Proposal/Case Statement (5 Pages)

We chose Santa Clara University as our LRP site because of its distinct outlook on homosexuality given its Catholic background. Santa Clara University resides in the Bay Area, renowned for its tolerance and acceptance, and its ministry has emulated such qualities. This has led to a greater acceptance of homosexuals into the Catholic community on campus.

Santa Clara University was founded by a religious group called "The Society of Jesus", a Roman Catholic religious order that is more commonly referred to as the Jesuits. Mission Santa Clara de Asis was built in 1777, and 1851, the adobe mission was converted into the state's first college by two Jesuit missionaries. Religious concerns still remain a large part of the University's continuing religious tradition, but Santa Clara University also continues to offer an education that is inspired by the Jesuit ideal of humanity, which is to cultivate individuals that are engaged in a wide variety of occupations to serve humanity. Along with its strong emphasis on serving humanity, the Jesuit education, since it stands in Catholic tradition, takes religious and personal faith seriously. This sense of purpose goes beyond the role of religious studies in the curriculum and the religious activities that are supported by Campus Ministry. "Authentic Christian faith supports the pluralism of the contemporary University" (http://www.scu.edu/Jesuits). Here at Santa Clara University, people from diverse backgrounds are encouraged to work together. Santa Clara University is also dedicated to helping the wider community, and is explicit in its intention to evoke from students "a commitment to fashioning a more humane and just world" (http://www.scu.edu/Jesuits). Again, we feel that Santa Clara's unique ability to stay grounded in its Catholic teachings, as illustrated above, but also to encourage and accept people's different views and backgrounds makes it worthy of being considered as an LRP website

When deciding on whom to select for our interviews, we had a large number of Catholic churches and leaders we considered. Upon contacting the leaders of the neighboring churches, we did not receive any responses for our request for an interview. This made us recognize that homosexuality within the Catholic community is an uncomfortable topic, and the Catholic community does not want to talk about it, and that it would be difficult to obtain interviews from any officials from churches in the area. Our next plan of action was to contact individuals who were practicing Catholics from the Santa Clara campus. The individuals we were able to contact for interviews from the Santa Clara campus have been diverse, ranging from a resident layman to a professor who specializes in the Church, particularly the Second Vatican Council.

Our interviewing process had an interesting start when we interviewed a resident minister from the university. He chose to be anonymous as he had limited knowledge of, and familiarity with, Catholic theology. He merely spoke based upon his opinions and personal views. The main point that this resident minister made during our interview was that he flet that the Santa Clara Church was very open . He talked about how the mass “has an enlightening touch on everyday issues” and one doesn’t face judgment that one may feel in a different setting. He also shared that he grew up in a Catholic setting and there was nothing, in his experience, definitively against homosexuality but feels that the Santa Clara University church is much more open with its views. His opinion was actually corroborated by an article we found from the Catholic News agency website. This article specifically talked about Santa Clara University hosting a two day long conference in 2005 on how to promote opportunities for gays and lesbians at Catholic colleges.

Our interview with Father Cartwright gave us a better understanding of Catholic theology. He laid out the Catholic Church’s views on sexual relations, and emphasized the fact that the church believes that sex should only occur between a man and a woman if they are married, and that all sexual relations should be open to the possibility of reproduction. Father Cartwright stated that this view is particularly hurtful to homosexuals because “there is no sexual life afforded to them in the teachings of the church or in Christian doctrine,” especially considering that the other parts of the catholic doctrine on sexuality are not always followed. For example, according to the church’s doctrine on sexuality, the use of contraception is not permissible because it blocks the possibility of conception. Father Cartwright felt that this is where the Catholic church became inadequate in terms of how it looked at human behavior and homosexual relationships. The church solely concentrates on the sexual act and it, again, does not afford homosexual relationships to be a possible avenue of existence for homosexual individuals.

Professor Vance-Trembath’s deep understanding of Catholic theology shed light on different aspects of the theology that we hadn't thought of at the beginning of our project. From what we learned in our interview, Catholic theology tends to over emphasize the bodies of its lay members, and over emphasize the minds of its clergy. For homosexuals, this mindset is challenging because when conflicts arise on the issue of homosexuality within the Catholic Church, they most often focus on homosexual sex. The Catholic church overemphasizes the body of its lay homosexual individuals by focusing on the sexual act, but does not give enough attention to the minds of its lay homosexual individuals, their capacity to love one another as any other heterosexual couples might.

Director Gregory Schultz and Matt Smith both had similar views regarding how homosexuals are not treated as fairly as they should be. One instance during the interview was when they mentioned Pope Benedict XVI’s words, as a Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). Pope Benedict XVI then mentioned that homosexuality was seen as a “disorder” in letter from the CDF to all Bishops entitled: On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons. Our two interviewees strongly expressed their disagreement with the Pope’s words and mentioned that it’s only fair to embrace every kind of human being including homosexuals within the Catholic community.

Santa Clara University is unique in regards to its philosophy on religion and education. Santa Clara University's Catholic and Jesuit roots strongly influence its views on teaching, and it's teaching stresses to its students that we should go forward to serve humanity, but also learn about and embrace a diverse amount of knowledge and people. Santa Clara Universities location in the heart of the Bay Area, a region known for its openness to different ideas and practices, has, in our opinion, in turn influenced the campus's views on homosexuality. After conduction our interviews, we saw that there are a variety of opinions on how the Catholic church deals with homosexuality. For example, in our interview with Matt Smith, when we asked him how the Catholic church dealt with issues of homosexuality, he laughed and exclaimed, "They don't!". But the main point is that the variety of views on different aspects of how the Catholic church deals with homosexuality that were expressed by the individuals that we interviewed shows that Catholic views on homosexuality are mature and diverse, which would make Santa Clara University a great LRP addition. Santa Clara Universities' dedication to wanting to help its homosexual students feel safe and welcomed can be seen with things like its Safe-Space program, which provide students with a safe space and an understanding faculty member to talk to about issues of homosexuality, or the SPECTRUM program, which provide students with drop in therapy where they can share questions of sexuality. These programs are, we feel, interesting because it shows a balance between the campus keeping up its Catholic and Jesuit religion and ideal but still providing avenues of expression for homosexual students, even though homosexuals have been discriminated against in the wider Catholic community. We think that the best way to approach collecting data on Santa Clara University in regards to our Case Statement and making it an addition to the LRP would be to talk to as many clergy men and lay men and women on campus as possible, as well as professors or other individuals on campus who are practicing Catholics or who have extensive knowledge on Catholicism and homosexuality.