Mr. Reilly should also include the e-mails and contact information of the Local Bishops.
'VAGINA MONOLOGUES' CAMPAIGN UNDERWAY
Cardinal Newman Society has launched a nationwide protest of the "Vagina Monologues," a vulgar and sexually explicit play that is planned for 30 Catholic campuses in the weeks surrounding Saint Valentine's Day (Feb.14).
The list of planned performances announced by V-Day, the national group that has licensed campus productions at more than 500 schools this year, includes prominent institutions like
Boston College, DePaul, Georgetown, Loyola of Chicago, Loyola Marymount and the University of Notre Dame.
Already Cardinal Newman Society's campaign against the play has had an impact. Productions have been canceled at 15 Catholic colleges and universities this year, several prompted by letters, phone calls and e-mails urging administrators to ban "Vagina Monologues." Cardinal Newman Society praised college officials who interceded and banned the play at the Catholic University of America (Washington, DC), Emmanuel College (Boston, MA), Loyola University of New Orleans (LA), St. Ambrose University (Davenport, IA), St. John's University (Queens, NY), St. Joseph's College (Rensselaer, IN), the University of Portland (OR), the University of St. Francis (Joliet, IL), and Wheeling Jesuit University (WV).
"These leaders stood against political correctness in defense of their students' spiritual and mental health," said Patrick Reilly, President of Cardinal Newman Society. "They deserve the praise and support of all faithful Catholics." Following the campaign, "Catholic Higher Education Alert" will provide contact information for college leaders who canceled the play, urging subscribers to send thank-you letters.
The campaign has fared even better than last year, when 32 Catholic colleges and universities hosted or sponsored "Vagina Monologues" and 14 productions were canceled.
"Vagina Monologues" presents women discussing their sexuality and sexual encounters, replete with vulgarity, explicit language, and graphic descriptions of lesbian activity and masturbation.
One scene describes the seduction of a sexually inexperienced 16-year-old girl by a 24-year-old lesbian, who first intoxicates the girl with vodka. Instead of presenting the incident as sexual abuse that would be illegal in many states, the play declares it the girl's "surprising, unexpected and politically correct salvation."
"I am appalled and embarrassed that any Catholic institution would present this play, especially in the midst of the clergy sex abuse scandal," Reilly said. "Whether the perpetrator is a lesbian woman or a wayward priest, seduction of a minor is no one's 'salvation.' I would hope that word has a much different meaning for Catholic students and educators."
V-Day, an organization founded by author Eve Ensler to help fight violence against women, licenses productions of "Vagina Monologues" to students and faculty at more than 500 college campus nationwide. Cardinal Newman Society wrote to the presidents of all U.S. Catholic colleges and universities on December 17, 2003, urging them to investigate and halt planned performances announced by V-Day. The Society also calls on its members and other concerned Catholics to contact college presidents where productions are planned. Contact information, a sample letter and campaign updates are posted on the Society's website at
www.cardinalnewmansociety.org.
Cardinal Newman Society opposes all campus productions of "Vagina Monologues," regardless of whether they are formally approved or funded by the college or university. The Society also opposes off-campus performances by official student clubs.
Although many of the productions are organized by students, several are sponsored or co-sponsored by faculty in a wide range of academic departments including Communications, English, Political Science, Social Work, Theater and Women's Studies. At Nazareth College in Rochester, New York, the play is co-sponsored by Campus Ministry. Student attendance at the performance at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts, is counted toward "merit points" used to assign campus housing the following year.
But often faculty and students are divided over the controversial productions.
University of Notre Dame Law professor Charles Rice wrote in the campus newspaper, The Observer: "I hope that our leaders will reconsider this failure of judgment and cancel this third performance [in the last three years]. If not, all the responsible administrators, from the top down, should resign their administrative positions. If they do not resign, they should be removed. Baseball has it right: Three strikes
and you're out."
All campus performances raise funds for organizations that fight violence against women-a worthy cause, except when recipient organizations also oppose Catholic teaching by advocating abortion.
One beneficiary of the events last Friday and Saturday at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York, was Planned Parenthood. Although the funds were intended for Planned Parenthood's rape crisis center, the organization is the largest abortion provider in the U.S. The John Carroll University event will support the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, which advocates abortion rights as a member organization of the Freedom of Choice Cleveland Coalition.
Planned "Vagina Monologues" Sites
(Source: V-Day organization as of Feb. 11, 2004. Asterisk identifies performances not able to be independently verified by Cardinal Newman Society. For contact information, see
www.cardinalnewmansociety.org.)
Bellarmine University (KY) - Feb. 20-22
Boston College (MA) - Feb. 19-21
* Carlow College (PA) - April 21-22
College of the Holy Cross (MA) - Feb. 10-11
College of St. Rose (NY) - Feb. 17
* College of Santa Fe (NM) - dates unknown
DePaul University (IL), Main Campus (Chicago) - Feb. 22
DePaul University (IL), Barat Campus (Lake Forest) - dates unknown
Dominican University (CA) - Feb. 20-21
* Edgewood College (WI) - March 2
Fordham University (NY), Lincoln Center Campus - dates unknown
Fordham University (NY), Rose Hill Campus - dates unknown
Georgetown University (DC), Main Campus - Feb. 27-28
Georgetown University (DC), Law Center - March 18-19
John Carroll University (OH) - Feb. 13-15
Loyola College (MD) - March 10-11
Loyola Marymount University (CA) - Feb. 12-14
Loyola University of Chicago (IL) - Feb. 24, 26
Loyola University of Chicago (IL), Rome Center (Italy) - Feb. 13
Marymount Manhattan College (NY) - Feb. 14-15
Nazareth College (NY) - Feb. 12-14
Providence College (RI) - Feb. 17-18
Regis College (MA) - Feb. 7-8
St. John Fisher College (NY) - Feb. 6-7
St. Joseph College (CT) - Feb. 19-20, 22
St. Louis University (MO) - Feb. 13-15
St. Mary's College (CA) - Feb. 13
Seattle University (WA) - Feb. 13-15
Seton Hill University (PA) - March 2
* Siena College (NY) - March 11-12
Stonehill College (MA) - Feb. 18-20
University of Dayton (OH) - Feb. 13-15
University of Notre Dame (IN) - Feb. 14University of San Francisco (CA) - Feb. 13-15
Canceled "Vagina Monologues" Sites (our e-mails and phone calls WORK!) (Plans originally announced by V-Day organization)
Carroll College (MT)
Catholic University of America (DC)
Emmanuel College (MA)
Holy Names College (CA)
Loyola University of Chicago - Stritch School of Medicine (IL)
Loyola University of New Orleans (LA)
Mount St. Mary's College (CA)
St. Ambrose University (IA)
St. John's University (NY)
St. Joseph's College (IN)
St. Norbert College (WI)
University of Detroit Mercy (MI)
University of Portland (OR)
University of St. Francis (IL)
Wheeling Jesuit University (WV)
____________________________
[Catholic Campus News]
U. NOTRE DAME HOSTS GAY FILM FESTIVAL
The University of Notre Dame (IN) is hosting the first
ND Queer Film Festival, which began yesterday and runs through Saturday. (See
www.nd.edu/~lsayre/NDQFF.) Films include "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," described as an "
anatomically incorrect rock odyssey," and "Go Fish," a
movie about a young lesbian seeking love. Although Notre Dame has refused to recognize a homosexual student club,
it has allowed the film festival because it is co-sponsored by an academic department, the Department of Film, Television and Theatre. Funding for the event comes from GALA, an association of homosexual Notre Dame alumni. To protest, contact: Rev. Edward A. Malloy, C.S.C., President, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame,
IN 46556; Phone: (574) 631-3903; E-mail: malloy.5@nd.edu.
____________________________
[Catholic Campus News]
LOYOLA CHICAGO TO CLOSE BARAT COLLEGE
The trustees of DePaul University (IL) voted yesterday to close Barat College, which the university purchased three years ago in an attempt to increase enrollment to the struggling school. DePaul said that enrollment had not increased quickly. The 1,000-student college will close by June 2005.