In a letter to the editor in today’s New York Times, Julie Green Bataille, Associate Vice President for Communications at Georgetown University, responds to Maureen Dowd’s April 7 column, “The Church’s Judas Moment.” In the column Dowd’s brother Kevin wrote, “Georgetown University agreeing to cover religious symbols on stage to get President Obama to speak
Bataille notes “numerous religious symbols remained visible throughout the hall during the president’s remarks.” It matters not that crosses and stained glass windows were on display in the hall. What matters most is that only the religious signage (including the name of Jesus) that was behind the president—therefore in plain sight of television cameras—was covered to provide a “standard backdrop.”
Catholics were upset with the university—one that refuses to display crucifixes in its classrooms—for selling out its Catholic identity and could not care less that religious imagery was on display outside the shot of a camera lens. The cowardice of Georgetown was appalling last year and the continued spin tells us all we need to know about what is going on there.
