“Just last week,” lamented Fluke, “a married female student told me that she had to stop using contraception because she and her husband just couldn’t fit it into their budget anymore. Women employed in low-wage jobs without contraceptive coverage face the same choice.”

The Georgetown law student was aghast. In today’s progressive America, she protested, that female student ought to have “free” access to contraception—compliments of all federal taxpayers, regardless of religious objection.

Ms. Fluke’s statement, and thinking, is bad enough. It is patently outrageous. It requires no elaboration here.

Unfortunately, it got quite a bit of elaboration from Rush Limbaugh, who was so justifiably angry at Fluke’s statement that he unjustifiably called her some nasty names—and later apologized. Ms. Fluke, for the record, refused to accept Limbaugh’s apology. Why would she? Limbaugh gave Fluke and her liberal friends precisely the ammo they need in their campaign of agitprop—agitation and propaganda against Georgetown and the Church.

An unlikely participant in that campaign is the president of Georgetown. In response to the hoopla, the president blasted not Ms. Fluke, but Rush Limbaugh, and used some very harsh language against Limbaugh. The president rightly criticized Limbaugh for his language.

Yet, I would like to know why the president of Georgetown hasn’t asked for an apology from Ms. Fluke. After all, as Rush Limbaugh noted, Georgetown University is a Catholic institution. It has been for over 220 years. Imagine the presumption, the self-righteousness, of Ms. Fluke to demand that this Catholic institution suddenly reverse its values to conform to her values. She demands that Georgetown violate its sacred, long-held Catholic beliefs to fit her beliefs. And she is making a national example and mockery of Georgetown in the process.

So, how about an apology from Ms. Fluke? Or, for that matter, from Nancy Pelosi? Or President Obama? They started this; they’re pushing this. They prompted Rush Limbaugh’s outrage in the first place. Why must only Limbaugh apologize?

For that matter, Georgetown itself holds some responsibility for this. After all, why is the college admitting students that are so diametrically opposed to the college’s values and mission? Most religious colleges make clear their values, and ask applicants to explain how they support those values. The college where I teach does that. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s common sense, and especially if you’re a university with a mission.

Institutions have a mission. It’s best for everyone to have people at the institution who support the mission, or at least don’t seek to actively undermine it.

Does Georgetown have a Catholic mission or not? If it does, does it support it? When it doesn’t, students like Ms. Fluke arrive and aggressively undermine the institution with their own set of values.

Aside from the Sandra Fluke episode, another Georgetown moment sticks with me:

It occurred in April 2005. It was related to me by a former student of mine who was attending graduate school at Georgetown. It was shortly after the death of John Paul II. My student was among other students awaiting the announcement of the new pope. When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger stepped out, my student—excited to see Ratzinger as the new pope—was just as suddenly horrified at the litany of obscenities and insults shouted by his fellow Georgetown students. “Fascist!” one student yelled at the new pope, adding another choice “f” word to his insult. “Nazi!” screeched another.

My student, a former Baptist considering converting to the Catholic Church, halted the conversion process right there. If this was Catholicism, he wanted none of it.

Again, one wonders: Why would Georgetown have such students?

Let’s be honest: This is the doing of “social-justice” Catholics, of progressive Catholics. Such students—Ms. Fluke among them—are the natural, toxic byproduct of modern Catholic higher education. That education has corroded the Church, and now it corrodes America.

You reap what you sow. Georgetown is now reaping what it has sown.

Rivals fail to stop Newt Gingrich’s momentum during Saturday’s Iowa debate. http://bit.ly/vDTlAm

Seven former employees offer to testify against Planned Parenthood. http://bit.ly/tiSpYu

Jon Huntsman praised abortion champion Kathleen Sebelius when Barack Obama nominated her as head of the Dept. of Health and Human Services. http://bit.ly/slhTBx

Documents on possible Archbishop Fulton Sheen miracle headed for Vatican. http://bit.ly/s1tzLB

Many Catholic colleges not complying with Ex corde Ecclesia, study shows. http://bit.ly/uUHGn0

This excellent profile on the successes of Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana, has one conservative leader musing of brokered convention that nominates him to go against Obama. (Me, too!) http://bit.ly/vBvkEK 

Ron Paul accuses Newt Gingrich of selling access. http://bit.ly/uCFk8U 

Justice Elena Kagan will be recused from the Arizona immigration case because of her earlier involvement as Solicitor General. http://bit.ly/w0L5TT

The Catholic Church confirms Pope Benedict XVI will visit Cuba in the spring. http://cvote.to/9g

The mitts come off: Romney slams Gingrich for attacking Paul Ryan’s Medicare reforms. http://cvote.to/9h

Mitt Romney now says he wouldn’t recommend other states adopt Romneycare. That’s a shift from what he said in 2008. (Go figure, he changed his position.) http://cvote.to/9i

Nancy Pelosi refers to our Catholic bishops as ‘lobbyists.’ http://cvote.to/9j  

Catholic universities see the value of single-sex housing. http://cvote.to/9k

As Congress debates extending unemployment benefits, they should make those who receive benefits also do volunteer work in the community, says commentator Nolan Finley. http://cvote.to/9l 

Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Patroness of the United States! Today is a holy day of obligation, but don’t simply go because you must. Go willingly and with great joy! And ask Holy Mary to bless “the land of our birth.”

Luis Fortuño

Hey, I’m pretty depressed about Mitt and Newt leading the pack. So let’s talk about the #2 slot. A lot of conservatives say it would be great to have a conservative Latino as the GOP VP candidate. So Marco Rubio, right? Well, Bill McGurn of the Wall Street Journal notes there’s actually another great option: Luis Fortuño, Governor of Puerto Rico. (Yes, he is legally eligible as are all Puerto Ricans.) Fortuño is pro-life and is credited with turning Puerto Rico’s economy around. http://cvote.to/9X

I’m not the only one sour on Newt and Mitt. Some big GOP donors are still shopping around the idea of another candidate. Names floated? Jim DeMint or Jeb Bush. Conservative commentator Erick Erickson thinks it won’t happen: “Don’t hold your breath. But prayer does work.” http://cvote.to/9Y

Rut roh: Newt Gingrich might not get enough signatures by 4 p.m. today to get on the ballot in the Ohio primary. http://cvote.to/9Z

Very sad news: The Catholic University of Leuven is droppping the adjective “Catholic” from their name. Leuven is the oldest Catholic college in the world and was founded in 1425 by Pope Martin V. http://cvote.to/9a

GOP leaders courting Gov. Dave Heineman to run against Democrat Sen. Ben Nelson in Nebraska. http://cvote.to/9b

Speaking of the Nebraska Senate race, here is the CatholicVote.org interview with declared Republican candidate Don Stenberg. http://cvote.to/9c  

Dolly the Sheep pioneer recommends shifting away from embryonic stem cell research. http://cvote.to/9d

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is working hard to clear the name of a wrongly-convicted felon. http://cvote.to/9e

The World War II Museum in New Orleans estimates that about 1,000 World War II veterans die each day. On the 70^th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, remember these brave men with your prayers.

Republicans take over Virginia Senate, pending a recount. Bryce Reeves (right) has an 86 vote lead. If that holds, the GOP will control both house of the Legislature and the Governor’s office. http://cvote.to/7w

Ohio voters rejected GOP’s public union reform plan but also rejected President Obama’s health care mandate. http://cvote.to/80

John McCormick in the Weekly Standard: “Why Did Anti-Abortion Mississippi vote down the Personhood Amendment”? http://cvote.to/7x

Penn State head coach Joe Paterno will resign at the end of the season. Paterno is under criticism for not doing enough to report sex abuse charges against a former assistant coach. http://cvote.to/7s

The Obama administration has announced a 15-cent Christmas tree tax. http://cvote.to/7t

Dorothy Rabinowitz: “Why Gingrich Could Win.” http://cvote.to/7u

Atheocracy.  A new word, and a real threat.  Denver’s Bishop James Conley explains. http://cvote.to/7v

Siena College, which is Catholic, invites a speaker to campus who says the Catholic Church has “blood on their hands.” http://cvote.to/7y

22 years ago today, the Berlin Wall was finally opened and the people of East Germany were no longer imprisoned. Why we must always remember. http://cvote.to/7r

Eighteen Catholic colleges united in a letter to oppose the federal government’s contraception mandate and the lack of religious liberty in the mandate. The letter said: “No federal rule has defined being ‘religious’ as narrowly and discriminatorily as the Mandate appears to do, and no regulation has ever so directly proposed to violate plain statutory and constitutional religious freedoms.” The letter was organized by the Cardinal Newman Society. http://cvote.to/4v

Texas Gov. Rick Perry does damage control and apologizes for calling ‘heartless’ those who oppose the Texas DREAM Act he signed into law in 2001. The law gives in-state tuition to those who entered the country illegally but currently reside in Texas. “I was probably a bit over-passionate by using that word and it was inappropriate,” Perry admitted. “In Texas in 2001 we had 181 members of the legislature – only four voted against this piece of legislation – because it wasn’t about immigration it was about education.” http://cvote.to/4u Glad to see him apologize. It’s offensive to attack those who oppose your policy as being ‘heartless.’

Perhaps trying to help Rick Perry, Family Research Council head Tony Perkins questioned Mitt Romney on social issues. “He is not speaking as strongly to the social issues as he did four years ago,” said Perkins. “I think that if he is to emerge as the front-runner and the standard bearer for conservatives, he’s going to have to shore that up.” Glad to see Perkins holding the candidates accountable on pro-life and pro-family principles. http://cvote.to/4t

Other articles of interest:

Republicans are excited about the 2012 elections. Democrats not so much. http://cvote.to/4s

Archbishop Philip Hannah, the 11^th archbishop of New Orleans, died this morning. He was 98. Rocco has a write-up on his amazing life story. http://cvote.to/4r

Catholicism, the amazing documentary by Fr. Robert Barron, is showing on PBS stations across the country. http://cvote.to/4q

The latest poll by McClatchy/Marist looks bad for President Obama’s re-election efforts. “By a margin of 49 percent to 36 percent, voters said they definitely plan to vote against Obama, according to the poll. Independents by 53 percent to 28 percent said they definitely plan to vote against him… Even among Democrats, 31 percent think the Republican nominee will win.” Sounds good to me. http://cvote.to/42

Mitt Romney is catching up to Rick Perry. The former Massachusetts governor trails Perry 28% to 24%. The four point gap is smaller than the 11 point distance that Perry enjoyed before his first debate. Michele Bachmann’s slide continues. She stands at just 8% in this Rasmussen poll. Others: Gingrich 9%, Cain 7%, Paul 6%, Santorum 3%, Huntsman 2% and McCotter 1%. Eleven percent were undecided. http://cvote.to/43

Executives from Solyndra will plead the Fifth, refusing to testify at a House investigative committee. The Obama administration awarded the green energy firm a $535 million grant in May 2010. Earlier this month, just 16 months after the grant, the company went bankrupt. The company’s owner, George Kaiser, helped raise tens of thousands of dollars for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. http://cvote.to/45

Kudos to Saint Francis University of Pennsylvania. They pulled an invitation to Ellen Goodman to speak after the Cardinal Newman Society called public attention to her abortion advocacy. The University said: “After careful consideration, the University felt Ms. Goodman’s body of work has reflected statements that are not in close enough alignment with some Catholic teachings and with the values and mission of the University as required for an event of this stature on the Saint Francis campus.” http://cvote.to/47

Other articles of interest:

Pope Benedict XVI accepted the early retirement of Archbishop Daniel Buechlein of Indianapolis due to health problems. The see is vacant, as is the case in Denver and Baltimore. http://cvote.to/46

The Michigan State Senate expected to vote on partial-birth abortion ban today http://cvote.to/48

Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles remembers Dolores Hope’s “deep, abiding faith.” The widow of Bob Hope was a major benefactor of Catholic causes. She died Monday at the age of 102. http://cvote.to/49

The California GOP keeps its party platform pro-life – for now. http://cvote.to/4A

Hugh Grant and Ann McPherson

• This past week long-time assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian died in Detroit. On the other side of the pond, another assisted-suicide advocate also died. Ann McPherson founded Healthcare Professionals for Assisted Dying to promote assisted-suicide in Britain. Thankfully, the practice is still illegal in the United Kingdom. According to LifeSiteNews, actor Hugh Grant is a financial supporter of McPherson’s work. “She’s right on assisted dying,” said Grant. “That seems to me like the dignified option. I don’t know quite what she wanted in her last few weeks, but she was a great champion of the right to die in a dignified manner, which it seems she did.” Sad to see another celebrity to use their notoriety to promote the Culture of Death.
• Ross Douthat, writing on his New York Times blog, speculates what legalized assisted-suicide would look like in the United States if the practice became as prevalent as abortion: “If the right to die really became ‘a lot like’ the right to abortion in America, there would be Swiss-style thanatoriums in most American cities, the Hemlock Society would be a major lobbying group (boasting, no doubt, that most of its resources go to palliative care rather than assisted suicide), and Kermit Gosnell-style thanatists would prey on the elderly while the courts looked the other way.” God help us all if that ever happened.
• Catholic colleges are getting intense scrutiny from the Obama administration. Adam Wilson has an excellent write-up on the clash between Catholic colleges and the National Labor Relations Board. It cuts to the heart of religious independence from the state. “On May 26, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found that one Catholic college lacks substantial religious character and hence cannot stop adjunct faculty from unionizing. They ruled that St. Xavier University in Chicago ‘is not a church-operated institution’ and is therefore subject to federal labor law. That was the second such ruling in a few months. The NLRB declared in January that Catholic Manhattan College in Riverdale, New York, is not recognizably Catholic.” Read the rest of the article at Crisis magazine.