I Know What St. Frances Xaviar Cabrini Would Say About This. . . .

"INFAMIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

She would go on to say "Basta!" (Enough!) & demand they remove her name from the college for doing what they did.

So what did they do to betray the saint they were named after, as well as the Catholic Church they claim to represent? This afternoon 5 February 2009) Cabrini College in Radnor, PA awarded Cokie Roberts the 2009 Ivy Young Willis Award.

That would sound fine except for certain facts that the Cardinal Newman Society pointed out in a recent news release: "Cokie Roberts, a Roman Catholic, is a political commentator for ABC News and a senior news analyst for National Public Radio. In her syndicated column with husband Steve Roberts, she has espoused abortion rights and ridiculed pro-lifers as “extremists.” The Robertses characterized the federal ban on partial-birth abortion as “off the track” and “cynical game-playing” by pro-life activists. In an April 2007 segment for ABC News, she said that she found the Supreme Court decision upholding this ban on partial-birth abortion “offensive as a woman.”

Roberts has also publicly attacked Pope Benedict XVI as “really lacking in the theological virtue of charity,” “an extremely controversial choice” and “the most conservative voice of Catholicism.” Again, in a syndicated column with her husband, she argued that the authority of the Catholic bishops has been significantly weakened, in part because of the teaching on homosexuality and contraception. “It’s as if they are asking to be ignored,” she wrote."

In light of the 2004 directive by the USCCB that said: “The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.” Cabrini College was clearly wrong in giving her the award.

As Patrick Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society put it: “There is no legitimate moral or academic purpose to publicly honoring an individual who advances her career by ridiculing the pro-life movement and slinging mud at the spiritual leader of her own Church.”

I would like to know what Cardinal Rigali said, if anything, to the college. If he did, I suspect the College either rejected it or ignored it.