| December 13, 2013 Connect with Us  
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A Catholic school or college can lift its students to Heaven, quite literally! But let's face it, some of what passes for Catholic education today is for the birds…or the chimps.
As we reported this week, a law professor at St. Thomas University in Miami is asking a court to declare a chimpanzee an "autonomous legal person." And a Fordham theologian thinks bringing pro-abortion Peter Singer to campus is healthy, but eating certain farm-raised animals violates God's law. Are these the top concerns of Catholic professors today?
We live in an age when the personhood of innocent babies is denied; marriage and family are threatened; and Jesus himself would not be "religious" enough for an exemption from federal law mandating insurance coverage for sterilization and contraception. Human dignity is under attack, and the culprits include Catholic university professors.
For instance, there's Georgetown University law professor Nina Pillard, who was confirmed yesterday to the D.C. Circuit Court after writing in a Georgetown journal that abortion rights are necessary to help "free women from historically routine conscription into maternity." The Court until now has been a wall of protection for religious freedom, particularly against the National Labor Relations Board which is now asserting unconstitutional power over a fourth Catholic university.
But enough of that—it's Advent, a great time to remind ourselves that all begins and ends with Christ, no matter how dark things may seem. Jesus was born into an age darker than our own, and He is a light to the nations.
And the Newman Guide colleges give
evidence of that. Just listen to the angelic
voices of the Thomas Aquinas College students whose "flash mob" delighted
shoppers in California. Laus Deo!Teach a chimp to sing like that.
As you prepare for Christmas, please remember our work to promote and defend faithful Catholic education.
Gratefully yours,
Patrick J. Reilly
President