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NOTREDAME-MONOLOGUES Apr-5-2006 (560 words) xxxn
Notre Dame to continue staging of 'The Vagina Monologues'
By Catholic News Service
NOTRE DAME, Ind. (CNS) -- The president of the University of Notre Dame has given permission for continued performances on campus of "The Vagina Monologues," a controversial play that explicitly discusses women's sexuality.
Holy Cross Father John I. Jenkins favored the inclusion of panel discussions after future performances in which Catholic teachings on human sexuality are presented as part of a discussion of the issues in the play.
The permission for future performances drew immediate criticism from Bishop John M. D'Arcy of Fort Wayne-South Bend who said he was "deeply saddened by the decision." He had previously asked that performances be ended.
The bishop said he was concerned because he is responsible for "the care of the souls" of the students and "the Catholic identity of Notre Dame" as the university is located in his diocese.
Father Jenkins announced his decision in an April 5 statement. The decision was made after a 10-week review of whether the play should continue to be performed annually on campus.
The review included discussions with faculty, students and administrators, he said.
Father Jenkins said the 2006 performances last February were followed by panel discussions in which students and faculty engaged in dialogue that included the presentation of Catholic teachings.
These panel discussions showed that "the creative contextualization of a play like 'The Vagina Monologues' can bring certain perspectives on important issues into a constructive and fruitful dialogue with the Catholic tradition," he said.
"This is a good model for the future," he said.
Talks with students also produced a proposal that Notre Dame students write and produce their own play, called "Loyal Daughters," which discusses their experiences, he said.
Students would produce this play "in consultation with the faculty advisers they have chosen," said Father Jenkins.
An ad hoc committee of faculty, students and administrators also has been formed to foster discussion of sexual relations and ways of preventing violence to women, he said.
Father Jenkins put the play's review within the overall context of integrating academic freedom with the Catholic character of the university.
He said he made the decision although he believes the play's portrayals of sexuality "stand apart from, and indeed in opposition to, Catholic teaching on human sexuality."
But "there must be room in a university for expressions that do not accord with Catholic teaching, and that is true in the case of this play," he added.
Bishop D'Arcy, in his April 5 statement, referred to his criticism of the play expressed in his Feb. 12 column in Today's Catholic, the diocesan newspaper.
The bishop's column said the play "reduces sexuality to a particular organ of a woman's body separate from the person of the woman, from her soul and her spirit."
The play "depicts in an approving way a sexual relationship between an adult woman and an adolescent girl, a minor," he said.
The bishop said he hoped the 2006 production of the play would be the last at Notre Dame.
The play is based on interviews with more than 200 women and consists of a series of monologues in which women discuss their sexual experiences.
The play is often used on college campuses in conjunction with fundraising events for women's groups and to promote discussion of ways to prevent violence against women. The production of the play has been a controversial issue at several Catholic universities.
END
Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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