Enlightened Catholics and others of good will should step up to support Benet Academy

Abbot Austin Murphy, of St. Procopius Abbey and chancellor of prestigious Benet Academy, expressed last October being “deeply troubled” by Benet’s decision to hire a women’s lacrosse coach who was in a same-sex relationship. His New Year’s resolution was to pull the plug on the Abbey’s relationship with an annual $50,000 support for Benet, which it oversees. The academy “doesn’t comport with Catholic teaching on sexuality,” Murphy cited, in his New Year’s lump of coal to Benet’s 1,400 students.

While the vast majority of America and much of the world has entered the 21st century on enlightenment over homosexuality, the Benedictine monks of St. Procopius Abbey, and much of the Catholic hierarchy, apparently prefer to fade into irrelevancy rather than switch. Nineteenth century thinking on the subject is just fine for them.

Benet Academy elders initially bowed to the will of the Abbey, which founded Benet 120 years ago and provided secondary education excellence in Chicago’s western suburbs. They withdrew their coaching offer to the gay candidate after her same-sex relationship was revealed. But a firestorm of pushback by over 4,000 students, school administrators, alums and parents on the lunacy of their action overpowered their delusional Abbey overseers.

That annual $50,000 withdrawn by St. Procopius Abbey might well be replaced by donations from enlightened Catholics and others of good will. Abbott Austin Murphy and his Benedictine monks would be wise to use their new revenue source for extensive psychological counseling to peel back the centuries of fear, ignorance and yes, loathing of gay individuals.

Walt Zlotow, Glen Ellyn