No, of course, former Speaker, and new Catholic, Newt Gingrich has not been barred from speaking at Catholic colleges or universities, and I am not holding my breathe that he will be. Nor, do I think he should be. But, he spent much of last night debating immigration reform in a way that "wounds the unity" of the Church on this important moral issue. He has "gone behind the back" of the bishops. He has been "disloyal" to the bishops' on this issue, in danger of setting up a "parallel magisterium." Not bad for someone who was a Baptist five minutes ago.
Of course, Mr. Gingrich's way of being a Catholic is different from mine. And, he is completely and thoroughly wrong on immigration. But, he has every right to hold the views he does and no Catholic college wounds its Catholic identity by having this dissenter on its campus.
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