HERO: (Helping Educate Regarding Orientation: A Gay/Straight Alliance) As an integral part of the Gonzaga University, HERO members are motivated by the humanistic, Catholic, and Jesuit traditions to which this university belongs. They seek to encourage the development of self-knowledge, self-acceptance, a restless curiosity, a desire for truth, a mature concern for others, and a thirst for justice within the context of faith development and human transformation. In October, HERO hosts an annual "Coming Out Day" BBQ. [Source]
Advisor: Fr. Bob Egan S.J. Contact #: (509) 323-6018
You can also Meet the Jesuits.
Update: One of my readers had an email exchange with Fr. Egan that included this:
I think there is an effort by many people to give comfort and encouragement to all gay people who have, after all, suffered taunts, bullying, torture, and even capital punishment for a sexual orientation that the Church teaches is not a sin because it is not a matter a choice. Of course some of them do act on their desires — but then most people act on their sexual desires — and the Vatican teaches that when these acts involve genital arousal they are sinful.
But there is and always has been a variety of views within the Church about how to judge these acts from a pastoral perspective. It would be prudent to keep in mind that life-long celibacy is considered a very demanding obligation. The Church has never taught that hell is the only possible destiny for gay people who do not choose celibacy. In addition, there is controversy within the Church about the meaning of homosexual affection and the way moral judgments should be made about sexual behavior. These discussions include thoughtful, learned, and devout men and women who have in conscience come to different conclusions. Then there is the fact that many people, even at Catholic universities, are not Catholics, and few non-Catholics in American life find our official teachings about human sexuality plausible or convincing. There are many people, intelligent and morally outstanding people, who believe that same-sex love-making is natural and good for gay persons and that the official Catholic teaching is erroneous and harmful, and that teaching it is oppressive and objectively sinful. One must get used to a pluralism of views and voices at a university. You seem persuaded that many gay people are going to hell. I am less certain. The Church teaches that none of us can be certain that we will be saved. That gives each one of us more than enough to worry about!
His perspective on Church teaching has been nuanced into nonsense. So I guess by this definition heterosexuals can now lust after those of the opposite sex, just as long a it does not cause genital arousal. "But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully and has genital arousal has already committed adultery with her in his heart." It is ironic that those who usually ignore what the Church actually teaches will always throw in such phrases as "the Vatican teaches" and of course this is always done without a reference. Then we always get to the argument about plurality at a Catholic school. So I guess they would have no problem with a pygmy cannibal attending their school from taking a nice lunch snack out of their arm or leg. I also read the whole email exchange between my reader and Fr. Egan and not once did my reader make any such charge as that many homosexuals are going to Hell or in fact even bringing Hell up once. This is typical obfuscation where you move from a specific charge that yo are not following Church teaching to calling the other judgmental.
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Who’s the bishop in the diocese where Gonzaga is?, asks Paul above…
… well, wouldn’t you know, it’s in the diocese of Spokane, where the USCCB president, Skylstad, is bishop. So don’t be surprised the bishop when he doesn’t give the Jesuits a slap on the wrist, much less a kick on the bum and a bus ticket to LA. Skylstad is too busy running the parts of the diocese he directly controls into the ground and squandering everything the Catholics of western Washington have built over the last century. Yes, Skylstad recently let lost the court ruling where each and every parish asset was lost the the greedy scoundrels pushing the clergy abuse lawsuits. I can’t say more without saying something that would certainly cause this comment to be deleted… but the answer is no, don’t expect any help from the fool/scoundrel that wears the mitre in Spokane.
Looks like the “Meet the Jesuits” page was pulled!
Cancel that last comment – your links include “%2B”
for the “+” character. That seems to be throwing ’em off.
It wasn’t pulled, this is the link –
http://www.gonzaga.edu/About/Mission/Jesuit+Community/Meet+the+Jesuits.htm
Hey, they took down the links!
Ah, well, here’s the link to the HERO page…
…and here’s an upcoming talk on “Jesuit-Catholic Identity”: Catholic Mission and Identity: The Case of Gonzaga.
Well, it looks like they gave up their “habits” too … pretty casual group.
I go to Gonzaga and I have to say, this campus is not very friendly to anyone who dares to speak out against homosexuality, at least in my experience. In a discussion moderated by my English teacher last year, I was the only person in the entire class who opposed it, even though a little more than half the class was “Catholic.” It was me against 16 students (including a self-proclaimed bisexual who wrote a paper for the class describing her immoral act with her girlfriend) and a teacher for the entire hour and a quarter that class lasted. I felt very alone. I’m looking for a more Catholic college right now; if I can find one I can afford I will transfer there next semester.
Gonzaga does have a good philosophy department, though. Dr. Clayton and Dr. Calhoun are very good, and so is Dr. Chojnowski, who teaches lower level philosophy here. Unfortunately, the philosophy department is the only good department that I know of.
My New Testament teacher last year was a Catholic priest who believed that Christ set aside his divinity when he became man: he couldn’t remember being God. “Otherwise, He would have been playacting!” Obviously, the Faith is alive and well at Gonzaga.
Isn’t the president, Spitzer, on EWTN?
Yeah…I was wondering about Fr. Spitzer on EWTN. What gives??
Amazing! It looks like Gonzaga has collected almost all of the remaining Jesuits in the world! I didn’t know there were so many of them left. If they could grab Fr. Fessio and Avery Cardinal Dulles, they would have the complete set.
Percentage of priests on “Meet the Jesuits” wearing Roman Collars : 7%
Chances of me going to a Jesuit university: 0.0001%
How on earth did Fr. Spitzer let this happen? Yikes! He seemed like a solid philosopher to me…now I’m wondering.
“My New Testament teacher last year was a Catholic priest who believed that Christ set aside his divinity when he became man: he couldn’t remember being God. “Otherwise, He would have been playacting!” “
You guys didn’t happen to use a text called “Christology” by Fr. O’Collins? *heretical*
Good philosophers don’t always make good university administrators.
They seek to develop SELF knowledge and SELF acceptance, eh? To call yourself Christian is to not seek the self, but rather, the Father. I have to deny mySELF because, I’m sorry folks, but when I turn to myself and away from God I run afowl everytime. But, since they’re stuck on themselves, how about adding SELF control to the list?
I believe Fr. Spitzer is solid in his own Faith, but I don’t think he has the ability to really fix things here at GU. My older brother graduated from Gonzaga a few years ago, and he seems to think that Fr. Spitzer is doing what he can, but if he does anything really radical, like insist that no Religion teachers be heretical, he would probably be removed. I’m not sure though.
This being a “Catholic” college, I at first though that HERO would be about helping homosexuals to change, but that’s not it at all. They preach a message of acceptance of homosexuality. By doing so, they increase the likelyhood that these souls, and their own, will be damned. An organization whose purpose is to help homosexuals should HELP them. It should be an Alcoholics Anonymous kind of thing, where the gays receive aid and support in overcoming their bad habits. There are many documented cases of homosexuals reversing their orientation and becoming straight. We should help then do that, not simply tell them that what they do is okay.
Ha, Teresa, I remember in my first semester here, a Jesuit, Fr. Ganz, who is in charge of Ministry here at Gonzaga, gave us a talk about what it meant to be a Catholic, Jesuit college. He never once mentioned Catholicism! It was all about “developing the total self,” whatever that is supposed to mean.
Hey did anybody notice this organization at the Law School at Gonzaga?
Sexual Orientation Diversity Alliance: The purpose of the Sexual Orientation Diversity Alliance (S.O.D.A.) is to foster a sense of community among students and staff of all sexual orientations by providing support and promoting visibility. They will work with the faculty and administration to ensure that the interests of students of diverse sexual orientation in the student body are considered and provided for by the school.
Just out of curiosity… don’t priests who belong to a religious order still have to be obedient to the magisterium? Who’s the bishop of the area Gonzaga is located in? Couldn’t he at least give this guy a slap on the wrist?
arg…As much as I am interested in joining the Jesuits, their lack magisterial fidelity looms large in my conscience. Their are notable exceptions (Avery Cardinal Dulles, Fr Fessio) but set against that we have this kind of stuff…heresy or painstakingly nuanced ambiguity. I’d rather not be in Anthony Tardiff’s situation throughout my whole formation.
Capital punishment for gay people? Duly legal, tried and convicted in court, CAPITAL PUNISHMENT?
I hope he meant the unfortunates who are murdered by murderers, in a murderous way, not the state.
Sheesh. I’m so sick of the “they’re being persecuted” schtick.
Anthony T: Regarding your teacher who said Jesus “couldn’t remember being God” – well, that’s pretty well contradicted by the Gospels.
Still, the question of “what did Jesus know and when did he know it” is a pretty fascinating one, if one we can never know the answers to. It looks like Christ was fully aware of who he was and what his mission was by the time he began his ministry. But what about when he was a toddler learning his first words from Mary, or 7 years old? We don’t know because we are only human, and cannot begin to imagine what being fully human and fully divine is like.
Your teacher seems to think that if Jesus “remembered” that he was God, it would make being human a cakewalk. Actually, the reverse seems truer to me. When Christ walked to Calvary, he was bearing the sins of the world. Everyone’s sins. For all time. And he knew it and knew what all those sins were. The anguish suffered by God on that day – an anguish which went far beyond the physicial pain of the beatings and the cross, and the emotional pain of the betrayals and the jeers – is way, way beyond human comprehension.
I am reading Peter Kreeft’s book, “The Snakebite Letters”. He nails the Fr. Egan types in the chapter on “Elitism and Egalitarianism in Catholic Education”.
I imagine Fr. Egan fooled a lot of people with that line of bull over the years.
Okay…now tell me that this was really just a paragraph that was left out of “The Usual Homily”…I’m waiting…hello?…
As to our Beloved Saviour not knowing he was God:
“The Father and I are one”.
At the age of 50 I have come to the conclusion that so many of these people who profess to “know and teach the faith” are really lost and blind souls. A classic case of what our Lord Jesus referred to as “the blind leading the blind”. Anymore the most that I or any of us can do is pray for them. Giving them the time of the day and listening to them is pointless. Unfortunately, they are in charge of forming minds; what they are really doing is deforming souls.
Ok, I get the impression the Bishop of Spokane is not your best friend. That being said, he may be a “fool/scoundrel” in your opinion, yet he still deserves our respect. I guess my view is that I trust the Bishop to say something when there is “sketchy” business going on in the Church in his diocese. If the bishop is continually missing the mark himself, then I trust the Magisterium to step in with regards to the bishop. This isn’t a democracy. We don’t elect our bishops.
Maybe I’m somewhat skewed in perspective because I’ve been blessed by a great diocese and amazing bishops. (Yay! Thank you God!) But I have also seen a nearby diocese that was on the other end of the spectrum (bishop “investing” in race horses, first communion without first confession, pancake hosts, women declaring themselves “priests”… oh boy oh boy oh boy…). God’s working things out there though now too. The old bishop of that diocese was taken care of (aka. ‘retired’) and a monsignor from my diocese was made bishop and is cleaning things up nicely one step at a time.
The Holy Spirit has guided and protected the Church for the past 2000 years. No matter how “messed up” any diocese is, let’s trust that He will continue to do so.
Kurt,
You wrote: “I imagine Fr. Egan fooled a lot of people with that schtick over the years.”
I surmise you are right, and it was his position as a priest (and his roman collar) that sealed the bunk for his hearers! Whenever I talk to my dad about the Church (liturgy, moral teachings, etc.) he always reminds me “but vatican II said thus and so…” Now, with all due respect to my father, he has never read a single document of Vatican II. Furthermore, I don’t know that he is even aware that such documents are bound and readily available for any inquisitive soul to cast his eyes upon. Yet, like all good Catholics, he got it on the highest authority that “vatican II said thus and so…” the highest authority being priests and nuns who used their positions and the trust given them, to further an agenda which was (whether they realized it or not) generally opposed to the authentic teachings of the Church and of Vaticn II.
If Fr. Egan or Fr. McBrien or any such priest says “thus and so is Catholic theology (or moral teaching etc.) average Catholics (of a certain generation) are going to believe them!
We can thank EWTN and its auxiliaries now sprouting up in the Catholic radio industry (innitiatives you will notice of women religious and lay folks!) for clearly proclaiming Church teaching even to those not likely to be exposed to it in their parishes or universities.
I’m another GU student, and all I can say is that GU is better than some. Of course, I’m a music major, so I’ve been lucky enough to have one Jesuit who always wears clerics for class as a professor, and another professor who is a permanent deacon and serves as secretary for the Society for Catholic Liturgy. We also have a weekly Gregorian chant Mass, which is about as orthodox as you can get while still praying in English (mostly).
Also, the John Paul II Fellowship (formerly known as Newman-Stein) is a large and active group on campus, as is Gonzaga Right-to-Life. The JP2 Fellowship is actively working against HERO at this time. Additionally, we have been told that campus Mass attendance has gone up almost 50% in the last 10 years. So, while most of the faculty may be in the Spirit of Vatican II dark ages, a lot of the student body have come out into the light. Hey–we’re better than USF! It is quite possible to get a “real” Catholic education at Gonzaga, you just have to be careful about which professors you choose, which Mass you attend, and who you associate with.
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