Protestant Ministries Allowed to Return (to Georgetown Univ.)

[Dale_M]

Six Protestant ministries disaffiliated from the university last August will be allowed to rejoin the Georgetown flock next semester, ending a yearlong dialogue with administrators to reintegrate them into the campus community.

Vice President for Mission and Ministry Fr. Philip Boroughs, S.J., announced in a letter addressed to the university community last week the creation of several new bodies to oversee the Protestant ministries after they rejoin the campus community, following the recommendations of an advisory committee assembled in October to review the August decision. Student members of the ministries had protested disaffiliation in the fall, circulating petitions and drawing nation-wide media coverage.

Although university officials had justified the expulsion of outside Protestant ministries last August, saying that the university intended to build the Protestant ministry from within rather than relying on affiliates, Director of Campus Ministry Fr. Timothy Godfrey, S.J., said he welcomed the most recent decision to bring the ministries back on board.

thehoya.com/news/051907/news2.cfm

Okay, I missed this story when it broke last summer/fall. I understand (and commend) the university’s position on proselytizing, but it seems this change could have been made without first banning the organizations. Am I missing something? Does anyone know what the university was trying to do, and why it is (apparently) backtracking on it?

 

[Elzee]

I’m going to be in the minority here, but in my opinion, Catholic Universities should not provide worship facilities for non-Catholic religions on their grounds. It makes absolutely no sense to me. DePaul provides rooms/floors for Buddhists, non-Catholic Christians, etc. I just don’t understand.

 

[lak611]

I’m going to be in the minority here, but in my opinion, Catholic Universities should not provide worship facilities for non-Catholic religions on their grounds. It makes absolutely no sense to me. DePaul provides rooms/floors for Buddhists, non-Catholic Christians, etc. I just don’t understand.

Do any Protestant universities allow Newman ministry or any other type of Catholic group on their campuses?

 

[John_Higgins]

lak611:

Do any Protestant universities allow Newman ministry or any other type of Catholic group on their campuses?

I know the first college by then Baptist wife attended was Mary Hardin-Baylor which had the Newman organization on campus in the 70s. I checked SMU, and they have a Catholic student center, plus they celebate their Sunday Mass in the Perkins Chapel, the chapel of the university. That took 2 minutes to find; I’m sure I could find many more examples. It’s a good idea going either way.

John

 

[ReginaNova]

Do you think that such Protestant colleges as Grove City College, Liberty University, Gordon College, Calvin College, Pensacola Christian College, Bob Jones University, and similar Protestant colleges have Catholic organizations for Catholic students? I would like to think so but I really doubt it. When the writer Thomas Howard converted to Catholicism, he was teaching English (not even theology) at Gordon College and resigned because he knew Gordon never had and wouldn’t accept a Catholic teacher.

 

[fin]

its sad what’s happening to Georgetown. its reputable but only as far as academics go.

 

[lak611]

its sad what’s happening to Georgetown. its reputable but only as far as academics go.

If Protestant universities allow Catholic ministries, it is only fair that Catholic universities allow Protestant ministries.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

As I recall, Georgetown was in a law suit some years back regarding homosexual student groups. At that time Georgetown was unable to prove it was a Caltholic University

 

[Elzee]

If Protestant universities allow Catholic ministries, it is only fair that Catholic universities allow Protestant ministries.

I look at it this way - if we honestly believe the Catholic Church has the fullness of truth, and the Church teaches we are called to bring others to this fullness of truth, why would a Catholic University financially support other religions (Christian, and non-Christian especially) who, while they may teach some of the same truths we do, also teach things that are contradictory to the truth and detremental to our salvation (artificial birth control, salvation by faith alone, sola Scriptura, OSAS, etc.).

How can the Church, in good conscience, financially support and give the appearance of supporting the spreading of faiths that teach contrary to God’s truth? I think it was JPII who said '“True ecumensim can only be reached through truth”. If you look at it from a different perspective - from the perspective that we have an obligation to uphold God’s truth - then I think it’s actually unfair to souls that are searching for God’s truth and are troubled in their faith - help them know there is only one choice, and we believe that with all our hearts.

 

[Rach620]

Great to hear

The story here was *not *about Georgetown supporting Catholicism over Protestantism. If they cared so much about supporting Catholic doctrine via student groups, then they wouldn’t have a GLBTQ alliance or pro-choice feminist groups. Instead, the story here was about Georgetown in yet another way excluding the Christian voice from its student activities.

The least of our concerns should really be if Protestant colleges are ‘returning the favor’ of allowing Catholic groups on campus. The goals of Catholics trying to ‘save’ Catholic colleges like Georgetown are really similar in a lot of ways to the goals of Protestant student groups. Christ’s message–in whatever form–is much better than the atheistic hedonism increasingly rampant on college campuses.

I know Georgetown was getting a little pressure from various sources to let the Protestant groups back on, and I’m certainly glad that they did. A baby step in the right direction, perhaps?

Now on to eliminating the aforementioned group, and preventing contraception and abortion referrals from their student clinic…