Posts

Notre Dame Undermines Catholic Mission In Pursuit Of DEI

/0 Comments/in , /by

The University of Notre Dame has been on a decades-long warpath of undermining its Catholic mission at the altar of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) ideology. But that drive could be on a collision course with the Trump administration’s threat to revoke federal funding from DEI schools.

Just before the Jan. 20 inauguration of President Donald Trump, Notre Dame Provost John McGreevy sent a faculty-wide email stating that the hiring priorities of the school were to increase “the number of women and underrepresented minorities” and that those DEI goals were “equally important” to hiring Catholic faculty. That is one of the latest examples of the school’s dedication to the ideology dating back to at least the 1970s, as detailed in a new report from The Claremont Institute.

“They change Catholicism to be DEI, and while most places are moving in one direction on DEI, Notre Dame is moving in the other direction,” report author Scott Yenor, senior director of state coalitions at The Claremont Institute and political science professor at Boise State University, told The Federalist. “Few conservative or traditional aspects of campus life have grown as quickly or with as much administrative enthusiasm as the DEI efforts have grown in the past several years.”

Yenor said the “worst thing in the report” was McGreevy’s email, especially since the timing was just days before Trump was set to be sworn in after being elected on a mandate to end things like DEI. He said it signaled a “note of defiance.”

“One important goal is to hire Catholic faculty and other faculty deeply committed to our mission to ensure continuity with our past and our future as the world’s leading global Catholic research university,” McGreevy’s email stated. “A second overlapping and equally important goal is to increase the number of women and underrepresented minorities on our faculty so that we become the diverse and inclusive intellectual community our mission urges us to be.” (Read more from “Notre Dame Undermines Catholic Mission In Pursuit Of DEI” HERE)

No Christmas Mass at Notre Dame for First Time in Over 200 Years

/0 Comments/in , /by

It will be a true silent night at the Notre Dame Cathedral this year, as there will be no Christmas Mass for the first time since it was briefly converted to the secular “Temple of Reason” during the French Revolution.

“Notre Dame Cathedral is unable to host Christmas services for the first time since the French Revolution, because the Paris landmark was too deeply damaged by this year’s fire,” reported The Associated Press.

“Its exiled clergy, choir and congregation are celebrating the holiday in another Gothic church next to the Louvre Museum instead,” the report continued. “Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services will be held in the Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois church, once used for French royalty. Notre Dame’s rector, Monsignor Patrick Chauvet, will celebrate Mass there Wednesday for Notre Dame’s faithful, accompanied by song from some of Notre Dame’s now-itinerant choir.” . . .

Following the fire, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that the cathedral will eventually be even “more beautiful,” while also calling for it to be rebuilt in just five years.

“The fire at Notre Dame reminds us that our history never stops and we will always have challenges to overcome,” Macron said. “We will rebuild Notre Dame, more beautiful than before — and I want it done in the next five years. We can do it. After the time of testing comes a time of reflection and then of action.” (Read more from “No Christmas Mass at Notre Dame for First Time in Over 200 Years” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

Notre Dame Architect Makes Huge Revelation About Fire

/0 Comments/in , , /by

When the Fox News Channel’s Shepard Smith hung up on French politician and media analyst Philippe Karsenty during live coverage of the Notre Dame Cathedral blaze, authorities already were speculating the catastrophe that gripped the world was caused by an accident.

Although speculation is the coin of the cable-news realm, an indignant Smith wanted nothing to do with Karsenty providing context to the April 15 fire – nearly 2,000 attacks on French churches in two years – that would suggest an alternative cause should be considered.

And, in fact, as Karsenty pointed out in a phone interview from France with WND, a former chief architect of the Notre Dame – whose analysis has been virtually ignored – believes the accident theory makes no sense.

Karsenty told WND he was “shocked” when Smith abruptly ended the interview.

“I just wanted to put it in context,” he said, referring to the surge of attacks on churches. “And then I said, nevertheless, the media are lecturing us an hour after it started, saying it can only be unintentional. (Read more from “Notre Dame Architect Makes Huge Revelation About Fire” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

Woman Claims She Could See ‘Silhouette of Jesus’ in Notre Dame Fire

/0 Comments/in , /by

As Christians around the world observe Holy Week and focus their attention on Christ, one mother from Scotland said she could “see Jesus” in the fire that engulfed the Notre Dame Cathedral Monday evening in a post on social media. . .

“When I looked at this photo last night, I was really astounded by what I saw,” Rowan told Scotland’s Daily Record. “When I look at it I see a silhouette of Jesus. I really see a vivid image.”

Rowan said she hopes it will “bring comfort to people in Paris and all over the world at this sad time.”

The Notre Dame Cathedral caught on fire a little after closing time Monday evening, one day after Palm Sunday during Holy Week. The Catholic church burned for over 13 hours as onlookers posted videos and photos of the fire and smoke billowing from the Gothic cathedral. Dramatic footage showed Notre Dame’s spire collapsing, but many relics were saved and no one was harmed during the catastrophic blaze.

French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to rebuild what was destroyed within the next five years. (Read more from “Woman Claims She Could See ‘Silhouette of Jesus’ in Notre Dame Fire” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

Hard Left Celebrates Notre Dame’s Destruction

/0 Comments/in , , /by

As Christians and non-Christians alike stood in solidarity on Monday and mourned the loss of a cathedral that Pope Francis humbly labeled an “architectural jewel of a collective memory,” the halls of social media were occasionally disrupted by vocal minorities of hard leftists who reveled in Notre Dame’s destruction.

What joy could people possibly be expressing as fires savaged an 800-year-old cathedral? According to some of these hard leftists, the destruction symbolized the Catholic Church’s karma for centuries of cruelty or, at the very least, colonial France’s karma for what it has allegedly done to other cultures. A thread compiled by Andy Ngo of Quillette best illustrated the collective mockery:

“I wonder how many art pieces and artifacts that were sitting in the Notre Dame were stolen from former colonies,” said user Shaziya. When confronted with criticism and backlash, she doubled down: “I’m criticizing French colonialism, if this bothers you so much then you ought to reevaluate your morals, bye.”

“I think it sucks that Notre Dame is burning but f*** imagine if we had this same energy for every historic building we carpetbombed in the Middle East,” said another user.

Other users reveled in the fact that “white people” were saddened to see Notre Dame go up in flames. “I’m dying at the white people triggered,” said one person named Aly. “It’s a damn building that’s literally used for tourism, no one died, move on.”

(Read more from “Hard Left Celebrates Notre Dame’s Destruction” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

Miracle: The Cross Is Still Standing Despite Fire in Notre Dame

/0 Comments/in , /by

The Notre Dame cathedral, one of the most iconic structures in Paris, will never be the same, having largely succumbed to an out of control fire Monday evening. The spire was the first thing to collapse, followed by the entire roof.

Yet, the first photos capturing the inside of the 850-year-old cathedral revealed an incredible sight. The cross is still standing.

There have been other inspiring sights on the streets of Paris tonight, including the moment a group of bystanders broke out in song and prayer.

(Read more from “Miracle: The Cross Is Still Standing Despite Fire in Notre Dame” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

Obama Admin Files Papers to Force Notre Dame to Comply With HHS Mandate

/9 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: LifeNewsThe Obama administration is not content to force Obamacare on the nation but it’s also not going to relent when it comes to religious businesses, schools and organizations that want to opt out of complying with the HHS mandate, that compels them to pay for birth control and abortion-causing drugs.

The Obama administration is fighting the University of Notre Dame’s request for a reprieve from complying with the HHS mandate and filed papers on Tuesday with the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals opposing the Catholic university’s attempt to get out from under it.

According to Politico:

The school, which is complying with the coverage mandate while fighting the policy in court, was denied a similar stay by the 7th Circuit late last year. Notre Dame re-filed its petition after the Supreme Court granted an injunction to the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged last month.

The school said its case is nearly identical to the Little Sisters; the Justice Department said Tuesday that the facts are not the same.

Notre Dame “Employees and other beneficiaries are currently receiving contraceptive coverage,” Justice Department officials wrote in their brief (posted here).The school “offers no reason why this Court should disrupt the status quo by entering an injunction pending appeal while it is considering the merits of the appeal on a highly expedited basis.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Hoax: Heartbreaking Story of Notre Dame Linebacker Manti Te’o’s Dead Girlfriend, the Most Inspirational Story of the College Football Season

/0 Comments/in , /by

Notre Dame’s Manti Te’o, the stories said, played this season under a terrible burden. A Mormon linebacker who led his Catholic school’s football program back to glory, Te’o was whipsawed between personal tragedies along the way. In the span of six hours in September, as Sports Illustrated told it, Te’o learned first of the death of his grandmother, Annette Santiago, and then of the death of his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua.

Kekua, 22 years old, had been in a serious car accident in California, and then had been diagnosed with leukemia. SI’s Pete Thamel described how Te’o would phone her in her hospital room and stay on the line with her as he slept through the night. “Her relatives told him that at her lowest points, as she fought to emerge from a coma, her breathing rate would increase at the sound of his voice,” Thamel wrote.

Upon receiving the news of the two deaths, Te’o went out and led the Fighting Irish to a 20-3 upset of Michigan State, racking up 12 tackles. It was heartbreaking and inspirational. Te’o would appear on ESPN’s College GameDay to talk about the letters Kekua had written him during her illness. He would send a heartfelt letter to the parents of a sick child, discussing his experience with disease and grief. The South Bend Tribune wrote an article describing the young couple’s fairytale meeting—she, a Stanford student; he, a Notre Dame star—after a football game outside Palo Alto.

Did you enjoy the uplifiting story, the tale of a man who responded to adversity by becoming one of the top players of the game? If so, stop reading.

Manti Te’o did lose his grandmother this past fall. Annette Santiago died on Sept. 11, 2012, at the age of 72, according to Social Security Administration records in Nexis. But there is no SSA record there of the death of Lennay Marie Kekua, that day or any other. Her passing, recounted so many times in the national media, produces no obituary or funeral announcement in Nexis, and no mention in the Stanford student newspaper.

Read more from this story HERE.