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CajunRick
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Posted: Thu Jul 24th, 2008 12:39 am |
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Morris, MN, Jul 23, 2008 / 04:53 am (CNA).- The University of Minnesota has told CNA that disciplinary action has not been taken against Professor Paul Zachary Myers, a biology professor at the school’s Morris campus who threatened to acquire and desecrate a consecrated Host on his popular science blog Pharyngula. However, impeachment proceedings have begun against the University of Central Florida student senator who took a Host from a Catholic Mass in the incident which inspired Myers to make his threat.
Daniel Wolter, the News Service Director in the Office of University Relations at the University of Minnesota, reiterated in an e-mail to CNA that Professor Myers’ views “do not reflect the views of the University of Minnesota.”
“We appreciate the Catholic League's making us aware of the improper link to Myers' blog that was on the University website,” Wolter wrote. “That link has been removed as it was a violation of University web policy.”
The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights had criticized Myers’ threat in a July 10 press release, calling for those who oversee Myers to “act quickly and decisively.”
University’s response
Wolter said in his e-mail that “no disciplinary action has been taken against Professor Myers.”
He referred CNA to Chancellor Jacqueline Johnson’s message to the University of Minnesota at Morris community for further comment.
In her statement, Chancellor Johnson said:
“I deeply regret that the postings have been so upsetting to so many people and that this has, in turn, caused some individuals to question the values of civility, respect, academic inquiry and critical thought that are the hallmark of this institution.”
She said personal and intellectual engagement at the school is done in “in the framework of intellectual and critical inquiry, not from a platform of name-calling and derogation.”
In her message, Chancellor Johnson voiced her expectation that faculty and staff “interact and engage in a civil and respectful way in the workplace, and it is my hope that this demeanor would extend beyond the boundaries of their University responsibilities and commitments.”
The outcry surrounding Professor Myers stems from his threats to acquire and desecrate the Eucharist in a July 8 posting on his scienceblogs.com blog Pharyngula. In that post, in which he derisively called the consecrated Host a “cracker,” Myers wrote:
“Can anyone out there score me some consecrated communion wafers?” Myers wrote. “…if any of you would be willing to do what it takes to get me some, or even one, and mail it to me, I’ll show you sacrilege, gladly, and with much fanfare. I won’t be tempted to hold it hostage… but will instead treat it with profound disrespect and heinous cracker abuse, all photographed and presented here on the web.”
Subsequent to posting his request for Communion hosts on his blog, Myers told CNA that he had received hosts from a number of people, both in person and through the mail.
The case of Cook
Myers made the threat in response to an incident at the University of Central Florida (UCF) where student senator Webster Cook had taken a consecrated Host from a June 29 Mass and kept it in his possession for a week despite pleas for its return.
Cook claimed he had received death threats because of his action and filed an official abuse complaint with the UCF student court, alleging that a Catholic leader had forcibly tried to retrieve the Host which Cook had taken back to his seat. His complaint was dismissed.
Cook has also charged UCF Catholic Campus Ministries with violating campus anti-hazing rules governing the coerced consumption of food and has alleged the Catholic group has violated the school’s underage drinking policy by serving communion wine to underage students.
Catholic students had filed a formal complaint against Cook for disrupting the Mass. Cook also faces charges that he represented himself as a student senator in the incident.
On Thursday night after fifteen minutes of deliberation 33 of the 35 UCF student senators voted to impeach Cook on the charge he represented himself as a student senator, the Orlando Sentinel reports. The vote does not remove Cook from office, but instead begins an investigation that could remove him from his Senate seat if he is found to have violated Senate ethics rules.
The impeachment was prompted by an affidavit filed by a student government official, which includes statements from those associated with the Catholic Campus Ministry who confronted Cook at the June 29 Mass.
Cook was not at Thursday night’s Senate meeting, but was reported to have been on a planned family trip.
Myers: It’s about being forced to show respect
This past Sunday, Professor Myers wrote on his blog that he would desecrate a Koran in addition to desecrating a consecrated Host, writing, “Thanks to all who have demanded that I treat that silly book [the Koran] with disrespect, I’ll have to treat both equally.”
Catholic League President Bill Donohue had recently noted that in 2006 Myers had criticized those who published inflammatory cartoons disparaging the Muslim prophet Mohammed. In a Tuesday statement, Donohue said:
“The latest threat by Myers only makes matters worse. Instead of treating Catholicism with the respect he has previously shown for Islam, he now pledges to disrespect Islam the way he pledges to disrespect Catholicism (once again!). This is his idea of equal treatment.”
Donohue argued that Myers had an opportunity to either rebut or sustain claims that there is a “moral vacuity” in Darwinian visions of society, depending on whether or not he engaged in the threatened desecrations.
In an interview with Catholic Radio International, Professor Myers portrayed his threats as the result of what he perceives to be Bill Donohue’s forceful tactics rather than any official actions by the Church.
Myers was asked by radio show host Jeff Gardner if any official representative of the Catholic Church had told him he had to believe in the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. “Well, that’s actually a very good point,” said Myers. “There’s been no official response from the Catholic Church and I would make a deal here, that I would return these wafers to the nearest Catholic church if the Church would come out and disavow the tactics of Bill Donohue and the people who have threatened my job and have threatened my life,” Myers said.
The above article is reposted with permission from Catholic News Agency.
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brian
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| Location: | Chicago South Burbs, Illinois USA |
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Posted: Tue Jul 29th, 2008 07:47 am |
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The Priest at my church actually interviewed this person on his online radio show A Body of Truth. I am not sure the link is up yet.
I think that he actually did go through with desecrating the host (I hope not).
I find it sad that Catholics have threatened his life, I would hope that we would pray for him while making it known that we are greatly distressed by his actions and thoughts. Unfortunately he used the fact that so few Catholics seem to believe in the real presence as evidence against us, and sadly the priest agreed with him that this is a significant problem.
Our priest used it as an opportunity to preach that Catholics need a wake up call to realize that the Eucharist is the most important reality as Catholics and that it does cause us great difficulty when people like that observe how few Catholics actually believe in the real presence statistically. We give him reasons to disbelieve us. That we ned to wake up as a body and live a Eucharistic centered life and restore peace and order and truth wherever we go and whatever we touch.
I just do not know what to think. May God have mercy on us all, and may the truth shine in the hearts of as many of us as it posibly can, and may the most Holy Name of Jesus and His most Precious Body and Blood be adored in all the tabernacles of the world and in every sacrifice of the mass at every possible moment.
Brian
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Steven Barrett
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| Joined: | Tue Nov 14th, 2006 |
| Location: | Hadley, Absurdistan, AKA , Massachusetts USA |
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| First Name: | Steven | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic, Episcopal communicant, Baptist, Catholic |
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Posted: Wed Aug 6th, 2008 04:07 am |
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I'm very skeptical about reports of death threats from Catholics issued against either of the two guys who pulled this off; at least mature and responsible Catholics -- and especially by any official Church representative.
Both of these guys have no place on any college campus: period. As usual, the biggest loudmouths proclaiming their tenure rights and first amendment rights are the ones who abuse them the most often.
Most states and universities (especially public universities) have some kind of human rights commissions and it's high time for the Church to use her legal dobermans to haul both Myers and Cook before their respective commissions in MN and FL to make examples out of both. Make them pay, squirm, be embarrassed, whatever legal steps it takes to get them to knock this crap off, resign and go elsewhere and by doing so, using the systems they feel free to abuse against the Catholic Church, to teach them and anybody else with similar ideas a hard and fast lesson.
When people see you mean business and mean it in quick, prompt fashion, they'll back off PDQ.
But if the usual academic handwringing nonsense follows, bums like Myers and this kid in FL will never get the message and continue pulling this nonsense, not to mention give encouragement to more would-be Myers and Cook wannabes.
We don't have to hurt anyone. But the Church pays big money to law firms who know how to handle situations like this. When people start seeing their life's savings vanish because of their stupid pride that prods them on to keep fighting against well-heeled law-firms they'll back off. If they don't, well, the Church's lawyers and press agents will put the word out as to who's really "winning."
Hard, fast and expensively. Any other way invites more trouble.
____________________
James Michael Curley to a young Thomas “Tip” O’Neill -- “Son, it’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”
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catholicxjw
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| First Name: | Jeff | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Jehovah's Witness to Lutheran to Catholic |
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Posted: Wed Aug 13th, 2008 12:23 am |
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I teach at a private liberal arts college that is affiliated with the United Church of Christ (UCC). The UCC supports things such as so-called "gay marriage" etc. In any case, we are told when we are hired that we must be conscious of how we behave because of our being members of the faculty of the college. This means that we must engage in respectful dialog with those whom we may disagree. In fact, one of our goals is to teach students through words and actions how to share ideas and discussions while being respectful of others and I know that most other schools both public and private have similar statements in their purpose statements.
What Dr. Myers has done crossed the line and is not the way an educated person with some common manners behaves. His behavior is the equivalent of a schoolyard bully and it is embarrassing that someone so highly educated would behave in such a juvenile way.
It is one thing to say that you believe that the Catholic stance on the Eucharist is "stupid, dumb and ridiculous because, afterall, it is only a cracker". It is quite another thing to encourage others to obtain the Eucharist under false pretenses and then send it to you so that you can commit some act of sacrilege against it so as to offend millions of people.
The problem is that the administrators will have a very difficult time disciplining Dr. Myers for a couple of reasons.
1. Myers has tenure.
2. Myers offended the Catholics and in this culture offending Catholics is okay.
And, I believe the reason why it is okay to offend Catholics in this culture is due, at least in part, to the following two reasons:
1. Our Catholic leadership has not lived out and taught the faith well, which has resulted in many scandals that have given the anti-Catholic crowd some ammunition with which to beat us about the heads and such criticism is, at times, well-deserved. (See Philip Lawler's book "The Faithful Departed")
2. The Catholic laity has not lived out our faith well and is in general ill-prepared to defend the faith in words and sometimes even in action. (See how many Catholics still support pro-abortion politicians.)
Jeff S.
Last edited on Wed Aug 13th, 2008 12:25 am by catholicxjw
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Robert
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Posted: Wed Aug 13th, 2008 09:22 am |
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The problem is that the administrators will have a very difficult time disciplining Dr. Myers for a couple of reasons.
1. Myers has tenure.
2. Myers offended the Catholics and in this culture offending Catholics is okay.
And, I believe the reason why it is okay to offend Catholics in this culture is due, at least in part, to the following two reasons:
1. Our Catholic leadership has not lived out and taught the faith well, which has resulted in many scandals that have given the anti-Catholic crowd some ammunition with which to beat us about the heads and such criticism is, at times, well-deserved. (See Philip Lawler's book "The Faithful Departed")
2. The Catholic laity has not lived out our faith well and is in general ill-prepared to defend the faith in words and sometimes even in action. (See how many Catholics still support pro-abortion politicians.)
Why not go all the way?
Just think of the reaction if Myers had desecrated the Israeli flag or smeared pork fat on a Thora Scroll!
Why didn’t he do something to offend the Jews? Because if he had, he would be out of a job in a heartbeat.
The key is:
"Myers offended the Catholics and in this culture offending Catholics is okay."
____________________
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15)
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Jackie
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| Joined: | Sat May 12th, 2007 |
| Location: | Jersey Shore, New Jersey USA |
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Posted: Wed Aug 13th, 2008 04:07 pm |
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| "...a hearbeat." Oh yeah, thats it in a nut shell!!
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Steven Barrett
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| Location: | Hadley, Absurdistan, AKA , Massachusetts USA |
| Posts: | 1462 |
| First Name: | Steven | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic, Episcopal communicant, Baptist, Catholic |
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Posted: Thu Aug 14th, 2008 02:19 am |
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Why not haul this Myers into his state's "human rights commission" and make him twist in the wind for a while? Turn the very institutions that an elitist clique have used to enforce political correctness against THEM? I'm sure Minn. has one as most states do, and Minn. isn't exactly a non-liberal state when it comes to establishing courts like this.
Even if there aren't any commissions or courts like this, file a lawsuit anyway against the man in Federal District Court. All it takes is one or more plaintiffs to claim that their civil rights have been violated due to the emotional strain that they've had to endure as a result of Myers' action. The publicity for this guy will reek pretty badly because now it's gone beyond a stupid stunt to a matter of Civil Rights.
And keep looking for ways to trip them up legally. He can't hide behind tenure forever, especially if enough legislators decide to all of a sudden see to it that his state university's budget is sliced far below anything it can reasonably absorb in losses without having to raise tuition and fees.
In other words, let's make MONEY DO THE WALKING AND TALKING for us.
____________________
James Michael Curley to a young Thomas “Tip” O’Neill -- “Son, it’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”
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