Catholic homophobes are furious with the University of Notre Dame for making Pete Buttigieg a faculty fellow.
The married gay former presidential candidate and Rhodes Scholar will take up a post at the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study, overseeing research on “the forces distinctively shaping the 2020s” and looking at ways to restore trust in political institutions.
Meghan Sullivan, director of the NDIAS, said last month: “I’m thrilled to welcome Pete to the institute and Notre Dame in the coming year. More than ever, we need scholars and public leaders working together, generating the insights that will make democratic institutions stronger and advance the common good in creative and evidence-based ways.”
Homophobes are furious about Pete Buttigieg. Again.
However, the appointment has attracted some predictable responses at the private Catholic research university.
Janet Smith, a former philosophy professor at Notre Dame, raged to anti-LGBT+ website LifeSiteNews: “The fact that the goals of Notre Dame are not the same as those of the Gospel becomes clear, again, with the naming of Pete Buttigieg as a faculty fellow at the NDIAS.
“He holds many positions completely at odds with the Gospel, among them, he is in a homosexual ‘marriage’, and he supports abortion and holds views on religious freedom that would greatly restrict that freedom.”
She added: “It is inconceivable that Buttigieg will be advancing Gospel values in the work he is to do… he has abundantly indicated that he is not to be trusted as one who lives by or advocates Gospel values.”
Buttigieg has also faced attacks from the anti-LGBT+ Sycamore Trust alumni group, which has branded him “a national advertisement for the normalisation of same-sex marriage”.
Chairman William Dempsey complained to the aptly-named Church Militant that same-sex marriage is the “anchor” of Buttigieg’s public image. He added: “Not just same-sex marriage, but same-sex marriage’s compatibility with Christianity.
“Buttigieg’s partner will be given spousal benefits as a part of the Notre Dame community, teaching undergraduates.
“His presence will radically still the voices who would teach Catholic doctrine and will radically undermine anyone who dares teach authentic Catholicism.”
Both of Buttigieg’s parents were long-serving members of the Notre Dame faculty.
“I am delighted to join this academic community to pursue research on one of the most salient issues of our time – the nature of trust,” Buttigieg said in a statement.
“I look forward to engaging with faculty and students from various disciplines at a time in the life of our country that calls for deep and wide-ranging inquiry.”