Today the Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) praised Bishop Edward Braxton of Belleville, Illinois, for blocking a lecture by dissident theologian Luke Timothy Johnson and called upon Loyola University of Chicago to follow the bishop’s lead and cancel plans for Johnson to lecture there on March 12.

Bishop Braxton canceled Johnson’s lecture at the Catholic NewmanCenter at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, which was scheduled on April 20, because of the theologian’s views on issues including homosexuality and the ordination of women.  He explained his reasons in a letter to the editors of Commonweal, the magazine that is funding Johnson’s lectures.

In solidarity with several bishops across the U.S. who have publicly called upon Catholic institutions—often Catholic colleges and universities—to remain true to their Catholic identity, Bishop Braxton wrote: “I do not wish Catholic institutions or organizations to invite speakers into the diocese who have written articles or given lectures that oppose, deny, reject, undermine or call into question the authentic teachings of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church.”

In a letter today to Bishop Braxton, CNS president Patrick J. Reilly thanked the bishop for his leadership and public witness.

Reilly also wrote Loyola-Chicago president Rev. Michael Garanzini, S.J., urging him to follow Bishop Braxton’s lead and cancel Johnson’s lecture there on March 12.

“How can a leading Catholic university risk misleading its students with a dissenting lecturer who has been declared inappropriate for a secular university?” Reilly wrote.  “It is urgent that Loyola stand firm with the bishops of the Church.”