"They're making an assumption on how someone who has had an abortion feels about it," said the student, who requested that her name be withheld. "Guilt and shame are two of the most difficult things to deal with after an abortion," the woman said. "I don't know if they have talked with any woman who has had an abortion - about what they actually need and if the statue will provide solace."

Well, here's one post-abortive woman who's all for it.

Christina at Real Choices covered this well first, but you know I just have to put my $0.02 in.

I haven't seen this statue personally, the Memorial for the Victims of Abortion, but I've seen--and prayed before--the very similar one at Notre Dame in Indiana, and it gave me great solace, but perhaps only because I'd already started on the road of healing from my anguish over it.

So there lies the rub: this young woman perhaps doesn't believe she needs healing, or is at a loss as to even where to look for it and feels desperate. She need only ask her fellow students in Villanovans For Life. I've got to believe they know about places like Rachel's Vineyard and Silent No More.

The ND one is an oft-visited statue, so I'm told. I imagine this one will be as well.

Frankly, the student above is making incorrect assumptions herself, firstly, that the statue is making any such assumption at all.

The VFL article explains why I can say that. (I was able to view the first page, then it asked for free registration)

The monument's actual "name" is "Maternal Bond." Said VFL's Lauren Homans, "It was the perfect image of compassion and love and sorrow."

Just like the "Why Can't We Love Them Both?" book and bumper stickers.

I just really wish the "hysteretics," those who are complaining, those who chose to go to a Catholic school, knowing full well that it is Catholic, would stop. Honestly, to those students, do you really expect to take away what makes the school what it is? Why go there? You're guilty of just what you accuse Villanova of: trying to force your secularism on the Catholic school you chose to attend.

I was saddened that the memorial to professor Mine Ener (mentioned later in the article) was removed under adverse pressure. I felt that, regardless of her mental deterioration leading to the heinous crimes she committed, she deserved better. So, for what my opinion is worth, commentators like Bill O'Reilly (who I never listened to anyway so I can't exactly "boycott" him) can go take a flying leap for trashing Villanova for creating that memorial to Ener. O'Reilly should shut his mouth more often. He takes the "compassionate" out of the "conservative."

I was already hoping my son will add Villanova to his long-list of colleges to apply to. The excellent college-skinny book series, "Choosing the Right College 2006: The Whole Truth about America's Top Schools" by The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), reported this about Villanova (a PDF file):

In the last ten or fifteen years or so, Villanova has witnessed a resurgence in its traditional Catholic identity, which has at times led to conflicts among faculty and students. When Villanova introduced its new "core" curriculum fifteen years ago, "reading Catholic literature and discussing it seriously became the norm on campus," says one professor. "Since then, there are many other things that have continued to promote serious inquiry into Augustinian and Catholic issues, e.g., a requirement in ethics, a brand new department in humanities and Augustinian studies." In 2003, Villanova Law School dean Mark Sargent refused to allow students to use stipends to intern at nonprofit public advocacy firms where the students would be involved in abortion-rights issues, according to a May 2003 Philadelphia Inquirer article. Sargent told the Inquirer, "They are not going as students who happen to attend Villanova. They're going as Villanova law fellows in our name, and therefore associating us with a particular position. A line is crossed."

In fact, a popular student group is Villanovans for Life, which organizes an annual "Respect Life Week," promotes pro-life causes throughout the year, and participates in the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. Pro-abortion groups are not allowed on campus, and the student health center does not offer contraceptives or abortifacients.

...If there is one part of St. Augustine's teaching that is stressed more than any other at Villanova, it is his plea for true Christian charity."

If you like information like that and much, much more on 134 American colleges and universities that you will not find in any other source (I know: I've looked), this guide is worth ten times its weight in gold.


Standing-O kudos and thanks to Villanovans for Life and the administration of one of the few Catholic colleges standing by its beliefs and not cowing to secular pressure.


HT: Dave Pepper

UPDATE: See the note I received from Villanova's student leader on this.