Church Leaders Shame Catholic University For Accepting Koch Dollars

[babylonsister]

Church Leaders Shame Catholic University For Accepting Koch Dollars

By Igor Volsky on December 16, 2013 at 3:48 pm


A group of 50 Catholic leaders are criticizing the president of the Catholic University of America (CUA) for accepting a $1 million donation from a foundation controlled by Charles Koch, arguing that his ideological agenda is not in line with Catholic theology.

The money will be used to support the University’s business school and underwrite the hiring of three visiting scholars and a “visiting scholar-practitioner from the business world.” Charles, along with his brother David, run Koch Industries and fund a wide array of front-groups and lobbying efforts to expand their anti-tax, anti-regulatory agenda.

“The Koch brothers are billionaire industrialists who fund organizations that advance public policies that directly contradict Catholic teaching on a range of moral issues from economic justice to environmental stewardship,” the group of priests, social justice advocates, theologians and other academics write. They point to Pope Francis’ strong condemnation of trickle-down economics and the importance of business serving the common good:

As you well know, Catholic social teaching articulates a positive role for government, an indispensable role for unions, just tax policies, and the need for prudent regulation of financial markets in service of the common good. We are concerned that by accepting such a donation you send a confusing message to Catholic students and other faithful Catholics that the Koch brothers’ anti- government, Tea Party ideology has the blessing of a university sanctioned by Catholic bishops.

While the Koch brothers lobby for sweeping deregulation of industries and markets, Pope Francis has criticized trickle-down economic theories, and insists on the need for stronger oversight of global financial markets to protect workers from what he calls “the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly humane goal.”

The Koch brothers don’t live up to these ideals, they argue, noting their history of undermining workers’ efforts to unionize in Wisconsin, funding conservative organizations that oppose the expansion of universal health care, and operating a company that “has an abysmal environmental record.”

Charles and David Koch also have a long history of using academia to advance their business and political interests. In 2008, Florida State University entered into an agreement with The Charles Koch Charitable Foundation in which the foundation would provide millions of dollars in funds for the school’s economics department and would allow them a free hand in selecting professors and approving publications. The foundation wasted little time in asserting its influence. In 2009, it denied 60 percent of the faculty’s suggestions to fill the positions in the new programs, called the Study of Political Economy and Free Enterprise (SPEFE) and Excellence in Economics Education (EEE).

more...

http://thinkprogress.org/home/2013/12/16/3071691/catholic-leaders-shame-catholic-university-accepting-koch-dollars-brothers-contradict-catholic-teaching-range-moral-issues/

[Smarmie Doofus]

1. Good sum-up of Koch tactics and influence here:

http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/investigations/the_koch_club/story/Koch_millions_spread_influence_through_nonprofits/

[tosh]

2. K&R.

[sheshe2]

3. K&R! nt

[freshwest]

4. Plus a million! Calling them out has to happen from all sides. Put the Kochoctopus down. n/t

[hue]

5. This needs greater exposure!! Happening at more universities every day!

[loudsue]

6. That is GREAT that the Koch heads are being called what they are publicly by the church!!!

YAY!!!! Take the Koch money, and turn their philosophy away. Teach every student WHY the Koch methods won't work for real people.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

7. bout time the liberal christians started speaking against the usurpers

They need to claim their ethics back from the (im)moral "majority"