This Is 'A Serious Business' That Demands Attention

Here is a very special message from The Cardinal Newman Society: Time and time again, it’s a small number of Catholic schools and colleges that have stood strong to defend their Catholic identity and religious freedom. We’re proud to be working with these models of Catholic education! This week, as you may know, the Trump administration rescinded an Education Department rule that forced schools and colleges to admit members of the opposite sex into bathrooms, locker rooms and bedrooms. It’s a huge victory, and Catholics should be very grateful to our new President and his team for this! But as we report here, the repeal only happened because of strong and vocal opposition by faithful Catholic educators and others. We should also be very grateful to those who shouldered the burden of this fight! Some of The Newman Guide colleges—especially those in California—suffered grave threats of persecution for their principled stand. These colleges, together with faithful Catholic schools and The Cardinal Newman Society, were joined in this work by other courageous Christian educators and the best minds at groups including Alliance Defending Freedom and The Heritage Foundation. There is a growing distinction between the most faithful Catholic colleges and leading Catholic universities, which seem able to muster intense political heat over immigration and federal student aid, but do little to defend their own religious freedom to uphold Catholic teaching. Matt Archbold’s “Report Card” column this week helps explain why. Even as the renewal of faithful Catholic education grows at all levels, the extreme nonsense—some of it quite dangerous—persists on some Catholic campuses. Can you believe the provost of the Jesuit University of San Francisco even proudly “retweeted” Matt’s comments on the university’s offensive “women’s rights” forum? And this despite Christ’s severe warning in yesterday’s Gospel reading (Mk 9:41-50)! Catholic education is serious business, and we thank God for those faithful educators who lead our young people not into error, but to their inheritance with Christ. May God bless you. Sincerely yours in Christ,      Patrick Reilly  President