Saint Louis University Basketball Coach Rick Majerus has drawn criticism from Archbishop Raymond Burke after making statements in favor of abortion rights and stem-cell research this week.
Majerus, who is a Jesuit-educated Catholic, made the comments to a reporter for KMOV while attending a St. Louis rally for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Burke, who was campaigning for anti-abortion policies in Washington, D.C., when Majerus made the pro-choice comments, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that “it’s not possible to be a Catholic and hold those positions.”
Burke held that, as a representative of the University, Majerus was out of line for making such statements and called for an unspecified disciplinary action to be taken against him.
“When you take a position in a Catholic university, you don’t have to embrace everything the Catholic church teaches. But you can’t make statements [that] call into question the identity and mission of the Catholic church,” Burke said to the Post-Dispatch.
The University News attempted to contact members of Saint Louis University’s administration and athletic department and was directed to the University’s official statement on the issue: “Coach Majerus’ comments were his own personal views, and he was not speaking for Saint Louis University. The comments were made at a non-University event, and he was not there as a University representative.”
Lisa Reiter, director of campus ministry, paralleled the University’s official statement, saying that Majerus made the comments as an individual outside of the University context: “It is my understanding that the only one who speaks for Saint Louis University is Fr. Lawrence Biondi, S.J., unless he delegates that role to someone else.”
Reiter went on to question the motivations of the KMOV reporter who explicitly asked Majerus for his opinions on stem-cell research and abortion. “I’m not sure there was a story there initially,” she said. “What was the reporter trying to accomplish?”
Reiter said she “respect[s Majerus] for exercising his duty as a citizen to be politically informed,” but said that Majerus’ opinions regarding abortion and embryonic stem- cell research go against Catholic doctrine. However, Reiter said that such disagreements are not uncommon in the university setting: “A university is not a place where everyone thinks alike . SLU’s mission statement is the pursuit of truth . We come in contact with values that are in conflict with Catholic ones but trust that truth will win out.”
Attempts to contact Burke for further comment were unsuccessful.
While the Archdiocese of St. Louis has yet to release an official statement on the matter, Christina Heddell, director of the respect life apostolate for the archdiocese, said that Burke’s comments are “compatible with church teachings.”
Heddell did clarify that adult and umbilical varieties of stem-cell research are supported in Catholic doctrine, while embryonic stem-cell research is condemned. She called Majerus’ statement in support of pro-choice abortion rights and embryonic stem-cell research “immoral [and] incompatible with our faith.”
In an interview with theSt. Louis Post-Dispatch yesterday, Majerus stood behind his comments and said that he had the right to make them.
Legally, SLU is not obligated to follow the direction of the archdiocese. In 2006, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that, while SLU has a Catholic tradition, its operation is not controlled by church doctrine or officials.
At press time, neither Heddell nor Jeff Fowler, vice president of University marketing and communications, were aware if there had been any communication between the archdiocese and the University.
