Georgetown Condemns Cardinal Arinze for Pro-Family Speech

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Contact: Matt Mauney
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November 12, 2003

Georgetown University Student Government Condemns Catholic Cardinal for Pro-family Speech

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a stunning blow to Georgetown University’s religious heritage, the student government of America's oldest Catholic university turned its back on a normally routine resolution thanking Nigerian Archbishop Francis Cardinal Arinze - thought by many to be next in line for the papacy - for his commencement speech last spring.

In his speech, Cardinal Arinze stood up for traditional Catholic teachings on the family and sexual morality, saying, “In many parts of the world, the family is under siege. 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.”

Cardinal Arinze’s commencement address ignited a firestorm on campus that has continued in the current academic year. Theology Professor Theresa Sanders and several students walked out during the graduation speech on May 17th, 2003. Nearly 70 faculty members followed up with a letter to College Dean Jane McAuliffe to protest the address. Then, in October, the Georgetown University Faculty Senate passed a resolution prompted by the Arinze speech which called on the university to reaffirm its commitment to an “inclusive, pluralistic community.”

On November 4, 2003, the student government—known as the Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA)—debated a resolution sponsored by junior representative Matt Mauney that thanked Cardinal Arinze for an “appropriate and meaningful commencement address in keeping with Catholic teaching and the Georgetown University mission.” It also called on teachers and students who protested the speech “to affirm their commitment to an inclusive community.” GUSA rejected the resolution 3-11.

Mauney denounced GUSA’s actions saying, “By rejecting this resolution, the student association has said that the expression of Catholic faith is unwelcome at perhaps the most important university event for students. In doing so, it has pitted Georgetown’s Catholic identity against tolerance, implying that faithful Catholics, indeed the whole university, are bigoted.”

Nicholas Lizop, a GUSA representative who voted against the resolution, commented that “[I] would expect to be able to go through Georgetown without having to hear Catholic doctrine.”

“Unfortunately, there are many people on campus who are ignorant of Catholic teachings and Georgetown’s tradition,” Mauney said. “No one is compelled to agree with the Catholic Church, but as a non-Catholic, it is unconscionable to me that people who freely chose to come here are so hostile to the intellectual and moral tradition that founded this university. This decision undermines the 200-plus year tradition of America’s oldest Catholic university, and the students who opposed the resolution should be ashamed.”

GUSA’s actions have caused some students to reflect on whether conservative and traditional Catholic voices are really welcomed on campus. Jack Ternan, the chair of the student association and a Catholic, commented, “I can’t count the number of times I have been called a racist, sexist, homophobe, etc in an attempt to discredit or silence me.”