Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P., 18th President of St. John s University
At the end of April, Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P., the new president of St. John’s University an ostensibly Catholic institution sent the following email to faculty and staff, under the subject line “LGBTQ+ Climate Assessment”:
Earlier this semester the Office of Equity and Inclusion engaged the Transgender Training Institute to conduct an LGBTQ+ climate assessment. As I read the survey results, I was disheartened to learn about the many negative experiences of our LGBTQ+ students, employees, and alumni: a lack of support, neglect, ignorance, bias, and prejudice. As the report indicates, our non-binary and transgender members have experienced acute distress, and the lack of BIPOC participants leaves gaps in our knowledge of the oppression experienced by those who hold multiple minoritized social identities. It is clear, both from the climate survey and my own observations, that much work needs to be done
Headline News Around the World Tuesday, April 6, 2021
According to Breitbart, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has declined to throw the first pitch at the Texas Rangers’ home opener and declined to participate in any Major League Baseball (MLB) events after the league announced plans to relocate their All-Star Game from Atlanta in response to Georgia’s newly passed election integrity law.
In case you missed it, Catholic News Agency reports:
Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop emeritus of Washington DC who stepped down in 2018 amid scandal, received over $2 million from the archdiocese last year for unspecified “ministry activities,” an investigation has found.
The amount appropriated to Wuerl is up from approximately $1.5 million in 2019. The archdiocesan financial statement does not detail what “continuing ministry activities” the funds facilitated. [Read the rest HERE.]
Fr. Niklaus Pfluger, FSSPX
Editor s Note: I have been asked by Father Niklaus Pfluger, SSPX, to publish the following retraction of comments he’d made here some months ago regarding the Erica Kauffman case.
As I indicate in my reply to Fr. Pfluger (see below), I fear his attempt at clarification may raise more questions than answers but, as he has asked me to proceed, I am obliged to honor his request.
I hope this unfortunate exchange which could now be accurately described as an exercise in futility will shed some light on my long-established editorial policy against getting involved in abuse cases at all, but especially not when I have little or no direct knowledge of the parties involved or the facts of the case.