Father Drinan’s Chair

THE GEORGETOWN HOYA, Oct. 27 — Georgetown University has established an honorary chair for dissenting Jesuit Father Robert Drinan.

Law Center Dean T. Alexander Aleinikoff announced Oct. 23 that a chair in human rights had been established for Father Drinan, a former five-term Congressman who is a public supporter of abortion rights.

“At a ceremony on Monday at the Law Center in honor of Drinan, Aleinikoff gave a glowing review of Drinan’s career, but did not mention his support for abortion rights,” the Hoya student newspaper reported.

Patrick Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society, called the new chair “a horrible embarrassment for Georgetown.”

Said Reilly, “It has come to the point that it is dubious if Georgetown still has a commitment to the Catholic faith.”

Helping Hand

SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE, Oct. 28 — Notre Dame’s new Magnificat program is “a divine little tale about a nationally recognized Catholic university taking two inner-city Catholic schools under its wing.”

At least that’s how South Bend Tribune staff writer Michael Wanbaugh described the new program implemented by Notre Dame to help Catholic schools fulfill their mission.

St. Adalbert and St. Anne in Chicago are the first two schools receiving Magnificat assistance.

A key element of the program is in-classroom instruction from Notre Dame professors.

“Basically what I am is an on-site professional developer,” said University of Notre Dame Teacher in Residence Nancy Masters. “I interview the teachers and ask them what their most pressing needs are and what their goals are for the year.”

Stadium Controversy

RIVERFRONT TIMES, Oct. 25 — Ground was broken Aug. 28 on construction of Saint Louis University’s new sports arena, but the Jesuit-run school is still facing court proceedings over the project, the St. Louis newspaper reported.

A few local residents and some members of a Masonic temple have filed suit over the contribution of $8 million towards the arena’s construction costs by a tax-financing district established by the city of St. Louis.

Although a trial court ruled that the funding was constitutional because “SLU, although a university with a Jesuit tradition, is not a university ‘controlled by a religious creed,’” an appellate court last month ordered the case’s transfer to the Missouri Supreme Court.

University representatives insist that the $80-million arena will help redevelop its neighborhood.

Said university spokesman Clayton Berry, “The Saint Louis University arena will bring hundreds of thousands of people to midtown St. Louis each year and will significantly enhance student life and will be an economic and social asset [to] the entire St. Louis community.”

Cadet Christianity

ASSOCIATED PRESS, Oct. 27 — A federal judge has ruled in favor of the Air Force in a lawsuit that claimed that Christian values were illegally promoted in the Air Force Academy.

Some recent academy graduates alleged that their religious freedom rights were violated by an evangelical Christian chaplain, who urged cadets to attend Christian services or “face the fires of hell.”

James Parker of Federal District Court in Albuquerque dismissed the suit on the grounds that the former cadets could not claim their First Amendment rights are being violated since they are no longer students. The judge also said they had failed to cite specific examples of damage caused by evangelization.