In late Febraury, DePaul University — an ostensibly Catholic institution in Chicago — hosted its first-ever “Queer Prom.” The event, which was sponsored by DePaul’s Student Government Association (SGA), was open to all students, but the stated purpose of the “Queer Prom,” according to the student newspaper, was to create “a safe space for those in the LGBTQ+ community.”
In the world of Catholic colleges and universities, there are two types of institutions: authentic Catholic institutions which stand up for Catholic teaching and CINO (Catholic in Name Only) institutions, such as DePaul. Sadly, the CINOs outnumber the authentic institutions in the academic world.
As part and parcel of the lack of anything resembling genuine Catholicity at DePaul, it is worth pointing out that The DePaulina — the DePaul University student newspaper — is little more than a mouthpiece for the Left. The site is positively crawling with “gender fluidity,” “non-Binary,” “abortion rights,” and other Left-wing issues.
So it is no surprise that The DePaulina went all-in on the “Queer Prom.” The paper described the “Queer Prom” as an event “in close quarters and glitter on nearly everyone’s eyelids” where “several couples dance against each other as single people form dance circles.” The paper goes on to describe how the participants were seen to “sing out the lyrics to every song while standing intensely close to their friends, strangers and lovers, smiling behind their masks.”
The article quotes SGA senator Riley Reed — who was one of the event’s main organizers — as saying, “I think the amount of diversity we had in the room [and] the number of people that we had here for an event that’s still during Covid times was really great. Reed added, “I think the most beautiful thing I noticed was how many different types of people were here and how people could just let loose and have fun, especially with a lot of the different laws we’ve seen being passed in Florida and Texas. I think that was just really motivating to see all these amazing queer people coming out and celebrating themselves.”
Like similar “Culture War” issues, the Catholic “Queer Prom” scourge is spreading rapidly. And while the LGBTQ+ lobby would have one think such events are all rainbows and smiley faces, that is not how some students at Catholic educational institutions feel about them.
Nicholas Baker, a student at Saint Louis University, a Catholic institution in Missouri, told Campus Reform that his university would be hosting a similar event, sponsored by a group called Rainbow Alliance. Baker went on to tell Campus Reform, “I’m incredibly disappointed to see these supposedly Catholic institutions bow down to the pressure of our secular society,” adding, “As Catholics and Christians, we are supposed to defend truth and confront sin, not celebrate it.”
Baker accused CINO universities of playing a rousing game of “bait and switch,” saying, “These schools dupe their prospective students and donors into believing they’re Catholic, and then pull the rug out from underneath.”
Baker’s assertion is spot on. When one enrolls in a Catholic university, he has the right to expect that university to actually be Catholic. And the teaching of the Catholic Church on this issue is very clear. While The Paulina and the Rainbow Alliance would have one believe that (1) one can be a practicing Catholic and a practicing homosexual (or bi-sexual, or trans-sexual, or whatever comes next in the ever-growing list of sexual perversions) and (2) that the “strict” moral teaching of the Church is one of hostility and hatred toward homosexuals, the facts say otherwise.
As the Reverend Philip Smith — parochial vicar at Most Blessed Sacrament Church and Corpus Christi University Parish in Toledo, Ohio — illustrates very well in his 5 Myths about the Teaching of the Catholic Church on Homosexuality, while the Catholic Church teaches that all “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered,” she also teaches that homosexuals “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity” and that “Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.” The Church also teaches that “Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.” His observations are taken directly from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
For Catholic Universities to defy Church teaching and host events celebrating sexual perversion is a scandal. And while this should be a matter for Catholic bishops to handle, this again illustrates that American bishops are remiss in their duties as shepherds, as they have been in dealing with pro-abortion “Catholic” politicians.
