Catholics Protest Sleazy Catholic Higher Education

Criticizing Catholic higher education leadership for an aggressive campaign against attempts by exploited faculty to unionize is like shooting fish in a barrel. 

Here, see what I mean:

Another scandalous event that occurred during this "Fortnight for Freedom" was Duquesne University joining the sleazy ranks of Catholic higher education institutions who have attempted to claim religious exemption from the National Labor Relations Board in order to avoid a union.

Easy, right? And if you’re not Catholic yourself, you don’t have to be the one who uses hurtful words like “sleazy,” because you can just quote from actual Catholic sources, like Iglesia Descalza, a Voice from the Margins of the Catholic Church. 

What, you’re going to object to voices from the “margins”? So how about this, from Father Geoff Farrow:

Apply Catholic social teaching to Diocesan employment (wage/benefit) practices AND then perhaps, they will have the moral authority to address general social issues. They would certainly look far less ridiculous to their clergy and the faithful.

Ok, I hear objections again. Father Geoff’s a priest, granted, and a suspended one, and he's one of those anti-war types, a progressive. Wants the Church to back off on some of the gay stuff, and the contraception stuff, and so-forth. So try this, from America Magazine—published by the Jesuits, no less!

Where the Catholic hospitals are seeking an exemption from the mandate so they can honor Catholic teaching on contraception, the universities seem to be seeking an exemption from the National Labor Relations Act so that they can violate Catholic teaching on labor.

What do you want? Beautiful, right? Case closed. 

It’s a little unfair, I realize, given that the Church is all centralized, and everything’s all written down, so the hypocrisy hunt is easy. 

And that’s not so, at least always, for secular colleges and universities. 

They're awful too, but not always so obvious: some of their mission statements, though, I tell you, are ripe for the picking. But they'll have to wait their turn. 

Right now, I am picking on the Catholic higher ed hierarchy, and I just hope they appreciate it. One way or another, they really are providing moral guidance.

And next time, I will have a look at some recent posts on Human Resources and Mission: Discussion Blog for Catholic Colleges and Universities. There seem to be a number of ways that the “Catholic Social Teaching” deck can be shuffled and dealt.