Patrick Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society since 1993, will address Georgetown’s Catholic identity in an on-campus lecture today. The Cardinal Newman Society is a national organization that advocates a maintenance of specific Catholic values at Catholic colleges and universities in the United States.
What is your conception of academic freedom and of a well-rounded education?
These days, the term “academic freedom” as it is used in higher education almost has no specific meaning. The original definition of academic freedom, and point of academic freedom, was to protect faculty members in their ability to conduct research and to teach according to the methods of their particular discipline. We advocate a return to a stricter definition of academic freedom which, in our view, allows for a more genuine academic discussion. [Students] should be able to explore and discuss openly their own point of view, which may contradict Catholic teaching in a number of ways.
With regard to students, do you think that Catholic students should be given preference in acceptance, or do you think that Georgetown should accept non-Catholic, non-Christian, or even areligious students?
I would think that Catholic institutions would want to actively recruit from Catholic high schools, because I think that for the benefit of young Catholic adults, they are much better off studying at a Catholic institution, where they can explore their faith in an adult way.
When I was looking at your web site, I saw that the word “vagina” was written as “v-—”, and it referred to the word as “vulgar.” What then, could we say, would be the appropriate word to refer to the female genitalia?
It’s not so much that the word itself is vulgar, it’s that it’s used in a vulgar context. And we think that that is the intent of the play [The Vagina Monologues], in fact, Eve Ensler [the writer of Monologues] had said as much. She wants to shock people, which is why she uses the term, which is not commonly used in normal conversation.
So the word ‘penis’, used in the same context, would be considered vulgar also?
Well, a lot of it is in the intent.We don’t think that shock value has much merit, especially at an academic institution. And clearly, there’s much more to it; her intent with the play was to desensitize people to a whole variety of issues and activities that clearly run contrary to Catholic teaching.
What would you say are your biggest criticisms of Georgetown in relation to its Catholic identity, or lack thereof?
We have serious concerns about a number of the faculty members that are selected at Georgetown and their activities both academically and outside their academic careers. The administration does not, in any sense, seem to recognize Georgetown any longer as Catholic, in the sense that I described. Many of the student activities, we think, ought not to be allowed, at the very least not funded or given university campus facilities.
And specific student groups “H-yas for Choice” or “LGBTQ”?
Those are good examples.
Do individuals choose to be homosexual?
We conform to Catholic teaching on that, there’s been no determination on that. If you’re asking my personal views, I’ve read a lot of the literature … it would be difficult not to seriously consider that at least some, if not a majority of the cases, are psychological matters and not genetic.The concern is simply with homosexual activity, whether it’s moral or not, and beyond that the whole promotion of a homosexual lifestyle, which leans towards sinful activity.
Are there any specific professors who you think should not be employed by Georgetown?
You have to be careful how you say that because there you’re getting into legal territory. We don’t think that an institution that is firmly committed to a Catholic identity ought to be hiring this type of individual. Whether Georgetown wants to employ these individuals, that’s Georgetown’s decision …
… I can give you some examples. There’s Tom Daschle, who was a visiting professor in the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, a major leader on abortion rights issues. Tom Beauchamp, a professor of philosophy there, also a senior scholar in the Kennedy Institute of Ethics—he’s been on the board of directors of the Compassion and Dying Federation, and they have been very active in promoting assisted suicide.
Would you say that Georgetown shouldn’t hire professors who don’t share its religious beliefs?
The mission of the institution has to come before anything it does. Anyone hired for any position … ought to, number one, be made clearly aware that the institution has a strong commitment to Catholic teaching, and secondly, if they’re Catholics, the priority ought to be on hiring Catholics who are faithful to Catholic teachings .
… Non-Catholics who are hired ought to be asked at least to respect the Catholic character of the institution.
