Minnesota College Professor Incites to Anti-Catholic Hatred and Profanation of the Eucharist

Folks, according to the Catholic League,

Paul Zachary Myers, a professor at the University of Minnesota Morris, has pledged to desecrate the Eucharist. He is responding to what happened recently at the University of Central Florida when a student walked out of Mass with the Host, holding it hostage for several days. Myers was angry at the Catholic League for criticizing the student. His post can be accessed from his faculty page on the university’s website.

Here is an excerpt of his July 8 post, “It’s a Frackin’ Cracker!” [blogger advisory: post and comments are laced with profanity]:

“Can anyone out there score me some consecrated communion wafers?” Myers continued by saying, “if any of you would be willing to do what it takes to get me some, or even one, and mail it to me, I’ll show you sacrilege, gladly, and with much fanfare. I won’t be tempted to hold it hostage (no, not even if I have a choice between returning the Eucharist and watching Bill Donohue kick the pope in the balls, which would apparently be a more humane act than desecrating a goddamned cracker), but will instead treat it with profound disrespect and heinous cracker abuse, all photographed and presented here on the web.”

I followed Mr. Donohue's advice and wrote to President Robert Bruininks at bruin001@umn.edu, which I also invite you to do, stating my utter shock and rejection of Prof. Myer's rant. I also left this little note on Prof. Myer's rant against Bill Donohue:

Mr. Myers you may hold whatever opinions you wish about Catholicism and Catholics, and express them freely. What you cannot do in view of your institution's mission "to empower members of the campus community to particulate fully and thoughtfully in a diverse society - regionally, nationally, and globally" is to incite to hatred.

And you have done that.

In fact, I have some doubts about taking you seriously. I believe that this is a publicity stunt. By and large, you have succeeded. Congratulations. Judging by most of sycophantic reaction I read here, you have achieved that.

The bad example that you have set diminishes the University of Minnesota's efforts to pursue its mission and have in fact, brought dishonor to the University and to you personally. I hereby question your character and your integrity for having done so.

I do, however, believe in redemption and I hope that you come to see that in order to disagree with others you don't have to incite to hatred, and to recognize this realization through a public commitment to state your opinions civilly and thoughtfully in the future.

If you must share with him your thoughts, be civil, courteous, and Christian toward him. Obviously, if more Christians had showed him love in the past, may have had some second thoughts, but apparently, the reaction has been exactly what he wanted to arouse in order to score propaganda points. Let's say he wasn't disappointed in that regard.

Professor Myers belong to the same clique of pseudoscientific propagandists who think atheism is chic, the same ilk of certain popular authors who consider themselves "brights" and everyone else, particularly religious believers, "dim" and worse. That they exist doesn't surprise me, what I find execrable is the open call to conspire to commit a hate crime. Myers is all pumped-off at the attention he's getting and is milking his 15 seconds of sudden fame for all that is worth. But in the end we will be left with his words, his actions, and his hate.  "A great legacy." I ask publicly that the University of Minnesota - Morris holds this gentleman accountable for his very public incitement of hatred toward Catholics.

In a also wrote to University of Central Florida's president John C. Hitt at jhitt@mail.ucf.edu, also at Mr. Donohue's persuasive instigation, and told him this:

Dear Mr. Hitt:

I want to express my profound disgust at an act of desecration perpetrated by a student in your institution, who after attending Mass took a consecrated host "hostage" to protest students fees for religious services.

The student's actions has snowballed and now a virulently anti-Catholic professor from the University of Minnessota has invited students to send him consecrated hosts in order to publicly desecrate them.

Desecrating a consecrated host is a vile act which your institution should see as hate speech. I hope that the student is disciplined for having broken whatever civility and "diversity" code your institution adheres to.

Yours in Christ,
P.

I received an immediate reply:

Mr. Vega:

UCF takes this situation seriously. We encourage students to express their views respectfully, and we expect them to comply with university codes of conduct.

Any disciplinary action will be handled through the university’s student judicial system, per our published procedure.

John C. Hitt
President, UCF

I am glad someone is.

Read also: Has Professor Myers engaged in a hate crime? - the next post on the subject right here on Vivificat!