Applause for GU’s decision

I applaud Gonzaga University’s decision to honor Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu as a commencement speaker, and as a recipient of an honorary doctoral degree. Actions on behalf of social justice and peace are an essential dimension of the Christian Gospel. Tutu certainly is one of the most recognizable representatives of such faith-based dedication to the causes of justice, nonviolence and human rights.

Since Archbishop Tutu is an Anglican, not a Catholic, some of his views differ from the pope’s. No surprise there, but no problem either. Labeling Tutu as a “pro-abortionist” is simplistic and mean, since he approves of abortion only in exceptional circumstances such as rape and incest. With regard to homosexuality, both Tutu and the Catholic Church “recognize the dignity of all people and do not define or label them in terms of their sexual orientation,” as the late Cardinal Basil Hume put it.

Opponents of Tutu’s invitation to Gonzaga ought to be reminded of what the eminent Catholic monk Thomas Merton, highly regarded by both John XXIII and Paul VI, said about Catholic bigotry: “The Catholic who is the aggressive specimen of a ghetto Catholic culture, limited, rigid, prejudiced, negative, is precisely a non-Catholic.”

Kurt Remele

Visiting Associate Professor

Gonzaga University