WASHINGTON (CNS) — The top financial administrator of a Catholic university in Miami has resigned rather than step down from the board of the parent company of a manufacturer of weapons, including semiautomatic rifles such as the AR-15, which was recently used in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
As chief financial officer at Miami’s St. Thomas University, Anita Britt had been facing backlash for being on the board of American Outdoor Brands Corp., parent company of weapons maker Smith & Wesson, which in late 2016, changed its corporate name from Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. to American Outdoor Brands.
She was hired as CFO of the university in December but resigned March 13 after officials from the school told her to resign from the company’s board if she wanted to keep her position at the Catholic institution, according to various news reports. She had accepted the board position after being hired at St. Thomas.
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The Miami Herald reported March 13 that Msgr. Franklyn M. Casale, president of the university, said he “came to the conclusion that St. Thomas was being associated with gun violence and that was not an image I thought was good for the university.”
Community members circulated a petition asking her to resign the board position after the Feb. 14 mass shooting that left 17 dead.
Initially, university leaders said they saw no conflict, but the Miami Herald said public reaction, as well as faculty reaction, led Msgr. Casale to ask Britt to resign her board position if she wanted to stay at St. Thomas.
For years, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has pushed for stricter gun control and urged lawmakers to discuss solutions to gun violence.
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“For years, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has pushed for stricter gun control and urged lawmakers to discuss solutions to gun violence.” … none of these things are suggesting that the CCB has any issue with the manufacturers of guns, so why force someone off the board of a manufacturer?
With motor vehicles claiming as many lives as firearms each year, will the university also require any of their board members to resign?
Amen to that Judi.
To be fired from a Catholic University for being affiliated with a completely legal company reeks of third world despotism. And we complain when a secular college indoctrinates students about homosexualism, abortion, and ostracizes them for Christian beliefs.
There is no gun violence, only people violence. Cain killed Able with a rock, long before guns were invented. Your government will never be able to protect you. Wake up sheeple and protect your 2nd Admendment right.
Methinks Judi, (comment, 03-16-2018) is closer to being correct. One of the lessons of WWII was from (see web): Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) a prominent Protestant pastor who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps.
Niemöller is perhaps best remembered for the quotation:
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. (SWN {my} addendum: At least, no one with a gun except those trying to silence and do away with me. Did the citizens of Germany have a Second Amendment enabling them to (by arms) protect themselves…..and their families?)
Church is not weak but the men in charge for the most part are.
Wow! This is a disgrace! The media and the left wing bullies pressuring yet another Catholic institution to crawl up into a fetal position in the corner. It is a God-given right to protect yourself. There is NO conflict here. Just wait until they come after us for not allowing two men to get married in a Church. The day is coming my friends. The Church is weak and they worry more about public opinion and money in the collection box than true Catholic teachings.
God have mercy!!!