SUPREME COURT REFUSES TO HEAR APPEAL INVOLVING ANTI-CATHOLIC STATUE

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal this week involving a constitutional challenge to an anti-Catholic statue. The statue, located on the campus of Washburn University in Kansas, depicts a Catholic bishop with a grotesque facial expression wearing a miter that resembles a phallus.

The statue is called “Holier than Thou” and includes a plaque with a derisive statement about the sacrament of reconciliation. It first appeared on campus in September 2003. Washburn is a public university, supported by tax dollars.

Many prominent Catholics criticized the statue, including Archbishop James Keleher of Kansas City, the Catholic League, the Knights of Columbus and the Archdiocesan Conference of Catholic Women. The bishop wrote an open letter to the university president strongly urging the school to remove the offensive statue.

However, the university refused, defending the display as art that has the purpose of engaging the community intellectually and emotionally. “Incredibly, during the course of this litigation, university officials admitted that they would never permit an anti-Jewish, anti-black, or anti-gay/lesbian statue on campus,” said Robert Muise, the Thomas More Law Center attorney who handled this case.

The center filed the lawsuit on behalf of a Washburn professor and a student, both devout Catholics. The lawsuit alleged that the statue conveys the state-sponsored message of hostility toward the Catholic faith in violation of the Establishment Clause.

The case was dismissed by the federal district judge who ruled that Washburn had a secular purpose for displaying this sculpture because “[i]t functions to aesthetically enhance Washburn’s campus[,] broaden the educational experiences [and] increase the intellectual capacities of Washburn’s students.”

The judge concluded that the statue would not “cause a reasonable observer to believe that [Washburn] endorsed hostility towards the Catholic religion.”[More]

I wonder exactly how a statue of this nature would increase the student's intellectual capabilities??? I conducted intellectual assessments for many years as a psychologist and haven't a clue as to how having a statue which depicts a Catholic bishop with a grotesque facial expression wearing a miter that resembles a phallus would increase a student's intellectual ability. I know one thing -- it would certainly present a distorted image of what a Catholic Bishop does represent and would also create distorted perceptions in the beholder's mind about Catholicism.

It sickens me how Catholicism in our society is constantly mocked. If this were some statue mocking any other group, the ACLU would be there defending them and it would be taken down or immediately destroyed. God is taking note of this and is permitting this evil for a reason. Perhaps, He is calling us to pray and offer reparation for those who are instigating the evil and allowing it to occur either to promote their own agenda or simply because they are indifferent and amoral or immoral.

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