The College Fix

Campus theatre keeps showing erotic and anti-Catholic films

The University of Notre Dame’s theatre has a penchant for showing erotic and anti-Catholic films, drawing criticism from at least one female student.

The Browning Cinema on campus showed movies including “Conclave,” which ends with a female posing as a male being named the new pope. Other films included “Babygirl,” which contains “extensive nudity, homosexual relationships, and instances of masturbation and pornography,” according to the Irish Rover. The movie (pictured) is about a CEO who has an affair with her intern.

The conservative student newspaper also noted that reviews of the film said the movie has “extremely long, graphic sexual scenes.” The gender studies program helped sponsor the screening, according to the Rover.

These films, and others, were criticized by Bridgette Rodgers in an opinion piece for the Rover.

She wrote:

This blatant disregard for Church teaching must end. If the Catholic Church teaches that civil authorities have a responsibility to prohibit pornography in society, then Notre Dame holds an even greater duty. We ask that [university president Fr. Dowd] and his administration immediately end the exposure of students to pornographic and dehumanizing material. We’ve had enough.

Rodgers also addressed the alleged “academic freedom” arguments for showing the pornographic movies.

“The purpose of genuine academic freedom is a discovery of and adherence to the truth,” she said. “This film is completely alien to the search for truth that we aspire to as a Catholic university.”

The theatre previously hosted a drag show on campus as part of a one-credit course, which drew criticism from female Catholic students as well.

“This event is not for the sake of study or dialogue; it is not the result of a faculty or students’ research; it is not for the sake of academic inquiry,” female students Merlot Fogarty and Madelyn Stout wrote in 2023.

“Three male ‘artists’ are being paid to parade around in provocative women’s clothing under the guise of ‘self-expression’ and ‘bodily autonomy,’” they wrote.

“If this is academic freedom, then the phrase is meaningless. Academic freedom should not be used as a weapon of opinionized activism.

They also said the drag show demeaned women and violated their dignity.

However, the professor of the course said she did not see any conflict between drag and the teachings of the Catholic Church.

“Notre Dame is an institute of higher learning engaged in intellectual inquiry,” Professor Pamela Wojcik told The College Fix in 2023. “I don’t see any conflict with the university mission or culture in the course. I believe our students have the right to consider truths about all topics.”

MORE: Harvard grad students whine about event on Musk, cost-cutting

IMAGE: A24/YouTube

Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter