The student senate at Boston College has voted to allocate $1,000 in college funds for increased 2009 campus productions of a sexually explicit play.

The Cardinal Newman Society reports that the student senate voted 8-7 to support staging “The Vagina Monologues,” which was written by Eve Ensler with the ostensible objective of raising awareness and funds to combat violence against women.

But the play has been condemned for its morally offensive content by many Church leaders. And protests against it have resulted in many Catholic colleges refusing to allow the staging of any more performances of the play on their campuses.

Last year, when the University of Notre Dame granted permission for the staging of performances , Bishop John D’Arcy of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind., denounced the university’s decision.

“I am convinced that permitting performances of ‘The Vagina Monologues’ is not consistent with the identity of a Catholic university,” Bishop John D’Arcy said in a statement published on the diocesan website.

“The play is little more than a propaganda piece for the sexual revolution and secular feminism,” Bishop D’Arcy said in his statement. “While claiming to deplore violence against women, the play at the same time violates the standards of decency and morality that safeguard a woman’s dignity and protect her, body and soul, from sexual predators.”

According to the Boston College Observer, the BC campus will host three performances of the play.

An Internet petition protesting the staging of the play by Boston College can be viewed here.

One of the co-sponsors of the performance is the Boston College theology department, the Observer reported. But not all members of BC’s theology department agree with that stance.

“I believe that the author, Eve Ensler, may have a good intention,” said associate theology professor Margaret Schatkin. “The indecorous and intemperate language negates her cause, which is ostensibly to raise the position of women. This is officially the year of St. Paul in the Catholic Church, and the Apostle teaches us a lot about avoiding foul language.”

“From the title on, the play does not meet apostolic standards of Christian discourse,” said Schatkin. “It also does not meet basic standards of literary quality. While admittedly there is great injustice around the world against women, e.g., human trafficking, such exploitation is not to be trivialized but should be made the subject of a serious dramatic work, which would not rely on vulgarity to get its message across.”

— Tom McFeely