Tuesday, March 19, AD 2024 2:34am

Ashamed of the Cross

But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews indeed a stumblingblock, and unto the Gentiles foolishness:

1 Corinthians 1: 23

Hattip to Matthew Archbold at Creative Minority Report.  Well, for 40 grand a year Catholic parents can send their offspring to a “Catholic” college that is apparently ashamed of the cross.

 

The symbol of Saint Joseph’s College, the only Catholic college in Maine, has long been a seal with a cross on a shield with the motto “Fortitudo et Spes” meaning “Fortitude and Hope.” But the president of the college just announced in a letter to students forwarded to The Cardinal Newman Society that after an extensive marketing study, the college founded by The Sisters of Mercy will be removing the cross and motto from the logo.

“This is about much more than a logo or a look,” said Brent Wooten, director of online marketing for Saint Joseph’s in the college’s magazine. “It’s about who we are.”

Indeed.  Go here to read the rest at the Cardinal Newman Society blog.

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Paul W Primavera
Friday, December 14, AD 2012 7:23am

Evangelium Secundum Matthaeum, Caput X, Vesus XXXII per XXXIX

32 Omnis ergo qui confitebitur me coram hominibus, confitebor et ego eum coram Patre meo, qui est in caelis; 33 qui autem negaverit me coram hominibus, negabo et ego eum coram Patre meo, qui est in caelis.34 Nolite arbitrari quia venerim mittere pacem in terram; non veni pacem mittere sed gladium. 35 Veni enim separare hominem adversus patrem suum et filiam adversus matrem suam
et nurum adversus socrum suam: 36 et inimici hominis domestici eius. 37 Qui amat patrem aut matrem plus quam me, non est me dignus; et, qui amat filium aut filiam super me, non est me dignus; 38 et, qui non accipit crucem suam et sequitur me, non est me dignus. 39 Qui invenerit animam suam, perdet illam; et, qui perdiderit animam suam propter me, inveniet eam.

Matthew 10:32-39

32* So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. 34* “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36 and a man’s foes will be those of his own household. 37* He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.

Richard
Richard
Friday, December 14, AD 2012 8:07am

I am at a loss. I cannot understand that a college founded by Sisters of Mercy can reject a sign of there Catholic Identity. The world has gotten to them. They have succumd to temptations of the world.

Michael PS
Michael PS
Friday, December 14, AD 2012 8:16am

I wonder what the history of the arms is. Perhaps, they are the founder’s, as it is unusual to find a chief in corporate arms; a chief is usually an augmentation of honour. The lilies, placed as a crest are obviously for St Joseph.

Curiously, the Cardinal Newman Society blog refers to the new device as five gold bars, whereas the old one has five pallets. In any event, as a bar occupies a fifth of the shield, they would have to be barrulets. Perhaps, the writer is simply unfamiliar with blazoning.

The illustration on the blog is so small, that I cannot tell whether the cross in question is a cross potent or pattée, which might give some clue as to its origin.

Chi
Chi
Friday, December 14, AD 2012 10:01am

The authorities of this College are just ‘busy bodies’. The explanation given to the effect that the new change expressed more of what the College is, was a very untenable, fluid and watery argument. The question is: has there been any problem being expressed with regard to the presence of the Cross on the logo? And if yes, how has that affected the academic and moral performance of the students? One thing is clear here: someone, somewhere within the top echelon of the school has been wanting to vent his/her agnostic/atheistic disposition and therefore went ahead to dismantle the cross from the logo to satisfy his/her devilish whims. If really the school is a Catholic school and still aims at remaining a Catholic school, then the cross on the logo must be retained. In that light, nobody or group must remove the cross from that logo. Anybody not comfortable with the cross should look elsewhere for his/her ward/child or look elsewhere to seek employment. It is a free society and St Joseph’s College must retain ALL appurtenances of its Catholic identity, as established by its founders: the cross as it appears on the logo.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Friday, December 14, AD 2012 10:12am

Maine is in the bottom five US states in the fiscal “death-spiral.”

That doesn’t mean Maine’s only Catholic college needs to join in the crash-dive.

Peter
Peter
Friday, December 14, AD 2012 11:15am

Looks like Maine has no Catholic colleges any more.

There is Catholic-“C” and catholic- “c”. They’ve opted for universality over Catholic identity, an all too often affliction of those that used to be Catholic. Unfortunately, many of the used-to-be-Catholic colleges are Catholic In Name Only.

As a intellectual property attorney, I think it is unfortunate that the Church wasn’t more aggressive in protecting the term Catholic (capital C) because then it would be more able to require adherence to its beliefs as a condition to using the term “Catholic.” As the Cardinal Newman Society has noted, parents sending their $40,000 a year are often duped into believing that the college will adhere to their Catholic beliefs. Having taken many theology classes over the years, my experience has been that the wolves are often among the sheep, perhaps by design. This is the worst form of deception because the price is the eternal soul, not a misrepresented product.

Art Deco
Friday, December 14, AD 2012 1:54pm

The same smarmy bureaucratic microbes seem to be in charge of just about every institution of higher education you come across. They must be bred somewhere in a cesspool fed by water from Boston harbour.

Don the Kiwi
Friday, December 14, AD 2012 5:08pm

……….and the great apostacy grows apace.

Joseph
Joseph
Friday, December 14, AD 2012 9:57pm

Maybe they’re also ashamed of their Catholic identity.

philip
philip
Saturday, December 15, AD 2012 12:45pm

Would it be asking to much to have them remove the Blessed Sacrament from their property since Fortitude and Hope is being replaced with Ego and Pride. Something for the president to ponder over during these days of Advent.

Question. When the founders, The Sisters of Mercy, prayerfully considered a logo that would honor the Creators university did they perform marketing analysis, concern themselves with pleasing non-Catholic sentiments or concern themselves with conforming to the world? Be in the world..yes but not of it.
Another catholic (small c ) university loosing its sight.

St. Joseph. Patron Saint of the Catholic Church pray for us!

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