More than a few eyebrows were raised when the new president of The Catholic University of America was named: John H. Garvey, Dean of the Boston College School of Law.
Most people know Boston College, in recent years, has become the epicenter of Catholic dissent. And although Garvey is was not a name familiar to me, I wasn’t suprised to read the following at CatholicCulture.org.
In 2007, Mr. Garvey was criticized by the Cardinal Newman Society when the law school named as its commencement speaker Rep. Edward J. Markey, an abortion proponent with a 100% ‘pro-choice’ voting record. “Congressman Ed Markey is one of the most distinguished graduates of Boston College Law School, whose career of public service reflects the very best values and traditions of the School,” said Mr. Garvey. “I don’t believe Boston College has ever had a better friend in the United States Congress than Ed Markey.”
Orthodox. Faithful. Free.
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In naming Rep. Markey its commencement speaker, Boston College Law School failed to heed the 2004 US bishops’ document “Catholics in Political Life,” which stated, “The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.”
The report goes on to list the predictable donations to the 2004 John Kerry compaign and so forth — more of the same will most likely be reported down the road.
But, for the moment, it’s clear the new president of CUA has made the same mistake of most Catholic university deans and presidents by honoring pro-abortion Catholic politicians and then compounding that mistake by defending it.
Perhaps when Garvey is free of the environs of Boston College he will emerge a new kind of Catholic university president, one unafraid of political and financial power and willing to articulate the Church’s uncomprising vision of life’s goodness.