The following comes from a Dec. 22 posting on the website of Campus Reform.
The church needs to focus more on art and less on religion and converting people in an effort to become less “churchy,” according to Stanford University’s Dean for Religious Life, The Very Reverend Dr. Jane Shaw.
“I think people are always slightly surprised that I’m not very churchy as a person,” Shaw told the Palo Alto Weekly in an interview. “I don’t think church is to be more churchy. I think church is about, anyone should be welcome. I’m really interested in how you welcome many different kind of constituencies, certainly not convert them, not even necessarily to do religion all the time.”
Stanford announced that Shaw, 51, was to join the school’s Department of Religious Studies in July as a dean and professor of religious studies, moving to the school from Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. At Grace Cathedral, Shaw was not only the first woman to head the church, but the first openly lesbian dean.
Shaw, hailed as a “champion within the LGBT community” by the Palo Alto Weekly, was a founding member of the Chicago Consultation, a think tank made up of Anglican and Episcopal bishops, clergy, and lay people who support the full inclusion of LGBT people into the church and the worldwide Anglican Communion.
According to the university’s press release, Shaw is to “provide spiritual, religious and ethical leadership to the university community, serve as minister of Memorial Church and also teach undergraduates and graduate students as a professor of religious studies.”
“We are lucky to have found in Jane Shaw both a charismatic leader and an accomplished academic to lead our Office for Religious Life,” said Stanford Provost John Etchemendy in a statement. “Dean Shaw is equally committed to the educational mission of the university and the ecumenical mission of Memorial Church.”
In her interview with the Palo Alto Weekly, Shaw, who says she leads a “dual life as a scholar and a priest,” announced that she will be teaching a class on empathy in the upcoming semester in an attempt to “almost train ourselves to begin to walk in another’s shoes,” which she called the “great wonder of a liberal arts or humanities education.”
Shaw said that greatest current crisis is “climate change” and as a proponent of “practical religion,” everyone should work to raise awareness of the issue and bring change on a local, national, or global front.
“I think the great crisis of our day is climate change and the environment,” Shaw said in the video interview. “So I rather hope that more people would take that seriously and begin to think and reflect on what they are doing with their own lives and how they can bring some pressure to bear to change things.”
At Grace Cathedral, Shaw said she brought art and public education to the church and hopes to do the same at Memorial Church in Stanford.
Shaw was ordained as a priest in the Church of England, which is equivalent to the Episcopal Church in the United States. In the Episcopal Church, her title of “The Very Reverend” refers to her status as the dean of a seminary or divinity school.
In 2013, she joined the Human Rights Watch, an international advocacy group, as a board member.
Shaw previously taught history and theology for 16 years at the University of Oxford where she also received her undergraduate degree. She received her MDiv from Harvard as well as a Ph.D in history for the University of California, Berkeley. Colgate University and the Episcopal Divinity School have both awarded Shaw honorary doctorates.
To read the original story, click here.
Our tax $$$$$ are paying for ????? Has accountability totally disappeared? It surely looks that way.
May God have mercy on us, especially here in CA. Father, we know not what we do, nor whom we elect..
teebohnar, Stanford is a private university. Your tax $$$$$ are not paying her salary. If you want to send your kids there be ready to pony up $40-50K per year.
tee,
What will they say when God asks them why they did not know what they did, nor anything about the monsters they elect?
Their is culpable and inculpable ignorance. Their titles clearly describe what they are!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts!
May God have mercy on an amoral Amerika and His Church!
Viva Cristo Rey!
Kenneth M. Fisher
Words fail me! What a ‘compleat’ nincompoop. All I can say is, for all her advanced education she is still in the dark. Poor thing. No Church Lady she.
So that no one is confused, Jane Shaw and her Grace Cathedral in San Francisco is NOT CATHOLIC.
Why is this being promoted on CCD ?
It is not clear to me what it is, or even if it is Christian at all since there is ZERO reference to any Protestant version of the Bible on their web site.
I guess they just make things up according to today’s culture – another Church of Relativism.
And that’s the point. This ecclesial community, no I will not call it a church, stands for nothing. Let this be a lesson to us Catholics – we are The Church Militant and we must be the “soldiers of Christ” that our confirmation requires of us.
“With Charity toward all” we can be certain that this poor, hurt woman can use our prayers and example (if you’re a Catholic student at Stanford) of the love that we are called to have for one another. She may say she isn’t “churchy” but we Catholics live our Church openly, daily. I pray that she may have her eyes opened (but I won’t hold my breath).
This is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says about the environment:
CCC: ” 339 Each creature possesses its own particular goodness and perfection. For each one of the works of the “six days” it is said: “And God saw that it was good.”
“By the very nature of creation, material being is endowed with its own stability, truth and excellence, its own order and laws.”
Each of the various creatures, willed in its own being, reflects in its own way a ray of God’s infinite wisdom and goodness.
Man must therefore respect the particular goodness of every creature, to avoid any disordered use of things which would be in contempt of the Creator and would bring disastrous consequences for human beings and their environment. ”
For Shaw to state that “the greatest current crisis is climate change” is absolutely stupid.
What about the Evils of ABORTION, EUTHANASIA, HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGE (sodomy), EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH,
Sex trafficking, Drug trafficking, lack of religious freedom in some Countries ?
World-wide through today since 1980 there have been over 1 BILLION abortions – murder of the innocent for the convenience of others.
Here is the abortion clock for 2015 – https://www.numberofabortions.com/
In the USA, we are all want clean water, clean air, and must pick up our own trash and recycle.
Let SHAW go back to Europe and Asia, and South America and preach regarding their own pollution. All Countries are not equal in doing their duty for the environment and this disparity MUST be acknowledged.
Well I think Archbishop Cordileone should immediately revoke Stanford University’s status as a Catholic university.
Stanford University does not advertise itself as “Catholic” on its web site.
YFC, where did you get the idea that it was ? ? ? :(
No Catholic Bishop has any authority over non-Catholic Colleges and Universities.
Really, SAM, because I read here many times on CCD that Bishops have control over everything in their diocese?
YFC, either you did not read correctly or someone who was NOT Catholic was pulling your leg.
Next time ask the person to provide a link to official documentation.
Can’t believe you would believe that Diocese Bishops are in charge of Synagogues, Mosques, other Faiths, secular organizations and groups, and athiests.
Each Diocese Bishop is responsible for everything CATHOLIC within his own Diocese. These are the Christain Faithful according to Canon Law.
Code of Canon Law:
” Can. 383 §1. In exercising the function of a pastor, a diocesan bishop is to show himself concerned for all the Christian faithful entrusted to his care, of whatever age, condition, or nationality they are, whether living in the territory or staying there temporarily;
he is also to extend an apostolic spirit to those who are not able to make sufficient use of ordinary pastoral care because of the condition of their life and to those who no longer practice their religion. ”
CCC: ” 833 The phrase “particular Church,” which is first of all the diocese (or eparchy), refers to a community of the Christian faithful in communion of faith and sacraments with their bishop ordained in apostolic succession.
These particular Churches “are constituted after the model of the universal Church; it is in these and formed out of them that the one and unique Catholic Church exists. ”
Anyone who is NOT Catholic is not entrusted to a Bishop’s care.
They are entrusted to whomever they desire.
Who is making use of the YFC moniker today? Surely not the academic.
The irony here is that she will be converting masses of students to her LGBT world view.
Red flag: “I think church is about, anyone should be welcome”. I knew when I read this that she was referring to homosexuality. It only took a couple more sentences before that was confirmed. For only being 2-3 percent of the population, the Gays are certainly prominent. I am getting very weary of them…
A real knee-slapper: Stanford finds — for its “Dean of Religious Life” — a lesbian . . .who is “not very churchy”. (Falling down, laughing, laughing, . . ) Tell us all, good Dean Shaw, what exactly are you “ecumenical” of?
To be sure, you are academically achieved, but what do you know about the Gospel? You know, the “Good News” by which God sent his own Son to Earth to save Mankind (oops, “Humankind”). It is Left-happy that you see “climate change and the environment” as “the great crisis of our time”, but do these issues have anything at all to do with attaining salvation? (Wait, wait, isn’t Pope Francis increasingly focused on these issues, perhaps going to write about them?? Yes, Little St. Thomas Aquinas, it seems so, and it is so much easier than trying to advance the True Faith.)
Well, certainly the local bishop is offering a Catholic alternative to Ms. Shaw and her lesbian/enviro/climate-control vision of ecumenism? Hahaha. Another good one. It is likely that Bishop McGrath, if the local ordinary, would join with Ms. Shaw in some “not too churchy” showing of solidarity on, well, these Kumbaya issues. Pray for all Catholic students at Stanford. Catholic alums, please consider giving your money to the local Newman Center, and never to the University (although you should complain).
Stanford is in Santa Clara County and thus not in the San Francisco Archdiocese. So ABP Cordileone is not the relevant Ordinary. Also, Stanford is not state funded so no direct taxpayer funds there either.
Ahh but it still lies within the Metropolitan See of San Francisco
Canonically speaking (that is, with respect to canon law) so what? A Metropolitan has very limited power to insert himself into the governance of one of his suffragan dioceses.
STANFORD University is NOT Catholic, and never has been. So the Diocese Bishop has zero authority over it.
YFC just wanted to distract from the fact that Jane Shaw supports Sodomy.
And some people fall for his diversions.
No poster on this site has ever said a Diocese Bishop is in charge of EVERYTHING and EVERYONE within his Diocese – this is ridiculous.
We all know that Diocese Bishops are only in charge of everything “CATHOLIC” within his own Diocese.
Your Fellow Catholic is a heretic (if really a Catholic which is doubtful) who supports sodomy and sodomy marriage, based upon his own postings.
Further he does not like Abp Cordileone, who does not support sodomy marriage.
Stanford has had a history of being anti-Catholic! It also, since the sick 1960’s, has “become so open-minded that its brains fell out!” Liberal, Godless, immoral, and immature “academia!” WORTHLESS!!
NO TAX $$ Private University. WHEW!
too “churchy” – guess students who like Churchy will have to go elsewhere. Don’t see a pro-life stance – so sad – LBGT is a more important issue for her.
Stanford is NOT Catholic.
I don’t want my Catholic Dollars to go to a school that is not Catholic. Please cut off all student loan guarantees, grants, and tax deductions to Stanford. It is NOT a Catholic institution!!
Stanford University is just ridiculous. There’s not much more to say.
If they are going to put a person who mocks religion in charge of religious life, who do they put in charge of their medical school? A witch doctor?
It must be contagious. Didn’t obama teach constitutional law? Heh.
My sentiments exactly, T. G. Holford. A prostate cancer victim was warned many years ago by a good pro life physician not to go to Stanford for prostate cancer treatment as it would only get worse. The cancer victim heeded his words and survived. All I can say is that this lady, “Dr.” Jane Shaw uses a whole lot of words to say absolutely nothing.
I should clarify that the cancer patient did go for treatment to the doctors and the hospital that the pro life physician recommended. Also, I am sure there are some good doctors at the Stanford Children’s Hospital, but one really needs to check them out with medical people one trusts.
I would like to add that that same pro life doctor told another family not to send their father there for treatment. They did not listen to him, and their father died. The simple fact was the cancer doctors there at that time were just incompetent.
For clarity of my last post today at 10:18 p.m., by “there” I meant Stanford. They did not have the up-to-date skills nor the equipment to do successful treatment on that type of prostate cancer. They were using unsuccessful methods.
“I don’t think church is to be more churchy. I think church is about, anyone should be welcome. I’m really interested in how you welcome many different kind of constituencies, certainly not convert them, not even necessarily to do religion all the time.”
THE REAL RED FLAG: Jane Shaw would absolutely love Christ Cathedral. It is not very churchy looking and St. Callistus parish has been moved to the Christ Cathedral grounds. St. Callistus parish showed it’s welcoming diversity and support for *all different constituencies* by inviting and embracing the Democratic partial birth abortion, same sex marriage supporter, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez at a parish meeting. This NO CONVERTING meeting took place with the apparent approval of a smiling auxiliary bishop who sat right at the table with Loretta Sanchez as she politically manipulated the unsuspecting. Loretta Sanchez is affiliated with Emily’s List. Now there is a much larger venue to invite Loretta and perhaps Fidel Castro’s family and the numerous friends associated with Emily’s List. What does it profit the souls of well meaning but unwary multimillionaires to unwittingly broker deals to attain a larger venue to undermine and dismantle the teachings of the Catholic Church?
continued….
continued from January 3, 2015 at 5:39 pm
Taken from KeyWiki
EMILY’s List is a political action committee (PAC) in the United States that aims to help elect pro-choice Democratic female candidates to office.[1] It was founded by Ellen Malcolm in 1985.[2] The name EMILY’s List is an acronym for “Early Money Is Like Yeast” (i.e., it raises dough).[3] The saying is a reference to a convention of political fundraising: that receiving lots of donations early in a race is helpful in attracting other, later donors.
EMILY’s List is the nation’s largest resource for women in politics. With more than 3 million members, it is one of the largest political action committees (PAC) in the United States.
EMILY’s List political staff helps candidates build campaigns by providing technical support, raising money for and making financial contributions to the campaigns of pro-choice Democratic women running in targeted races.[4]
Since its founding in 1985, EMILY’s List has worked to elect 100 pro-choice Democratic women to the House, 19 to the Senate, 10 governors, and over five hundred women to state and local office.
Cuba trips
Ramon Castro, Fidel’s older brother, Loretta Sanchez
From May 25-May 31, 2002 Loretta Sanchez was in Havana Cuba for “fact-finding and meetings”. The trip was funded by the William C. Velasquez Institute, with a total cost of $4,020.00.
From the 9th to the 16th of April 2004, Sanchez was in Havana, Cuba for “fact-finding”. The trip was funded by the William C. Velasquez Institute, with a total cost of $2,550.00. She was there at the same time as Linda Sanchez – Taken from KeyWiki
Yes, Jane Shaw would certainly feel right at home. The question is: Who is guarding the Deposit of Faith?
If I get Shaw’s quote correct -“I think the great crisis of our day is climate change and the environment,” Hello! what the h— are you doing leading the Religious Department? You have been wrongly attached……as a Christian (supposedly)
shouldn’t the attack on Christianity be the crisis of our day? Gimme a break!
Shaw appears to be a shill for the Democratic Party.
Remember what marxist / communist Saul Alinsky taught –
” True revolutionaries do not flaunt their radicalism, Alinsky taught.
They cut their hair, put on suits and infiltrate the system from within.
Alinsky viewed revolution as a slow, patient process.
The trick was to penetrate existing institutions such as churches, unions and political parties…. ” – from his book “Rules for Radicals”.
Alinsky supposedly did not believe in God, but interestingly he dedicated his book to “Lucifer”.
Opening Page Dedication: “Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history… the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer.”
https://www.crossroad.to/Quotes/communism/alinsky.htm
The local province of Dominicans have been in charge of Stanford for many years. They have had both conservative as well as somewhat left-of-center priests assigned there. They certainly will stand out in contrast to this no-religion new dean. You almost couldn’t make up a more ludicrous stereotype of a progressive Christian: truth is stranger than fiction.
There once was a past religious dean at Stanford who was friends with the creator of the ultra-liberal Doonersbury comic strip. Even that author couldn’t conceive of the guy being a minister and made some good-natured fun of him in the strip.
Very Reverend? What did our Lord say about living under the pretense of lofty titles? Very Reverend not in deed. No I am not judging; however God gave us all a conscience to know morally right from wrong as He stated, you will know them by their fruits. Fruit-cakes they are. Deceiving they are. They are of the world. Pray for them, as God would like for them to turn away from offending Him, be asked for forgiveness from Him, and then for God to forgive them.
Very Reverend is commonly used in Catholicism:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Very_Reverend
Dominicans in charge at Stanford? Perhaps the good Father meant in charge of some Catholic parish nearby, a Neuman Center, or some related organization. A clarification would be helpful.
The current head honcho at Stanford might be surprised that he or she is now a Dominican.
Oops, sorry for creating the misunderstanding! The Dominicans are in charge of the university parish of Stanford: sort of a Newman Center on steroids. Obviously (to me), the Dominicans do not run the university!
So ‘sweet jane’ wants the Church to be ‘Less Churchy’…
And obviously, like the pathetic farce of Academential – More Dykey… As if that were possible.
I wonder – Does ‘sweet jane’ join with the other Twysted Systers in the Annual Tax Subsidized Anti-Male Hate Riot in Sodom by the Sea (which bans Males from the Public Street without Permit or Payment of any costs), or just recruit the young and ignorant in to her brand of Ms.Angry Misandry = Hatred of Men & Boys, Masculinity & Normal Heterosexuality?
SEE
The SF Chronicle long ago stopped reporting warnings about the Gridlock (*and Anti-Male Hate) of the annual SF Dyke March…
– Although they used to at least warn Men they were “Not Advised” when the Dykes took over the streets using motorcycles as a weapon to Bull the Boys from the Crosswalks and create gridlock for the ‘Riot on its Feet’ that followed them.
SEE
“Men told not to rain on parade Unity key to Dyke March / 50,000 expected at S.F. Dyke March 50,000 expected — MEN NOT ADVSED.
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/joegarofoli/article/Men-told-not-to-rain-on-parade-Unity-key-to-Dyke-2746314.php ;
&
Women rule the world, if only for a little while – SFGate
For a few hours Saturday night, Vicki Noblegot a fleeting glimpse of a WORLD DEVOID OF MEN –
– and she came away excited and deeply moved.
“This is what the world would look like if women ruled the world, which we intend to do,”
Could Stanford sink any lower? Yes, I think so with this black rose in position. Expect more bad to come of it. My respect for Stanford has sunk into the gutter like so many of our sinful liberal institutions of once higher learning. The degenerate leaders have only wrought institutions of sewage-level learning embodying, exposing, and brainwashing our children to accepting the lowest elements of our sinful society.
What exactly is the issue here? That an Episcopal priest and a secular university aren’t Catholic enough?
Um. Ok.
Religious studies at a school like Stanford have little to do with faith. They’re part of the Humanities department, and are more about understanding culture from an anthropological perspective. Arguably, you’re better off with an atheist at the helm… someone who places Christianity on equal footing with and other belief system, even defunct ones … but possesses a genuine intellectual interest and understanding of how religion interplays with culture and shapes history.
If you’re looking for a program that advocates a specific religion, there are plenty at private universities.
Jane Shaw must have been on a short list… trifecta degrees from first tier schools, a long teaching tenure at Oxford … plus an executive position at a major metropolitan church (or churchy work of architecture, at least) … also a history of advocating for social issues. On paper, she’s the ideal for that kind of position.
What else would you expect?
Hugh, perhaps I was being too hard on this lady and if so I apologize, but it is her seemingly moral relativism and overhyping of such things as global warming that bothers me. We do need to conserve and find other means of energy, but many people, especially the so called elite, do not seem to be concerned that many Americans are losing good paying jobs to support their families when coal and other such sources of energy are taken off the market too soon. Another thing is that weather changes such as global warming and so forth were taking place since mankind began and a long time before fossil fuel was used, so I believe such concerns are overhyped. My family has always conserved in many ways as our generation was brought up with the old adage “Waste not want not”. People need to be taught how to conserve but in ways that do not take jobs away from others.
Hugh, I think you misunderstand the position of Dean to which Rev. Shaw has been appointed. She is not the department chair of the religious studies department, she is the minister-in-chief of Memorial Chapel and in charge of temporal affairs of the worshipping communities and religious program (not studies) at Stanford. The religious studies chairman is another professor. With the job she also becomes the de facto pastor of the mainline Protestant congregation that worships in the chapel.
Her job as a professor in religious studies appears to be a secondary job which her predecessor also held.
I actually agree with you from the point of view of Stanford she is an ideal candidate: well-educated, a woman, promoter of the arts, and (reading between the lines) a good fundraiser. Both Grace Cathedral and Memorial Chapel are (Episcopalian/Anglican) High Church in feel, so her previous experience would be good preparation for Stanford.
Of course, in terms of Catholic and biblical spirituality she is a train wreck. Doesn’t much matter there: only the Catholics and evangelicals have much vitality at Stanford. Her appointment just causes the rubble of mainline Protestantism to bounce a little.
For anyone interested, the Catholic Community at Stanford has a great web site:
https://catholic.stanford.edu/media. The parish serves the students of Stanford University and surrounding community. It appears, from the web site, to be very vibrant and lead by a great team.
I think this article has probably garnered the most bizarre set of postings of any yet on CCD.