An Offense to God (Was: Catholic Education)

Catholic Education?

We’ve just been told by the news media that St. Louis University, an old and venerable Jesuit institution, is no longer a Catholic school. The only thing I can say about this notice is that at least they are honest. Many that call themselves Catholic colleges are phonies to begin with. However, St. Louis University, with its property, buildings, library and facilities, is the property ultimately of the Catholic Church. It has been funded by the benefactors for over a century to forward the cause of Catholic education. The people who made the sacrifices initially to build the college, and the Jesuit fathers and brothers who worked to keep it going, all made these donations of money and service to fulfill the command of Christ “going therefore to teach all nations.”

The scandalous alienation of Catholic educational property in the United States in the last forty years is really a serious offense against God. On judgment day, the benefactors are going to be there to find out what happened to their dollar. Some of those dollars were earned by cobblers, sanitation men, firemen and policemen. Long ago the members of the Catholic immigration did not intend their money to be used in this way. This is an unjust alienation of the patrimony of the Catholic Church, and in this case, of the Jesuit order.

Does anyone stop to think that these things, which are offenses to God, will go unpunished? We seldom speak of the Last Judgment, but such blatant violations of justice require a person to seriously think about what’s going on in the Catholic Church in the United States today. Be careful where you send your dollars if you want it to be used for the cause of the Gospel.

—Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR, From the Friars, February 4, 2007

Father Groeschel may be referring to Saint Louis University, Respondent v. The Masonic Temple Association of St. Louis, et al., Appellants. St. Louis University still calls itself Jesuit and Catholic. But see also Notes 14.