StFX is an excellent university, but it is not a Catholic university. A Catholic name does not a Catholic school make. I guess you just ignored the part where I said it's a publicly funded institution. In Nova Scotia, no religious education institution can receive public funding. StFX had to remove their Catholic ties in order to receive public funding - I am not 100% sure, but I believe the continued residence of several retired members of the Catholic faculty from this changeover is funded by the local diocese. Trust me. It is not a Catholic school. I went there. I lived on campus for 5 years. I am well aware of the difference.
I have already explained the vestiges, but I'll do it again, in hopes it becomes more apparent this time. StFX does indeed have a Catholic heritage. It was originally founded with the help of the local Church. This control changed in the 1970s as secularization became an important part of continuing education in Canada, removing the Church from all operational control and influence. Since then, we have only a few remnants of Catholicism in the school. One is that some retired members of faculty who were employed by the Roman Catholic Church still live at StFX. Another is that they like to put crosses on new buildings to maintain a consistent look. Some buildings are named after members of the church - and have been since the 60s. There are a couple student groups that identify as Catholic, but they are not officially run by the university - the exact opposite, as their strength rises and falls with the strength of student leaders. These are minor vestiges that have no official role.
But the president of StFX is not Catholic. There are no members of the Roman Catholic Church on the executive, and I think one retired professor in the Senate. The leadership of the school is not a Catholic organization. Priests and nuns and monks do not teach. There is no requirement to go to church. No student is required to pray, give thanks, or take communion. Many students practice other religions and the University punishes people who discriminate against any religion. The campus chapel is non-denominational and can be used for any sort of religious service. At no point during the application or education or graduation process did anyone ask me if I am a Catholic. I was not required to provide proof of confirmation to attend. It is not a Catholic school, and simply by looking at a name and pointing, you cannot make it so. You do not get to move goalposts or alter facts to suit your desired outcome, not on this one.
Are you talking about the people who are loyal Catholics, or those of us who are not? I can assure you that as an atheist member of this highly religious community, I fear the influence of the Catholic Church. It has limited my advancement opportunities, health care options, and made it difficult to engage in the harmless hobbies I enjoy. But the local Catholics? mate, they love it. They're not afraid, they're willing participants. This isn't a town that fears the Church - it is a town that loves it.
There's lots of people who follow the Catholic religion at StFX. I have no problem with people who worship Catholic but think on their own and ascribe to strong humanist principles. The point I was attempting to make, the point lost, I suppose, is that most people who go to a Catholic Church in this town use Official Catholic Values as their own. They dislike gay people, people who use contraception, they dislike sex education, they dislike the idea of divorce, they dislike a hell of a lot of things as told from the pulpit. So, yes, I have no problem if a person calls themselves Catholic but behaves like a civilized, progressive human being. The thing is that most Catholics that I know, openly worshipful Catholics, don't. Most Catholic priests I know don't. priests have no power. So yes, I blame the average Catholic who stays silent when a priest says my friend Natalie can never have a real marriage, or I blame the average Catholic who keeps going to Church and paying into a diocese that has admitted to knowingly harbouring and protecting sex offenders, and allowing them space and confidentiality with which to reoffend. That's power given to the priests too, and they fucking know it.
So, when I talk about Catholics here, I mean people who are Catholic and don't try to change the Church but are happy with the vileness and hatred that burbles from within. Priests, Bishops, and laypersons.
Since my university is a public, secular, non-religious school, this question doesn't really apply. I would have attended neither a Catholic nor a Baptist institution.
The population isn't being forced to go. They like it. They give the priests the power, and they do so happily and willingly. A priest with an empty church is powerless. Paul felt the same way - he talked about youth voting with their feet, because why would they go to a church that is against the values of the young? If the average person who found himself at some odds with the Church left (as many have, but not enough, not nearly enough) then the Church would lose it's power. Yes, I blame the priests who manipulate, but I also blame the person who enables. It's a cycle. Neither the priest nor the worshiper are more or less at fault. It is a system that encourages indoctrination and obedience from a young age to reward a priesthood that then encourages indoctrination - no different in action than the Communist Party in a Warsaw Pact state, if different in ability to execute. But that's what the Church wants. Kids who show up and are loyal and listen, even if they don't always follow. It's a vicious, brutal cycle.
Well, yes, he will, if he ever changes anything at all and isn't all talk. But I bet the bishops in places like Mexico, Africa, and southeastern Europe will be even more resistant. Look at the gay marriage amendment that just passed in Croatia (I think?) - that was with the full backing of the Catholic Church. They're winning there and the new Pope is talking about pulling back. They'll give the real pushback. The guys in North America just get more press because they live near the news outlets, and they have to be louder. They're losing.
j/k, j/k.