“Cultural appropriation” is a term you may be hearing a lot these days particularly on college campuses. A good definition of cultural appropriation (one we simple folk can comprehend) is: the adoption of intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artifacts from a culture without the consent of the people who belong to that culture. The theft is made all the more egregious by the fact that, typically, it involves a dominant group exploiting a less privileged group.

In the cult of Progressivism, cultural appropriation is a cardinal sin, irrefutable evidence of the privilege and bigotry of the appropriators.

So why is a bastion of Progressivism like Marquette University participating in this evil practice? One would think they would have learned their lesson after the Warriors fiasco: you are not a Native American university; therefore, you cannot use a Native American mascot. Yet, after nearly five decades of making it clear they have no serious regard for the University’s Catholic founding or of Church teaching, Marquette leaders continue to call their once great institution a Catholic university.

Why? Because there are still enough consumers out there for whom the mere claim of “Catholic” justifies Marquette’s charging tuition rates significantly higher than UW-Milwaukee or UW-Madison even though the educational experience is the same.

When challenged on this, as they often are, Marquette will point to Catholic elements found here and there on campus like Masses, crosses, Roman collars and student service projects as proof of its “Catholic identity.” For the poorly catechized and/or lukewarm—i.e. the vast majority of self-identified Catholics today—this suffices. For practicing Catholics, these remnants are recognized as mere window dressing in a superstore of Progressive moral relativism being used to fleece unsuspecting customers into paying twice what they should for a secular education. Alas—cultural appropriation. And not just cultural appropriation but cultural appropriation for profit.

For shame Marquette! It’s understood that you no longer take seriously the reality of sin as God defines it, but here you are committing sin as the cult of Progressivism defines it. In the name of all that is politically correct and socially just, we practicing Catholics demand—just as did the Native Americans in 1994—that you cease appropriating and disrespecting our culture and immediately drop all claims of “Catholic” from your marketing and curriculum.

After all, being guilty of faithlessness and heresy is one thing, but privilege and bigotry? Deplorable!