Emptying the power of Holy Cross College

"For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power." - 1 Cor 1:17.

Apologies for not reporting about this story sooner. It's important.

The fight to promote the culture of life in America - and specifically in colleges and universities which respresent the bastions of liberal influence - is upon us once again.

The backstory:

• Jesuit-run College of the Holy Cross is renting meeting space for a conference entitled "Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy's Teen Pregnancy Institute" that includes workshops conducted by Planned Parenthood and NARAL.
• Hunreds of complaints were sent in to the competant authorities from around the country.
• Bishop Robert J. McManus of Worcester, MA appealed to the President of Holy Cross College, Fr. Michael McFarland, to revoke the invitation. Good for him.
• And here's the rub: Fr. McFarland has refused to do so.
• In response, Bp. McManus issued a firm statement (which you should read), in which he warned that Holy Cross Catholic may lose its ability to call itself Catholic for its refusal. Double good for him!
• Even better: The Cardinal Newman Society is hosting a counter-conference entitled "Preventing Teen Pregnancy: The Catholic Approach" featuring chastity speaker, blogger and writer Dawn Eden.

Please collaborate with the Cardinal Newman Society event. They are asking for there to be "strong showing of support for Bishop McManus’s principled stand" by attending if you are able:

• CNS website with more information including a flyer in PDF format.
• Visit Dawn Eden's blog to get more information. She is the keynote speaker.

Prominant contributs to the blogosphere have lauded the Bishop's actions and that of CNS. Diogenes says he is acting like a bishop. RC proclaims "Ad multos annos!" (and mentions that the previous ordinary of Worcester, has acted in a similar vein in regards to HC). AMDG lets us know that Fr. Euteneuer of Human Life International whole-heartedly applauds the Bishop's actions. Amy Welborn says about CNS that this is "exactly the kind of response of which we need much, much more." I would humbly like to add my praise to theirs.

See? We're not out to get bishops. We're out for the truth.

Catholic news coverage:

• CNA: College's Catholic status threatened for hosting pro-abortion groups at conference
• CWNews: Massachusetts bishop issues warning to Jesuit college
• LSN: Bishop Warns College May Lose Catholic Name for Not Cancelling Pro-Abortion Groups in Conference

For more information on the conference you can look at it's brocure here (PDF file).

Update: Via a reader and alumnus of Holy Cross, a website has been setup to address this situation: http://www.holycrossalumni.org/.

Update 2: In fairness, Fr. McFarland is responding to criticism here at the HC website.