Posted on 10/28/2013 6:37:05 PM PDT by marshmallow
Pope Francis surprised many last month following the publication of his first full-length interview, in which he offered a less doctrinaire stance on issues such as homosexuality and abortion than any of his predecessors.
“I am no one to judge,” he said in response a question about gay people, echoing previous comments he’d made to media on the topic this summer and signaling to some that the Vatican was becoming more moderate. Somewhat similarly, the pope said that the church has grown “obsessed” with doctrine - at the expense of larger spiritual matters.
“We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods,” he said. “I have not spoken much about these things, and I was reprimanded for that.”
But within days of the publication of the Vatican-approved interview, which appeared in the US in the Jesuit magazine America, several American Roman Catholic institutions took a harder line on those exact issues.
The apparent disconnect led some faculty members at Santa Clara and Loyola Marymount universities, which recently dropped coverage for elective abortions from their standard health insurance plans, and Providence College, which banned a gay marriage advocate from speaking on campus, to wonder whether their administrations had gotten the message.
“It did not escape the faculty that the timing on this was very unusual,” said Fred Drogula, professor of history and president of the Faculty Senate at Providence, which last month canceled an event featuring John Corvino, an associate professor of philosophy at Wayne State University who lectures nationally on gay marriage. In its initial cancellation announcement to faculty, Providence - which follows the Dominican tradition - cited a policy unknown to many on campus that when “mission-sensitive” issues are discussed, both sides must be presented. It said the college’s internal rebuttal.......
(Excerpt) Read more at timeshighereducation.co.uk ...
Anybody who thinks the Pope changed the Church’s teaching on “gay marriage” or abortion, or anything else for that matter, couldn’t be more wrong. Those teachings will NEVER change. He can change his personal point-of-view any time or all the time, as long as he keeps it Catholic.
It looks as if some people thought Il Papa was saying that Catholic institutions need not adhere to Catholic Doctrine. Some people were wrong.
Is this writer a dope, or what?
You’re right.
Folks hear what they want to. Seen it before, don’t expect it to change.
My bet would be that the next Pope will need to be a doctrinaire junk yard dog... It’s just the way it goes.
The people who run the media don’t live on the same planet as the rest of us. The problem with “catholic colleges” is a lot of are far too liberal.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.