ANSWER by Staff on August 23, 2003

Dear Katie: Unfortunately the situation you describe is all too common in our so-called "Catholic" universities. Frankly, I think such "professors" should be fired. If you wish to pursue this it will most likely cause you some grief as long as you are at this school. The danger of being singled out is not just with this professor, but with other professors in other classes. You are likely to be branded a trouble-maker. I tell you this because you need to be prepared for that possibility. It is a laudable and brave thing to want to do something about this. Jesus asked us to stand up for the faith and He warned that we would be persecuted because of it. But what a glorious persecution to be persecuted standing with our Lord. To pursue this you need to go through channels properly even if you know that it will be useless. In each stage that I outline below, you must be business-like and not emotional or rude. This must be approached with the utmost professional and business-like manner. Also, in each step below, it is best to write letters, but if you do talk directly to the person, then IMMEDIATELY after the interview write a summary of what was said by you and by the person. Be as accurate as possible in what each person (and yourself) said in the meeting. Do not editorialize, just report exact quotations as best as you can remember them. This is why letters are better in this process -- everything is in writing. When going from step to step, be sure to include all previous correspondence or summary notes to the next person in the chain. STEP 1: See if anyone besides yourself complains about what is happening. See if any are willing to go public with their complaint. If not you can at least say that yourself and others have this concern. STEP 2: go to the professor himself and express your concerns or write him a letter with your concerns. STEP 3: If he does not respond or responds negatively, then present these concerns to the Department Head (along with any correspondence to and from the professor). STEP 4: If the Department Head does not respond or responds negatively, then go to the Dean of the School Step 5: If the Dean does not respond positively, then go to the President of the University. Step 6: If all university official respond negatively, then write a letter to the bishop (including all previous correspondence and summaries) Step 7: If the bishop does nothing about this, then you might write a Letter-to-the-Editor about what is happening and also see if the local Newspapers might be interested in the story. Step 8: Contact the St. Joseph Foundation and ask their advice about what can be done, if anything. Step 9: Contact the Apostolic Nuncio for the United States and express your concerns to him and ask for advice about what to do. Mailing Address: 3339 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W, Washington, DC, USA Telephone: (202)333-7121 Step 10: Contact the appropriate Curial Office at the Vatican. If you can get nowhere with officials, another possibility is to see if local newspapers will cover the story; write letters-to-the-editor; create a webpage that describes what is happening. BE CAREFUL, however, when doing this stick strictly to the observable and provable facts. Do not get into speculations, assumptions, presumptions, character attacks, etc. God bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary