Georgetown Covers Up Name of Jesus at White House Request
This is not the first controversy surrounding religious imagery at Georgetown recently.
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MANASSAS, Va. (Cardinal Newman Society) - Before President Barack Obama spoke on Tuesday, April 14, at Georgetown University, the White House asked that all signs and symbols be covered up at the Gaston Hall venue, CNSNews.com reports. In compliance with the request, the university covered over the monogram “IHS,” an ancient Christian symbol of the name of Jesus Christ.
“It is such a sad commentary that Catholic universities are willingly hiding the most visible signs of their Catholic identity when hosting secular leaders,” said Patrick Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society. “What’s next, will Notre Dame cover images of Jesus and Mary and ban rosaries when they honor President Obama next month?”
The CNSNews.com story notes that Julie Green Bataille, associate vice president for communications at Georgetown, said, “In coordinating the logistical arrangements for yesterday’s event, Georgetown honored the White House staff’s request to cover all of the Georgetown University signage and symbols behind Gaston Hall stage.”
“The White House wanted a simple backdrop of flags and pipe and drape for the speech, consistent with what they’ve done for other policy speeches,” continued Bataille. “Frankly, the pipe and drape wasn’t high enough by itself to fully cover the IHS and cross above the GU seal and it seemed most respectful to have them covered so as not to be seen out of context.”
This is not the first controversy surrounding religious imagery at Georgetown recently. A prominent statue of Our Lady of Fatima was desecrated twice in less than a month at the university earlier this year. When the first desecration of the statue occurred, a group of concerned students organized a 24-hour prayer vigil in response, but students complained to The Cardinal Newman Society that the Georgetown administration’s response was tepid.
“It is such a sad commentary that Catholic universities are willingly hiding the most visible signs of their Catholic identity when hosting secular leaders,” said Patrick Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society. “What’s next, will Notre Dame cover images of Jesus and Mary and ban rosaries when they honor President Obama next month?”
The CNSNews.com story notes that Julie Green Bataille, associate vice president for communications at Georgetown, said, “In coordinating the logistical arrangements for yesterday’s event, Georgetown honored the White House staff’s request to cover all of the Georgetown University signage and symbols behind Gaston Hall stage.”
“The White House wanted a simple backdrop of flags and pipe and drape for the speech, consistent with what they’ve done for other policy speeches,” continued Bataille. “Frankly, the pipe and drape wasn’t high enough by itself to fully cover the IHS and cross above the GU seal and it seemed most respectful to have them covered so as not to be seen out of context.”
This is not the first controversy surrounding religious imagery at Georgetown recently. A prominent statue of Our Lady of Fatima was desecrated twice in less than a month at the university earlier this year. When the first desecration of the statue occurred, a group of concerned students organized a 24-hour prayer vigil in response, but students complained to The Cardinal Newman Society that the Georgetown administration’s response was tepid.
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The Cardinal Newman Society is dedicated to renewing and strengthening Catholic identity at America's 224 Catholic colleges and universities.This article is used with permission.
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I'm not even Catholic, but Lutheran, and I was totally offended, but not surprised. As one comment said, Georgetown sold out long ago. It will be interesting to see what Nortre Dame does!
Born and raised in Chicago. St. Thecla was my parish where I attended grammar school and served as an altar boy into my teens. If the Sisters and Clergy of St. Thecla learned of the actions of what Georgetown did at the request of the Obama cadre, they would have jettisoned themselves out of the universe! The decision makers of Georgetown should consider the trip. They do not represent what I learned about Catholicism or Chrisitanity.
I've heard that the Devil is very uncomfortable near images of Christ.
Disgraceful to our catholic faith. Unbelievable that George town would remove Jesus from campus for Obama. Now we catholics have to watch the travesty with Notre Dame next up. We should be worried about this man who has been elected to run our nation. Clearly he has plans to makes negative changes. God help me I'm very upset that a man who favors stem cell research, abortion & homosexuality is being awarded & praised within the catholic community. It is not right.
Who would have thought otherwise..The jesuits sold out to the extreme Leftist-Marxist years ago. Especially those in Education and those educated at their seminary in Berkley,Cal. One can not find a more left seminary, unless you include the Episcopal Seminary in Mass.....
Well, I WAS a prospective student for Georgetown.
It is disturbing that GU's administration would acquiesce to such a request. Yet, more disturbing, is that the symbol and name of Jesus bothers or perhaps scares the President and his administration. I encourage all Catholics to pray daily the pray of St. Michael the Archangel. Its frightening that the symbol of Jesus is hidden but flagrant embracing of communist leaders and abortion rights are headliners for this administration. I'm not afraid to say the name of JESUS!!!
Symbols remind us of deeper thruths of faith...removing them or covering them is a shallow move by those who through this gesture have shown that the world trumps God. Shame on the administration
We devout Catholics need to make it known that we are the Church. We are not going to accept attempts to contort and pervert our faith.
This made me so incensed. The complete stupidity of the university to bow to this kind of intimidation. Why not just say no! Really does not matter if this is business as usual for the administration, it is not acceptable for a catholic university to deny the image of our Lord. Shameful...
I am quickly losing my respect for these Catholic colleges. I have been a lifelong supporter of Catholic Education, I am doubting their real adjenda, is it liberalism or catholicism?? Please hear our outrage here, it seems lay people are more concerned with upholding our fundamentals. I question the liberal priests and nuns that are supporting this outrage. All i can say is I am ashamed your not strong enough to say no to this liberal point of view. I will continue to pray to Our Lady.