CINO Link

Pro-lifers who think they have found safe spaces in Catholic colleges and universities may want to visit the web sites of those institutions of higher learning. Those schools might be Catholic In Name Only (CINO).

“Students who look up local pro-bono organizations on the Boston College Law School website may be surprised to find the contact information listed for Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts,” Andy Rota reported in The Observer at Boston College on September 21, 2010. “The web page, included under the academic programs category at bc.edu/law, is a list of organizations that students are encouraged to contact should they ‘line up with [their] own personal mission of service.’”

“The page lists contact information for Planned Parenthood’s volunteer coordinator and the address of the clinic on Commonwealth Avenue.”

“We offer a variety of links on our website to many different kinds of organizations where our students might pursue their professional advancement and public service work,” Nate Kenyon, Director of Marketing and Communications at BC Law stated. “These links do not imply a Boston College endorsement of any organization.”

“As law students who will be making important decisions for clients in only a few years, we feel that our students can educate themselves and make their own decisions based on what’s best for them.” Believe it or not, there actually is a pro-life group on campus.

As you might guess, they are not amused. “At best, it’s an embarrassment that we would have something so blatantly antagonistic to the Catholic faith on our pro-bono website,” Laura Balch, president of Lex Vitae, the BC Law student pro-life society argued.

She might be onto something.

Malcolm A. Kline is the Executive Director of Accuracy in Academia.

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