Columbia Catholic Ministry / Facebook
CV NEWS FEED // Fr. Roger Landry, the Catholic chaplain for Columbia University and the Thomas Merton Institute for Catholic Life, has issued a personal response to the ongoing student protests that have ravaged the university’s campus since the morning of April 17.
“Catholics at Columbia are trying to respond as good Catholics do to any situation,” Fr. Landry wrote in a statement emailed to CatholicVote on May 2. “As Catholics we should never be defined by what we ‘protest’ against but by what we fight for, and that’s for the dignity of every person made in God’s image.”
In most recent events, according to AP News’ live updates, Columbia University officials followed through on a threat of suspension for students who refused to leave their encampment by April 29. The next day, protestors took over Hamilton Hall, barricaded its entrances, and hung a “Free Palestine” banner from a window.
Riot police arrived “hours later,” at the University’s request, and stormed the building and the encampments removing dozens of protestors.
In response to the escalating situation, Fr. Landry remarked that “it’s normal in the face of injustice for students to want to do something.”
“It’s particularly tempting for gifted Columbia students to think that campus protests will resolve a 76-year-old seemingly intractable political dispute halfway around the world,” he continued, “but we have tried to focus on what we can definitely do to improve the situation here, through our prayer and charity toward students impacted.”
Fr. Landry emphasized that the Catholic community at Columbia has prayed continuously for peace in the Middle East at every Mass, and since the encampments began, for peace on and around campus. In addition, the chaplain reported two additional extended periods of Eucharistic adoration since the start of the protests, during which he “encouraged students to ‘encamp’ before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.”
Students have also organized rosaries, in which they appealed to “Mary, Queen of Peace,” in light of the tumultuous situation.
Fr. Landry also wrote that he has urged Columbia’s Catholics to complete “concrete acts of charity,” by making a concerted effort “to reach out to those they know who are Jewish, who are Palestinian, who are from Israel or Gaza, and to check how they’re doing and to ask how they individually, or we collectively, might help.”
For his part, Fr. Landry told CatholicVote he has reached out to Columbia’s Campus Rabbi Yonah Hain, and to the Muslim Life Coordinator, Ebad Rahman, “to see how I can support them as friends in the care they are trying to give to those they serve.”
Ultimately, the chaplain stated, many students “are frustrated that the protests, while doing nothing to affect the humanitarian situation in Gaza, have instead dramatically altered their campus life: their classes, exams, even access to campus.”
“Many are likewise upset and concerned that the radicals on campus have hurt the reputation of every Columbia student, which they believe, among other consequences, may make future employers hesitate to hire them,” he concluded.
