Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the right of Catholic institutions to determine their own prerogatives:
If a racist Catholic were disinvited from speaking at the commencement exercises of a Catholic college, the only relevant issue would be why the invitation was extended in the first place. But when a pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage Catholic, Victoria Kennedy (the widow of Sen. Edward Kennedy), was disinvited from giving the commencement address at Anna Maria College, the issue was not why she was invited in the first place—it was the decision to disinvite her. That’s because many liberal Catholics are angered by racism and tolerant of abortion. Worse is the spectacle of non-Catholics like Faithful America petitioning the public to get Worcester Bishop Robert McManus (who properly intervened in this matter) to allow Mrs. Kennedy to speak.
In Fort Wayne, Indiana the issue for busybodies is the termination of a Catholic teacher who violated Church teachings by receiving in vitro fertilization. Some may wonder what is wrong with this procedure. The Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend is very clear: “The process of in vitro fertilization very frequently involves the deliberate destruction of embryos or the freezing of embryos, which the Church holds to be incompatible with the respect owed to human life.” Now anyone is free to disagree, but no one is free to accept a job at a Catholic school and make up his own rules. That is why it is so obnoxious to see Emily Herx, the “victim” teacher, making the rounds on TV trying to gin up public support. She knew when she took her job that as a condition of employment she was expected to serve as a “moral exemplar” as defined by the Catholic Church.
These are only two recent cases where non-Catholics are brazenly interfering with Catholic prerogatives. Every institution, secular as well as religious, has house rules. No one is forced to stay. But it is also true that no one has a right to mutiny.
