GU professor co-founds LGBT support group, draws fire from conservative Catholic group
Posted by: Julie Patterson in News, Vox Populi, tags: Cardinal Newman Society, Catholics for Equality, Joseph Palacios, LGBTQ, Patrick J. Reilly
Catholics for Equality, a not-for-profit group formed in 2010, seeks to foster support for same-sex marriage and other LGBT causes in the Catholic community, specifically targeting students at Catholic colleges and universities.
The surprise? A Georgetown professor helped create the group.
Adjunct professor Joseph Palacios is one of the founding members of Catholics for Equality, and, along with his co-founders, has drawn criticism from the Cardinal Newman Society, a conservative group focused on Catholic higher education.
According to their website, Catholics for Equality “was founded in 2010 to support, educate, and mobilize equality-supporting Catholics to advance LGBT equality at federal, state, and local levels.” The founding board is made up of Catholic university officials and activists from across the country, including DC human rights activist Phil Attey.
In response to the group’s formation, the Cardinal Newman Society has mounted a oppositional campaign. In a letter to President Jack DeGioia, founder Patrick J. Reilly wrote, “Catholics for Equality represents outright rebellion—‘mutiny’ in the words of one of the group’s founders—in opposition to the U.S. bishops and Catholic doctrine.”
There has been no response yet from University officials, but a few strong questions have been raised by this issue: Should University employees be individually held to the same standards of compliance as the University as a whole? Is Catholics for Equality truly in ‘mutiny?’ Does Catholic doctrine actually support LGBT equality?
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He even mentions it in his bio on the Georgetown website, alongside his involvement with the DC Metro GLBT Community Center.
http://explore.georgetown.edu/people/jmp32/?PageTemplateID=138
Rock on, Professor Palacios!
It is telling that this group aims to work through “Federal, State, and Local Levels.” That is a remarkable focus for a nominally Catholic group. I would have expected from a group to be more on a “diocese and parish” level work, were they intending to enact change with the Roman Catholic Church.
Or, perhaps, they really aren’t interested in changing minds within the church. Instead, just to provide some cover for certain Catholic politicians who have the unfortunate tendency to habitually hold positions contrary to Catholic doctrine.
“Conservative” doesn’t even begin to describe CNS. “Intent on turning the Catholic Church into a branch of the Republican Party” might be a more accurate descriptor…
When Patrick J. Reilly was growing up, what happened that made him want to grow up to be Patrick J. Reilly?
Should University employees be individually held to the same standards of compliance as the University as a whole? Is Catholics for Equality truly in ‘mutiny?’ Does Catholic doctrine actually support LGBT equality?
Yes. Yes. Catholic doctrine supports respect, condemns hatred etc. All are made in the image and likeness of God according to Catholic doctrine, so in that respect the Church supports equality for all people. However, the word ‘equality’ has evidently been hijacked to refer to the radical homosexual agenda put forth by groups like ‘catholycs for equality’ and in that sense, the Church offers a resounding ‘no’ to the radical homosexual agenda.
Furthermore, the Cardinal Newman society is not a political group so labeling it conservative is a non-sequitor. CNS certainly does not have anything to the republican party…. a nice red herring though. It is a Catholic group, advocating for the teachings of the Catholic Church at the Church’s own universities. Sad that such a group is even necessary.
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