No Catholics Allowed

Just when you think you've heard it all, something comes along that raises the absurd-o-meter to another level.

Catholic University Bans Catholic Group

Gonzaga University will not allow students to organize a Knights of Columbus chapter because the group only admits Catholics – a violation of the school’s non-discrimination policy.

Students told The Cardinal Newman Society they had been trying to get university approval for the group for about a year – but school officials have been less than helpful.

“To embrace the diversity and yet endorse a group based on faith exclusivity is a challenge that cannot be reconciled at this time,” (said Sue Weitz, the university’s vice president for student life) — adding that it was a decision about “social justice, equity, and the desire of the university to create an environment in which none are excluded.”

Ah yes...'embrace the diversity'. That's more important than everything else.

Social justice and equality, at least to me, means that people are free to associate with whoever (whomever?) they choose, as long as all such groups are treated equally. If I want to form a club consisting solely of bald-headed overweight over-the-hill Shiner guzzling reprobates then I should be able to do so. But the school should not grant my club special privileges or treat us differently than other groups. And it should not ban the formation of other self-selecting groups.

Especially those that so closely reflect the university's mission and core values.

The Knights of Columbus are a Catholic organization composed of men -- Catholic men -- who organize and participate in a wide variety of community, charitable, and church service projects.

That would seem to be in agreement with Gonzaga's mission statement, which says in part "Gonzaga University is an exemplary learning community that educates students for lives of leadership and service for the common good. In keeping with its Catholic, Jesuit, and humanistic heritage and identity..."

I don't see a problem there.

Patrick Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society, told Fox News that the ban is absolutely ridiculous.

“It boggles the mind that an institution that is Catholic can’t figure out a way to allow exceptions to the rule,” He said. “This is a Catholic organization...

Yes, but Gonzaga, like most universities, is run by bureaucrats who are deathly afraid of being accused of not being sufficiently politically correct. Still, there has been enough of a ruckus raised over this nonsense that common sense may yet carry the day.

The outcry has been so significant that Gonzaga President Thayne McCulloh said they will review the decision.

In bureaucracy-speak, that means we'll stall for a while and hope this whole thing just goes away...