Catholic Colleges, Mind Who You Book for Your Commencement Address

Corporations calling for the legal redefinition of marriage should be barred from receiving honors and awards at Catholic educational institutions, argued Cardinal Newman Society President Patrick Reilly in a recent interview with Breitbart News. In the article, Reilly reiterated the need for Catholic colleges to make a stand in defense of truth.

The Cardinal Newman Society released a statement this week urging Catholic schools and universities to avoid honoring any leaders or board members of the 379 corporations and business groups that have filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court pushing for national recognition of same-sex marriage.

“[W]hat these corporations have done is to attack the very foundation of society, the family, for the purpose of easing compliance, reducing costs and boosting profits,” Reilly explained to Berry.

“Just as these corporations chose to stand up and defend their self-interest, Catholic schools and colleges should stand up and defend the truth,” urged Reilly, adding that the Newman Society will work to “identify and expose any Catholic school or college that honors a leader of any of these corporations.”

Breitbart reported that “many major U.S. corporations have joined in the friend-of-the-court brief in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, claiming that having varied marriage laws in different states around the nation is costing them economically by denying them the supposed business value of ‘diversity.’”

But Reilly warned Barry, “When educators freely choose to honor someone, they send a strong message to their students and to the public about what is honorable.” Considering the involvement of these corporations and business groups in working to dismantle traditional marriage, association with honors and awards at Catholic institutions should not be tolerated, he argued.

Kim Scharfenbergerwrites for Catholic Education Daily, an online publication of The Cardinal Newman Society. This article was originally published at Catholic Education Daily and is reprinted here with permission.