A Georgetown University report critical of faith-based approaches to fighting HIV/AIDS is the latest sign that the nation’s first Catholic university is quickly becoming a strategic platform for anti-Catholic activity.

Ray Ruddy, president of the Gerard Health Foundation, has publicly called on Georgetown to retract a report published in November by the university’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, titled “Faith Communities Engage the HIV/AIDS Crisis.” An analysis by Harvard University HIV/AIDS expert Dr. Edward Green found that the report “castigates the Catholic Church in particular and the faith-based community in general” while promoting condom distribution, as reported by InsideCatholic.com.

“For 15 years, the Cardinal Newman Society has called upon Georgetown University to reclaim its rich Catholic heritage and embrace the Church with love and trust, not dissent and efforts to undermine the bishops,” said CNS President Patrick J. Reilly. “We urge Georgetown not to cause further embarrassment prior to the Holy Father’s visit in April, and to retract its pro-condom propaganda.”

Last September, Georgetown’s law school adopted a policy to provide funding to law students that intern with public interest organizations regardless of their mission, including anti-Catholic and pro-abortion lobbies. The Cardinal Newman Society called on Georgetown University President John DeGioia to overturn the policy.

Georgetown has a long history of other scandals, including professors engaged in the crusade for physician-assisted suicide, annual performances of the obscene and offensive play The Vagina Monologues, support for homosexual activism, and a public protest against Vatican Cardinal Francis Arinze during his 2003 commencement address at Georgetown. These and other concerns are described by Reilly in an April 2006 article in Catholic World Report, which is available here.

Founded in 1993, the Cardinal Newman Society works to strengthen and renew Catholic identity at America’s Catholic colleges and universities. The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College was published by CNS in November and recommends 21 colleges based on their Catholic identity.