March 31, 2011
Hi John:
{Extraneous Deleted}
On another subject: I know you have defended the College on the charge of its lacking a Catholic identity. Unfortunately, the bureaucrats had ample evidence. I love the College and still support it financially, but frankly, the College has only itself to blame and is its worst enemy.
Case in Point: This morning, I googled the College’s official website to locate a phone number and under the banner of being a College in the LaSallian Catholic tradition were listed the Upcoming Events. I clicked on the one that read “Lesbian and Gay Families Today: Lessons and Challenges” and learned that this afternoon Nancy Mezey PhD. Director of the Sociology Program and Gender Studies at Monmouth University and author of New Choices, New Families: How Lesbians Decide about Motherhood (2008 JHU Press) would be speaking in the Rodriguez Room from 1-2:30 pm sponsored by the College’s Department of Sociology and Women and Gender Studies(WAGS).
I spoke to someone in Administration who was unaware of the lecture. When I checked back at 2, the event had been erased from the list.
One might make the dubious argument that one needs to hear all sides but, even granting that, there was no mention of a speaker who might hold a more orthodox view. I’m not sure but I believe that this is the same department that sponsored the annual production of “The Vagina Monologues” which I believe was finally suspended.
You can add this to JJ if you wish.
Keep up the good work.
Best regards,
Peter
[JR: Dear Doctor Dans, I reported that session in the daily JJ blog on the 29th. I thought it was quite "out there". But, I'm not so sure how weak it is to hear "challenging views". We have to understand the ground we fight on and we are commanded to "love the sinner and hate the sin". You're much more wired in to MC than I am. I do remember dragging my tush around NYC for Comparative Christian and again for Comparative Non-Christian. (Why was Judaism in CC and not in CNC instead?) That experience no more made me a Lutheran as it did a Hindu. But it was close when we met with the Buddhist "bishop" and his tranquility. And close again with Norman Vincent Peale who could inspire the densest injineer and seemed to have fun doing it. I learned a lot from that; even though I didn't know it at the time. Perhaps, these are the same type of "mental stretching" exercises. I'm not sure that it means the NLRB is right. If our foundations are so weak that just hearing ideas shakes them, then maybe the NLRB is correct.]
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