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1887 Trust was formed in 2013 by alumni and parents who had long been concerned about the trajectory of Gonzaga’s Catholic identity. Several key administrative decisions as well as public pronouncements by those entrusted with Gonzaga leadership roles had led concerned stakeholders to question whether there was sufficient administration and faculty concern for Catholic magisterial teaching and a strong Catholic identity at GU.
Following are some of the events and/or positions taken by those in authority at Gonzaga that caused concerned faithful Catholic stakeholders to perceive that an organized response in support of a strong Catholic identity at Gonzaga was necessary:
#The Vagina Monologues
#Archbishop Desmond Tutu Commencement Speech
#Proposed Curriculum Changes
#Misleading Statements about Church Teaching on Sexuality
#Faculty Agitation Against Church Teaching
The Vagina Monologues
The perennial controversy at colleges across the country regarding this play pits those who would make a concerted effort to upend Catholic teaching about human sexuality against those who believe that a Catholic college must support the Church’s teaching about the meaning and dignity of sexual acts.
Typically staged near Valentine’s Day, promoters tout the play as a means of opening dialogue around the issue of sexual violence against women. Critics of the play believe there are more constructive ways to speak to the issue of sexual violence than presenting a play that features, among other depictions of immoral behavior, the lesbian rape of a teenage girl, described as a “a kind of heaven.”
Gonzaga’s granting of permission for a performance of the play in 2011 was seen by many as part of the ongoing diminution of the school’s commitment to Catholic orthodoxy.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu Commencement Speech
Archbishop Desmond Tutu is a Nobel Peace Prize winner; a South African social rights activist who gained notoriety during the 1980s for staunchly opposing his country's policy of apartheid. While his civil rights work was undeniably noble and courageous, the Archbishop also supports abortion, gay marriage and contraception. Needless to say, these positions put him in direct opposition to Catholic Church teaching. While his presence on campus would have been welcome in the context of an academic panel, it was seen as problematic by many faithful Catholics that he was given an honorary degree and a platform of honor from which to deliver a commencement address in 2012. In this, we look in a particular way, to the American bishops’ statement Catholics in Political Life which states that “The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.” While the bishops as a whole have yet to clarify whether it was intended that the policy should apply to speakers of all faiths or only to Catholic speakers, some individual bishops have taken the position that the policy includes speakers of any faith. It is our contention that, as a matter of common sense, if Catholic colleges are instructed not to give honors and platforms to Catholics who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles, surely they should not give such honors and platforms to non-Catholics who, likewise, stand in opposition to those fundamental Catholic moral principles. It is also important to note that differing opinions are welcome in academic panel settings or in debate, as part of the Church’s concern for truth seeking. When providing individual honors and platforms, however, the university must not be entirely neutral ground, but must support Church teaching. In these cases, the Catholic university must become a conversation partner with the world at large, having its own institutional point of view, and drawing from the well of truth that has already been discovered by the Church of which she is a part.
Proposed Curriculum Changes
Recent proposed changes to the core curriculum may reduce the religious studies requirement to a smaller number of credit hours and will perhaps not require any study of scripture or Catholic Christian theology. This would remove the theological grounding that should motivate commitments to social justice and human dignity.
Misleading Statements about Church Teaching on Sexuality
Over time, the previous Director of University Ministry made statements that could perhaps best be described as unclear in regard to the Church’s teaching on human sexuality. It is a concern of 1887 Trust that Catholic Church teaching be presented in a straight forward, unadulterated manner.
Faculty Agitation Against Church Teaching
Occasionally faculty members and groups of faculty have publicly agitated against Church teaching, as in a group that promoted an incorrect understanding of settled Church teaching on homosexual acts and some twenty or more faculty members who signed a letter supporting the performance of the Vagina Monologues on campus. At minimum, there is a tension in these acts between respect for the Catholic mission of Gonzaga and academic freedom. We believe that those professors who freely choose to work for a Catholic university should be expected to be supportive and understanding of the need to respect core teachings of the Catholic Church. Private disagreement by faculty members, and/or legitimate academic discussion is one thing, while public agitation for changes to settled Church teaching, or efforts to confuse students about what the Church teaches, or attempts to allow third parties an exclusive platform with which to advocate the overthrow of Catholic moral teaching is quite another.
Some will argue that academic freedom requires that such agitation and unrepentant promotion of doctrines opposed to Catholic teaching is required by the concept of academic freedom. There is, however, more than one freedom at stake under the umbrella of academic freedom. A Catholic institution must have its institutional freedom respected and must be free to pursue its institutional goal of providing a Catholic education. Professors who attack core beliefs of the Church offend against the freedom of the institution to pursue its mission.