Thursday, February 21, 2013

University Of San Francisco Promotes Anti-Catholic To Theology Chair


Vincent Pizzuto of the University of San Francisco was still using the term “we” to describe same-sex attracted Catholics. While the “we” indicates Pizzuto considered himself a Catholic at that time, it is questionable how deeply that identification was felt: four months later, in July of 2006, Pizzuto was ordained a priest in the Celtic Christian Church, a church not in communion with the Rome.  At the time the “Alienated Catholics” presentation was given, the pastor of St. Agnes parish was Father Cameron Ayers, SJ.  Ayers, like Pizzuto, has since left the Church, and is now an assisting priest at San Francisco’s Holy Innocents Episcopal Church. At the time of his ordination, Father Pizzuto was serving as an assistant professor in the department of theology and religious studies  at the (Jesuit) University of San Francisco, a nominally Catholic university. Sometime between February 2011 and October 2012 (according to the department webpage), despite his public alienation from the Catholic Church, 
Pizzuto has been promoted and he now serves as the chair of the theology department. Pizzuto’s faculty webpage at USF links directly to the webpage of the New Skellig Community  Church, where he is the presider. New Skellig is a member community of the Celtic Christian Church, the body into which Pizzuto was ordained. 
The Church Statements listed on the Celtic Christian Church’s webpage are only three: Homosexuality and Same-Sex Relationship; Supporting Document on the Question of Homosexuality and Same-Sex Relationships; and Church Statement Concerning Abortion. From the Homosexuality and Same-Sex Relationships  page: “If a homosexual couple wishes to make a public commitment to each other, the Church blesses such a desire and celebrates it by means of a marriage ceremony presided over by one of its clergypersons.” Pizzuto himself writes on the New Skellig Community Weddings page: “Because the Celtic Christian Church is a canonically independent catholic church whose governing principles prioritize the ‘Law of Love’ above rules and regulations, we are especially sensitive to couples who have been alienated from their church of origin, or who find that their marriage is unjustly prohibited in some Christian institutions. This is often the case, for example, among couples who are: Previously divorced; Same-gendered;  Inter-religious… In all cases, Father Vincent works personally with each couple to guide them in creating a dignified ceremony that genuinely expresses the couple’s relationship, commitment and spirituality.”
Link (here) to Cal-Cath

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Surely it is time to conduct an examination/visitation of the Jesuit order institutions of higher education in the United States, and perhaps throughout the world. If as some have claimed Jesuits would rather be Jesuit than Catholic then perhaps it is time to deprive some of these universities of their Catholic name - some such as Georgeton and USF have clearly lost their Catholic identity. If American Catholic women's religious order can be examined with regard to their faithfulness to their chrism, articles of incorporation, then maybe it is time to deal with the Jesuits heterodoxy. The suppressions of the 18th century had some beneficial results.

Anonymous said...

"The suppressions of the 18th century had some beneficial results."

The Catholic Taliban is at it again.

Anonymous said...

Rising above the ad hominem could you address the the substance of the comment you apparently take exception to?

Anonymous said...

It's unjust to lump all institutions together. The events at Gonzaga with the KoC, for example, would not happen at Spring Hill College. Often, due to the methods of institutional control employed by university boards, Jesuits have very little say at what goes on at the universities. It's better, I think, to direct efforts for reform at the people who are visibly against the church, such as the subject of this article, rather than posit some sort of Jesuit conspiracy to undermine Catholic education.