Notre Dame has launched a new campaign that aims to provide support for the campus’ “Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, and Queer” students.
The university, which is a Catholic institution, operating under the umbrella of the church, has permitted student groups and support programs for homosexual students for years. But this new program will devote more financial resources to gay and lesbian issues. The university has even created a new full-time staff position in connection with the program.
Michael Bradley, a student at Notre Dame, reports for The College Fix:
Administrators have recently hired a fulltime employee to implement a pastoral initiative titled “Beloved Friends and Allies: A Pastoral Plan for the Support and Holistic Development of GLBTQ and Heterosexual Students at the University of Notre Dame.”
Several campus sources confirmed the new hire in interviews with The College Fix, however campus officials declined to comment on the matter.
The new faculty member is expected to oversee a student organization tasked with providing a variety of peer-to-peer support services for Notre Dame’s homosexual students and their heterosexual allies, as well as develop initiatives for “out or questioning students,” according to the pastoral plan.
The employee is also tasked with organizing “speakers, conferences, retreats, support groups, and other programs all designed for the support, holistic development, and formation of GLBTQ and other members of the Notre Dame community,” the plan states.
Campus officials declined to answer requests from The College Fix for an estimated price tag for the plan’s implementation, as well as the annual salary of the new employee.
University president, Reverend John Jenkins, said the new program was outcome of “a careful review of Catholic doctrine and teaching, listening sessions with members of the Notre Dame community, and consideration of structures present at peer Catholic institutions.”
However, some faculty and alumni have publicly voiced concern that the new program will simply turn into “an advocacy group promoting the gay lifestyle.” And, for them, the new GLBTQ program at Notre Dame touches on the ongoing debate over just how much the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church should govern the policies of Catholic universities.
Click here to read more details on the controversy surrounding Notre Dame’s GLBTQ campaign.