Seton Hall University Course on Gay "Marriage" to Proceed Despite Archbishop's Objections

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Archbishop Myers among others is protesting that this Catholic university in his diocese is proceeding with a course given by a gay professor that presents gay marriage as legitimate, contrary to what the Catholic Churches teaches. Though the archbishop is chairman of the board, the university is openly rejecting the archbishop’s protests about what he calls a denial of authentic teaching at this Catholic school.
see www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/US.php?id=1501
 
Actually, the course is on “the politics of gay marriage.” It’s not a course promoting gay marriage. It is a course looking at the controversy itself and the different perspectives, including Catholic perspectives, on the issue. There should be no problem offering this course at the university level.
 
Then why is the Archbishop objecting? I would think he would know just what exactly the course is all about.

Is Seton considered a Catholic college, or just another one in name only?

Just wondering.
 
Prague said:
Then why is the Archbishop objecting? I would think he would know just what exactly the course is all about…
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My impression from the news article is that the archbishop objects to a course at a Catholic university treating Catholic teaching as simply a viewpoint equal to any other viewpoint on the subject.
 
“ The syllabus of Professor King’s course prominently includes the book, “What’s Love Got To Do With It?: The Case For Same-Sex Marriage,” by two New Jersey state senators, and leaves room for guest speakers to address the class on their experiences pertaining to homosexual “marriage.””

It’s true that the course is titled “The Politics of Gay Marriage.” However, judging from the tone of the article and the fact that the professor himself is homosexual, it’s probably doubtful that the Catholic philosophy of marriage, or the view of marriage during most of recorded history, will get much of a hearing.

One wonders whether the university would be as apt to defend a course titled “The Politics of Adult-Child Marriage.”
 
JimG said:
“ The syllabus of Professor King’s course prominently includes the book, “What’s Love Got To Do With It?: The Case For Same-Sex Marriage,” by two New Jersey state senators, and leaves room for guest speakers to address the class on their experiences pertaining to homosexual “marriage.””

It’s true that the course is titled “The Politics of Gay Marriage.” However, judging from the tone of the article and the fact that the professor himself is homosexual, it’s probably doubtful that the Catholic philosophy of marriage, or the view of marriage during most of recorded history, will get much of a hearing.

One wonders whether the university would be as apt to defend a course titled “The Politics of Adult-Child Marriage.”
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  1. Every Catholic University, without ceasing to be a University, has a relationship to the Church that is essential to its institutional identity. As such, it participates most directly in the life of the local Church in which it is situated; at the same time, because it is an academic institution and therefore a part of the international community of scholarship and inquiry, each institution participates in and contributes to the life and the mission of the universal Church, assuming consequently a special bond with the Holy See by reason of the service to unity which it is called to render to the whole Church. One consequence of its essential relationship to the Church is that the institutional fidelity of the University to the Christian message includes a recognition of and adherence to the teaching authority of the Church in matters of faith and morals. Catholic members of the university community are also called to a personal fidelity to the Church with all that this implies. Non-Catholic members are required to respect the Catholic character of the University, while the University in turn respects their religious liberty(26).
    Apostolic Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae (1990)​
It would then seem to me that the only course on the homosexual simulation of marriage that could be licitly conducted here would be an exploration of the damage done to individuals and society because of the societal embrace of homosexuality…including its mockery of marriage.

Perhaps it’s time for Seton Hall to sever its ties with the Church.
 
I wrote a letter to the school President Estaban monthly ago along with the head of the polisci dept, with no response. Prof Mott, the individual who will teach the class, is a publicly militant homosexual vocally opposed to catholic teaching.
 
JimG said:
It’s true that the course is titled “The Politics of Gay Marriage.” However, judging from the tone of the article and the fact that the professor himself is homosexual, it’s probably doubtful that the Catholic philosophy of marriage, or the view of marriage during most of recorded history, will get much of a hearing.
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The article in the first post is more than a year old. Since its publication, the course has been taught twice: in Fall 2010 and in Fall 2011.

Did the course live up to those concerns or was it more balanced?
 
Dale_M said:
The article in the first post is more than a year old. Since its publication, the course has been taught twice: in Fall 2010 and in Fall 2011.

Did the course live up to those concerns or was it more balanced?
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Thanks for pointing this out. I didn’t notice the date of the article. It was really too old to be generating a commentary thread, but I too would be interested in the content of the course and how it has been received.
 
mdgspencer said:
There has been no change in the situation. See this posting by the Cardinal Newman Society from September 2011, about this course still continuing
blog.cardinalnewmansociety.org/2011/09/07/gay-marriage-politics-course-continues-at-seton-hall-despite-archbishops-critique/
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Hmm… the article you cite doesn’t offer any information about what the course actually taught. The article mentions the archbishop’s concern prior to the actual teaching of the course. And that the archbishop requested, at that time, for the Board of Regents to investigate the situation. However. we knew both of those things from the article in the first post.

Now that the course has been taught twice, were the concerns of the archbishop validated? The Cardinal Newman Society article doesn’t say.
 
If I was the Archbishop I would simply have the university’s Catholic name removed since they are clearly “Catholic” in name only if they are promoting gay “marriage”.
 
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