Next Wednesday Catholics across the globe will have ashes imposed upon their foreheads as they begin the solemn season of Lent.
For the 40 days of Lent, in a very deliberate and profound way, Catholics and Christians will take up the cross of Christ. Unfortunately, this very symbol of the crucified Christ has become a subject of controversy and protests at the Jesuit-run, and Catholic, Boston College.
The recent placement of crucifixes in BC's classrooms over the winter break has caused some faculty members to object to the "negative effect on students." Some faculty members have even suggested that crucifixes in classrooms are offensive to non-Catholics and should be removed in a spirit of tolerance and diversity.
The placement of the crucifix in classrooms of a Catholic institution would seem to be a reasonable display of the institution’s foundation of faith. Any attempt to enhance the Catholicity of Boston College, an institution that for too long strived to subdue its Catholic identity, is a most welcome development. As part of a larger effort by the college’s president, Jesuit Father William P. Leahy, to emphasize the Catholic identity and character of the college, the crucifixes are a sign and symbol of that noble effort. Yet Father Leahy's challenge to deepen the Catholicity of his college are apparently viewed as foolish and scandalous by certain faculty members at BC.
It is evident that the good news of the crucified Savior is still regarded as folly by many faculty members of Boston College. One Boston College professor even suggested that the display of the crucifix in a classroom is "contrary to the letter and spirit of open intellectual discourse." According to some professors at Boston College, Catholicism itself seems to be a stumbling block to intellectual discourse and academic pursuits. The protests and comments of these faculty members are an insult to every Jesuit priest who ever taught at Boston College, every Catholic student who ever studied in a classroom at Boston College and every Catholic parent who entrusts Boston College to educate their child.
Apparently the late Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. was right when he stated that "anti-Catholicism was the last acceptable prejudice" for it has reared its ugly head in the faculty lounge of Boston College.
Catholics can sometimes too easily forget the folly of the cross and trivialize the perplexing paradox that God became human in Jesus Christ. It is indeed a stumbling block and a scandal that Jesus didn't subject himself only to death, but in crucifixion to one of the worst kinds of death imaginable. The Jesuit Fathers who administer and teach at BC are beginning to understand that the faculty and students of Boston College need to recover a sense of the scandal of the cross. Placing crucifixes in classrooms is one small step in recovering the essentials of the Catholic Faith at Boston College. As Catholics, we are called to proclaim the paradoxical good news of the cross to our neighbors, many of whom may find it foolish and offensive.
Our task is not to lessen the offense by watering down the message, but to find ways of communicating the message so that all people - even highly educated professors — can begin to comprehend its truth. Moreover, we are called to live that message of the Crucified Christ through a life of sacrificial love and service. We offer our support and congratulations to Father Leahy and Boston College for their acknowledgement of the Crucified Christ on their campus. We hope and pray that they continue to deepen and nourish Boston College's Catholic identity despite the bigoted protests from the ivory towers of academia!
