Notre Dame Censors Christopher Columbus but Allows Internet Porn
Fr. John Jenkins, president of the University of Notre Dame, has decided to cover up twelve 19th century murals located in the Main Building of campus that depict Christopher Columbus' heroic discovery of America.
While the Columbus murals are being censored, hundreds of Notre Dame students have asked the university to block Internet access to pornography on campus. The petition to filter out Wi-Fi filth was sponsored by Students for Child-Oriented Policy (SCOP) and received wide support from students, faculty and staff. However, their legitimate plea to promote moral values has been met with silence from Fr. Jenkins.
-- Click Here to Tell Notre Dame to Keep Columbus on Display
But rewriting history seems to be a politically correct priority. In a letter to campus, Fr. Jenkins belittles the Catholic discoverer, stating that "Columbus’s arrival was nothing short of a catastrophe."
Liberal voices at Notre Dame -- who cherish diversity and tolerance no doubt -- complained about the murals in The Observer. They claim the Columbus murals convey a "highly problematic vision of Western triumphalism" and "Catholic militarism," charging that Columbus was responsible for one of the "largest genocides in human history." And the mere memory of his discoveries disrupt "every attempt to make campus more inclusive, more diverse and more culturally sensitive."
So, what is the truth? Did Columbus really commit the atrocities he is accused of and is he the monster leftist academia paints him to be?
The answer is a resounding no. Columbus is not one that should be dishonored by the University of Notre Dame. He was a holy man, a great Catholic hero who everyone should revere and respect. On his multiple voyages, his overriding goal was to serve and advance the cause of Holy Mother Church and to bring more souls to Her outstretched arms of salvation.
In fact, Washington Irving records Columbus' first words on making landfall in the New World:
“O Lord, eternal and omnipotent God, Thou hast, by Thy holy word, created the heavens, the earth, and the sea; blessed and glorified be Thy name; praised be Thy majesty, who hast deigned that, by means of Thy unworthy servant, Thy sacred name should be acknowledged and made known in this new quarter of the world.”
Many contemporary authors describe Columbus as a great friend of the natives. He even executed some of his own men as a punishment for maltreating the Indians.
Columbus wrote about the natives: “I recognized that they were people who would be better freed [from error] and converted to our Holy Faith by love than by force.”
Unlike his detractors, Pope Leo XIII wrote a glowing encyclical in 1892, Quarto Abeunte Saeculo, to commemorate the quadricentennial of Columbus' first voyage and providential mission.
"And, above all, it is fitting that we should confess and celebrate in an especial manner the will and designs of the Eternal Wisdom, under whose guidance the discoverer of the New World placed himself with a devotion so touching."
"Columbus certainly had joined to the study of nature the study of religion, and had trained his mind on the teachings that well up from the most intimate depths of the Catholic faith. For this reason, when he learned from the lessons of astronomy and the record of the ancients, that there were great tracts of land lying towards the West, beyond the limits of the known world, lands hitherto explored by no man, he saw in spirit a mighty multitude, cloaked in miserable darkness, given over to evil rites, and the superstitious worship of vain gods. Miserable it is to live in a barbarous state and with savage manners: but more miserable to lack the knowledge of that which is highest, and to dwell in ignorance of the one true God."
The University of Notre Dame should therefore not dishonor and destroy the good reputation of this hero of the Catholic Church, a leader who loved, protected and most importantly converted the Indians. To whitewash this golden page of history is a direct attack against Christian Civilization and a misguided attempt to glorify and return to the darkness of pagan tribalism.