Gonzaga University Alumni Object To Desmond Tutu Commencement Address

Chairman of the Elders archbishop Desmond Tutu, gestures during a joint press conference with other members of the Elders in New Delhi on February 9, 2012. Members of the Elders spent four days in India tackling issues related to child marriages in India, the visit was part of the Elders' work to promote equality for girls and women worlwide. AFP PHOTO/SAJJAD HUSSAIN

By Tracy Simmons
Religion News Service

SPOKANE, Wash. (RNS) Archbishop Desmond Tutu is slated to deliver the commencement address next month to Gonzaga University's graduating class. A group of alumni, however, are saying he isn't welcome and are urging administrators to withdraw the invitation.

Patrick Kirby, a 1993 Gonzaga graduate, said Tutu is pro-abortion rights, has made offensive statements toward Jews and supports contraception and the ordination of gay clergy and shouldn't be honored by a Catholic institution.

The university plans to give Tutu an honorary Doctor of Laws degree at commencement. Kirby, a local attorney, said Tutu's visit violates the U.S. bishop's 2004 policy, "Catholics in Political Life." The policy states that Catholic institutions should not honor those "who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles."

Kirby and his wife, Maureen, who is a Gonzaga alumna, launched an online petition lobbying for the university to choose a different commencement speaker. Nearly 700 people worldwide have signed the petition, which was delivered to Gonzaga President Thayne McCulloh on Friday (April 13).

"I don't have any realistic expectations that they'll do that (cancel Tutu's invitation). The goal for me is to bring attention to it and hopefully remind administrators at Gonzaga about their Catholic identity and how far they've wandered away from it," Kirby said.

He said Catholic institutions all across the U.S. are choosing popularity over morality by honoring and hiring people who do not represent Catholic values, which he said sends an unclear message to students.

Gonzaga administrators are not commenting on the petition. In a February press release, however, McCulloh said Tutu was "a living exemplar of Gonzaga's historic commitment to the ideals of equality and a free society as a Catholic, Jesuit and humanistic University."

(Tracy Simmons is editor of SpokaneFAVS.com)

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Comments

[andrewsullar]

04:20 PM on 04/24/2012

Bishop Tutu has said anti-semetic things (and no, I am not referring to criticizing Isreal). I am fine with him speaking at Gonzaga if people who make racist comments are also given the same courtesy. Tutu, much like the black lobby in America, spends a lot of time yapping about the Isrealis and how they use the Holocaust for leverage to silence criticism. Then he turns around does the same thing. Malcolm X, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Jerimiah Wright, Cynthia McKinney, Tavis Smiley, Alice Walker, and Louis Farrakkhan are some black "leaders" I can think of off the top of my head that do this. Anyone else notice the obsession many blacks have with holding Isreal responsible and denouncing the use of the Holocaust to guilt people while at the same time constantly referring to slavery, lynchings, and racism to intimidate anyone from speaking out against injustices people of their ethnicity committ?

[andrewsullar]

04:19 PM on 04/24/2012

.

[redliontat]

07:52 PM on 04/22/2012

Fundamental moral principles for myself as a Catholic can include a belief God loves all his children and would appreciate a female clergy and using birth control in a rational way. Abortion is a tragedy which birth control might prevent, and in a secular country abortion should be legal to stop 'back alley' abortions a great horror. Fundamentalist and conservatives do not have a lock on God's word and law. Jesus was a liberal or Christians would be Orthodox Jews.

[sinbad usn]

04:54 PM on 04/20/2012

Just sayin'...what can you expect from a college whose name sounds like the name of a town on Gilligan's Island, or a sneeze? Don't stifle the Constitution (free speech) in the name of religion, please.
A lot of people speak against the LDS Church. So what? They are entitled to have and speak their opinion. No big deal. To close the door to someone not having exactly the same thoughts on a subject as you, is, well....narrow minded, to say the least.

[jonas ndluli]

05:55 PM on 04/20/2012

Like any 'club' it has its rules & traditions. They are not 'gagging' Tutu from speaking, only objecting to him speaking within the confines of their club.

[sinbad usn]

07:15 PM on 04/20/2012

the rules and traditions being... free speach.
allowing someone to have an opinion different than yours.
See all of the above

[ttsgw]

01:26 AM on 04/20/2012

Religions and human rights are totally incompatible.

[sinbad usn]

05:02 PM on 04/20/2012

TTSGW-
not according to the LDS Church 11th Article of Faith- " We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow ALL men the same privilege, let them worship how,where, or what they may." Sounds like they are encouraging a basic human right - freedom of thought and practice of religion.

[ttsgw]

10:49 AM on 04/21/2012

As long as it is "their" almighty god you worship.

[jonas ndluli]

05:57 PM on 04/20/2012

You say "Religions and human rights are totally incompatible."

So in our secular world it's peace, harmony, rights for all, everyone's has food, education etc. Riiiight!

[ttsgw]

10:46 AM on 04/21/2012

Religions do exist also in a secular world.

[Tsvi1]

03:21 PM on 04/19/2012

"Patrick Kirby, a 1993 Gonzaga graduate, said Tutu is pro-abortion rights, has made offensive statements toward Jews"

Because Catholics have always been nice to us Jews, right?
Leave us out of it.

[andrewsullar]

04:23 PM on 04/24/2012

Tutu has made offensive statements towards Jews and just because Catholics have a long history of anti-semetism doesn't mean he gets a free pass. I have no problem with Tutu being allowed to speak if they afford the same courtesy to people who have made comments that offend blacks, Hispanics, Muslims, etc. I don't think it would happen.

[Rick Davis]

10:19 AM on 04/18/2012

Desmond Tutu is one of my modern day heros. His life, his stand on many world issues and his proclamations of many spiritual things resound deeply with me. Those protesting would do well to do some homework and look at the large picture of who this person is, not a snap shot of a few things. Desmond Tutu is an amazing person; 0ne we should all strive to be more like.

[jonas ndluli]

06:00 PM on 04/20/2012

Freedom of speech means just that. Sometimes people (Patrick Kirby) make statements we may not agree with. But free speech is exactly that. It's a slippery slope when we only allow dialogue that falls within our frame of acceptance....

[EdwardJames]

07:46 PM on 04/22/2012

This is what the word sees in this "honor" at a Jesuit college: "Gonzaga to Honor Pro-Abortion Rights Archbishop Desmond Tutu", and it is right to do so, as promoting abortion trumps all his other accomplishments.

[AsheMan]

09:28 PM on 04/17/2012

I am a GU graduate and the people objecting this commencement DO NOT represent me or Gonzaga University.

[Michele Bennington]

07:19 PM on 04/22/2012

F/F...from Spokane...

[EdwardJames]

09:41 AM on 04/17/2012

Pro-abortion! - the Jebbies betray their mission yet again.

[Michele Bennington]

07:21 PM on 04/22/2012

Since you used the word Jebbies...I can only conclude you are ignorant of the Jesuit's Mission or Ministries.

[Jim Guinnessey]

08:56 AM on 04/17/2012

Gonzaga alumni who object to Archbishop Tutu giving an address at the university and receiving an honorary degree: get over it! Your so-called Catholic values are a host of bitter herbs masquerading as sugar.

[Sylvie7]

06:07 AM on 04/17/2012

Some comments here are revolting. Desmond Tutu has taken a stand against Israel based on Arab propaganda. He knows very well that South African apartheid does not exist in Israel. Tutu has his own reasons for taking an anti Jewish, anti Israeli stand. In the past he has sought financial support from the Jewish community based on the usual assumption that every Jew is rich. Apparently, his demands were not met according to his expectations. If Israel were an apartheid state it would not now be hosting refugees from Muslim persecution in Africa.

[Michele Bennington]

07:26 PM on 04/22/2012

Palestinians living in refugee camps, forced to carry permits to work in Israeli held territories may disagree with you about whether or not there is old SA type apartheid being practiced.

You don't have to posess a certain skin tone to be "held apart" from the dominant society.

[KSand7]

09:13 PM on 04/16/2012

As a graduating senior this year, I am honored to have Tutu as my commencement speaker, and totally embarrassed that this small group of close-minded alumni are getting this much attention. You already had your turn, this is OUR graduation!

They are not representative of the Gonzaga community.

[Lala08]

06:04 PM on 04/16/2012

As an alumnus of Gonzaga I am incredibly embarrassed by Kirby and the others who have signed this petition. I would have been honored to have Archbishop Tutu speak at my graduation. This small group of alumni does not represent Gonzaga as a whole and I hope others will see that.

[Michele Bennington]

07:27 PM on 04/22/2012

Let me be your first Fan/Faved.

[qthedancer]

06:02 PM on 04/16/2012

Good Catholics should follow the Pope. The Pope has not condemned Archbishop Tutu for his views. If Tutu is good enough for the Pope, he ought to be good enough for those Gonzaga alumni.

[Lifer2006]

01:48 AM on 04/17/2012

Good grief. Why was this pope looking the other way why children we're being abused?. Do you really have faith in his mental state?

[qthedancer]

05:44 AM on 04/17/2012

Sorry, I forgot the sarcasm button. ;-)

[jonas ndluli]

06:04 PM on 04/20/2012

"Good grief. Why was this pope looking the other way ....."

Your comment is a bit defamatory as you well know. The Pope may have mismanaged the whole issue of crimes against the children, but that in no way implies he sanctioned what happened.

[reepudsingh]

05:03 PM on 04/16/2012

The Israelis and their loyalists do not like Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu because they speak out against apartheid in Palestine and say that Israeli apartheid is worst than the apartheid in South Africa

[jonas ndluli]

06:09 PM on 04/20/2012

"The Israelis and their loyalists ..."
Please note my dear that, apartheid is a S African term hijacked by the Palestinian PR-Team. Apartheid was a system of racial segregation. The issue in Israel is geographically, socially and historically different, to what it was in S.Africa.

[Michele Bennington]

07:58 PM on 04/22/2012

But the outcome is the same...generations of a people forced to live in poverty ridden refugee camps. I think that qualifies it as a form of Apartheid.

Not a very Hebrew form of justice.