Faculty and students had mixed reactions to University President John J. DeGioia’s remarks last Friday when he responded to controversial comments made by Cardinal Francis Arinze at the College graduation last May.
DeGioia reaffirmed Georgetown’s “commitment to full inclusiveness and care of each individual” while speaking at an informal meeting with student press.
History professor Tommaso Astarita, who sent a “letter of concern” to Georgetown College Dean Jane Dammen McAuliffe shortly after the ceremony, said that it is difficult to evaluate a response given in such an informal context.
“The Arinze event was a public event. If the President feels that a response was needed, it should have been a public response,” he said.
Alumna Rachel Boutennot (CAS ‘03), who walked out of the ceremony in protest of Arinze’s remarks, said, “I’m glad that he in some way addressed [Arinze’s speech].”
At the same time, she said, she was “disappointed that it took so long.”
As reported in the Hoya, DeGioia said that he believed that Arinze had not intended to be offensive. He stipulated, however, that the University remains committed to the inclusiveness that “has characterized this place since 1789.”
He added, “I want to ensure that no one would interpret [the remarks] as a huge shift in our underlying ethos.”
Astarita noted that DeGioia only reaffirmed the University’s policy, which he did not believe was in question. “If a speaker at commencement says something that diverges with the policy of the University, it does not change that policy,” he said.
Nevertheless, GU Pride co-president Karane Williams (CAS ‘05) was pleased with DeGioia’s response. “He is sincere in his commitment to foster a community where people can freely express themselves,” she said. She does feel that he is “limited by his mission” as president of a Catholic university.
To Boutennot, this does not justify his ambiguity. “It would have been nice if someone had said more specifically that Georgetown is working with the LGBTQ community, but that they’re falling short of the mark,” she said.
According to DeGioia, Arinze was invited “because of leadership in inter-religious dialogue and he has been a greater leader in that context.” He told student press that he expected this to be the topic of the speech.
Arinze instead spoke about the purported demise of the family. “In many parts of the world, the family is under siege,” he said. “It is opposed by an anti-life mentality as is seen in contraception, abortion, infanticide and euthanasia. It is scorned and banalized by pornography, desecrated by fornication and adultery, mocked by homosexuality, sabotaged by irregular unions and cut in two by divorce.”
No University officials have either endorsed or denounced Arinze’s comments publicly.
McAuliffe addressed the concerns of students and faculty in a public meeting on May 21 and in a letter sent to graduates and their parents. She quoted the University’s mission statement, writing, “The University was founded on the principle that serious and sustained discourse among people of different faiths, cultures and beliefs promotes intellectual, ethical and spiritual understanding.”
Arinze was previously president of the Pontifical Council of Interreligious Dialogue. He is currently the Prefect of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and he has been cited as a possible successor to the ailing Pope John Paul II.
