New Marquette Prez stresses homosexual inclusion

Marquette President Fr. Scott Pilarz
at former U of Scranton office

Marquette’s decision last year to rescind the position of dean of the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences to a lesbian scholar, Jodi O’Brien, also came up for discussion.

The former president of the University of Scranton, a Jesuit University in Pennsylvania, said he was key to the development of the Scranton Inclusion Initiative which responded to the pastoral needs of gay and lesbian students – with opposition from the conservative community.

Fr. Pilarz said he doesn’t know all of the details about what happened at Marquette last year, and wouldn’t second-guess what happened because he wasn’t a part of the process, but he stressed there is no room in the Catechism of the Catholic Church for discrimination or exclusion on the basis of sexual orientation.

“I can assure you, going forward, Marquette will not discriminate in hiring on the basis of sexual orientation,” he said.

Milwaukee Catholic Herald

Some of this is left ambiguous; "pastoral needs" "discrimination" etc.  What does he really mean by these things?  I assume it means the world has it right on homosexual acts and that old outdated Church needs to get with the times. 

Marquette admin on Bill Ayers: “I see him as an educational professor dealing with reform.”

Marquette Warrior has more details on Marquette sponsoring terrorist Bill Ayers.

The real story here is a bit more complicated, but equally appalling.

The Marquette Education College as a whole did not support the event, but rather only the Educational Policy and Leadership program. Education College Dean William Henk disclaimed any knowledge of the sponsorship, but noted that a particular department or program might have sponsored the event.

Ellen Eckman, Chair of Educational Policy and Leadership, confirmed that her department had ponied up the $250 for the sponsorship.

Eckman, asked whether she was put off by the fact that Ayers is an unrepentant former terrorist, replied that “I see him as an educational professor dealing with reform.” She added “We use a tremendous amount of Rethinking Schools materials. . . .”

continue at Marquette Warrior

Marquette University & others sponsor terrorist Bill Ayers event

Marquette University, Alverno College, and Mount Mary College are listed as sponsoring the speaking engagement of terrorist Bill Ayers at Stonefly Brewery in Milwaukee. 

The host group Rethink Education is like a socialist/communist/activist movement ostensibly for "better" schools (which I think we all agree we need) but that comes at the price of indoctrination; like what they wrote about a teacher coming out as a lesbian to her students.

It's ironic that Milwaukee Catholic schools are in direct competition with public schools and yet all the Milwaukee Catholic colleges signed on to co-sponsor that event, when Rethinking Schools is anti-private-schools.

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Esenburg: Why WRTL cannot be charged

What I was concerned with is whether WRTL could be said to have given out these gift cards (or, if you prefer, offered the gift cards) to an elector or any other person as an inducement to get an elector to vote or refrain from voting.

The problem that I see with application of the statute to WRTL is that the gift cards were offered or given not as an inducement to vote but as an inducement for people to get others to apply for absentee ballots. Even if we can characterize the latter as trying to get people to vote, this is a huge distinction. Here's why.

Tom wants to read the statute to say that it is unlawful to offer a thing of value to a person in order to induce that person to persuade another to vote. This is not what the law says. In fact, if we were read the statute in the way that Mr. Foley wants, it would apply to any compensated "get out the vote" effort. If a political party or a candidate or even the League of Women Voters pays people to encourage or facilitate voting, they will have violated the statute. Not only is that a nonsensical reading of the statute (the law can be an ass but it usually isn't), it is a reading that would place it in dire constitutional jeopardy. The freedom of association involves, I think, the right to organize to get out the vote including paying the organizers.

the whole thing at Shark and Shepard

Marquette inaugurates a new president

Rev. Scott R. Pilarz becomes the 23rd president at Marquette University at an inauguration ceremony Friday at the Al McGuire Center. The ceremony, which capped a weeklong series of events at the university, included more than 100 college and university presidents and delegates from across the country. Pilarz succeeds Father Robert A. Wild.

MJS

More details at Marquette Tribune

Expectation... more of the same.

New Marquette president "committed to academic freedom"

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has an interview posted today with the incoming president of Marquette University, Fr. Pilarz.

The article is about as nebulous as a recent glowing tribute to Fr. Wild, the outgoing president, that was in the Milwaukee Catholic Herald. Hard-hitting it is not. But rest assured the Milwaukee Journal will be featuring whatever Jeff Anderson has to say sometime soon.

From the MJS:

Pilarz has identified bolstering Marquette's academic reputation as his biggest challenge. At Scranton, which has an enrollment of about 6,000, Pilarz oversaw a remarkable turnover in faculty, largely the result of retirements, a change that's bemoaned by leaders of many universities. He said he expects the same thing to occur at Marquette, though he described it as "a tremendous opportunity to look at trends - where to hire." Marquette's enrollment stands at about 11,800.

Pilarz's predecessor, Father Robert A. Wild, faced questions about his commitment to academic freedom last year after the university's decision to withdraw an offer to hire Seattle University professor Jodi O'Brien, a lesbian who is a gender studies scholar, as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Wild said the school pulled the offer to run Marquette's largest college after he and other university leaders read academic writings by O'Brien that troubled them. The dean's position remains unfilled.

Pilarz said he hasn't revisited the O'Brien controversy in conversations with faculty, but he has told them where he stands.

"I've never experienced any conflict between commitment to academic freedom and the university's identity as Catholic and Jesuit," Pilarz said. "There might be a little bit of tension that keeps us on our toes. But we are committed to academic freedom."

Read the whole thing here. What he never says is exactly WHERE he stands on the O'Brien topic. Nor on whether academic freedom will win out over Catholic teaching.

Vatican Aims to ‘Weed Out Dissenting Voices’ from Journal at Marquette Univ.

The National Catholic Reporter reports that sources have said that the Vatican began pressuring policy changes at the Jesuit journal Theological Studies with aims to “weed out dissenting voices” and “stick more closely to official church teachings” not long after a controversial 2004 essay arguing for “a change in church teachings on divorce and remarriage.”  The journal Theological Studies is hosted by Jesuit Marquette University and its authors are very frequently Catholic university professors.

NCR indicated that Fr. David Schultenover, SJ, editor of Theological Studies and theology professor at Marquette, wrote in his editor’s column last year that when “theses that contravene official church” are in the journal “our policy will be to alert readers and clearly state the current authoritative church teaching”.

more at Cardinal Newman Society

Fr. Wild moonwalks Marquette away from her Catholic Identitiy

When the Golden Eagles are on the court, shouts of “We Are Marquette” ring through the Bradley Center.

Thanks to the 15-year presidency of Jesuit Fr. Robert A. Wild, the university has a more distinct identity, making that cheer a virtual rallying cry campus-wide.

Reflecting on his retirement during an interview with your Catholic Herald in mid-July, just before his retirement effective July 31, Fr. Wild said “addressing our Jesuit, Catholic identity in a more explicit way[ROFL]” was one of his most important accomplishments at Marquette.

Fr. Wild served as a provincial in the 1980s, and when he met with other provincials “we spent more time on the issue of Jesuit higher education than anything else,” he said.

“When I became president of Marquette (in 1996), I said we’d better walk the walk here[aka, moonwalk away from the pope],” Fr. Wild said.

An important step, Fr. Wild said, was the crafting of a mission statement in 2000, summarized by four words: excellence, faith[Would be nice to see that defined... uh and maybe first on the list?], leadership and service. [Hmm, I was waiting for hospitality]

“We worked to put flesh on those bones,” he added, noting the work of “two A-Team players,” Stephanie Russell and Jesuit Fr. Douglas Leonhardt in Marquette’s Office of Mission and Ministry.

Faculty and administrators were given more background on Catholic and Jesuit spirituality[apparently they are different?]. With input from then-Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, a semester-long seminar was developed for new hires, Fr. Wild said.  [Interesting, I hope drums were not involved.]

“It gives people an understanding of what’s at stake in Catholic education,” he explained. [Here's what "Catholic education" means to the establishment.]

Another key player was the late Howard Eisenberg, dean of the law school, who described himself as a “conservadox Jew,” according to Fr. Wild.

“He would say, ‘I’m not Catholic, but I really value this mission, so I’m not going to be shy about talking about it,’” Fr. Wild recalled. “It moved us into areas like pro bono service to the poor and a variety of things that were important.” [These thing are important, but who decides which Church teachings are acceptable to be taught and which are not at Marquette?]

Fr. Wild said his other two major goals in the job were continuing to strengthen academic quality, and getting the university more fiscally sound.

continue at Milwaukee Catholic Herald

A glowing piece that doesn't address any of the scandal in his tenure, particularly the Infanticide Feingold hire and his rightful reversal of the hire of Dr. Jodi O'Brien after pressure from Abp. Listecki amongst others.  Let's face it, the problem is that entrenched liberals at Marquette cannot be fired(tenure) and replaced by a solid faculty.  It would take a miracle for Marquette to go it alone and reestablish itself with a truly Catholic Identity(or a Fr. Michael Scanlan).  Marquette isn't a leader, it's a follower.  If an earthquake hit Notre Dame and all of the sudden the administration had second thoughts about abortion, dissent, ect, Marquette then would follow.  All of that said, Fr. Wild is solid on the administrative side, fundraising, facilities ect.  But a point in time will come when folks chose the Faith first.  I hope all these wonderful new building don't have to become empty before that lesson is learned.  The again, what's the point of filling up the seats if it will cost students their souls.

Not quoted in this article, the archbishop. 

Infanticide Feingold says Catholic Marquette Univ. asked him to return next year

They must think we Catholics are suckers.

When Russ Feingold represented Wisconsin in the Senate, he voted for taxpayer funding of abortion and opposed any ban on gruesome practice of partial-birth abortion.

Thankfully, last November, the voters in Wisconsin said they didn’t want him anymore.

Ah, but have no fear! Marquette Law gave Russ a call. As I mentioned earlier this year: Marquette Law hired a man as a teacher who voted to warp our laws against defending little children in the womb.

To the disappointment of liberal Democrats, Russ Feingold announced this morning that he won’t be challenging Scott Walker in a race for governor nor will he run for the Senate seat vacated by retiring Democrat Herb Kohl.

Well, good.

But guess what he cited as a reason not to run?

Teaching law during the spring semester at Marquette University Law School was a joy. The Marquette Law School is a thriving academic institution situated in a beautiful new building, Eckstein Hall. I found my time with the dean, staff, faculty, and especially the students at Marquette to be a terrific first experience in teaching law. I am pleased that I have been asked to return to teach full-time this fall and look forward to doing so.

more at CatholicVote

You can listen to Mr. Feingold support infanticide here.

Marquette administration going Catholic?

Marquette InterVarsity

First we have this incident:

Apparently, an officer of the Marquette Intervarsity Christian Fellowship came “out of the closet” as gay. He made it quite clear that he disagreed with the organization’s interpretation of Christian teaching about homosexuality (which happens to be essentially identical to Catholic teaching about homosexuality).

He admitted to having a homosexual affair with another male, and made it clear that he did not intend to break it off. He was dismissed as an officer.

He complained to Student Affairs at Marquette, apparently claiming he was discriminated against because of his sexual orientation.

Belling reported that the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship has been suspended at Marquette on the basis of this complaint.

But low and behold someone in the Marquette administration upheld the rights of a Christian group by overruling two lower admins:

The decision was appealed to Dean of Students Stephanie Quade who just this morning reversed the ruling and lifted the suspension.

The group will be on probation for a year for violating a narrow clause of their constitution specifying the procedures for dismissing an officer. The organization will also have to submit to a review of their constitution. It is unclear, at the moment, what changes (if any) might be required in that document.

It appears, however, that Marquette has conceded the right of a campus Christian organization to hold officers to Christian standards of sexual conduct.

LifeSiteNews picked up the story as well and quoted Marquette Warrior

McAdams credits conservative Milwaukee radio personality Mark Belling for breaking the story last Tuesday.

“It’s good that Marquette backed away from punishing a group for insisting that its officers adhere to Christian standards of sexual conduct,” McAdams told LSN. “But there is such a thing as a ‘chilling effect.’ Other student groups are likely to back away from anything that is disapproved by the gay lobby because they simply don’t want the hassle. Only a minority of students enjoy doing battle.”

Since the suspension was overturned, McAdams suggested that the consequences of the university’s decision for Catholic higher education are “perhaps not much.” “But,” he said, “had it been upheld, other ‘Catholic’ universities would have been emboldened to do the same.”