Monday, August 28, 2006

Georgetown Rejects Evangelical Groups

In the case of Intervarsity it is broad based with both Catholic and Protestant. The issue here seems to be that Evangelicals are not wanted. The more liberal branches of Protestanism are perfectly acceptable.

Georgetown University was the first Roman Catholic college to have a full-time rabbi as a chaplain to serve Jewish students. It also has a full-time imam to serve Muslim students, and has historically been praised for promoting Catholic teachings while welcoming people of many faiths.

As the academic year starts, however, Georgetown is the site of Protestant religious strife. The university’s Protestant ministry has told six evangelical groups that the university’s relationships with them have been “terminated.” The groups will not be allowed to organize worship services, retreats or Bible study, or to participate in the annual open house designed to introduce Georgetown students to various groups. The evangelical groups were also told that they must revise their Web sites so that no Georgetown relationship is implied, and avoid any public statement that they have a ministry at the university.

In a letter to the evangelical groups, Rev. Constance C. Wheeler, the Protestant chaplain at Georgetown, did not offer any reason for the decision, but said that it came “only after much dialogue with the Lord.” University officials characterized the decision as an administrative one, designed largely to ensure better coordination of services for Protestant students. Read More.




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