Major point made here inadvertently by a student complaining about Kenneth Howell at U. of Illinois:
Teaching a student about the tenets of a religion is one thing. Declaring that homosexual acts violate the natural laws of man is another.
But that’s Catholic teaching to its fingertips: everything is discussed in light of human nature, even the action of grace and the spiritual works of the church, which are supernatural. The distinction is crucial. A teacher of Catholic thought will inevitably talk about what’s natural and what isn’t.
With all respect to evangelicals and fundamentalists, the words of Scripture are not the last word for Catholics. They are not the clincher, as it were, before which reason must slink away defeated. Catholics defend the nature of things, the natural, while holding also for the supernatural.
The quote is from Huffington Post, which excerpts it from the News-Gazette of Champaign-Urbana, which also has a disturbing item which I hadn’t see elsewhere, namely that Howell has been fired by the local bishop, Daniel Jenky, C.S.C., once a dorm rector at the U. of Notre Dame.
He was also director of the Institute of Catholic Thought, part of St. John’s Catholic Newman Center on campus and the Catholic Diocese of Peoria. After losing his teaching position with the UI, Howell was told by the Newman Center that he would no longer be employed there either.
This man Howell can’t win for losing.
Later: An astute reader thinks Howell will regain his Newman Center job. The bishop is re-thinking the matter as public support grows for Howell. He and the Newman people reacted blindly but are “getting stronger” on the issue, “mostly because of pressure from lay people.” Vive la laïcs.
Blithe Spirit 