Steubenville, Ohio, Apr 25, 2018 / 02:27 pm (CNA).- Franciscan University in Steubenville has said it is committed to reporting and investigating all allegations of abuse in alignment with Title IX requirements and the school’s Catholic identity, following claims that it has mishandled abuse cases in the past.
“While many schools provide Title IX training that meets requirements, here, we hold our students to a higher standard,” David Schmiesing, vice president of Student Life, told CNA in email comments.
“We frame our Title IX training within the context of a Catholic understanding of human sexuality and the dignity of the human person. For example, during Orientation Weekend for all new students and parents, we provide a talk on the truth and beauty of human sexuality that sets the stage for our online training on the specifics of our sexual misconduct policy,” Schmiesing said.
Schools that receive federal funding are obliged to comply with Title IX, a federal law that requires schools to have appropriate reporting procedures in place for allegations of sexual harassment and abuse.
Franciscan University came under fire in an April 16 article in the National Catholic Reporter, which included claims from some alumni of the University, who alleged that some instances of past sexual harassment or assault were mishandled by the school.
The article was produced through a grant from The Media Consortium, which has partnered with Bitch Media to produce the “DIShonor Roll,” a series of stories on the handling of sexual assault at college campuses following the #MeToo campaign.
The Media Consortium is a 501c3 non-profit “dedicated to values-driven journalism. Founded in 2006, the Media Consortium’s mission is to support and grow the impact of the independent and community news sector.”
Its leadership includes Julie Falk, Executive Director of Bitch Media, and Caitlin Hendel, CEO of the National Catholic Reporter. The Media Consortium has reportedly been the recipient of several grants from the Open Society Foundation, funded by progressive billionaire George Soros.
According to the description on Media Consortium’s website, the DIShonor Roll project, launched in February, seeks “to solve the problem of sexual violence on campus” with “consistent, powerful storytelling that puts a human face on campus sexual violence.”
“To that end, the Media Consortium, partnering with Bitch Media, is launching #DishonorRoll. Twice a month, a wide consortium of news outlets, working with project editors at Bitch Media, will publish stories on different aspects of campus sexual assault.”
Grants of $500 are available through Media Consortium to any media outlets or journalists who want to participate in the project. Other articles in the project include “Is Campus Rape Activism Accessible?”, “I Kissed Consent Goodbye: Purity Culture and Sexual Violence on Evangelical Christian Campuses” and “Everything Scold is New Again”, published on Bitch Media, and “Christendom College alumni call for Title IX response to sexual assaults” published by the National Catholic Reporter.
According to its 2016 tax filings, the mission of Bitch Media is “to provide and encourage an engaged, thoughtful feminist response to mainstream and popular culture.”
Author Jenn Morson, writing for the National Catholic Reporter, found several alleged stories of mishandled sexual assault or harassment incidents at Franciscan on an alumni Facebook page.
According to the Reporter, Annie, a Franciscan alumna whose name had been changed, shared in the Facebook group that when she was raped in the spring of 2007, she was encouraged by a priest at Franciscan to seek counseling, but not encouraged to contact the authorities.
Another student, Jennifer, claimed that in 2008, Franciscan’s then-Director of Student Life, Catherine Heck violated her privacy by forcing her to call her parents after an incident of sexual assault, and by sharing the story with other RAs at the time.
Another student, Margaret, claimed a mishandling of a 2005 sexual assault incident.
“I had to tell my story several times to different faculty members and a review board made up entirely of men,” Margaret said. “They asked me why I was drinking in the first place, what my dress looked like, and if I had any other encounters with [the male student] before this happened.”
According to Margaret, the review board took no action against the male student after they believed there was no proof that the incident was not consensual.
Franciscan officials told CNA that in order to protect the privacy of those involved, it could not speak about specific cases in the past or present involving sexual abuse.
“We can say that if a case involves criminal actions, we strictly follow our policy and encourage students to report alleged criminal sexual misconduct to law enforcement agencies,” Brenan Pergi, vice president of Human Resources and deputy Title IX/EEO coordinator, told CNA.
Since 2011, Franciscan has also reviewed and improved existing policies and procedures in reporting sexual misconduct, John Pizzuti, Franciscan’s Title IX/EEO coordinator and director of Campus Safety and Compliance, told Franciscan Magazine. The school has also established Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) with the Steubenville Police Department and sexual victims advocate group Alive Inc., outlining the terms and details of handling cases of sexual misconduct.
“In total, since 2011, almost two dozen new programs, designed to ensure the safety of all students, have gone into effect at Franciscan. Key staff members have received comprehensive training in helping victims of sexual misconduct. And the entire process of reviewing complaints – from reporting to adjudicating and appealing decisions—has been strengthened and clarified,” Emily Stimpson Chapman wrote in Franciscan Magazine.
Some sources in the Reporter article also claimed that the emphasis in Title IX training at Franciscan was Church teaching on sexuality and the prevention of being in situations that could lead to sexual assault, rather than on reporting incidents.
“Everything at (Franciscan University) is talked about with a religious lens. Even the way they discuss sexual assault and harassment focuses on what the church teaches on premarital sex, modesty and avoiding situations that lead to sexual assault, as opposed to taking the report for what it is,” said Marisa Bortz, who worked as a sexual assault advocate and prevention educator for ALIVE, Inc., in the same county as Franciscan.
Catherine Heck, assistant vice president of Student Life and deputy Title IX/EEO coordinator, noted that “FUS encourages both prevention and reporting. Like most colleges and universities we work hard to prevent the tragedy of sexual misconduct from occurring in the first place. Equally important is our immediate support and action if a complaint is made. If we receive a report of sexual misconduct, we investigate and resolve the complaint in a timely manner.”
“All University employees (with the exception of counselors and certain pastoral staff) are obligated to promptly report actual or suspected discrimination, harassment, or sexual misconduct to our Title IX coordinator or deputy,” Pergi added. “Franciscan University encourages students and staff members to immediately report any and all cases of sexual misconduct. When a report is made, the University seeks to provide ongoing support to the student or staff member making the report.”
Furthermore, Franciscan officials said that their policies reflect the Catholic culture and identity of the school, when it comes to such topics as the Title IX issue of “consent.”
“We carefully and thoroughly describe the concept of ‘consent’ for students and emphasize that non-consensual sexual activity is a violation of our policy and an attack on human dignity,” Heck said. “We also make it clear that all sexual contact outside of the covenant of marriage is inconsistent with Catholic teaching and the University’s expectations for our students – consent is certainly necessary, but it is not sufficient.”
The full list of policies and procedures can be found on the University’s website, and are “based on our respect for the dignity of the human person as expressed in Church teaching as well as being guided by federal, state, and local statutes,” Pergi noted.
“We seek to respect the rights of everyone involved, while creating a safe and positive learning environment for students, staff, and faculty members,” he said.
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This is a man whose office is to defend and uphold the perennial teachings of the Catholic faith? I am ashamed for my Church.
“I certainly would not write [that] now,”
Well, we’re certainly relieved about that. 🙄
Víctor Manuel Fernández and Jeffrey Epstein walk into a bar … Seriously, there is nothing funny about this story. How can this man remain in such an important role? Perhaps someone can find a compromising photo of him celebrating a Latin Mass.
Maybe Rupnik took his cues from this “literature”?
Possibly. Rupnik and Tucho both embrace a “porno-mysticism” like that of the Dominican brothers Thomas and Marie-Dominique Philippe and their disciples like Jean Vanier. So too McCarrick, Zanchetta, and countless other predators associated with this pontificate.
Amoralist Laetitia is based on this evil philosophy, that sin can sometimes be God’s will, supporting all manner of pastoral heresies – like tolerating concubinage or “blessing” couples in an irregular relationship, etc. The reality of this pontificate is coming into focus.
“Hypocrisy is not protected under the mantle of religion.”
Bernanos, The Impostor 💋
http://www.dailycatholic.org/cumexapo.htm
One is left to wonder how, why, such a ruling from the Holy See is not appealed to in the present situation. Thank you for citing it.
Another appointee of the Pontiff Francis revealed as being psycho-sexually obsessed, joining the line-up of McCarrick, Grassi, Zanchetta, Hollerich, etc, etc, etc.
These are what Jesus called the “false shepherds.” Thieves…stealing from Christ himself.
At this point it has become terribly sad. Of all the theologians in the world, this is the man Francis wanted at his side, authoring his documents. It will be interesting watching how they try to wiggle through this. But it probably necessarily lays bare and ties together some other actions and aspects of the current Church, Rupnik, after all, can be seen as only putting into action some of this, and, of course, sodomy must not be so bad after all in this light, only men seeking ecstasy. That this book comes to light before us now perhaps is an act not just permitted but willed by heaven. It exposes the roots of thought that must have become widespread over the past century, influencing among other things the widespread homosexuality in the clergy, and the minimizing of the importance of sexual sin in general. At root perhaps is confusing the analogy of spiritual ecstasy experienced by Teresa and others with the most fleshly of bodily experience. What is true by analogy is false and misleading by equivalence. One would think such smart people would know that.
They are not smart. They are cunning and clever and arrogant, but not intellectually gifted. They care nothing for the splendor of truth, which seizes and enlightens the intellects of those who recognize it.
We read: “He also defended that book [!], saying at the time that it was ‘a pastor’s catechesis for teens’ and “not a theology book.”
A very curious remark, even clericalist….Meaning, perhaps, that “at the time” he exempted himself from the requirement (protecting the Church) that he secure an imprimatur and imprimi potest? Or, perhaps, that things “pastoral” are beyond good and evil and are exempt from any higher permission? Or, both? No longer a problem since Fernandez, as Prefect of the DDC, now is in a position to unilaterally invent new clericalist categories and issue permission to himself, both!
As in mythical times—“full blown from the head of Zeus! Fiducia Supplicans! The new Christmas Story! No longer for “teens” only (say what?), but now anybody two-by-two as were welcomed in Noah’s Ark! Very biblical!
Confusion and scandal? What confusion and scandal? Not longer Vincent of Lenins and Cardinal John Henry Newman (“The Development of Christian Doctrine”), butt Alfred E. Newman: “What, me worry?”
A pastoral book for teens BUT NOT a theology book! To do something like that is a equal to grooming vulnerable kids and for many that goes with jail time for a long time! So are we looking at uncle ted 2? What next? Heal me with your mouth 3: prison diaries? These last twelve years I’m sick to death of the whole lot of these south American cowboys!!! Come back JPII and Benedict All is forgiven!
Has the debate over whether a council can remove a pope been settled?
What would stop a future pontificate from declaring this one annulled?
To Harry,
A Council is not superior to the papacy and cannot remove a pope. However, if a pope actually preaches heresy, then (we read) he automatically ceases to be pope. https://onepeterfive.com/cardinal-burke-a-pope-who-professes-formal-heresy-would-cease-to-be-pope/
Which explains why moral novelties are only insinuated,implied or enabled, and this by functionaries other than the pope himself. And, floated as pastoral exemptions from the universal moral law, rather than as direct contradictions (thusly, the moral law remains intact on paper and is even reaffirmed, while practice is quarantined to go off on its own).
We end up with parallel universes rather than formal heresy. This is the strategy…the non-penitent makes “decisions” within some allegedly validating context or another (now a finely-drawn “blessing”?), rather than moral “judgments.” And this is why Veritatis Splendor is treated with evasive silence rather than attacked.
St. John Paul II saw all of this coming when he wrote explicitly into the Magisterium, such as this:
“A separation, or even an opposition [!], is thus established in some cases between the teaching of the precept, which is valid and general, and the norm of the individual conscience, which would in fact make the final DECISION [no longer a ‘moral JUDGMENT’!] about what is good and what is evil. On this basis, an attempt is made to legitimize so-called ‘pastoral’ solutions [!] contrary to the teaching of the Magisterium, and to justify a ‘creative’ hermeneutic according to which the moral conscience is in no way obliged, in every case, by a particular negative precept [‘Thou shalt not….’]” (Veritatis Splendor, n. 56, caps added).
The citation above from N.D. is not to be ignored.
Life choices have consequences. Time for some thoughtless ecclesiastics to adopt the notion of personal responsibility and absent themselves.
Card Fernández’s book includes a lengthy description of [a 16 yearold girl] kissing and caressing his [Christ’s] body from head to toe as the Blessed Mother stands by and approvingly allows the encounter to take place. This is homoeroticism, virtually identical with the nouveau theology of Fr Rupnik, suggesting a similar role of himself, Rupnik, as Christ within a trinity of fornicators himself and two consecrated sisters he seduced.
San Egidio, a spiritual community calling itself the Rainbow Community has had Card Matteo Zuppi, head of the Italian Episcopal Conference, an LGBT advocate as a prominent member. The community draws youth worldwide engaging in charity for the poor nevertheless presenting a homosexual friendly spirituality. Apparently the intention is to intertwine legitimate spiritual effort with homosexuality. A theology that would find Rupnik’s behavior admissible and explain Pope Francis’ primary focus on the poor. Homosexualization of the Church, as the trajectory of appointments and causes seem is in contradistinction to Christ.
Fr. Peter,
You wrote:
“Card Fernández’s book includes a lengthy description of [a 16 yearold girl] kissing and caressing his [Christ’s] body from head to toe as the Blessed Mother stands by and approvingly allows the encounter to take place,”
Of all the qualified prelates on the planet to choose from to head up the CDF (now DDF), how do you suppose Bergoglio ends up picking someone who has published blasphemous pornography?
Just wondering if you had any thoughts on that.
Thanks
Unfortunately Harry because His Holiness is of like mind. Pope Francis possesses suggestive art, one a naked Christ carrying a naked Judas over his shoulder. A homoerotic caricature that reveals his predilections. Apparently a gift from Archbishop Paglia himself known for homoerotic frescoes who Francis appointed as President of the Pontifical Academy for Life and Grand Chancellor of the John Paul II Pontifical Theological Institute for Marriage and Family. Francis is by all indication attempting to homosexualize the Church.
Harry. Francis’ artifact of a naked Christ carrying a naked Judas over his shoulder as indicated is albeit homoerotic, although it suggests further regarding sin. Judas the betrayer is envisioned as forgiven, a lost sheep who was found. Intellectual homosexuality has at its basis a diminution of all sin in response to their own sinful behavior, that Our Lord is inclined to forgive them. Both figures naked to inculcate homosexual forgiveness in Christ’s saving act.
Thank you for your frank reply. I agree.
So how are we to know in 10 years Tucho won’t say of “Fiducia” “I certainly wouldn’t write that now.” There is a saying — litera scripta manet (the written word remains) — which might be appreciated by the current Curia if it were not on a warpath with Latin. And if we are not to judge THIS work by Tucho or THAT work by Tucho, the question becomes: other than sycophancy, what qualifies him to be DDF Prefect?
Yes, John. The way that Tucho and fellow travelers act and promote their modernistic/liberal ideas, I suspect that if he wrote the book today, he wouldn’t change very much, if anything. Instead, he would loudly, proudly, and repeatedly proclaim that what he has written does not mean what it appears to mean to all those who find fault with it, and that the book is in fact a work of profound spirituality. He would also employ a cadre of pretentious lickspittles to defend his work while accusing all critics of bad faith and/or a lack of understanding needed to appreciate the depth of his statements that provide “deeper and wider orthodoxy” than ever before.
Tucho and his apologists don’t just put lipstick on a pig. They add more make-up to it, dress it up with human clothing, and proclaim it to be the next stage in human evolution.
“That’s why I don’t think it’s a good thing to spread it now,” Fernández said. “In fact, I have not authorized it and it is contrary to my will.”
So the issue isn’t that he wrote a raunchy book, it’s that someone found it after he tried to hide it. Got it.
Can anyone imagine any of his predecessors acting this way?
That he would not write it now is because he was found out!!!!!! Priests are lacizied for lesser things, he has to go!!! The lib theological rubbish has shown it’s bad fruit and it’s hateful to the soul!
Jeff Mirus, Catholic Culture, Jan. 9
‘ I certianly would not write that now ‘ – thus, bringing joy to heaven of a repentant heart, helping others too to recognize the rightful boundaries between carnality and spiritual realms, esp. if there has been some confusion in same, in efforts to be over enthuastic, even about some of TOB teachings to an extent…
The Cardnl too might have fallen into similar error at the time, thus in compassion wanted to bring ‘ comfort’ to those he might have thought were feeling deprived and now recognising his error to also have come up with better choices ; not familiar with his writings , thus unsure as to what same might be , yet hope that it would be in line with The Passion meditations,such as of offering up of the Holy Face merits on behalf of all, including generations , to help free persons from carnal spirits , to be led to the joy of the holy marriage and the Immaculate conception of parents of bl.Mother …
Those who brought attention to the book now, even if had intended something similar to the act of Canan ? stealing the mystical animal skin garment , mocking the nakedness of Noah … may same bring attention to some similar areas even in The Church as a whole – such as the scene of creation of Adam at the Vatican ; hope those words – ‘ I would not have done that now ‘, be applicable to same too , since Adam was clothed in Light , was not ‘naked ‘ or any images of such nakedness of The Lord anywhere, including in Nativity scene – as though His parents were uncaring enough to leave Him without even a blanket ; good light technology could help in such situations ..
The Holy Face merits to be offered up for many many ..
May this be an occasion for same including for those persons who need same, to live in holy relationships !
Does anyone still doubt we have a very serious homosexual problem among highly ranked people of Francis’s pontificate?
Time to have this man’s head examined
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” (John 10:10)
Fernandez and Bergoglio are working for the thief.
By Canon Law, if The Ministerial Office Of The Papacy is vacant, you must Call a Council to elect a Pope.
A Cardinal who professes formal heresy ceases to be a Cardinal, having ipso facto separated himself from The One Body Of Christ.
http://www.dailycatholic.org/cumexapo.htm
“Canon 188 §4 states that among the actions which automatically (ipso facto) cause any cleric to lose his office, even without any declaration on the part of a superior, is that of “defect[ing] publicly from the Catholic faith”.
McCarrick, Rupnik, Zanchetta, Fernandez – Why do characters like this keep cropping up at the Vatican, and protected by the Pope? What is going on in the Vatican? Have we no bishops or cardinals who will ask this question?
Cardinal Sarah Finally Speaks Out – Mark Lambert, Catholic Herald, Jan. 9.
I read someone say that Fernandez “shares a certain opennes to different ways of seeing things” and that is a total and most direct recipe for a bigger disaster in the Church than we already have. We don’t see in “new ways”, we seek to see through Jesus-God’s eyes of Truth ONLY, which is what True Saints did for 2,000 years and do now. The True Catholicism of the True Jesus is never sentimental or emotional as that kills true love and opens wide doors to “mystical” evil. It is precisely that “certain openness to seeing things in different ways” that the German Bishops have and are pushing ever harder for and that is brazenly and totally Anti-Catholic.
Francis will continue his “openness” to below-the-belt-sins approach. You only use over-delicate, over-mothering approaches of “openness” in order to “correct” only when you want that something you “correct” to grow and totally take over. I believe that Francis and Fernandez orchestrated the finding and release of this latest horrible book for its shock-and-discouragement-just-surrender-to-it value. We must be “closed” inside Jesus Sacred Heart of Truth and never “open” to evil. Always remember, Heaven does have walls, it is not “open” (Apocalypse/Revelation 21:12).
Alfred Hitchcock’s 1953 film “I, Confess” was banned in Ireland – but not the United States – because it had a priest who presumably had committed mortal sins against the Sixth Commandment with a woman BEFORE becoming a priest.
Judging by at least one of his very famous films, to my knowledge Alfred Hitchcock was not a good person.
I haven’t been impressed with the rigor of the rating by the Legion of Decency. It – treacherously? – appears to have let through stealth immorality. Any film which accepted divorce should have gotten a C and not a B. For that matter, the dress allowed was immodest.
It’s been many years since I watched “I, Confess,” but I’m fairly certain that Logan never had any relations with Ruth. For what it’s worth.
I don’t remember that being a part of the plot either.
What a great film that was. It’s my very favorite Hitchcock movie.
Did not Judas betray Jesus…with a kiss…
one duly but sorrowfully noted by Jesus Christ.
I can barely read headlines about these scandalous writings, let alone their context, regardless of their aging.
Hopefully, everyone can now refocus to St. Pope John Paul II’s wonderful writings on the theology of the body.