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Informal group for gays encounters support, resistance at CUA
Mar. 05, 2010For the past year an informal group of students at The Catholic University of America has been organizing to support gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered students and faculty. Named CUAllies, the group has been met with some opposition. While the students claim the group is only a support system for minorities on campus, the university has withheld official support in fear of endorsing an organization that might advocate for issues contrary to official Catholic teaching. Spokesman Victor Nakas stated the university’s opposition in a Dec. 11 article in The Washington Post. He explained that students already have access to support services through the university’s health center, counseling services, and office of campus ministry.
Catholic University student Lauren Crook, who cofounded the organization and is in her final year as a sociology student, spoke with NCR editorial intern Joshua McElwee about the group and its vision. What follows is an edited version of that interview.
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NCR: Why did you form CUAllies?
Crook: We formed CUAllies because there was an obvious need for it at The Catholic University of America [CUA]. There was not a publicized “safe space” for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and questioning [GLBTQ] students and their allies anywhere on campus. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops stated in their 1997 pastoral message to parents of gay children that “all homosexual persons have a right to be welcomed into the community.” The founders of CUAllies felt that Catholic University was not doing its part to welcome homosexuals or to eliminate the discrimination that exists within the university community. Many GLBTQ students and their allies have felt discriminated against on campus, unsafe because of their sexual orientation or beliefs, and unsupported by the larger CUA community.
The main goal of CUAllies is to work to create an environment where all people feel safe, welcomed, and affirmed. It is a belief in Christian hospitality and that all people are created in the image of God that impels us to reach out to the GLBTQ community here.
How has the administration treated the group?
We believe the administration wants to make CUA a more hospitable place for everyone, but they are unwilling to address GLBTQ issues and provide a publicized safe place for GLBTQ students. We are trying to work within the confines of the university to uphold its mission.
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Since we have been denied recognition as a new student organization, we are not able to publicize on campus, receive funding from the university, and reserve rooms to meet on campus, although we can meet unofficially if there are open rooms available.
However, some progress has been made recently. Last semester, we had one of the associate deans come speak to over 40 members of CUAllies at one of our meetings about some of the support resources that are in place for students. We are also in talks to work with the dean of students to create some sort of pamphlet or handout to inform students about discrimination, the university’s zero-discrimination policy, and how to report instances of discrimination.
Have students and professors been supportive of the group?
Fellow students have generally been incredibly supportive of the efforts of CUAllies. We made 100 T-shirts and they were gone within a week and we had to order more. The student newspaper, The Tower, has featured several articles about our efforts. It has definitely become a talking point around campus. It’s not unusual for me to be wearing my CUAllies T-shirt and for someone to stop me and say a word of encouragement or ask where they can get their own. Of course there will always be some people who aren’t supportive, but for the most part I would say they are the minority. Professors have been fairly supportive as well. Several have asked for T-shirts and some even come to our weekly meetings. Others have asked to be put on our weekly e-mail list, where we send out e-mails to over 100 faculty and staff of the university with testimonies of GLBTQ students and their allies, along with resources for them.
How has the group supported you and other students in faith and academic life?
For me, this group just let me know that I wasn’t alone. It’s so easy to come to here to CUA and to feel like you’re the only GLBTQ person on the entire campus. It allowed me to talk to people who have been in the same position as me: who have had to come out to their parents, who have had to deal with verbal harassment due to their sexual orientation, who have had to struggle with their faith and their sexuality. I’m a senior and my time with CUAllies is the first time in four years that I’ve felt that I had a real, reliable resource at this university to go to regarding my sexuality.
On a broader note, I feel that one of CUAllies’ main strengths is that it doesn’t take up any views that take attention away from its main goal of creating a safe, welcoming, affirming environment for all students. Our past topics have ranged in subject greatly. We’ve done peer support counseling, a discussion on coming out, difficulties GLBTQ students experience going home for the holidays, and faith and spirituality. At the meeting on faith, we invited a deacon and a Harvard Divinity scholar to come speak about the coexistence of homosexuality and a strong spirituality. At that meeting, we handed out information with local mosques, temples and churches of all denominations that are publicly open to GLBTQ individuals.
We don’t talk about same-sex marriage, about safe sex, about same-sex adoptions, because these issues are not what we’re about. We’re about providing a source of comfort and safety for individuals who don’t find that other places on campus. We have members who are pro-gay marriage and we have members who don’t believe in it, but that is the beauty of CUAllies -- everyone is welcome! Straight, gay, transgendered, black, white, Republican, Democrat, Catholic, atheist -- it doesn’t matter. CUAllies wants to support the person.
What advice do you have for students at other Catholic universities facing similar struggles?
I would advise other students to constantly keep in mind why they’re doing what they’re doing. This isn’t about fighting “the man” or creating new laws or getting your name in the paper -- it’s about helping people. It’s about making that freshman who sits crying in his dorm room because he doesn’t understand his feelings feel a little less alone on campus. It’s about educating the student body about how to appreciate diversity. It’s about empowering the student who had a horrible word written across his board to report the discrimination to the appropriate people. It’s about making that new teacher not afraid of professional retribution when she talks about her partner with other faculty members. At its core, it’s about maintaining the dignity of the human person.
[Joshua J. McElwee is NCR editorial intern and, in the interest of disclosure, graduated from The Catholic University of America in 2009. His e-mail address is jmcelwee@ncronline.org.]
I am wondering how this group
I am wondering how this group can avoid running headlong against the teachings of the Church...
I do not see they are running
I do not see they are running heading against the official institutional teachings. They are following Catholic Social Justice and showing Solidarity towards the marginalized. They are showing respect for the person without making GLBT a trait to denounce and attack the person-hood. Even with all the anti-marriage rhetoric, the other part of the statements has been respect for the person (though that facade is falling away pretty quickly in many "orthodox" circles).
GLBT people have a place in the Church, they should not be marginalized on their sexual preference. Eventually the GLBT community will be joyfully welcomed back into the Church, not just isolated parishes (which some bishops are cracking down on).
CUA makes it clear that it
CUA makes it clear that it strongly supports the sexual mores of the Church. As such, it's not correct to say that "they are unwilling to address GLBTQ issues and provide a publicized safe place for GLBTQ students". They have addressed GLBTQ issues.
"At its [CUAllies] core, it’s
"At its [CUAllies] core, it’s about maintaining the dignity of the human person." Catholic University of America cannot support such a group "out of fear of endorsing an organization that might advocate for issues contrary to official Catholic teaching."
This institution has the nerve to use the word "Catholic" in its title! It is an embarrassment to every Christian person! Shame on CUA. Kudos to you Lauren for being such a strong and courageous sister of Jesus!
Excellent initiative,
Excellent initiative, excellent article. I wish this organization and its members much continuing success.
I'm not surprised at all by
I'm not surprised at all by the decision of CUA --- supported by and accountable to the U.S. bishops --- to "[withhold] official support in fear of endorsing an organization that might advocate for issues contrary to official Catholic teaching." Such a decision is part and parcel of an ecclesial culture hell-bent on denying "voice" to anybody who would dare challenge church discipline and doctrine.
Oddly enough, the 1983 Code of Canon Law acknowledges not merely the right but, at times, even the duty of Catholics to share their thoughts on matters of concern not only with the pastors but, just as important, with one another. Official Catholic venues --- schools and publications (all of them ultimately financed by the laity) --- would be logical places for the free and unimpeded flow and exchange of information and opinion on issues confronting the church. Indeed, such intra-church communication would only reinforce official Vatican II teaching on the "sense of the faithful" in doctrinal development. In our day, the official teachers can learn just as much from an educated and informed laity as the latter can learn from the hierarchs.
As soon as the right wingers
As soon as the right wingers in the hierarchy no longer hold power, I believe we will see a new effort for full inclusion of glbt people in the life of the Catholic Church and especially on Catholic college campuses. We are in one of the darkest and most repressive periods in the Catholic Church;s history and until the Holy Spirit cleans house and brings the Church in line withe the spirit and word of the Council Fathers of Vatican II, very few changes will happen. This is a shameful and ignorant period in the Church's history. Backward thinking and repression of theological scholarship and exchange of new ideas from progressive Catholic theologians has placed the Church in a Fundamentalist mode that will take some time to recover. The hierarchy needs to come out of the closet. They are hypocrits and they do not deserve our respect because othey have abused that authority and sided with right wing Republican mentalities that are the antithesis of everything Jesus preached and stood for, This period will pass and new light will return and help the Church grow up and reflect Jesus and His love.
Chris, I think you and
Chris,
I think you and others present some very valid points! I also think that for our Universities, to remain valid in the sense of seeking to listen to the Spirit today and seek truth, should move toward becoming “independent universities of Catholic heritage.” Unless they rid themselves of the cloud of Episcopal fear, they will become more a deadening voice than a hopeful voice enlightened with the Holy Spirit.
R. Dennis Porch, MD
I fail to see how the "right
I fail to see how the "right wingers" hold power. Has Pope Benedict XVI, or any of the bishops, excommunicated in a wholesale manner those who disagree with them? Has Pope Benedict forced every Mass to be celebrated in Latin? Has Pope Benedict excommunicated Catholics who vote Democrat (or pro-abortion, there is no difference), or all those who support women's ordination, or those who are openly gay or lesbian? Has he thrown together a slew of infallible statements and declarations? Has he wiped away Vatican II? Has he started a new Holy and Roman and Universal Inquisition? Please.
Your hatred for the Church blinds you to reality, it seems. The Church has ALWAYS taught that homosexual behavior or activity is gravely sinful. Even in the days of such "bright lights" as Blessed John XXIII and Pope Paul VI, and Pope Leo XIII, that teaching was not reversed, but rather confirmed.
I suppose that, in your opinion, anyone who would dare to profess a faith or belief in a transcendent reality, or in absolute truth, is a "fundamentalist" to you. I suppose you would also claim that Jesus Himself was a "fundamentalist", after all, though He was compassionate and merciful, He also taught and spoke in absolutes.
In the final analysis, there are denominations that support all the things you support, Episcopalians, mainline Lutherans and Methodists. Perhaps you would be happier there, since you seem to rail against all the things that the Catholic Church teaches and believes in. While we would be sad to lose you (after all, any loss diminishes the entire Church), you might be happier in a community that you would not have to hate so much.
A shameful necessity of
A shameful necessity of having to pussyfoot around issues that might be most germane to the people who belong to the group.
As Tim Unsworth once said: "While other Catholics quit the church when they learn that the Round Robin game at the Friday night Bingo was rigged, these (gay and lesbian) Catholics cling to the hem of garments that are being pulled away from them." (Taken from the book “Tim Unsworth”, a collection of his articles in NCR between 1982 and 2007, published by Acta Publications in 2008)
I applaud Ms. Cook and her
I applaud Ms. Cook and her organization, CUAllies, not only for the courage it has taken to establish such a group at Catholic University, but also for the focused and objective aims that have been promoted---not conversion, reform, confrontation but providing a safe and supportive atmosphere for the individual who needs that on a campus such as CUA. I also applaud the University for its passive, non-threatening tolerance of the organization. Maybe there is hope for tolerance in some quarters of the Roman Church.
CUA lost all credibility as a
CUA lost all credibility as a university with the Curran affair.
Dear Brother/Sister
Dear Brother/Sister Anonymous:
Have you ever been rejected? Did you take the time to look at the feelings this rejection engendered in you? Did you assess the subsequent behavior this rejection caused in you?
As a teenager were you thrown out of your home by your parents because you dared to trust them enough to try to tell them about your queer feelings. . that you thought you might be gay and have a "homosexual orientation"?
Could you begin to imagine how you might feel if/when you went to your church for help, support, plain human care and concern, and had the church people "draw back in official horror" as if you were a walking talking plague whose very presence might contaminate your "sacred space"?
Further, how would you feel and react when you reached out for the bread of human kindness and were handed a stone. . . when church-speak told you that you were defective? The official word is "objectively disordered" and
"inclined to intrinsically evil actions"? What does this do to the young and not-so-young person who had learned that s/he was created in the image and likeness of God; that at Baptism s/he had become identified with Jesus and given a share in divine life and then, later in life, to find out there was no place for you at the Table of the Lord.
What would you do with the feelings that these same church persons, masquerading as followers of Jesus, would throw you out into a snow bank on Christmas Eve without batting an eyelash? We "followers of Jesus" have (and still do) rejected and driven out and away hundreds of thousands of persons created in the image and likeness of God with a homosexual orientation which they did not choose. The 1997-98 document written by the US Catholic Conference of Bishop, amended and approved by the Vatican, "Always Our Children" tells us that persons with a homosexual orientation did not choose this and must be received with love and respect and welcomed into the Community of the Church. Unfortunately, the majority of Catholics bishops never read this document, and clergy and laity mostly never heard of it.
So, imagine this if you could: your parish church is embarrassed by your presence, does not esteem you as a child of God, nor offer you a safe place to grow and learn in the educational strongholds paid for by the people of the United States in their parishes with a special collections each year.
There is "no room in the inn" for those whom we call "Always Our Children" and drive away because of our mindless homophobia. Would that we would begin to hear the Lenten call of conversion, change of heart, lest we all die of hunger and thirst for justice, acceptance and welcome, for a place place where we can feel safe.
I find it interesting that
I find it interesting that their are those who claim that a Human Fetus is not a Human Individual, a.k.a., Person, but that a sexual relationship is. In regards to homosexuality, this manipulation of the definition of Person is being used as an attempt to make it appear that those who do not condone sexual relationships that do not Respect the Dignity of the Human Person are discriminating against a Person rather than a sexual relationship.
Only through Christ, can we know the essence of Perfect Love.
I suppose, if we have to use
I suppose, if we have to use labels, I would be a "trad" or "right-wing". Actually, I'm simply Catholic and this group appears to be most worthy and in the best traditions of the Church. It supports the teachings of the Church and lives in obedience to Christ and his vicar while reaching out to His outcast children. If only some more extreme groups, both left AND right, could do the same.
As a young person, I hope
As a young person, I hope that CUA bans any official recognition of this group. Any organization that promotes acceptance of this deviant lifestyle has no place on a Catholic campus.
No courage! Catholic
No courage! Catholic University is notoriously cowardly in facing any doctrinally challenging positions. It is not a surprise that is frightened of this issue. It will never question the commands of bishops and other mitered dunces in the name of theology or charity.
Catholic University is an embarrassment to Catholics!
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