Last Wednesday, former Republican Senator Rick Santorum spoke at the Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, DC. Santorum, a Catholic, now is a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a contributor to Fox News. CUA’s College Republicans sponsored his speech and over 100 people were in attendance—including four lonely protestors from the Washington Peace Center.
In his speech, Santorum proclaimed the extremist messages of the religious Right, focusing on “Islamic jihadist threat” and the danger of a secular state. He stated, “We are a society built on Christianity. If you look at the secularists today and they condemn us as….Christian fundamentalists, these haters, these people who want to oppress folks and force their ideology and theology on people. What they don’t understand is without Christianity that would probably be the case around the world.”
Later on, Santorum made the following assertion: “You can try to negotiate with…the people that we’re fighting, but you will fail because they do not want to negotiate. They want to defeat you. They want to destroy you. They hate everything about you.”
Now, perhaps these racist, narrow minded, ultra-conservative remarks could be stomached if CUA was a campus with academic freedom. CUA does not harbor such freedom. CUA’s speaker policy states, “No politicians who have public positions that run counter to the teachings of the Catholic Church are to be invited for anything without express permission from the President.”
Several persons have been prohibited from speaking on campus as a result of this policy. In 2004, Stanley Tucci’s invitation to speak on Italian film was rescinded due to his support of pro-choice causes. Others who are pro-choice or support same sex unions have met the same fate. And, indeed, the case could be made that these people have public positions that “run counter to the teachings of the Catholic Church.”
What about the rest of the teachings of the Church—the thousands of teachings that go beyond abortion, same-sex marriage, and the other “pelvic issues”? CUA pays no attention to those teachings. The University has allowed death penalty supporters and pro-war advocates such as Newt Gingrich, Sam Brownback, and Dick Cheney to speak on campus despite the Church’s teachings on these issues.
And now—in the midst of Pope Benedict’s recent efforts to bring down the barriers between Catholicism and Islam—despite the teaching of the Second Vatican Council that accept Muslims as common worshippers of the “God of Abraham”—disregarding the Pope’s teaching against Christian fundamentalism—CUA has allowed Santorum to speak on campus. By doing so, CUA has promoted the ideology of Santorum—an ideology that goes against the teachings of the Church.
Now, as stated above, this might not matter as much if CUA did not censor its speakers. The Catholic University of America, by allowing some speakers and prohibiting others without taking in the wide scope of Catholic Social Teaching, is upholding, supporting, and indoctrinating its students with the ideology of the conservative agenda and the principles of the religious Right.
