"Catholic" Notre Dame Refuses to Print Prof. Rice's Article

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Ahh…Jenkins and the alternative viewpoint. He is a big supporter of the paper and has previously encouraged the students’ viewpoints contrary to Catholic doctrine. ‘Healthy debate’ you know…

Ultimately, nothing new here.
 
Were the scare quotes and the call-out of ND supporters really necessary? We’re all Catholic here, even those of us who love Notre Dame.

Please don’t take this one incident and take it as representative of ND as a whole. Rather, it’s an example of poor student journalism at the Observer. Dr. Rice has been writing a bi-weekly column for the Observer (the campus daily) since 1992. Obviously the new Observer Editor had absolutely no clue with whom he was dealing, but was instead sensitive to the latest scandal the paper had managed to drum up because of its poor editorial control over its cartoonists. The Observer has long been a haven for campus liberals, and their staff editorials over the years have been left-of-center on the various issues of concern at ND. It was a very poor decision on their part, though one I’m sure intended to avoid an all-too-common “viewpoint war” in the paper.

I’m not excusing, just explaining the backstory. As a recent ND alum, I was dismayed but not incredibly surprised at this development. I’m familiar enough with the Observer’s style of journalism by now to not be very surprised by what I see there.

The previous poster who stated that Fr. Jenkins is “a big supporter of the paper” is rather confused. Yes, the Observer is the official campus daily (though it clings to the notion of its “independence” quite strongly) and receives University funding and offices. But that’s probably where Fr. Jenkins’ “support” of the Observer ends.

On the issue of adding sexual orientation to ND’s non-discrimination clause, Fr. Jenkins has stated rather firmly that he does not believe this addition is necessary, that the University’s current policy statement on the matter (found in a document called “The Spirit of Inclusion at Notre Dame”) does enough to clearly support the dignity of human persons while not demonstrating support for homosexual acts or the homosexual lifestyle. On this issue, the Observer is trying to lead the charge AGAINST the Administration, not working buddy-buddy with it. Time will tell if Fr. Jenkins is going to budge, but my hunch is that he won’t…There are many administrators who have stood firmly against the policy change for awhile now. I’ve been surprised by Fr. Jenkins in the past, so you never know…but at this point I see no reason for the change.

And there are plenty on the other side of the issue at ND as well…the Observer is the voice of Notre Dame as a whole much like L’Osservatore Romano is the voice of the Catholic Church. :rolleyes:
 
I certainly don’t see a student news paper as an arm of the administration at ND. I read the article by Dr. Rice and enjoyed it; I would have printed it. The students in charge of the paper choose not to, not a big deal in my opinion.
 
I’ll continue to love and support Notre Dame no matter how many times people on this forum call it “Catholic” with the scare quotes and assail it. ND is ND and always will be. People are just looking for reasons to hate the place.
 
The power of an editor is in the arbitrary exercise of selective censorship which they use to influence the course of thought. However, the ultimate power always rests with the publisher, that is, nominally speaking in this case, Father Jenkins. All matters which move to shape the organic state of all things Notre Dame intersect at the central authority which has been given to Father Jenkins. His personal vision of what Notre Dame is to become permeates the institution. Even the character of a great institution is not above the insidious process of slow decline when prodded by a dark design. Those who love Our Lady’s university should remain vigilant in these confusing times. The concept of “change”, when left undefined, generally ends up defining itself by the choas it precipitates.
 
unafraid said:
The power of an editor is in the arbitrary exercise of selective censorship which they use to influence the course of thought. However, the ultimate power always rests with the publisher, that is, nominally speaking in this case, Father Jenkins. All matters which move to shape the organic state of all things Notre Dame intersect at the central authority which has been given to Father Jenkins. His personal vision of what Notre Dame is to become permeates the institution. Even the character of a great institution is not above the insidious process of slow decline when prodded by a dark design. Those who love Our Lady’s university should remain vigilant in these confusing times. The concept of “change”, when left undefined, generally ends up defining itself by the choas it precipitates.
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The Observer is an independant newspaper serving the students at St. Marys and Notre Dame. Father Jenkins by no means is the publisher nor is the President of St. Marys the publisher. With the recent anti-gay cartoon that somehow was printed (pretty violent message against gays), I certainly understand why the editor was hesitant this semester to print Prof. Rice’s article. That cartoon should never have made it into the paper and Prof. Rice’s article SHOULD have made it in.

But, for those on this site who think Notre Dame is not Catholic…it’s absurd. If Notre Dame is not Catholic then no parish in the world is Catholic. Every parish contains people who pick and choose their beliefs…sad but true. Notre Dame is a pretty true microcosm of the Church. There are a few liberal Catholics, a few more very conservative Catholics, but a majority of mainstream Catholics…no different than any parish. The good that Notre Dame does for the Church is incomparable to any other Catholic University in America. For instance, they are planning to re-open 300 already closed Catholic schools and open another 300 to raise the number of Hispanics in Catholic schools to over 1,000,000. Who else does that? No other university has the resources to take on challenges like that except for Notre Dame. Let’s face it, their endowment is just shy of 6 billion, 16th nationally for any university! We, the Church, need Notre Dame to stay strong and we need to fight for Notre Dame’s fidelity. Let’s face it, it will take Ave Maria and Franciscan University 10 lifetimes to reach endowments like Notre Dame’s in order to do this type of work. And, this type of work for God’s people, the poor included, costs money. Notre Dame students learn to serve God’s people. It’s a HUGE part of life for all students at Notre Dame. 85% of students undergo service work voluntarily. It’s a great place. And, although not always perfect, does not get the right respect from some Catholics of all the good they do for our universal Church. Giving up on Notre Dame is giving up on the millions that are touched by Notre Dame directly and their students and alumni directly every year. We, as the body of Christ, cannot afford to give up on Our Lady’s University…it’s central to the mission of American Catholicism…we need her.
 
There are a few threads on this.

There was controversy before this. Could it also be that he wrote a book called "What happened to Notre Dame?

From his book, the beginning of the Postscript.
Notre Dame rejected obedience to the Magisterium as the authoritative teacher in the Catholic tradition, of faith and morals. Without such an authoritative interpreter of the moral law, Notre Dame, as an institution invited the resolution of moral issues by a “dictatorship of relativism” in which the community consensus became authoritative. The University, fulfilling a vacuum, eventually assumed for itself, in some respects, the role of substitute magisterium. In the Catholic tradition, the Magisterium teaches by the authority of Christ who is God and who teaches through the Church, which is the body of Christ. When Notre Dame rejected the authority of the Magisterium while still proclaiming to be a “Catholic university,” it reduced itself to incoherence.
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One lesson of the Notre Dame experience is that everyone needs an authoritative interpreter of the moral law, a source to which, or to whom, he (or she) looks for authoritative answers to moral questions…
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