Loyola and CMA
An article in the Oct. 2 Windy City Times about the 71st Annual Meeting of the Catholic Medical Association ( CMA ) [ said it would be held ] , "on the campus of Loyola University," ( Chicago ) .
This is not true. No portion or presentation ( s ) of the CMA Annual Meeting [ were ] be held on Loyola University Chicago, Loyola Stritch School of Medicine or Loyola University Medical Center property. ...
We are very displeased that the story ran as it did as it has caused confusion and concern to our alums and our current students, faculty and staff.
Loyola University Chicago, Loyola University Medical Center and Loyola Stritch School of Medicine are not affiliated with the CMA and we have no role, what-so-ever, in the Catholic Medical Association 2002 Annual Meeting.
Bud Jones, Associate Vice President, Public Relations, Loyola University
In our story "AGLO says Medical Conference is 'An affront to human dignity,"' ( Oct. 2, 2002 ) , the story subhead stated, "Loyola University criticized for hosting anti-gay Catholics." The criticism was leveled by gay Catholic individuals and groups. One dictionary definition of "host" is "The landlord of a hotel." Our headline did not mean to infer that Loyola was co-sponsoring the event, but rather that Loyola property would be used for one CMA event.
While most of the CMA events took place at the Holiday Inn City Centre, the opening mass, held Thursday, Oct. 10 at 6 p.m. celebrated by Bishop Jerome Listecki, was held at the Quigley Seminary Chapel, which is now part of the Loyola Downtown Campus.
Further confusion was inadvertently caused because the location on which the meeting was held was not "the campus of Loyola." In our follow-up story, "Dignity Appalled by CMA Stance on Homosexuality," ( Oct. 9, 2002 ) , the location of the primary event was correctly printed as the Holiday Inn City Center in Chicago.
In a conversation with a representative from media relations at Loyola University, Susan Montgomery, it was clearly stated that "Loyola is not co-sponsoring the event. We are just providing a space." That quote was used in the original story.
In reporting the entire controversy, it should be noted that the connection with Loyola was attacked by gay Catholic groups, and that is why it was relevant to the story. It is also why we contacted Loyola for a response, and ran Montgomery's statement along with the criticism.
While Loyola University did not co-sponsor the conference, and while only one event took place on a Loyola property, one of its professors of pediatrics at Loyola Stritch School of Medicine, Eugene Diamond, M.D., was listed as an author, contributor and editor for the booklet, "Homosexuality and Hope." AGLOChicago director Greg Coloian stated that a response had been received by Francis Cardinal George in which he promised to discuss the issues of concern cited by AGLOChicago regarding the booklet "Homosexuality and Hope." "My concern is for any young homosexual who announces his/her sexuality may run against this document with their priest or physician and be told to change, which may lead to later sexual deviancy or even worse, suicide," Coloian said.
Cardinal George's letter says that he will speak with the people involved in writing "Hope" in order to "clarify their purposes. I doubt that the proposals that are being made will be taken up by the bishops in the near future, simply because they touch on an empirical question not in our competence." George wrote that "The insistence that everyone who has a homosexual orientation can be 'cured' and that there is therapy available for this type of cure is one that has yet to be answered empirically. I'm not sure there is enough evidence to warrant this kind of conclusion." He said while the Church's moral and philosophical statements against homosexuality are clear, the questions about the "psychological roots of homosexuality are deliberately not treated in Church doctrine."
Harrington and Rodde
I was very angry after reading your interview with Michael Harrington in Windy City Times' Oct. 2 edition. You basically accuse Harrington of stealing from the shuttered Rodde Center, but you never presented any evidence to support your allegations. I was floored by your question, "How does Michael Harrington afford property?" You take the attitude that the only good Black man is one dressed in dirty clothes with unkempt hair begging on the street for money. The Harrington interview was unfair and borderline racist. I am sure Windy City Times would not have subjected a white male to such insulting questions.
Frederick H. Lowe, Chicago
FROM THE EDITOR: For almost 10 years, we have "laid off" the Rodde Center story because so few people wanted to discuss this history. Harrington was the last president of an organization that went through more than $200,000 in cash in four years and then folded. Had he been white or female or Latino, questions raised by this would still be relevant. In fact, we have done extremely critical stories of white leaders and institutions, when allegations arise.
Ever since he stepped down, Harrington has never publicly addressed the reasons for the Rodde failure. By avoiding the topic, it allowed the "rumor mill" to go unchecked, and get out of control. Which is why the issues are still relevant today.
This particular issue has reached a critical mass of questions only now because of Harrington's run for office. Had he not accepted the chance to seek an elected office, perhaps the issues would have remained buried.
When we asked for an interview with him, it was with full knowledge that we would address the Rodde issues. The questions had to be asked, and we allowed him to answer them fully. He did not provide us with any Rodde records to back up his side--we went searching and found hundreds of pages of documents, some clear, some not. We ran it as a question-and-answer format precisely because we wanted to provide him the opportunity to address these questions. These are not our questions only--these are questions that Harrington has never, ever addressed in a public forum. Had we ignored the questions, I think we could easily have been accused of going lightly on him simply because he is Black. We try to cover the entire community, bad and good, white or Black.
If you read the analysis piece accompanying the article, it clearly says that we do not believe there was any theft occurring. We had to ask the questions the community has been asking for years--how does one group "lose" or "spend" more than $200,000, and then go out of business?
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I was disappointed with the journalism displayed in your recent analysis of and interview with Michael Harrington, an openly gay aldermanic candidate for Chicago's 49th Ward. While the articles prove that a gay paper in Chicago is willing to go after one of its own, your methods have left many of us questioning your motives.
The timeliness of your research and analysis into The Rodde Fund's demise, now that most records are long lost and many of the principals involved back then are either dead or moved on, would appear to be more than a bit curious.
As a former board member of the Rodde Fund during a period of Harrington's leadership, I can attest that at no time was there ever any hint of malfeasance by any director, staff member, or volunteer. While decisions made by board members ( myself included ) during those years will always deserve to be called into question, no one profited personally by their association with Rodde. ( If anything, just the opposite. ) Furthermore, in the post-Sheffield-sale period during which I was a board member, no board actions or financial records were ever withheld from the press or community. Indeed, access by Outlines or Windy City Times to Rodde board meetings or activities was never restricted or discouraged. The work of The Rodde Fund was not the least bit glamorous during any period of its existence. Rodde provided housing and meeting space to needy GLBT organizations often incapable of raising enough money to meet this need on their own. Many of our community's marquee leaders recognized Rodde's mission for the blue-collar work it was and thus avoided us like a plague.
And at a time when many other community organization boards were being criticized for their white male dominance, Rodde's board make-up was among the most diverse in town. The Fund may have failed ultimately, but it did so serving the needs of community organizations--not because of malfeasance. Voters will decide on the best candidate to serve the needs of the 49th Ward. Let us hope that their decisions will be guided by a fair and accurate representation of all the candidates.
Patrick O'Connor, Chicago
FROM THE EDITOR: We believe we had to ask the questions the community literally has been asking since Rodde folded. Not a month goes by when people have not asked us questions or asked us to do an investigation. We asked, Harrington answered. To avoid the questions themselves would be wrong. They are relevant today because he is seeking office. If you read the news analysis piece accompanying the interview, Windy City Times clearly states that we do not believe there was any theft, just a series of problems that began before Harrington's tenure--but that were certainly impacted by his leadership during the last four years of Rodde.
The fact that Harrington did not address these issues when he departed Rodde meant that for years rumors flourished--and many people even believed he was part of the Sheffield sale. Our interview was meant to allow him to respond to his critics and to questions that were never answered with the sudden closing of the Rodde Fund.
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Windy City Times is to be commended for your recent story on the demise of the Rodde Center and your in-depth interview with the center's last executive director Michael Harrington.
Over the last decade there have been many, many questions raised about what really happened with the Rodde Center and Harrington's involvement. With so many of the Center's principal's either dead or unwilling to talk, we may never really know the whole truth. Nonetheless, WCT is to be commended for trying to answer some of the nagging questions that many of us have had for a long time. You have done this community a great service by addressing this issue and Harrington's involvement in it.
Rick Garcia, Chicago
