Sightings:
Stonehill College Criticized by Catholic Action League

MassNews Staff
May 21, 2003

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts has criticized Stonehill College for having White House Chief of Staff Andrew "Andy" Card as its commencement speaker last weekend. Located in North Easton, Stonehill College is a "sister school" to Notre Dame, both of which are administered by the Holy Cross Fathers.

Card, a native of Hollbrook was a Massachusetts state Representative from 1975 to 1983. He also ran for Governor in 1982. During his tenure in Massachusetts politics Andy Card supported legal abortion, the death penalty, and so-called "Right-to-die" legislation.

The Catholic Action League called the choice of Card, "an appalling betrayal of Catholic principles, which sends a deplorable message of chilling indifference to the destruction of innocent human life.

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle stated: "Stonehill College compromised its Catholic identity by teaching its students that the repudiation of Catholic morality, far from being a cause for censure, is something to be respected, admired and rewarded. Evidently, for Stonehill, power, prominence and public office are valued more highly than respect for the sanctity of human life or adherence to the teachings of the Church.

It is understandably difficult for society to take seriously Catholic opposition to abortion when Catholic institutions regularly honor public figures who support laws which permit the killing of over one million pre-born children each year. For too many Catholic colleges and universities, Catholic moral and religious teaching, the propagation of which was the reason for the foundation for these institutions, has been sacrificed to the prestige, publicity and fundraising opportunities afforded by showcasing celebrities and public officeholders. [Sunday's] commencement represents a failure of Catholic integrity on the part of Stonehill College and its parent religious order."