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You may recall that two years ago conservatives on Marquette’s campus raised concerns about an appearance on campus by Arun Gandhi. Our contention was that the keynote address of Mission Week, while a lecture as opposed to an award or honorary degree, was still an honor within the meaning of “Catholics in Political Life.” Some lectures and events are not honors, others are.

Creighton University, our Jesuit sister school in Omaha, Nebraska, had invited author Ann Lamott to deliver the 18th Annual Women and Health Lecture, sponsored by the Center for Health Policy & Ethics. Ms. Lamott is a vocal proponent of abortion and assisted suicide, though she did not intend to discuss either topic in her lecture.

A local Catholic blogger exposed Ms. Lamott’s anti-life advocacy on his blog. Within two days, Creighton withdrew the invitation and issued this statement (in whole):

Creighton University and author Anne Lamott have mutually agreed upon cancellation of her public lecture on September 19, 2007.

After careful review of Ms. Lamott’s most recent writings (which postdated her contract agreement), we have concluded that key points are in opposition to Catholic teaching which, in our judgment, makes her an inappropriate choice for the Women and Health Lecture Series.

Creighton University is not “viewpoint neutral” as we have a religious, Catholic mission. However, as an authentic university, Creighton does respect other views and regularly has speakers, panelists and others who do not necessarily agree with all aspects of our beliefs. At a featured lecture like this, the degree to which the speaker’s views do not harmonize with our Catholic mission becomes more salient. As a Jesuit university, Creighton is a place of intellectual honesty, pluralism, and mutual respect where inquiry and open discussion characterize the environment of teaching, research and professional development.

(emphasis added)

My point is straightforward enough: the Jesuits at Creighton recognize that certain kinds of on-campus events, even lectures and other academic occasions, carry such prestige that a “Catholic veto” is appropriate.

I also note that the local Catholic community will only put up with so much non-sense at a local Catholic university. The Omaha World-Herald reported that:

The Omaha Archdiocese was deluged with phone calls and e-mails, said the Rev. Ryan Lewis, vice chancellor. The chancellery was preparing to meet with Creighton officials, Lewis said, but didn’t have to because Creighton canceled Lamott’s appearance. “Your grass-roots Catholics in Omaha were outraged by this,” he said. Creighton also heard from a group of doctors called the Omaha Guild of the Catholic Medical Association. The doctors sent a letter urging Creighton to cancel Lamott’s appearance.

The Washington Post titled an Associated Press story on the incident: “Rift Grows Among Omaha Catholics, School.” Apparently this was the third embarrasing attack on Catholic doctrine in recent months:

In June, the archdiocese disassociated itself from the university’s Center for Marriage and Family after two researchers urged the church to allow unmarried couples to live together and have sex and children as long as they are engaged. The essay was published in U.S. Catholic magazine.

One researcher, Michael Lawler, also co-wrote an article with the chairman of the school’s theology department suggesting that some homosexual sex is moral under Catholic doctrine. It was published in the academic Heythrop Journal.

“If you’re seeing a pattern, you’re seeing correctly,” said the Rev. Ryan Lewis, vice chancellor of the archdiocese. “And we just appreciate that Catholic Omaha is starting to lose patience with some of this stuff.”

The lesson for us is again clear: Marquette choses to tread dangerous ground when it provides haven for academics like Fr. Simon Harak and Dan Maguire (or even Fr. Bryan Massingale), when it allows the Vagina Monologues on campus, or when it honors pro-abortion politicians.
The local laity (and the local bishop) only show so much patience before a “rift” becomes too pronounced. The AP story closed (as I will close) with the bishop’s big hammer:

But if relations deteriorated, the archbishop could declare that Creighton was no longer a Catholic university and ask the school to remove the designation.
[Rev. Joseph Taphorn, chancellor for the archdiocese] declined to say Wednesday whether archdiocese officials had discussed that option.
The move wouldn’t shut down Creighton, but would rattle the school’s identity and make it difficult to raise money from Catholic alumni and donors.

Declined to say whether they had discussed the option… Wow.

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