Catholic University Bans Chick-fil-A For Supporting Catholic Position On Marriage

In yet another case of a Catholic university tabling a plan for a new Chick-fil-A for holding the same position on gay marriage as the Catholic Church (as well as almost every mainstream Democrat before Obama “evolved”), Fordham University, “the oldest Catholic institution of higher learning in the northeast,” has decided to trash a plan to install a Chick-Fil-A at a food court after LGBTQ group Rainbow Alliance unanimously rejected the popular fast food chain’s proposal to work with them.

All the anger from the left at Chick-fil-A stems from its owners’ religious-based belief in traditional marriage. Things really heated up in 2012, when CEO Dan Cathy said the company unapologetically supported “the biblical definition of the family unit.” After a series of coordinated protests and boycotts against the chain that backfired big time, a lot of the noise has died down; however, attempts by groups on the left to take down Chick-fil-A continue, as evidenced by activists’ recent successful attempt to bar the chain from Fordham.

Fordham’s campus paper The Observer reported in late April that the university declined the proposal to install a Chick-Fil-A at the Ram Cafe after the Rainbow Alliance rejected the chain’s outreach effort. After pushback from activists, the university decided to let four student groups speak into the plan: the United Student Government (USG), the Commuter Students Association (CSA), the Residence Hall Association (RHA), and the Rainbow Alliance.

Chick-fil-A tried to work with the LGBTQ group, offering “to collaboratively run unspecified programming with the Rainbow Alliance in conjunction with the rollout of a venue on campus,” but the organization unanimously rejected the offer.

“If they want to bring in Chick-Fil-A, they can bring in Chick-Fil-A,” said the organization’s co-president Renata Francesco. “But we’re not going to partner with an institution, a corporation that has so strongly supported other institutions that work to destabilize and demolish movements for queer equity.”

The Observer notes that Francesco was “surprised” by the university choosing to cave to their demands because Fordham had recently rejected a “trans-inclusive spaces” proposal.

“Part of me is hopeful that they’ll start taking this attitude of listening to queer students and queer voices, because there are so many on this campus and just in life,” said Francesco. “I really do hope this is a step, as opposed to just a final ‘Oh we’ll do this, we’ll give them that,’ as a way to placate us. But we were very happy with the decision.”

Rainbow Alliance co-president Roberta Munoz echoed her colleagues’ skepticism about Fordham fully embracing the “LGBTQIA+” agenda.

“This is something that I don’t want to congratulate Fordham for, like ‘Oh my god, I’m so glad that you can see this. You’re such a good person,'” said Munoz. “I don’t want to pat them on the back. You can’t say, ‘Oh you’re such a great ally,’ when there’s still so many issues with our queer students. Like great, love it, but keep going.”

The Blaze points out that Fordham’s rejection of Chick-fil-A is not the first time that the students of a Catholic-affiliated university have organized to bar the chain for its orthodox Christian view on traditional marriage. Around the same time that Fordham decided to shut out the chain, students at Duquesne University filed a petition to block a plan to install a Chick-fil-A on campus, resulting in the university shelving the proposal.

Needless to say, students who choose to attend Catholic schools expressing outrage at an entity that rejects same-sex marriage reveals a rather glaring ideological disconnect. Here are excerpts from the section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church that addresses “The Love of Husband and Wife,” which underscores repeatedly that marriage is exclusively between a man and a woman and in large part designed expressly in order to produce children:

2360 Sexuality is ordered to the conjugal love of man and woman. In marriage the physical intimacy of the spouses becomes a sign and pledge of spiritual communion. Marriage bonds between baptized persons are sanctified by the sacrament. […]

2363 The spouses’ union achieves the twofold end of marriage: the good of the spouses themselves and the transmission of life. These two meanings or values of marriage cannot be separated without altering the couple’s spiritual life and compromising the goods of marriage and the future of the family.

And here is the section from the Catechism on “Chastity and Homosexuality“:

2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,141 tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.”142 They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

And, finally, here is an excerpt from the 2012 statement by Chick-fil-A’s Cathy on their support for traditional marriage:

We are very much supportive of the family – the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that. We operate as a family business … our restaurants are typically led by families – some are single. We want to do anything we possibly can to strengthen families. We are very much committed to that. … We intend to stay the course. We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles.

H/T The Blaze