The holy wars have not been canceled yet, despite what you may have heard on cable news. In New York City, the largest Catholic school in the Big Apple recently canceled the celebration of Columbus Day. That would be St. John’s, which you may have thought would be the one place where such traditions might be honored. That’s not the case, however. At issue is the university’s decision to “cancel” Columbus Day. Why? Because it doesn’t pay sufficient homage to Native Americans Day, of course. So Columbus has been politicized out of existence at St. John’s. (NY Post)
St. John’s — New York’s largest Catholic university — has gone woke and no longer refers to Monday’s holiday as “Christopher Columbus Day’’ in honor of the explorer hailed as a devout Christian.
Some Italian-American civic leaders and alumni are now ripping the Catholic institution for dissing the famous but controversial Italian explorer.
“To not acknowledge Columbus is insane,” said Angelo Vivolo, president of the Columbus Heritage Coalition. “Of course it’s an insult.”
Former Brooklyn state Assemblyman Peter Abbate, a St. John’s alum who earned a bachelor’s degree in history and political science, agreed.
So what was the “compromise” that was worked out? The school calendar now lists the day as “fall mini-break – university closed. No classes.” How very worshipful of them. Columbus was originally thrown under the bus when Bill de Blasio was the Mayor. He declared that Columbus brutalized and enslaved the indigenous people and, as such, could not be so honored by the City.
But Bill de Blasio was a secular activists trying to please the far left wing of his party. St. John’s is essentially the definition of what passes for a religious institution in the modern-day Saddam and Gomorrah that New York City has become. It was supposed to be a final bastion from the storm. How did this happen?
Even the city’s sanitation department came up with a better compromise than that. They previously declared that on Monday, Oct. 14, there would be “no trash, curbside compost or recycling collection” because of “Italian Heritage Day/Indigenous Peoples’ Day.” Granted, they still took the “Columbus” out of Columbus Day and worked in the Indigenous People angle, but they at least kept the Italian angle alive. No such nod was offered by St. John’s however.
How much further can New York City fall? It’s hard to avoid the feeling that some sort of reckoning is on the way. And when an institution like St. John’s joins in on the decline, the bottom may be approaching quickly.
