In order to understand the continuous debate surrounding the establishment of AllianceND, the proposed Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) at Notre Dame, The Rover interviewed Professor Emeritus Walter Nicgorski and Father Bill Dailey, CSC, for insight on the objections to the proposed GSA.
After teaching at Notre Dame for 48 years, Nicgorski, professor emeritus in the Program of Liberal Studies, believes he is in a unique position to comment on the matter. “Without being directly involved with the gay community at Notre Dame over the past 48 years, I have watched the scene as these concerns rose and fell, and kept myself reasonably well-informed on the Catholic Church’s moral and pastoral responses to these concerns on campus as well as in our nation,” he stated.
Nicgorski further believes that Notre Dame’s previous actions accommodating the concerns of the gay community were praiseworthy in their adherence to Catholic faith. In particular, Nicgorski mentioned the “documents the Core Council has generated, the opportunities and direction it offers and the beautiful Statement of Inclusion…[The Statement of Inclusion] is a response that seems to accord very well with the recent efforts of our bishop, Kevin Rhoades, and with other pastoral guidance given by the American Catholic hierarchy.”
The compatibility of a GSA with a Catholic understanding of sexuality seemed to be a common theme of the objections. The approval of a club bearing the potential to hold stances contrary to Catholic teachings could provide a network for individuals to intentionally subvert Catholic teachings.
Nicgorski stated that he was “deeply suspicious that those leading the call for the change…do not care much about the Catholic dimension of Notre Dame…this suspicion is much more than that; it is based on what some of these proponents and their organizations say in other forums against critical aspects of Catholic teaching about homosexuality…gay marriage.”
Even though Fr. Dailey, associate professor of Law, believes proponents’ motivations are not spiteful to the Church, he still finds the aims of the proposed GSA problematic. “I take them [the GSA] at their word that they do not wish to be a place in direct or explicit contradiction of Catholic teaching, though I think neutrality (as I understand their aims) is problematic.”
While Father Dailey acknowledged that the GSA is compatible with Notre Dame insofar as they seek the common goal of providing a welcoming environment for all, he also communicates the limitedness of this compatibility.
“The GSA’s implicit message, even by its labeling, gives a privileged place to one’s erotic desires in the formation and labeling of human identity that the Church wisely resists. So while the Church agrees that some people are…constitutively homosexual, that they have not chosen their same-sex attraction, it resists the notion that this fact is the primary or central fact of their identity,” Fr. Dailey explained.
Because of this disagreement surrounding the extent to which human sexuality is the basis for identity, it is possible that the GSA – though it has explicitly adopted a Catholic understanding of sexuality in its constitution – could subvert or ignore Church teachings in other ways. Two such Catholic understandings about which Dailey is concerned are the meaning of chastity and the call to holiness.
Fr. Dailey continued, “I think if a group explicitly organized around issues of human sexuality but then is silent about the meaning of chastity and the call to holiness, and will speak only to the virtue of ‘inclusivity’ then it is at least holding back from what matters most—the call to holiness—and at worst sending an implicit signal of rejection.”
To demonstrate the problems inherent with the GSA’s implicit neutral stance towards the teachings of the Church – supposing there would be no inclusion of the meaning of chastity and call to holiness – Fr. Dailey used a metaphor involving journalists.
“If I organized a group of journalists,” he began, “who shared a common love of journalism but thought the organization should take no positions as to what might constitute good journalism or bad, but simply said ‘all journalists welcome,’ over time that would seem a strange thing. Some might offer a vision of journalism that included intrusive and unethical wiretapping like the British tabloids have been accused of…Should the group say ‘Hey, we’re not here to engage in controversy, we just want journalists to feel welcome’…indeed neutrality would begin to appear as if it were indifference to the very notion of moral truth, if not implicitly on the side of the tabloids.”
Despite the perceived pitfalls of bringing a GSA to Notre Dame, Father Dailey suggests that the Church can learn much from the exclusion felt by members of the LGBTQ community. “My own perspective is that the Church far too often emphasizes the negative messages it has for people with same-sex attraction…at the expense of recognizing their unique struggles and pains and wondering how it might pursue the truth and love them,” he reflected.
Although not necessarily in agreement with the need for a GSA on campus, both Nicgorski and Fr. Dailey put forth solutions as to how to better accommodate members of the LGBTQ community
Nicgorski advocated that any additional accommodations should “be informed by the same experience that shaped this successful [formation of the Core Council and drafting of the Statement of Inclusion].” He therefore believes that the call for more peer-to-peer experience can best be accommodated within the framework of the Core Council.
Nicgorski reasoned, “I say ‘best’ because [this solution] makes more likely the representation of the Catholic position and the experience of the wisdom of the Church on the matter. An official status for GSA will necessarily draw support and interest away from the welcoming and counseling efforts of the Core Council. The proponents of official [GSA] status seek discussion against…harassment and unjust action that Catholic teaching asks us all to oppose…this is already accommodated, and perhaps can be even more accommodated, in the current structures…”
Similarly, Father Dailey expressed the hope that a continuous and dynamic approach will resolve the problem of inclusion for the LGBTQ community at Notre Dame. “I think that Father Jenkins’ invitation to a ‘fresh look’ at [institutional change] is never objectionable…Father Jim King, CSC, will be giving such a ‘fresh look’ to the ways in which Campus Ministry meets the needs of students as well,” concluded Father Dailey.
Perhaps the approach taken by Notre Dame to this issue can best be understood by the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes: “The Church has always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and interpreting them in the light of the Gospel.”
Bob Burkett enjoys all things that are good, namely running in the rain and snacking on double-decker peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. For more suggestions on living the good life, contact him at rburkett@nd.edu.
