The Rev. Kevin Wildes, S.J., university president, took a strong stand when he said that we are an institution of learning first and a Catholic
institution second. Religion at Loyola is a common theme in our letters to the editor, our online comments and the stories we cover. It only takes a casual observer to recognize that there are some very upset alumni who believe that the university has become too liberal since they’ve graduated.
Many thought Jodi San Lucas’s relationship column that we ran last year was inappropriate for a Catholic university. Small groups of protestors regularly congregate when The Vagina Monologues is produced at Loyola. At the Scholarship Donor Dinner last October, a man stood up after a Muslim student’s speech and insisted on hearing a Catholic speak.
Universities are places where ideas can be exchanged, and where different kinds of people with different worldviews can each bring something to our learning experiences. Wildes said he welcomes events such as performances of The Vagina Monologues to Loyola because it creates a dialogue.
Wildes attended Pope Benedict XVI’s speech to Catholic educators in Washington, D.C. Critics predicted the Pope would urge the crowd to return to more conservative Catholic teachings, but the opposite was true. He basically said to keep up the good work.
Benedict and Wildes seem to be on the same page, and the Loyola community should be relieved that every play, every event and every publication on campus isn’t put through a Catholic censor.
Loyola students are compassionate people, and our alumni should know that. Just this year, we’ve produced three plays that promote tolerance and understanding: “The Laramie Project,” “9 Parts of Desire” and “The Vagina Monologues.” Groups like the Loyola University Community Action Program, the Muslim Student Association and the Student Government Association have been actively serving the community through volunteering and also by bringing their own community outreach ideas to the table. New Orleans is better off because of them.
“Loyola University, as a Jesuit university, is rooted in a tradition of Christian humanism that seeks to understand the human experience,” Wildes said in a letter to the Loyola community, explaining his position on the university’s production of “The Vagina Monologues.” “To understand that experience – and to improve it in the long term – we must first listen to it.”
“As a Catholic university,” he continued, “we follow a Lord who welcomed all men and women, and it is important for us, in honoring our calling as a university within his Church, to listen to them.”
A university filled with people with the same personalities, religions and interests would be a tragedy. The Maroon commends both Wildes and Benedict for recognizing that, and encouraging the diversity that institutions of learning are supposed to attract in order to promote the mental and spiritual growth of the whole person.
