Kudoes to Katie for bringing up Fr. Yockey’s letter in the Catholic Herald objecting to Marquette giving her the Distinguished Alumna of the Year Award. Congresswoman Moore’s pro-abortion and pro-gay marriage stances are well documented, so I’ll turn to two other points.
First – this is not the first time that Marquette’s love for honoring Gwen Moore has come up for debate. When Moore was first elected and sworn in, Marquette hosted a reception in her honor, and there was a letter to the editor in the Milw. Journal Sentinel posing the Catholic card. Later, Marquette put Moore was on the front-cover of the alumni magazine, and Dr. McAdams at WarriorBlog pointed out that Moore was covered in laurels; I noted the lack of love for the conservative Marquette alum in Congress, Don Manzullo (Manzullo later received a small blurb in the back of a later edition).
More directly on point: There will be an argument that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ stricture on awards pointed out by Fr. Yockey (“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 actionsâ€) does not apply to Alumni Awards, but only to honorary doctorates. There’s already been some debate between students and the Administration on the contours of this rule, with no hard resolution.
I believe that the USCCB rule DOES apply to Alumni Awards. Not that I believe it, necessarily, but Francis Cardinal George of Chicago believes so. I will note here that Cardinal George was recognized as a key drafter of the USCCB Rule by Cardinal McCarrick, the task force chair. Loyola University Chicago Law School Alumni Association decided to give its St. Robert Bellarmine Society to pro-abortion Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. According to a report in CRISIS Magazine, “Chicago’s Francis Cardinal George and Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Paprocki, an adjunct professor at Loyola’s law school, urged the alumni association to rescind the invitation and the university to oppose the award, to no avail.”
Last 5 posts by Daniel- Tom Barrett's Savings Plan - June 8th, 2010
- C.J. Abrahamson on J. Stevens - April 11th, 2010
- Why always Bill Bablitch? - March 24th, 2010
- Suhr on Nixon on Health Care - February 23rd, 2010
- Did the USCCB Foresee Dead People? - February 8th, 2010
Thanks for pointing out another incident that ratifies Francis Cardinal George as the preeminent voice for morality and conscience in American culture. But the past year has underscored his age and, to some extent, his physical fraility. The question has to arise: where are the successors? Where are those who can match his intellectual and spiritual stature?
I admire him deeply and hope daily for his renewed physical health and for his long presence among us.
Aw, my great uncle used to be the Auxillary Bishop in the Chicago archdiocese… sad you don’t get to mention him! That would have been a cheeky bit of irony!