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In a message dated 11/7/2005 3:11:57 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Catholics can’t do that. If there is a weakness to the EAA, this is probably where it lies.
The Act disadvantages students forming religious clubs in ways that are
different than other types of organizations. It does this by subjecting
religious groups to the special restriction that they may only have custodial
monitors (faculty or staff whose principal interest is in insuring the safety
and security of propertty and persons) while other clubs can have sponsors
(faculty and staff whose principal interest may well be and often is in the
subject area of the club or in the service activities of the organization
sponsored)).
Of course, there may be religious observances that can be organized and led
by laity that are appropriate for Catholic young people. For example,
every Saturday here in the District of Columbia, a group of Catholic college
students varying in number from 20 to 100 spend the morning praying the rosary
on the public sidewalk in the vicinity of an abortion business. Certainly
Catholic students could organize group prayer activities including the Rosary;
and they could conduct studies of Catholic teaching and thought. In this
sense, Catholic students probably are not so much disadvantaged as might
otherwise seem. True, at least from my experience and perspective, that a
student Baptist group could approximate a worship service that would not be
hindered by the fact that none of the students was ordained as a minister of the
Gospel, while a students only service for Catholic students would not take the
form of a Mass.
And you probably have in mind celebration of the Mass, and the EAA, by
denying students access to outside participants on a regular, on-going basis,
would seem to have a disparate impact on religious observants whose faith
family reposes special spiritual authority or giftedness in a priest or
minister.
Jim Henderson
Senior Counsel
ACLJ
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