Catholic Campus performances of the morally offensive Vagina Monologues continued their steady decline this year, the result of a six-year campaign by the Cardinal Newman Society (CNS). The number of Catholic campus performances and readings of the play dropped to 21 this year, from a high of 32 in 2003.
Most significantly, at the University of Notre Dame a planned performance was pushed off campus because no academic department would support the event. For the past five years the Monologues has been performed at Notre Dame despite annual scolding from Bishop John D'Arcy and outcries from alumni and other Catholics.
Likewise, after a five-year run St. Louis University refused to support the play this year and forced students to move their performance off campus. And Providence College president Fr. Brian Shanley, courageously stood by his decision last year to ban the play despite a campus rally opposing the ban and a petition signed by 1,200 students, faculty, alumni and others.
"Once again we have reclaimed 'V-Day' for its true purpose," said CNS president Patrick Reilly. "The Cardinal Newman Society joins faithful Catholic students, alumni, parents and others in celebrating the more than 200 Catholic colleges that did not host this play, as well as the students and faculty who organized alternative programs to support women in a mature and loving way."
Each year since 2003, CNS has led a nationwide protest to rid Catholic campuses of the Monologues, arguing that there is no place in Catholic education for a sexually explicit and offensive play that favorably describes lesbian rape, group masturbation and the reduction of sexuality to selfish pleasure.
The 21 Catholic Colleges still permitting the grossly offensive play are: Bellarmine University, Boston College, College of the Holy Cross, College of Mount Saint Vincent, College of Saint Benedict, College of Saint Rose, College of Santa Fe, DePaul University, Fordham University, Georgetown University, John Carroll University, Loyola University of Chicago, Loyola University of New Orleans, Marquette University, Regis College, Saint Mary's College of California, Saint Norbert College, Saint Xavier University, Santa Clara University, University of Detroit Mercy, and University of San Francisco.
See contact information for those 21 colleges here.
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