New Orleans is a sports-obsessed town, and so it was surprising to see a story about Loyola on the front page of Wednesday’s Times-Picayune, distracting readers from the Hornets basketball saga.The story quoted several people connected with Loyola who were unhappy that Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women and a proponent of legalized abortion, was speaking at the law school. But then, New Orleans is a Catholic town, as well.And most of the Catholics here were born that way — cradle Catholics, some call us. We tend to be a conservative lot. And the older we are, the more conservative — especially those of us who were educated in Catholic schools before the changes spawned by Vatican II took effect in the late 1960s. That would be me. I graduated from Loyola in 1964, after completing Ursuline High School and St. Rita Elementary School — Catholic all the way. We memorized the Baltimore Catechism. We could pronounce the word “infallible” by the time we were in third grade.Loyola required “The Marriage Course.” It was about sex.We got to sit in class for an hour and listen to a professor — usually a Jesuit — talk about what we could and could not do in our bedrooms once were actually married.It was fairly restrictive — no artificial birth control, although natural birth control was OK. Certainly no abortions. Still, talking about sex for an hour was fine with me. I think I made an A.The story in Wednesday’s Times- Picayune quoted Jack Dardis as saying that many Catholics are becoming frustrated “at the direction Loyola is taking.” I remember Dardis. He was a couple of years ahead of me at St. Rita’s and at Loyola. I assume he took the marriage course. He had ten children. I had six. Until recently, he was a member of Loyola’s Board of Trustees.I have evolved over the years. I’ve become a bleeding-heart liberal. But one thing hasn’t changed. I’m still against abortion. Unequivocally. None of this “Well, I wouldn’t abort MY child, but YOU…,” stuff. It’s an absolute. We can’t do it, and we can’t allow it. But there are also other things we shouldn’t allow. As a society, we are obliged to fix whatever it is that drives women to kill their own children — born and unborn. Our national health care and child care systems are a disgrace. Are Loyola alumni protesting those situations?. From 1988 until two years ago, Loyola had a Death Penalty Resource Center. Then Loyola stopped supporting it because it was losing money — although it has become clear that here in the United Sates, it is not uncommon for innocent people to be executed.In 1997, students in Loyola’s Community Action Program were threatened with prosecution for distributing sandwiches to the hungry at Lafayette Park. They were breaking city health regulations. Where were the outraged alumni then?Bill Quigley, of the Poverty Law Center, fought to continue offering legal services to the poor in the face of state legislation designed to prevent it. How many Loyola alumni protested that legislation?There are many, many things to be outraged about. And there are many things Loyola should be encouraged to do to stand up on behalf of those who cannot stand up for themselves.Instead, we are making Kim Gandy a scapegoat — and patting ourselves on our backs for our righteousness.And we have had the benefit of a Jesuit education. We should be better than that.

Liz Scott is the faculty adviser for The Maroon.