GU Faculty Among Highest Donors to Obama Campaign
Donations from Georgetown employees to President-elect Barack Obama’s campaign ranked high among other college and universities, despite the candidate’s pro-choice stance, which is inconsistent with the university’s Catholic identity and view of the issue.
A study conducted by the Chronicle of Higher Education published last month stated that total donations from Georgetown University employees to the Obama campaign ranked seventh nationwide among higher education institutions. Georgetown is also the only Catholic university in the top 10. The university’s Jesuit community did not publicly support either candidate.
“The Catholic tradition in the U.S. has been that priests do not endorse or campaign for candidates,” said Father Thomas Reese, S.J., senior fellow at Georgetown’s Woodstock Theological Center. “As a priest, I can give advice to anyone who asks, but I should not get involved in telling people how to vote or publicly campaigning.”
While many of them are not Catholic, university employees, according to Georgetown’s Web site, are expected to “strengthen and affirm Georgetown's Catholic and Jesuit character in a variety of ways.”
Widespread support for Obama among employees could be considered to be in conflict with the university’s stance against abortion rights and birth control — demonstrated by Georgetown’s lack of recognition for H*yas for Choice and the absence of contraceptive options on campus.
However, in 2007, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops stated that in some cases it is permissible for Catholics to support a pro-choice candidate.
“There may be times when a Catholic who rejects a candidate's unacceptable position may decide to vote for that candidate for other morally grave reasons,” the bishops wrote in a report titled “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.” “Voting in this way would be permissible only for truly grave moral reasons, not to advance narrow interests or partisan preferences or to ignore fundamental moral evil.”
Vincent Miller, an associate professor in the theology department and a member of Obama’s Catholic Advisory Committee, said Obama’s campaign transcended single-issue voting.
“Obama won Catholic votes because he spoke constructively to a range of issues of concern to them. On abortion he fought to include in the platform abortion reduction programs that attempt to reduce unplanned pregnancies and support pregnant women in difficult situations,” Miller said. “He promised common ground on this divisive issue, and voters responded.”
Earlier this month, President-elect Obama was able to win over 54 percent of the national Catholic vote, which went for George W. Bush in 2004.
“Obama’s background in Catholic-sponsored community organizing resonated in the deeply Catholic vision of government he offered: individual and collective responsibility working together for the common good,” Miller said. “Life issues hold preeminence for Catholics, but the Bishops Conference has long made clear that these are not the only issues that Catholic voters must consider.”
According to Reese, some pro-life constituents believe that attempts to restrict abortions through legislation have proven to be ineffective, and that providing assistance to struggling pregnant women and their families will have a greater impact on reducing the number of abortions.
“Catholics did not vote for Obama because they like abortions,” Reese said. “They concluded that politically there was no future in legal restrictions and therefore opted for supporting candidates who would enact economic, social and educational programs that would reduce the number of abortions.”
Nov 21 2008 at 2:54 p.m.
The US Bishops also wrote in "Faithful Citizenship" that "The direct and intentional destruction of innocent human life from the moment of conception until natural death is always wrong and is not just one issue among many. It must always be opposed" and later, "As Catholics we are not single-issue voters. A candidate’s position on a single issue is not sufficient to guarantee a voter’s support. Yet a candidate’s position on a single issue that involves an intrinsic evil, such as support for legal abortion or the promotion of racism, may legitimately lead a voter to disqualify a candidate from receiving support." One would hope that faculty at a Catholic school would have well-enough formed consciences to realize that no issue at stake in this election (e.g. the economy) is as morally grave as to warrant disregarding the lives and souls of millions of children.
Further, the assertion that "On abortion [Obama] fought to include in the platform abortion reduction programs that attempt to reduce unplanned pregnancies and support pregnant women in difficult situations" is absurd. Leaving aside the fact that Obama's programs to reduce unplanned pregnancies involve contraception, which Catholics should be opposing anyway, the Democratic Party this year actually removed from their platform the language that suggested that abortions should be "safe, legal, and rare," and instead has focused on ensuring access to abortion to those who might not have been able to have one otherwise. How could that possibly reduce abortions? Obama has promised to sign the Freedom of Choice Act, which would eliminate all of the moderate local laws that states and voters have enacted that have proven to reduce the number of abortions. This could go as far as to overturn common sense laws, like parental consent laws, and to unconstitutionally overturn freedom of conscience laws that allow doctors and hospitals not to perform abortions if it goes against their religion or conscience. How could signing FOCA possibly reduce abortions?
Nov 21 2008 at 8:05 p.m.
Why do we disregard the great moral evils that the Bush administration has commited? Yes McCain is not Bush, but Senator McCain voted with Bush's policies 95% of the time. That was enough for me to vote Democrat. The proof is in the doing, not the talking, and McCain had been given a chance. He supports torture techniques. Ironic, wouldnt you say?! having been tortured himself? He supports the war in Iraq, an unjust war that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent lives. The Bush administration has undermined environmental protection efforts, and McCain vowed to continue such policies. The Bush administration has trampled on the Bill of Rights and compromised the civil rights and liberties of Americans in many ways ex. illegaly detaining citizens in the US for undetermined lengths of time. Lets not get started on Guantanamo Bay. The list goes on of the atrocities that the Bush administration has committed and McCain has promised to continue. I'm sure we are aware of them.
The Republicans were once the upholders of our moral tradition. But now they have become so deeply engrossed in corruption and policies that have exacerbated tentions between countries and religions throughout the world. So why do we narrow our vision to a single issue- abortion?
Obama may not be what we want him to be on the issue of abortion. But sometimes we have to vote for the lesser of the moral evils
Nov 22 2008 at 12:09 a.m.
Really? Abortion is the only trigger issue here for Catholics?
What about candidates who do not follow the Catholic Church's stance on capital punishment? Here's a quotation from the 1995 papal encyclical, Evangelium Vitae para. 56:
"This is the context in which to place the problem of the death penalty. On this matter there is a growing tendency, both in the Church and in civil society, to demand that it be applied in a very limited way or even that it be abolished completely. The problem must be viewed in the context of a system of penal justice ever more in line with human dignity and thus, in the end, with God's plan for man and society."
So shouldn't politicians who support the death penalty be blacklisted as well?
Or those who do not follow the Church's teaching on social justice?
Let's look at another papal encyclical, Rerum Novarum from 1891, para. 45:
"Let the working man and the employer make free agreements, and in particular let them agree freely as to the wages; nevertheless, there underlies a dictate of natural justice more imperious and ancient than any bargain between man and man, namely, that wages ought not to be insufficient to support a frugal and well-behaved wage-earner. If through necessity or fear of a worse evil the workman accept harder conditions because an employer or contractor will afford him no better, he is made the victim of force and injustice."
So if a politician does not support the living wage, should he be publicly castigated?
This is the hypocrisy of the whole condemnation of politicians who support abortion and contraception: never do we hear equal condemnation of politicians who support the death penalty or those who are against raising the minimum wage. Yet both are equally important teachings in the Catholic Church.
Nov 22 2008 at 12:57 a.m.
Capital Punishment has always been allowed by Traditional Church teaching. Only the schismatic heretical modernists like Diogenes push the lie that the death penalty is an evil equivalent to abortion.
Anyone who supported Obama is at best cmmitting a mortal sin and at worst automatically excommunicated.
Georgetown is in de facto schism with the Catholic Church.
Nov 22 2008 at 2:45 a.m.
Not to mention that, as far as I'm aware, neither candidate had any plans to abolish or restrict the death penalty - or to expand it. No use voting on that issue this year. But I'd love to see the death penalty abolished.
Nov 22 2008 at 3:59 a.m.
"Widespread support for Obama among employees could be considered to be in conflict with the university’s stance against abortion rights and birth control — demonstrated by Georgetown’s lack of recognition for H*yas for Choice and the absence of contraceptive options on campus."
If I wanted to stir up controversy, I might argue that this article could be considered to be in conflict with the University's commitment to diversity and religious pluralism.
But really, I just think that it's premised on a silly claim, and unworthy of the Hoya. Neither students nor employees are required to practice Catholicism or embrace Catholic beliefs in their private lives. That the university chooses to deny free speech about abortion and access to condoms and legal contraceptives on campus is unfortunate, but those regulations concern what happens on university property. What faculty do with their own money, on their own time, is no business of the university.
Nov 23 2008 at 9:46 a.m.
Obama advocates the intrinsic evil of abortion. He advocates the denying of a human being's fundamental right to life. This in itself tells me Obama doesn't care about people-human life. A father/mother who sees the life in the womb as his property to destroy is a coward who picks on helpless and voiceless little babies who can't defend themselves. Such injustice reminds me of the injustice done against the African Americans centuries ago. African Americans must feel for these unborn babies knowing how it feels to be treated like you are somebody's property and possession-no freedom!
According to statistics, abortion is the leading cause of death in the black community. Abortion doesn't just kill children, it also wounds and kills women. More and more, it has come to light that breast cancer and other cancer in women links to abortion and artificial contraception. The Catholic Church, the voice of Christ, has been right to teach against abortion and artificial contraceptions. The Catholic Church encourages Natural Family Planning-God's healthy and natural way of spacing or postponing pregnancies where the mother goes by her fertile and infertile cycles.
Artificial contraception and abortion are not medicines used for healing; they are instruments of the devil. They put an end to a life and "the plan God has for that human life" (Jermiah 1: 5), and leave a woman's life and soul wounded and scared for ever.
Women who had had abortion, suffered physically, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually. Like racism against black centuries ago, but to a greater extend, abortion kills and scars human life. African Americans must stand with the Catholic Church's teachings against abortion and have compassion for these unborn babies whose right to life is being taken away through abortion, since they once experienced similiar injustice at one point in their life. Like a black person, I am a minority in this country. I love my children and future children and all the black, white, yellow, red, and brown children, born and unborn.
Before defending those who are already born, a true leader must first and foremost protect the right to life of those not yet born; for without the unborn, we can not have the born. True compassion and protection for human life must begin with the fundamental right to life of the unborn. A true and good leader must protect the lives of the unborn and born citizens of his nation. "A nation that kills its children is a nation without a future" (Pope John Paul II). They are unborn today, but if they are given the right to life, they will be the leaders of tomorrow. The baby in the womb has a complete DNA different from his/her mother ready to grow and develop into a bigger and stronger baby. This baby is not a part of the woman's body. Like the mother, this baby has a choice to live. America scoop down and protect the lives of your most vulnerable citizens-the unborn babies before you suffer the consequence of your act of injustice against God's innocent human life.
Artificial contraception inceases abortion-just study the facts. Artificial contraception existed before the legalization of abortion. Did it decrease abortion? no, it increased it for it is the "LICENSURE" to free sex outside of marriage. Abortion rate has dropped tramendously for the last few years through new pro-life laws, the Church's chastity and purity education programs, resulted in an increase of the virtues of chastity and purity, Church prolife programs/spiritual activities (including Catholic Social Services and hospital pro-life efforts) and national right to life activities. Obama's plan through FOCA is dangerous and can cause a civil war in this nation. Immoral laws leads to an immoral nation, disunity and an increase in violence and hatred. May God bless Barak Obama and Joe Biden and their administration, and may God bless America. Please know, you are in my prayer.
Nov 23 2008 at 10:36 a.m.
My childhood priests were holy Jesuit Missionary priests who instilled and fostered the love of God, His Church and the Magisterial teachings of the Church in my heart. One holy Jesuit Missionary priest in particular (the late Father William Rively from Pensylvania who retired and died in the Bronx) inspired my love for the presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, through his reference of the Holy Mass and the Holy Eucharist, the Sacrament of Confession, and the Sacrament of Holy Order. Through him I learned to respect the priests, the bishops, but especially the pope, the Vicar of Christ on earth to whom Christ founded His Church on and entrusted the "Keys of heaven." We even put this very teaching/doctrine (which we read in Matthew 16: 15-19) in a song written and composed by local Gospel Song-writers. I am very saddened, disappointed, and embarrassed to find out that a Jesuit-run University allowed its employees to fund and support the work amd political campaign of an anti-Catholic and anti-Christ (he is anti-Christ because he is anti-life. Jesus said, he is the way, the truth and the LIFE. Anybody who is anti-life is anti-Christ. Anybody who is anti-Catholic is anti-Christ for Christ speaks through this Church which He founded 2000 years ago-Matt. 16: 18-19) politician. That is such a shame. I have a cousin who works there, and I hope he wasn't one of them. I will be very sad if he was. We come from big families-we are blessed by God. Georgetown University must fire those who supported Obama's compaign. This is a private-run University, they must have rules and laws that protect the holiness and sanctity of the University as a Catholic-based institution-an instrument of God's grace in this world just like any Catholic hospitals and Institutions. Why carry the name, if they are not going to abide by Church Teachings and doctrines? May God bless Georgetown University. Please know you are in my prayers.
Nov 23 2008 at 6:56 p.m.
Nasako,
Your call to fire faculty members who supported President-Elect Obama is fundamentally misguided and deeply inconsistent with the university's most basic values. Note the excerpt from the University Missions statement below:
Established in 1789 in the spirit of the new republic, the University was founded on the principle that serious and sustained discourse among people of different faiths, cultures, and beliefs promotes intellectual, ethical, and spiritual understanding. We embody this principle in the diversity of our students, faculty, and staff, our commitment to justice and the common good, our intellectual openness, and our international character.