Statement on Cardinal Francis George’s Visit to CUA

Robert Shine and Ryan Fecteau, Class of 2012 and 2014
January 14, 2012
Filed under Quill

On December 21, 2011, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago made offensive remarks on the show, Fox Chicago Sunday, regarding the city’s Gay Pride Parade. Cardinal George said, “You know, you don’t want the Gay Liberation Movement to morph into something like the Ku Klux Klan, demonstrating in the streets against Catholicism.” 

He later reiterated his comments in a press release, “When the pastor’s request for reconsideration of the plan was ignored, the organizers invited an obvious comparison to other groups who have historically attempted to stifle the religious freedom of the Catholic Church. One such organization is the Ku Klux Klan which, well into the 1940’s, paraded through American cities.”

On January 6, 2012, Cardinal George issued an apologetic statement that mentioned his distress over the hurt caused by his remarks. He added that we all have close family and friends who are gay and lesbian, but that his comments had come from a fear over religious liberty.

As students at The Catholic University of America, not only do many of us know and love our gay and lesbian family and friends, many of us are gay and lesbian members of this academic community. In light of this, Cardinal George’s comments do not stop at the diocesan limits in Chicago, but are brought onto this campus by his presence tonight.

While we understand Cardinal George released an apologetic statement, we find this action passive and inadequate. Comparisons of a peaceful social movement rooted in a desire for equality under the law to the notoriously hateful KKK rooted in mob violence, bigotry, and the worst of American history are utterly inappropriate.

The vision set forth by the Second Vatican Council, under consideration at the conference this weekend, thrust the Catholic Church into positive engagement with the world. If Catholics truly take to heart the opening words of Gaudium et Spes, then the joys and hopes, griefs and anxieties of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters are the joys and hopes, griefs and anxieties of us, as the People of God, as followers of Christ, too.

Our presence this evening is our witness as people of good will to call on Cardinal George and the Catholic Church at large to dialogue with pure intention and total charity with the gay and lesbian community. Members of the Chicago gay and lesbian community have already reached out to Cardinal George to begin this process. It is of the utmost urgency for him, as shepherd without exclusion of all who follow Christ, to engage in this conversation with more than condemnation.

Today, we pray outside of McGivney Hall in solidarity with the gay and lesbian community. We invite you to join us, on a bench or in the silence of your heart.

This statement was distributed outside of McGivney Hall during a campus demonstration on January 12, 2012 to attendees of a conference given by Cardinal Francis George.