Monday, October 22, 2007

See you in court Monaghan, sez fired profs

I've been posting somewhat frequently about the troubles at the so-called "Catholic" Ave Maria University. Now, it looks like all hell has broken loose -- the law school there is being sued.

The heart of the suit, [Deborah] Gordon said, is [Tom] Monaghan’s involvement in multiple organizations including those in which he has a financial stake. That involvement violates the law school board’s independence from Monaghan’s "tentacles.” “We think we can prove the illegal acts by showing the connections between Monaghan, the board and his other organizations,” she said. Gordon said she planned to depose Monaghan, Dobranski and various past and present members of the school’s board, which currently includes high-ranking Catholic Church officials such as, Cardinal Edward Egan, the archbishop of New York and Cardinal Adam Maida, the archbishop of Detroit.

And if that ain't bad enough, the board of Deans reprimanded one of their students at the law school for doing nothing more than ask the simple question, what is happening to a project that started with such great promise but is turning into a disaster?

While I firmly reside in the moderate to liberal wing of the Catholic Church, and while stressing that these remain allegations yet to be proven in court, I too will continue to ask those same questions. This certainly doesn't sound like what a Catholic employer should do, or behave. And let's not forget, these are mostly conservative Catholics disputing each other ... makes you wonder if they're ever going to agree on anything, ever again.

Sidebar: There was a time in Canada when one couldn't be a Catholic and a member of the NDP -- in fact, membership in the party of Woodsworth and Douglas meant instant excommunication. Now, a former Catholic priest is leader of the New Brunswick wing of the socialist bloc. And the NDP is the most strongly pro-choice as well. Yeah, I know that was about a week or so ago, but it makes me wonder how times really have changed.

Vote for this post at Progressive Bloggers.

No comments: