According to its mission statement, Loyola Marymount University is “institutionally committed to Roman Catholicism.” However, some university policies are inconsistent with traditional Catholic teachings.
The LMU Student Health Center does not provide any form of contraception to students. University policy prohibits students from gaining access to birth control, condoms and Plan B via the university. However, the university does offer abortion advocacy internships.
LMU also offers LGBT Student Services. When LGBTSS at LMU was founded, one Catholic news site, Life Site News, contacted LMU’s administration to clarify the goals for LGBTSS. In response, LMU said that it would be focusing on “counseling a life of celibacy to the LGBT community” because “the Catholic Church recognizes only marriage between a man and a woman.” According to the LMU LGBTSS website, “The LGBT Student Services Office at LMU focuses on promoting equality, visibility and inclusion of LGBT students within the LMU community.” This is a vastly different statement than LMU’s statements made to Life Site News.
While some Catholic universities do not allow LGBT speakers on campus, LMU does. In 2016, LMU provided space to a group of “LGBTQ/SSA Mormons, their families, friends and church leaders” for a conference. The event included several LGBT rights advocates. When Catholic news site The Newman Society reached out to LMU with inquiries, LMU’s Conference Services webpage was edited to remove any reference to the University’s Catholic mission.
Previously, a statement on the page read, “Each new group who visits our campus must be approved by the university administration to ensure it supports the mission of the university.” But now, there is no mention of LMU’s mission statement on the page, and the sentence that mentioned support for LMU’s mission was changed to, “All events are subject to university approval.” It seems that LMU does not want to take a stance on whether or not LGBTSS aligns with the mission of the university. This contributes to the muddying of LMU’s identity.
LMU’s own professors have expressed concerns about LMU’s Catholic identity. Philosophy professor Dr. Christopher Kaczor wrote in an article for Catholic World Report that LMU is on track to lose its Catholic identity within a generation due to the declining number of Catholic professors. Concern about LMU’s growingly ambiguous Catholic identity is present both internally and externally.
Plain and simple, LMU needs to be honest. Open discussion is the only way that LMU can set an example for its students in how to truly to advance a mission in “the service of faith and promotion of justice” as our mission statement calls us to. While it might be easier for LMU to endorse some messages and stay silent regarding others, we need to hold our university to a standard of consistency and know what our university really stands for. LMU’s highest values should be reflected in all university policies.
Full story at www.laloyolan.com.
LMU is under the direction of the Sisters of St. Zjoseph of Carondelet, Los Angeles Province. Website is http://www.csjla.org. Carondelet House, where is the center of the order’s Los Angeles operations is adjacent to LMU. LMU is also closely associsted with pro-abortion politicians, Loretta Sanchez and her sister, Linda Sanchez. I believe one or both Sanchez siblings were honored at an LMU commencement in the early 2000s.
“Mixed messages”?
I think LMU’s message is very clear.
LMU isn’t Catholic. The Jesuits there aren’t Catholic. None of that is news to anyone in the archdiocese. Someone who works in the school’s marketing department told me that the administration is well aware of its lack of Catholic identity and doesn’t care. “Catholic doesn’t sell. Jesuit sells.” is what a top admin said to my friend in a discussion about marketing LMU to high school seniors.
Professor Kaczor is absolutely correct. Once the ratio of truly committed Catholic professors (and administrators) declines below approximately 75% the underlying internatl ‘political’ culture of a ‘Catholic’ college or university that is required to sustain the principles that accord with ‘orthodoxy’ and ‘orthodoxy’ quickly erodes.
Perhaps the most charitable evaluation of LMU’s “mission in practice” is, to borrow a line, “there’s no there there.”
Please provide the specific location on the CSJ website that says the CSJs direct LMU. I can not find any such information.
It is on the LMU website— click About—Sponsoring Religious Ordets—-Sisters of St. Joseph. All are part of the Congregation of St. Joseph (CSJ).
Also see the website— http://www.csjla. The Los Angeles Province headquartets is on Chalon Road, right next to LMU.
Here you go, mike m: https://mission.lmu.edu/sponsoringreligiousorders/
The fact is that nobody goes to LMU for a Catholic education. The relatively few “Catholics” who go to the school are in the graduate pastoral studies program to obtain certifications for lay catechetical and parish ministry in the archdiocese. Mostly because LMU is the only option for that in the diocese. Those programs are largely pro-forma jokes, besides. If it weren’t for the diocesan certification requirements and the large number of parishes using lay ministers, LMU would hardly have any Catholics at the school at all.
Thanks for the info. I should have also looked on the Loyola website before commenting. My bad.
You should check out how much the principals and teachers who have gone to LMU don’t know about the Faith and are pro-abortion, pro-women priests, etc.
I’d bet people would be surprised at how many graduates of LMU run and teach in our Catholic schools.
Graduates of LMU virtually control the parishes, schools and ministries in Southern California.