A Catholic bishop in Indiana is calling out a Catholic college for promoting Planned Parenthood and abortion this week.
As LifeNews previously reported, Saint Mary’s College, a Catholic school in Notre Dame, Indiana, hosted the large pro-Planned Parenthood display in response to a pro-life display held on campus earlier in October.
The pro-Planned Parenthood display involved 1,852 planted in the ground to “represent the non-abortion-related services offered by Planned Parenthood,” according to the Church Militant. The pro-abortion display was a project of the Saint Mary’s Feminists United Student Group. The group organized the display to counter a pro-life display by Students for Life on campus that exposed Planned Parenthood’s deceptive abortion practices.
“I was very saddened to learn that this show of support for an organization that is the largest abortion provider in our country occurred at a Catholic college in our diocese,” said Bishop Kevin Rhoades, head of the Fort Wayne-South Bend Catholic Diocese, which includes Saint Mary’s.
“Catholic institutions, including Catholic colleges and universities, must not look the other way or remain silent in the face of attacks against the most vulnerable human beings among us, those as yet unborn,” Rhoades said.
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Rhodes said the display promoted a business whose central mission is contrary to the church’s teaching about the sanctity of life. While emphasizing that academic freedom is important, Rhoades said public displays celebrating human rights abuses like abortion go against authentic freedom.
“Just as we would be rightly scandalized to see a public display portraying a racist organization like the Klu Klux Klan in a positive light, so too, we expect Catholic colleges to refuse to lend any kind of respectability to organizations like Planned Parenthood that play such a significant role in the culture of death,” Rhoades said.
Rhodes also pointed out the link between Planned Parenthood and racism and eugenics. Its founder Margaret Sanger wrote about the “feeble-minded, the mentally defective, the poverty-stricken” being menaces to civilization.
The Indiana bishop also brought up Pope Francis, who urged the bishops to not remain silent in the face of evil during his visit to the U.S. in September.
“Pope Francis has called abortion the product of a ‘widespread mentality of profit, the throwaway culture, which has today enslaved the hearts and minds of so many,’” Rhoades said.
Pro-lifers familiar with Saint Mary’s College say it has strayed from Catholic and pro-life teachings, according to the Church Militant.
