The University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, is run by the Catholic Diocese of the Twin Cities. Like many former religious institutions such as Notre Dame, Harvard, and Loyola, to name a few prominent ones, St. Thomas has only tenuous connections to its religious roots and, in fact, seems eager to demonstrate to the world that they have evolved beyond all that nonsense and today grasp the full meaning of diversity—i.e., uniformity of thought and no tolerance for views that deviate from the accepted liberal/socialist orthodoxy.
Such is the case as reported on Life Site News:
(LifeSiteNews.com) - Administrators at the University of St. Thomas, a Catholic university and private college in Minnesota, censored the appearance of prominent pro-life and black speaker Star Parker. On April 21, 2008, Star - the best-selling author of numerous books - was slated to speak on campus about the devastating impact abortion has on minority communities. UST Vice President of Student Affairs Jane Canney nixed the idea entirely, citing "concerns" that the lecture was being underwritten by Young America's Foundation.It saddens me to see once great teaching and research institutions devolving into over-priced diploma mills that demand only money and conformity in exchange for a dubious degree that in many cases qualifies one only for teaching in that same university and department, incestuous as they are, thus perpetuating the graft.
Katie Kieffer, a 2005 alumna of St. Thomas and founder of the independent conservative newspaper on campus, the St. Thomas Standard, as well as the non-profit Conservative Student News Inc., was an organizer of the Star Parker lecture. She confronted Canney on her refusal to allow Star on campus.
"Our Catholic university has hosted two decidedly liberal speakers in the past year, Al Franken and Debra Davis, an outspoken transgender woman," Kieffer wrote in the St. Thomas Standard.
Kieffer alleges that Jane Canney told Katie and her sister, Amie Kieffer, a senior at St. Thomas and editor of the St. Thomas Standard, "As long as I am a vice president at St. Thomas, the Young America's Foundation will not be allowed on campus." Canney didn't return the Foundation's phone calls seeking comment.
The entire report here.
Jane Canney can be reached at stuaffairs@stthomas.edu.
5 comments:
In addition to being a regular reader of Star Parker (we publish her column weekly here at Dakota Voice, by permission of the author), I got to hear her live in Washington, D.C. back in October.
She is a fantastic, dynamic and lively speaker. Above all, she is a living example of the life-transforming power of Jesus Christ, having gone from a welfare recipient who had multiple abortions, to an unabashed and new woman in Christ.
Perhaps they just couldn't stand an unfiltered dose of the truth, but this school has passed up an opportunity to host a fine speaker.
Too bad for them, and shame on them!
This is beyond belief! I am betting the Vatican has no idea this type of behavior has been taking place.
Don't feign suprise, please. Some of the topics on which the Vatican has official positions have always been undermined by various U.S. bishops through the "Catholic" colleges. The vatican is aware of it, of course, but also powerless to do anything about it unless they want to fracture the Church. The seminary curricula is anything but conservative.
You are so right, Anonymous. Liberal priests and nuns populate the higher levels in Catholic universities and they have their own version of liberation theology that rejects much of the teaching from the Holy See, in favor of Leftist beliefs and causes. The Vatican is largely powerless because Catholic clergy are hard to come by and retain, so they tolerate this heresy and insubordination of authority to the Church's great detriment.
I am surprised! It's gotten far crazier than I realized!
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