Catholic Social Teaching
Fri, Feb02, 2007 - Category: Foundation
"AMU does not behave like a Catholic employer. "
- former AMU Chairman of the Department of Economics (Dec. 2005)
- former AMU Chairman of the Department of Economics (Dec. 2005)
Wall Street Journal, "Domino's Iluminatio
Mea", by Naomi Schaefer Riley, 8/19/06
"The battles between Mr. Monaghan and the Ave Maria faculties have become vitriolic. Some have even tried to unionize. When I ask if he sees a contradiction in trying to block such a move, even though unionization is supported by the Catholic Church, he says, "I think that [the church] hierarchy doesn't know as much about those things as they do about their theology."
A number of professors have resigned; some have launched lawsuits; the contract of a prominent emeritus professor from Notre Dame was not renewed. Faculty reported the college's administration to the Department of Education for fraud involving financial aid in 2002. (The school denied any wrongdoing, but paid back about $300,000; the investigation hasn't been concluded.) And now one of those professors has been told that he must recant his testimony to department officials if he wants his contract renewed. (A university official acknowledged this was true, which may leave the school open to criminal conspiracy charges.)"
Pope Pius XI Slams Monaghan Prospectively as a Blasphemer
WhichAveMaria blog, August 2006 - go
former AMU Chairman of Dept. of Economics, Dec. 2005:
"AMU does not behave like a Catholic employer. The university is run as a secular business venture with an outdated business model that relies on cutting costs to meet goals. As Chair I have attended dozens of meetings and have been generally appalled at how little consideration the views of students, faculty or staff are given, Catholic social teaching principles are never seriously invoked and when I mentioned them, they were politely discarded. Given the problems with living wages it would be natural to unionize the faculty, as our neighbor FGCU did with good effect on improving retention and recruitment, yet every faculty member perceives correctly AMU as a union buster, the type of employer the social encyclicals condemn. Justice issues are systematically neglected in the employer-worker relationship. Instead, sacrifice is preached as if charity could justify violations of justice. If the university wants the faculty to sacrifice pay the faculty fairly, then let them donate the money back if they want to. Do not confuse justice and charity. I have decided no longer to teach Catholic social teaching in large part because of the example of AMU administration. It is no wonder Catholic social teaching has no widespread credibility, Catholics do not follow it."
"The battles between Mr. Monaghan and the Ave Maria faculties have become vitriolic. Some have even tried to unionize. When I ask if he sees a contradiction in trying to block such a move, even though unionization is supported by the Catholic Church, he says, "I think that [the church] hierarchy doesn't know as much about those things as they do about their theology."
A number of professors have resigned; some have launched lawsuits; the contract of a prominent emeritus professor from Notre Dame was not renewed. Faculty reported the college's administration to the Department of Education for fraud involving financial aid in 2002. (The school denied any wrongdoing, but paid back about $300,000; the investigation hasn't been concluded.) And now one of those professors has been told that he must recant his testimony to department officials if he wants his contract renewed. (A university official acknowledged this was true, which may leave the school open to criminal conspiracy charges.)"
Pope Pius XI Slams Monaghan Prospectively as a Blasphemer
WhichAveMaria blog, August 2006 - go
former AMU Chairman of Dept. of Economics, Dec. 2005:
"AMU does not behave like a Catholic employer. The university is run as a secular business venture with an outdated business model that relies on cutting costs to meet goals. As Chair I have attended dozens of meetings and have been generally appalled at how little consideration the views of students, faculty or staff are given, Catholic social teaching principles are never seriously invoked and when I mentioned them, they were politely discarded. Given the problems with living wages it would be natural to unionize the faculty, as our neighbor FGCU did with good effect on improving retention and recruitment, yet every faculty member perceives correctly AMU as a union buster, the type of employer the social encyclicals condemn. Justice issues are systematically neglected in the employer-worker relationship. Instead, sacrifice is preached as if charity could justify violations of justice. If the university wants the faculty to sacrifice pay the faculty fairly, then let them donate the money back if they want to. Do not confuse justice and charity. I have decided no longer to teach Catholic social teaching in large part because of the example of AMU administration. It is no wonder Catholic social teaching has no widespread credibility, Catholics do not follow it."