Tea at Trianon: The Catholic University of America at a Crossroads

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, October 23, 2021

The Catholic University of America at a Crossroads

From Crisis:

It appears to some faithful Catholics on campus that, on most matters, President Garvey sides with the campus progressives—against the conservatives. A scathing article published in LifeSiteNews by Theresa Nixon, a former staff member at Catholic University, suggests that President Garvey appears “more intent on pleasing the left than addressing the concerns of staff and faithful Catholics who have long supported CUA.” It is difficult to know whether or not that is true. But what cannot be denied is that Catholic University is clearly committed to embracing some of the most progressive movements in the secular culture.

Encouraging students to “publicly witness against institutional racism and to pray for the soul of George Floyd and the soul of this country,” President Garvey encouraged interested faculty and staff to “rededicate themselves to the defense of all life and to recommit ourselves to pray for an end to racism” by gathering in Lafayette Park and proceeding to the White House for prayer. (Read more.)