Amen, Almost

Today The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) thanked Father Michael Engh, S.J., President of Santa Clara University, a Jesuit college, for canceling a scheduled production of The Vagina Monologues.

Santa Clara had hosted the play in previous years under its former president Father Paul Locatelli, S.J., the new Secretary for Jesuit Higher Education in Rome.

Last month CNS reported that 15 campuses were holding productions of the lewd play in 2009, down from a high of 32 in 2003 when The Cardinal Newman Society launched its campaign to lead opposition to the Monologues on Catholic campuses.

While Santa Clara canceled its production, Boston College--which was not originally listed on the official Monologues website V-day.org--did host the play, leaving the total at 15.

“There is a growing recognition by Catholic colleges that the Monologues are completely inappropriate for a Catholic institution and that there are other, more dignified ways to address issues such as human sexuality and violence against women,” said Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society.

“Father Engh’s action is an encouraging sign toward renewal and he deserves the thanks and gratitude of the Catholic faithful who have been praying for an end to the Monologues on Catholic campuses for the past seven years.”

The Vagina Monologues is a sexually explicit and offensive play that favorably describes lesbian activity, group masturbation and the reduction of sexuality to selfish pleasure. In one scene, the lesbian seduction and rape of a teenage girl is described as the victim’s “salvation” that “raised her into a kind of heaven.” Although the V-Day organization, which sponsors the Monologues, has the admirable goal of raising awareness about violence against women and girls, the purpose is thwarted by the Monologues’ pornographic and demeaning content.

Link (here)