On his radio show today, Hugh Hewitt and guests have been discussing the fact that the President of Notre Dame, Father Jenkins, has approved campus performances of "The Vagina Monologues." This is nothing if not another manifestation of what I referred to yesterday -- the idea being spread throughout our culture that sexual morality, unlike other forms of morality, is completely subjective.
Surely Father Jenkins wouldn't condone a play that glorified murder or cheating or stealing or other activity squarely at odds with Catholic teaching. So what's the difference?
Ultimately, by introducing the debased view of sexuality popularized by works like "The Vagina Monologues" onto his campus, Father Jenkins is abdicating his duty as a priest -- to serve as God's spiritual shepherd on earth. The study released today -- about the plague of STDs among teen girls -- is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the costs of irresponsible sexuality. Shocking as it is, it completely ignores the psychological, emotional and yes, spiritual damage that girls suffer when they give too much, too soon.
Hugh's regular guest, Professor David Allen White, challenged Notre Dame to allow him to come to campus -- at his own expense -- and offer a lecture about female purity as reflected in Shakespeare's works.
If they'd have me (and I'd never claim equivalent intellectual status with the professor, of course!), I'd go on the same conditions -- at my own expense -- to try to offer a offer a view of female sexuality that's radically at odds with that propounded by Eve Ensler in "The Vagina Monologues."
Sadly, I think that neither of us need hold our breath waiting for the phone to ring.