Ruth Institute Blog

This story caught my eye. Catholic University Seton Hall will be offering a course on same sex marriage next fall in the Women and Gender Studies Department. I doubt that the course would have even been noticed by the media, except that the Archbishop of Newark objected:

Archbishop John J. Myers said news that Seton Hall students will be studying gay marriage “troubles me greatly.”

In a statement, the archbishop said the church teaches that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.

“This proposed course seeks to promote as legitimate a train of thought that is contrary to what the Church teaches. As a result, the course is not in synch with Catholic teaching,” Myers said. “Consequently, the board of trustees of Seton Hall have asked the board of regents to investigate the matter of this proposed course and to take whatever action is required under the law to protect the Catholicity of this university.”

As archbishop, Myers does not have the authority to cancel a class. But the conservative archbishop serves as chairman of Seton Hall’s board of trustees and president of the school’s board of regents, the governing body that oversees academic issues.

Larry Robinson, Seton Hall’s vice provost, said the course was approved by both the political science department and the dean’s office.

“The initial review at the departmental level and at the dean’s level suggests that the course is not an advocacy course … but a ‘special topics’ course to objectively examine a significant current public policy issue,” Robinson said. “Thus, we fully anticipate that the Catholic position on same sex marraige will be explored.

I would be astonished if the Catholic position on same sex marriage will be fully and fairly explored. The professor of the course, is openly homosexual, and has been quoted as saying that the Catholic Church is prima facie homophobic.
I had my own experience at Seton Hall law school last spring. I had been asked to come and debate same sex marriage, as the guest of the Federalist Society and the American Constitution Society. I was told that they had two different debate opponents for me, both of whom backed out after looking at my website. the person they ultimately got was not informed about the issues at all: he was an expert on a completely different area of law. He spent his entire opening speech telling me that I was a bigot and no better than a racist. He never did answer the 3 objections that I raised to same sex marriage. He was so bad, that some students walked out on him.
So, I am not at all hopeful that the Catholic position will be fully and fairly explored in this course. I will issue this challenge. If they do permit this class to go forward, I urge conservative students to take the class, to monitor him and keep him honest. I will be glad to come to New Jersey and explain the long run social consequences of redefining marriage to the good professor, and anyone else open-minded enough to listen.