear if the wider culture never engages Catholic teaching. That is why the Catholic tradition must not only inspire our worship and our service on campus; it should help shape the intellectual life of the university. Our goal is not to limit discussion or inquiry, but to enrich it; it is not to insulate that faith tradition from criticism, but to foster constructive engagement with critics.
The statement read as a whole is a good faith effort to talk about debate in light of the truth of the Catholic faith. The question though is whether the actual application will be followed or not. I would be much more convinced about the sincerity of advocating a "Catholic intellectual tradition" if they actually started following the provisions ofEx Corde Ecclesiae and required that their theologians received a mandate from the Church. Their are a lot of positive signs concerning the University of Notre Dame, hopefully they will continue.
Update: The Cardinal Newman Society also weighs in.
7 comments
“…This is a Catholic university…We are committed to a wide-open, unconstrained search for truth…”
From what? people pretending to be human reproductive organs talking in the most vulgar of terms about sexuality and then glorifying the rape of a minor — and then the viewing of something called ‘gay films’ (likely to be porn, I’ll guess, in one form or another) This is paraded about as ‘truth’? Is this guy on some sort of hallucinogenic drug??
Oh, yeah, sin is a sort of hallucinogenic drug, isn’t it?
He says such events must be accompanied by ‘Catholic teaching’. Will there be a seminar to show how raping a young teen is a mortal sin and leads to damnation? Or on the distinct dignity of women? Or that viewing porn and glorifying a sinful lifestyle is also grave sin and leads to damnation? In fact, that it is being sponsored by the university and approved by Jenkins makes him an accomplice to those led further into sin by these events.
Poor schlep. He doesn’t even see the millstone coming.
I wonder why these Catholic colleges do not invite the “Puppetry of the Penis” show? Equal time now!
Op-ed: I am beginning to think that everyone in the Church is gay. It is the predominate topic among so many Church circles. Is it me? Especially in seminary formation, it seems constant. We had a lunchtime forum on “Deus caritas est” yesterday and one of the few quesitons from the students had to do with whether this encyclical pertained to homosexuals too. Give me a break.
Tell me if I am wrong here: the majority of gay film and print media has more to do with active sexaul encounters than with anything else. I have discovered this through research into the crystal meth problem, especially among the gay community. It is not about acceptance as human beings, its about acceptance of sexual activity. It is time to make a stand!
Andrew, O.P.
I though his original announcement back in January was a step in the right direction . . .
I think I attempted to add some caution to your optimism. Or I meant to. That’s as close as I can get to I Told You So, and I’m taking it.
I fail to see why the Vagina monologues are still this popular and I certainly fail to see how that means engaging the culture. What’s next? A porn festival on campus in the search for truth?
Catholics have the truth, it need not be searched for in pop culture.
“Catholics have the truth, it need not be searched for in pop culture.” Amen! I don’t know why the president of a Catholic university would say such a ludicrous thing about the “search for truth.” If he doesn’t already know that the Church HAS the Truth and that the message of the Vagina Monologues is profoundly contrary to that Truth, then Notre Dame is in bigger trouble than we thought.
You poor folks thought you were getting an orthodox president in Fr. Jenkins. You should know we have our tenticles everywhere and we have our agents well trained in pretending to be one of you Catholics, only to dash your hopes. Jenkins is but the latest of our sucesses. Don’t you know we have taken over the Church in America and Europe and we will not be so easily defeated.
Some questions: what exactly is the “message” of this play? Do plays have “messages”? If so, who decides what those “messages” are? It occurs to me that any attempt to ban this play without answering those three questions, and coming up with a categorical system to judge these sorts of things, is unprincipled. It may be that the answer is “we haven’t quite formulated a system yet, but we know that whatever the ultimate ‘message-measuring metric’ is, we are confident that this play goes too far.” I suppose that’s a possible response, but it strikes me as profoundly inadequate. Fr. Jenkins’ letter recognizes the complexity of these questions. I haven’t seen the play, though. From what I hear, it’s not like an on-campus seminar on eugenics or Arianism. I don’t get the fuss. Oh, and in the spirit of full disclosure, I am one of those Catholics who doesn’t squirm at the mention of the “v-word” (shhhhhhh….).