Catholic Universities (and High Schools) and Commencement Speakers

MOJ-friend, Notre Dame undergrad, and Georgetown philosopher Karen Stohr published an op-ed today in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  Many MOJ-readers will be engaged--some will be provoked--by what Karen has to say.  So, let me convert the op-ed into a post (my idea, not Karen's):

What graduation speeches should do for students
By Karen Stohr

Commencement exercises are a rite of spring and so, alas, are controversies
over commencement speakers. At secular and religious schools alike, these
disputes reveal deep moral and political divisions among students, faculty,
alumni and parents.

What, if anything, does an institution's choice of a speaker indicate about its
moral priorities and commitments? My alma mater, St. Joseph's Academy in St.
Louis County, has found itself addressing this question in the public spotlight
with its recent decision to rescind a speaking invitation to U.S. Sen. Claire
McCaskill, D-Mo.

The invitation apparently was withdrawn in response to complaints from parents
who think that McCaskill ought to be prohibited from speaking at a Catholic
school commencement on the grounds that her publicly expressed views about
abortion and stem cell research conflict with Catholic moral teaching.

These angry parents have company. The Virginia-based Cardinal Newman Society,
for example, makes a point of scrutinizing commencement speakers booked for
Catholic colleges and universities and protesting those whom it regards as
objectionable.

The moral principle at work here is the concept of "scandal," a word that has a
technical meaning in Catholic moral thought. Roughly, "giving scandal" means
leading others into moral wrongdoing through words, deeds or omissions. It is
one way of corrupting others.

Now, it is the rare commencement speaker who can manage to lead her listeners
into anything, especially grave moral wrongdoing. If it would give scandal for
McCaskill to give a commencement speech at St. Joe, it surely couldn't be on
the grounds that she would be exhorting students to engage in immoral practices
or confusing them about Catholic teaching on abortion and stem cell research,
which is widely known.

No, the real moral concern must be that having McCaskill as a commencement
speaker somehow would constitute an endorsement of her views by a Catholic
institution. But is that the case?    

By their nature, educational institutions are places where controversial ideas
find a platform. I am a faculty member in the philosophy department at a
Catholic university. Every semester, I assign my students readings that
conflict with Church teaching, alongside traditional Catholic sources; indeed,
I cannot teach philosophy any other way.

At its core, education consists of the common pursuit of truth. Catholic
educational institutions, like their secular counterparts, have faith in the
power of human reason to discern what is true and what is not. The job of an
educator is to help students expand and develop their intellectual capacities,
and that requires confronting new ideas and grappling with opposing points of
view.

The path to knowledge is a difficult and murky one, and making our way forward
is a joint effort. Commencement exercises are a celebration of education as a
communal project. In asking someone to speak, an institution honors that
person's ability to contribute to that project, but the invitation cannot
possibly imply endorsement of each and every idea she contributes. If that were
the standard, commencement speakers quickly would become extinct.

Rescinding McCaskill's invitation to participate in this celebration does more
than demonstrate disagreement with her views on abortion and stem cell
research; it also expresses the attitude that she is not worth listening to on
any subject at all and denies her any rightful role in this communal pursuit of
truth.

That is hard to reconcile with Christian love and respect for human dignity.   

What message will St. Joe students carry away from this incident? That the
Church holds fast to its moral positions with integrity, grace and charity?
Probably not.

More likely, they will come away thinking that the appropriate moral response
to someone who hold views one regards as mistaken is to slam the door in her
face, on the grounds that she is unworthy of a place at the table.

And that would be a scandalous form of Catholic education. 

[Karen Stohr is a graduate of St. Joseph's Academy, Class of 1988. She is an
assistant professor of philosophy at Georgetown University, holds an
undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame and Master's and
Doctorate degrees in philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill.]