By Rusty Pugh and Jody Brown
February 13, 2002

(AgapePress) - The leader of a Michigan-based group that promotes traditional values says a Roman Catholic college has no business hosting a homosexual Valentine's Day dance.

A Valentine's Day dance is scheduled for Saturday at Marygrove College, an independent, Catholic, liberal arts college located in Detroit. The dance, however, has one key distinction: it is for homosexuals. Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, objects to publicly flaunting homosexual behavior on a Catholic campus -- especially on a day meant to honor St. Valentine, who was martyred by the Roman empire for defending the institution of marriage between a man and a woman.

Glenn says it is unacceptable for a Catholic school to fly in the face of church doctrine and host an event specifically for homosexuals. He says Marygrove is ignoring a clear directive from the Vatican instructing Catholic bishops not to allow Catholic college facilities to be used by homosexual activist groups. The directive, he says, states such use is subject to "grave misinterpretation ... misleading and often scandalous."

Despite that edict, Glenn says the school's president, Glenda Price, defends the event and has no plans to cancel the dance.

"[Price] has said it's an act of 'Christian charity' to allow a homosexual activist group, hostile to the Catholic Church, to use her campus's facilities," he says. "But we question whether or not the Catholic campus would allow [such groups as] the National Abortion Rights Action League or Satan worshippers to meet [on campus] as a matter of Christian charity. They obviously are in a position to pick and choose."

Glenn says it is interesting that a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Detroit says the Church "does not have a view one way or the other about the dance." Still, he says he is praying that Adam Cardinal Maida will intervene in the matter. He points out that Price, a Baptist, serves as president of Marygrove only with the Cardinal's personal approval.

According to Glenn, Price also appears to be violating Catholic doctrine by allowing a group known as "Dignity Detroit" to use Marygrove's chapel for mass each Sunday. Dignity Detroit is a homosexual activist group composed of Catholics who oppose the Catholic Church's teaching that homosexual behavior is wrong.

© 2002 AgapePress all rights reserved.

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