Friday, May 31, 2013

Card.Wuerl Receives Petition Against Georgetown; Seeks to End University's Identity as Catholic Inst.

A canon law petition asking Cardinal Donald Wuerl to rescue Georgetown University's Catholic identity -- or declare that it can no longer refer to itself as Catholic! -- was delivered to the Archdiocese of Washington (D.C.) today (May 31, 2013), according to the Cardinal Newman Society website. The petition was signed by more than 1200 people, including Georgetown alumni, students, parents, faculty, and others.

Distinguished Georgetown alumnus William Peter Blatty -- an Academy Award winner and author of "The Exorcist" -- announced in May 2012 the formation of the Father King Society and its plans to file a complaint under the Catholic Church's canon law. The completed petition -- which is 198 pages long -- documents abuses of Catholic identity at Georgetown University and non-compliance with Church law for Catholic universities.

The group is seeking remedies "including, if made necessary, the removal or suspension of top-ranked Georgetown's right to call itself Catholic and Jesuit in its fundraising and representations to applicants," according to leaders.

Submitted with the petition is a 120-page dossier prepared by The Cardinal Newman Society in Blatty's request, summarizing Georgetown scandals documented by the Society over several years. The Newman Society and canon law experts were consulted for advice by the King Society throughout the year-long process of preparing the brief.

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