Stop Distorting Love

TODAY’S CATHOLIC, Feb. 12 — Bishop John D’Arcy of Fort Wayne-South Bend said the University of Notre Dame should not have allowed the fifth annual production of “The Vagina Monologues” because it “distorts the beautiful gift of human sexuality.”

In a statement published in the diocesan newspaper, the bishop said the play “separates sexuality from the person of the woman, from her soul and her spirit.”

“It alienates woman from man whom God has entrusted to her as friend and companion. It separates sexuality and the human body from love.”

Notre Dame’s president, Holy Cross Father John Jenkins, stipulated that this year the performance had to take place in a lecture hall instead of a theater.

Cardinal Remembered

THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR, Feb. 11 — The first archbishop of Indianapolis will be remembered with a new $1 million scholarship endowment at the city’s Marian College for the benefit of economically disadvantaged students.

Retired Indianapolis businessman Andrew Steffen has established the endowment in honor of Cardinal Joseph Ritter, who served in the Indianapolis archdiocese for more than two decades.

He was installed as archbishop in 1944 and transferred to St. Louis in 1946, where he was named a cardinal, serving until his death in 1967.

Clueless and Cuffed

KMBC-TV, Feb. 10 — Avila University blocked the circulation of a recent edition of its student newspaper, The Talon, due to its treatment of sexuality that “was inconsistent with the values of the institution.”

The issue contained a cover photo of unzipped pants and carried articles on one-night stands, sex among students and birth control.

Ben Digman, editor of The Talon, may have hit the nail on the head when he told the Kansas City TV station: “I’ve spent a lot of time and … money at a university that apparently doesn’t appreciate the things I have to say.”

Catholic Studies

KYKERNAL.COM, Feb. 15 — A Lexington physician, Dr. Carol Cottrill, and her husband, Tom Rolfes, a retired religion teacher, have endowed a University of Kentucky chair in Catholic studies.

Their half-million dollar gift will be matched by the Kentucky Research Challenge Trust.

The university is among about two dozen other state universities that have departments of religious studies or endowed chairs in Catholic studies.

Lexington Bishop Ronald Gainer said many “have envisioned a course of study at UK that would expose students to the contributions of Catholicism in the fields of philosophy, theology, literature, history, music and the arts.”         

He said the new chair “represents the fulfillment of a dream.”

Hurricane Relief

THE AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE, Feb 14 — The American Jewish Committee is donating $100,000 to Xavier University in New Orleans to help its rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina. The contribution is the latest disbursement from the committee’s Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund.

The gift is “a symbol of how people of different faith and race can come together in the wake of a disaster,” said Carla Harris, who announced the gift during a recent benefit concert for Xavier at New York’s Lincoln Center.

The concert was sponsored by the Archdiocese of New York’s Office of Black Ministry.