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Catholic University of America fires professor who invited ‘abortion doula’

University upholds Catholic mission

Catholic University of America fired a psychology instructor who brought an “abortion doula” to class and apologized for letting it happen.

The Daily Signal originally reported on the presentation by Rachel Carbonneau, a guest of psychology lecturer Melissa Goldberg. Carbonneau formerly taught English at the Catholic university in Washington, D.C.

The university has since confirmed to the Daily Signal that Goldberg has been fired.

Carbonneau said she is an “abortion doula” who claims she has helped men give birth.

“I have some men who have given birth; it’s amazing, we call it seahorse birth. It’s lovely, especially when it’s a water birth; it’s fantastic,” she (pictured) said.

For clarification, Carbonneau has never assisted a male in giving birth. She has assisted women, who have confusion about their gender and identify as men, in childbirth.

Daily Signal obtained audio of the class from a pro-life nursing student named Felipe Avila.

“The fundamental point is to understand human development from conception to natural death, right? And they brought in someone who counsels women to terminate life,” Avila said. (Avila is a former student activist of mine from Students for Life of America).

Carbonneau also used terms like “birthing person,” instead of “woman.”

MORE: More Christian colleges promote abortion post-Dobbs

The university correctly criticized the speaker and barred her from coming to classes in the future.

“The Catholic University of America was appalled to learn about reports regarding this guest speaker,” the university told the news outlet. “It does not reflect our mission and values as a university that is committed to upholding the dignity of life at all stages.”

CUA should be thanked and applauded for righting a wrong.

After all, Goldberg either knew that her speaker is an abortion doula who runs a pro-LGBT group or she failed to practice basic prudence in investigating the speakers coming to her class. Either reason seems reasonable grounds for firing.

While CUA did the right thing, other Catholic universities have not. The University of Notre Dame, for example, not only allowed a professor to host a drag show on campus, but also allowed an abortion doula to speak at a different event.

Catholic universities, however, have a unique mission that separates them from non-religious private colleges or public universities. Their duty is to train men and women to be truth-seeking, virtuous individuals and incorporate religion into academic work.

Writing in 1990, St. Pope John Paul II stated:

Scientific and technological discoveries create an enormous economic and industrial growth, but they also inescapably require the correspondingly necessary search for meaning in order to guarantee that the new discoveries be used for the authentic good of individuals and of human society as a whole. If it is the responsibility of every University to search for such meaning, a Catholic University is called in a particular way to respond to this need: its Christian inspiration enables it to include the moral, spiritual and religious dimension in its research, and to evaluate the attainments of science and technology in the perspective of the totality of the human person

Catholic universities, he wrote in the papal document “Ex Corde Ecclesiae,” are “to assure in an institutional manner a Christian presence in the university world confronting the great problems of society and culture.”

MORE: Tulane professor says schools should train students to be abortion activists

IMAGE: Family-Ways.com; College Fix edits

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About the Author
Associate Editor
Matt has previously worked at Students for Life of America, Students for Life Action and Turning Point USA. While in college, he wrote for The College Fix as well as his college newspaper, The Loyola Phoenix. He previously interned for government watchdog group Open the Books. He holds a B.A. from Loyola University-Chicago and an M.A. from the University of Nebraska-Omaha. He lives in northwest Indiana with his family.