Mar 8, 2006 / 22:00 pm
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal this week involving a constitutional challenge to an anti-Catholic statue. The statue, located on the campus of Washburn University in Kansas, depicts a Catholic bishop with a grotesque facial expression wearing a miter that resembles a phallus.
The statue is called “Holier than Thou” and includes a plaque with a derisive statement about the sacrament of reconciliation. It first appeared on campus in September 2003. Washburn is a public university, supported by tax dollars.
Many prominent Catholics criticized the statue, including Archbishop James Keleher of Kansas City, the Catholic League, the Knights of Columbus and the Archdiocesan Conference of Catholic Women. The bishop wrote an open letter to the university president strongly urging the school to remove the offensive statue.
However, the university refused, defending the display as art that has the purpose of engaging the community intellectually and emotionally.