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Harvard is now up to its 3rd revision of its “official response” to the Harvard Black Mass scheduled for tonight.  As this statement doesn’t acknowledge the previous statements or that anything has been revised, rather than just posting it I’m going to fisk it.  My comments in Red italic

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The following statement was issued by Robert Neugeboren, dean of students and alumni affairs at Harvard Extension School:

The first major change is the inclusion of an actual named person rather than something just unsigned.  Apparently it is better for one man to take the heat than the entire university.

Students at the Harvard Extension School, like students at colleges across the nation, organize and operate a number of independent student organizations, representing a wide range of student interests. The Harvard Extension School does not endorse the views or activities of any independent student organization. But we do support the rights of our students and faculty to speak and assemble freely.

This is pretty much the original first two paragraphs slightly rearranged and it sounds just as weaisly.   Not only do you have the vanilla 1st amendment defense but note how Harvard suddenly becomes just like “colleges across the nation” rather that THE elite university of the United States

In this case, we understand that this independent student organization, the Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club, is hosting a series of events—including the reenactment of a “Black Mass”—as part of a student-led effort to explore different cultures.

Yea the Black Mass is just one of MANY student events.  but gone are the comparisons to the Shinto Tea Ceremonies, Shaker events and Buddhist Meditation.  The sudden need to no longer mention these events in the same breath as the Black Mass illustrates that the Black Mass is not just another cultural event

We do not agree with the student group’s decision to stage an event that is so deeply disturbing and offensive to many in the Harvard community and beyond.

Translation:  After a weekend of national coverage that has not been favorable having no opinion o this event is  no longer tenable, and note the use of the word “we” who is “we”?  Is it we the university, we the exchange club, we the people fielding the phone calls from all over the nation? 

While we support the ability of all our students to explore difficult issues, we also encourage them to do so in ways that are sensitive to others.

If you are going to mock Roman Catholic belief, you need to do it in a sensitive way.

To that end, the Harvard Extension School has worked with the club’s student leaders to address specific concerns that have been expressed. For instance, we have ensured that no consecrated host will be used as part of the reenactment.

How have you “ensured this?”  What steps have you taken?  Does that not suggest that Harvard is participating in the event in a supervisory manner as the Romans did at the crucifixion? 

Also, in an effort to help broaden the educational nature of this series, the Harvard Extension School has urged the Cultural Studies Club’s student leaders to reach out to Catholic student organizations on campus to foster a positive dialogue about the Catholic faith. The club’s student leaders have agreed to this proposal.

 If the cultural club was holding a minstrel show in blackface as an “educational” event,  would having the club “reach out” to campus Black organizations without cancelling the event be an acceptable choice? 

We hope these efforts and this dialogue will help address some of the most severe concerns about the event,

We hope that you crazy Christians stop calling and e-mailing us and about this event, we said we didn’t’ like it ….we said we don’t like it, isn’t that enough

while also helping students in the Cultural Studies Club better understand the perspective of many Catholics on these and other issues.

You guys better not put us on the spot like this again, especially if it risks donor dollars are put at risk.

Questions about the event should be directed to the Cultural Studies Club at culturalstudiesclub@gmail.com.

This is the ultimate Pontius Pilate moment, no longer is the contact   jeff_neal@harvard.edu if you want to send complaints send it to that e-mail account we at Harvard wash our hands of the whole thing.

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This statement is another exercise in sophistry.  They “do not agree” and say the club should be “sensitive” but are not willing to call the event “wrong” or “insensitive”.  They claim they are making sure the that a consecrated host is not being used while trying to distance themselves from an event being held on the Harvard Campus by a club bearing Harvard’s name as if they have no power to do anything about it.  Finally they not only redirect complaints from the adults at the university who are supposed to be in charge but to a gmail account that one might not even associate with the university.

This is what  THE elite university in the nation is reduced to.

Why any person who professes belief in Christ would pay money to send their child to be educated by these people is beyond me.

Update:  the President of Harvard has five days after the story broke weighed in,

The reenactment of a ‘black mass’ planned by a student group affiliated with the Harvard Extension School challenges us to reconcile the dedication to free expression at the heart of a university with our commitment to foster a community based on civility and mutual understanding.

No it doesn’t, it questions if Harvard will allow a club that bears its name to hold the Black Mass on their property.

Vigorous and open discussion and debate are essential to the pursuit of knowledge, and we must uphold these values even in the face of controversy. Freedom of expression, as Justice Holmes famously said long ago, protects not only free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate.

This isn’t a debate, this isn’t a protest,  this is an event being held on Harvard’s property sponsored by a Harvard club.  If it was just about education the club could have gone off campus and visited The Satanic Temple’s location and observed the Black Mass there.  Nor is it a question of thought, nobody is complaining about Harvard’s thoughts, they are talking about Harvard’s actions.

But even as we permit expression of the widest range of ideas, we must also take responsibility for debating and challenging expression with which we profoundly disagree.

Again this isn’t a “debate about ideas”.or engaging in protest against the church and it’s beliefs.  It is a specific ceremony,  a proactive action against Christians in general & Catholics in particular.

The ‘black mass’ had its historical origins as a means of denigrating the Catholic Church; it mocks a deeply sacred event in Catholicism, and is highly offensive to many in the Church and beyond. The decision by a student club to sponsor an enactment of this ritual is abhorrent; it represents a fundamental affront to the values of inclusion, belonging and mutual respect that must define our community.

This is the best part of the statement, gone is the “disagree” from above replaced by actual words of condemnation.

It is deeply regrettable that the organizers of this event, well aware of the offense they are causing so many others, have chosen to proceed with a form of expression that is so flagrantly disrespectful and inflammatory.

Not as regrettable as Harvard choosing to allow this event by a Harvard club to be held on campus.

Nevertheless, consistent with the University’s commitment to free expression, including expression that may deeply offend us, the decision to proceed is and will remain theirs.

I am innocent of this man’s blood… 

At the same time, we will vigorously protect the right of others to respond—and to address offensive expression with expression of their own.

The suggestion that we who intended to respond to this event needed our right to do so to be protected by Harvard is both laughable &  disingenuous.

I plan to attend a Eucharistic Holy Hour and Benediction at St. Paul’s Church on our campus on Monday evening in order to join others in reaffirming our respect for the Catholic faith at Harvard

You and everyone else who comes would be most welcome, but a better demonstration of that respect would be using your power to not allow the Black Mass on campus

and to demonstrate that the most powerful response to offensive speech is not censorship, but reasoned discourse and robust dissent.

 Apples and orange this is a dodge.

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Let me conclude by saying this is by far the best statement from Harvard.  It comes from the president on the main Harvard site and it, unlike previous statements explicitly acknowledges what the Black Mass is, what it is intended to do and why it is wrong. Compared to Harvard’s previous response it is a great improvement.

However that statement, in all its glory is sophistry, it draws a false equivalency to excuse inaction.

The president is correct that as a rule, the best answer to offensive speech is more speech.  People do not have the right to not be offended and the best way to deal with that kind of speech is to produce speech of your own.

However this is not speech being made by a group of people in the public square, or online or  a debate show.  Nor is this a protest being held against the church, its beliefs or positions.  If it was it would be protected speech and no matter how offensive such speech might be it must be allowed under the First Amendment and the principles of academic freedom.

This is instead a specific event with a specific meaning being held by a club that bears Harvard’s name  at a venue on the Harvard Campus that  Harvard’s President has decided to allow.

Furthermore the propose of this statement all about mitigating the outrage that this event is producing while providing Ms. Faust cover to refrain from using the power & authority entrusted to her.

It’s not a statement it’s an excuse and frankly unworthy of the president of the most prominent university in the United States .

President Faust’s presence at the Holy Hour not withstanding if the Black Mass takes place on campus it should end with Ms. Faust’s resignation.

Period!

Update: Ed Morrissey isn’t buying it either:

Well, if Faust finds it “abhorrent” and a “fundamental affront,” why not force its cancellation? The ceremony — excuse me, performance art — will take place in a pub on university grounds, and the club is affiliated with the university. Harvard claims it can’t do anything about it on the grounds of intellectual freedom, but local priests scoff at that notion, especially given the intentionally sacrilegious nature of the black mass. One priest wondered whether Harvard would allow a re-enactment of a KKK ceremony as educational

(Fr.) Roger Landry hits the nail on the head in his letter to Harvard University’s president:

It’s not enough for Harvard to put out a press release saying that Harvard doesn’t “endorse the views or activities of any independent student organization.” Harvard simply would never allow itself or its properties to be associated with events that mock the religious beliefs, desecrate the sacred texts, or insult the spiritual sensitivities of Jews or Muslims.

Likewise it wouldn’t allow its reputation or institution to be affiliated in any way with the activities or views of an “independent student organization” that was reenacting the lynchings of African Americans or homophobic attacks or violence against women. Harvard would act decisively in those situations, both out of just concern for its own reputation but also out of moral outrage against such insensitivity that clear thinking, ethical people immediately recognize as evil.

That the question that Harvard has to answer, but in one sense the question concerning “burning a Koran” at Harvard is silly. The thought of doing such a thing would not occur to these “Satanists” as the islamic response would look nothing like this:

“In a recent statement, Pope Francis warned of the danger of being naïve about or underestimating the power of Satan, whose evil is too often tragically present in our midst. We call upon all believers and people of good will to join us in prayer for those who are involved in this event, that they may come to appreciate the gravity of their actions, and in asking Harvard to disassociate itself from this activity.”

or this

The archdiocese plans to hold a holy hour at 8 p.m. Monday at St. Paul’s Church, located near the campus.

As Father Michael Drea Senior Chaplin of the Harvard Catholic Chaplaincy put it

While the Satanists are “historically re-enacting” the devil at Queen’s Head Pub, Father Drea said the Harvard Catholic community will respond to evil with good by hosting a Eucharistic Holy Hour at St. Paul’s Church from 8pm to 9pm “to focus on the gift of the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist.”

“We take strength from [the Eucharist] to be the life of Christ in the world, to bring his message of life and love into the world and to be effective ambassadors of the New Evangelization,” he said. “We want to help people understand the beauty and centrality of our Eucharistic theology and how we are nourished by this great gift of Our Lord’s body, blood, soul and divinity.”

These are important points but they are directed at Harvard by those in the faith trying to defend it, and them from a danger they don’t acknowledge.

Now that the MSM is covering the story they obviously have a secular take to their questions to those concerned, let me suggest a few:

1. If this “Cultural Studies event”as it has been widely reported is about “culture” why are they hosting a group that claims to not have the cultural belief in what they are doing?

I would think that the answer the Harvard “Cultural Studies”  group gives would be rather newsworthy.

2.  When the story of this event was being reported in blogs the spokespeople for the Satanic Temple had no problem stating they were using a Consecrated Host even confirming it in writing , once the story broke into mainstream  media non-blog outlets those  confirmation were called “miscommunication” .   How does the Satanic Temple and Harvard reconcile this change?

I would further ask do they have possession of a consecrated host?  If so, how was it obtained and as they claim to respect all religions will it be returned?

Of course I don’t see how you reconcile “respecting all religions”  and performing a Black mass.

3.  As Harvard has plenty of Alumni who are Catholic and more than a few donors as well.  Given that the Black mass is a direct parody or insult to the Catholic Mass by design what kind of public objection or statement will they make?  Are you concerned that you will see more reactions like this?

“Harvard is under the same God as the rest of America, and religious freedom depends upon a shared reverence for Him while tolerating different religious beliefs.  Given Harvard’s heritage as a divinity school, it ought to be well aware that this event will darken its name in the minds of Christians—and particularly Catholics—for generations to come.

I think donors or alums who profess Christianity might have an issue giving to and associating with a university that is unwilling to even object to the Black mass.

4.  What do you  insert name of Catholic pol as a Catholic pol think of Harvard’s black mass & their response?

There are plenty of  pols running for office in 2014, many who have associations with Harvard.  Furthermore there are plenty of Catholic pols out there including Democrat minority leader & the speaker of the house.  What is going to happen when Harvard refusal to stop or even condemn this affront to their religion.  Who is going to be the person on the floor of the House or Senate defending the Black mass at Harvard as free speech that should be protected as opposed to offence to Catholics worldwide.  Will the same pols who critiqued the burning of the Koran by a southern pastor be as loud to defend Catholic sensibilities?

Oh and one more thing this line from Garret Quinn that this was first reported by Boston Magazine correct but as the Anchoress puts it:

Do any of them give a nod to the blogs? No. But that’s okay. What’s important is getting the story seen, and hopefully some opportunity for the Diocese to teach the faith!

Still I think her efforts deserve acknowledgement

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