Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Spasms of a "Catholic" University

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Online:
Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki and the judicial vicar for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee separately raised red flags over Marquette's hiring of a Seattle University professor as Arts and Sciences dean.

Listecki called Marquette President Father Robert A. Wild about the university's offer to Jodi O'Brien after receiving calls from clergy and lay leaders, the archbishop's spokeswoman said.

Also expressing concerns about O'Brien's appointment was Father Paul Hartmann, the archdiocese's judicial vicar. Hartmann sent a March 3 letter to the chair of the search committee that said the gender studies professor "pursues subject matter that seems destined to actually create dichotomies and cause tensions (if not contradictions) with Marquette's Catholic mission and identity."...

Marquette said last week that it rescinded its offer to O'Brien, a lesbian who has written extensively on issues of gender and sexual orientation, saying she was not a good fit with the university's Catholic mission and identity.

Let there be no doubt that, had there not been an eruption of outrage over this scandal, Marquette, as always far more concerned with money and prestige than with preserving any shred of Catholic identity, would have gone along with the hiring of O'Brien.

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