Cardinal Newman Society calls for removal of ‘pro-choice’ Catholic college professors

Boston, Mass., Aug 16, 2005 / 22:00 pm

The Cardinal Newman Society, a Catholic watchdog group, is calling for the removal of 18 academics who they say, “perpetuate a culture of death” by their public support of abortion and the recent starvation death of brain damaged Terri Schiavo.

The group has specifically targeted Catholic institutions like Boston College and Georgetown University, both of which they say, risk being "stripped of [their] Catholic identity by the bishop who has authority over that college."

In an eight page letter sent to some 75,000 recipients throughout this past spring and summer, Eugene Diamond, former president of the Catholic Medical Association, wrote that "It is for us to raise our voice in defense of the truth and demand that authentic Catholic doctrine be brought back to our beloved universities and colleges."

"And the most natural first response to such dishonesty and underhandedness”, he continued, “is anger!"

The Virginia based Newman Society urges Catholic colleges and universities to remain faithful to the teaching and Magisterium of the Catholic Church.

The letter specifically names Rev. John Paris, a bioethics professor and Catholic priest at Boston College, and Charles Baron and Milton Heifetz, who are both Jewish professors at BC's law school.

In a statement, Boston College officials said that the college is "firmly committed to its Jesuit, Catholic mission and heritage" and "openly engages issues of the day, especially those concerning faith and culture."

They said that, "The publicity-seeking rhetoric and unfounded accusations of the Cardinal Newman Society are a disservice to Catholic colleges and universities and the church that they proudly serve."

Likewise, Fr. Paris called the Society a "a self-appointed vigilante committee," and said that "They neither represent the church nor the academic community…and yet they want to censor the academic community in the name of the church."

The Cardinal Newman Society pointed out that the three Boston College professors, along with Carol Bayley, a nursing professor at the University of San Francisco; Lawrence Nelson, a philosophy professor at Santa Clara University, and; James Walter, chairman of the Bioethics Institute at Loyola Marymount University, (all Catholic schools) signed a letter to the Florida Supreme Court urging Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube to be removed last spring.

Schiavo was killed in March after her husband won a years-long battle to have his wife’s feeding tube--her only means to food and water--to be removed, thereby ending her life.

The Catholic Church publicly condemned the action, calling it an inhumane death sentence.

The Catholic Church also unequivocally condemns abortion, which Diamond’s letter points out, many of the listed professors have publicly supported.

The letter also names 12 more professors at various Catholic institutions around the country who, they say, are publicly unfaithful to Church teachings.