Vaginas are spiritually harmful

Okay, so that isn't exactly what Bishop D'Arcy (Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend) said. But it's close.

First, to Father Jenkins. He decided to allow the Vagaina Monologues to be performed on campus (albeit without fundraising for local charities that help battered women and children) this year. The performances will occur in an academic classroom, with an academic panel in which the Catholic viewpoint is represented afterward. Here's what he said:

My decision in this matter arises form a conviction that it i an indispensable part of the mission of a Catholic university to provide a forum in which multiple viewpoints are debated in reasoned and respectful exchange -- always in dialogue with faith and the Catholic tradition -- even around highly controversial topics. Notre Dame's policy on controversial events rests on the conviction that truth will emerge from reasoned consideration of issues in dialogue with faith, and that we will educate Catholic leaders not by insulating our students from controversial views, but by engaging these views energetically, in light of Catholic teachings.

I'm not Catholic, but I'm also not unfamiliar with controversies on religious campuses. I went to Calvin College (a Christian Reformed college), and while I was there the Student Activities Board invited the Indigo Girls to perform on campus (which made me so excited I nearly peed my pants). But all kinds of people were out of sorts because Amy Ray and Emily Saliers happen to be attracted to other women, and homosexuality is against Christian teaching. Of course, they allowed the Dave Matthews Band and Hootie and the Blowfish to perform on campus (and one of the Hooties went on to have, um, "relations" with several -- that's right, several -- Calvin students. I guess the fact that the students were of the opposite sex, even though it is still unclear whether the sex was consensual, is okay). Neither band happens to be known for their piety or chastity. This is to point out the hypocrisy inherent opposing certain (but not all) "controversial events" on religious campuses.

Anyway, back to Notre Dame. Here's what Bishop D'Arcy said:

I am convinced that permitting performances of The Vagina Monologues is not consistent with the identity of a Catholic university... [t]he difference between the works of authors such as Nietzsche, Gibbon, Luther, and Joyce, and The Vagina Monologues is a difference not of degree, but of kind. The former have written serious philosophical, theological and literary works, which have influenced Western thought. As such, their work has academic merit ands worthy of serious discussion and critique in a classroom setting Father Jenkins believes that Eve Ensler's play was written to shock and offend. How can one put such a play, which many consider pornographic, on the level of serious works such as the writing of Gibbon and Luther?

...
In allowing performances of the play on campus again this year, whether or not they are officially considered part of the V-Day campaign, Notre dame continues to cooperate in advancing the campaign's agenda, an agenda which...is directly opposed to the dignity of the human person and is antithetical to Catholic teaching

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The play is little more than a propaganda piece for the sexual revolution andsecular feminism. While claiming to deplore violence against women, the play at the same time violates the standards of decency and morality that safeguard a woman's dignity and protect her, body and soul, from sexual predators. The human community has generally refrained from exposing and discussing the hidden parts of a woman's body, preferring to consider tehm private and even sacred.

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The play depicts, exalts, and endorses female masturbation, which is a sin ... and the implication is that the historic, positive understanding of heterosexual marriage as the norm is what we must recover from.

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The play is an affront to human dignity, as Catholic teaching understands it. If it is performed, it should be denounced, Otherwise, the University appears to endorse it as in some way good and the impression is given that Catholic teaching is one option competing among many.

Oh, there are so many things to say. The idea that an international campaign that aims to end violence against women is an affront to human dignity is as ludicrous as it is deeply insulting. My private parts may or may not be sacred, but they are MINE, and I'll say their name out loud if I damn well please. Whatever happened to the human body being a beautiful creation of Go? Or does that only go for penises? If the Bishop will recall, Eve only had to cover up in the Garden of Eden after sin entered the world. Isn't the need to cover up, to make shameful, our sexual organs, then, a consequence of sin?

Also, what exactly is D'Arcy's opposition to V-Day? Perhaps it is that "V-Day generates broader attention for the fight to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM) and sexual slavery." Or maybe he opposes "hard-won funding that helped open the first shelters for women in Egypt and Iraq." I know, it's that he doesn't share V-Day's vision, "a world where women live safely and freely."

Also, I'd be surprised if Nietzsche's writings weren't meant to shock and offend the culture of the time, institutionalized "belief" in God. But yet Nietzsche's claims that God is dead is less offensive to Catholic teaching than bringing to light the oppression of women -- in all their constituent parts -- in our culture?

I applaud Father Jenkin's decision to allow this play to be performed on campus. I do not agree with his attitude about it, and hope that Margeret's House gets lots of donations even if an official fundraiser isn't allowed. But at least young women at Notre Dame will be a little more enlightened, a little more empowered, after seeing their colleagues bravely perform The Monologues. You, too, can see them: performances will take place on campus March 26, 27 and 28. Of course, the place and time are not on the ND Events Calendar. But word will be out and about, if you're interested.