Ahead of Matt Walsh’s highly anticipated remarks at Saint Louis University, the second location secured for the event abruptly canceled, claiming Walsh’s public statements do not align with the Catholic Church’s, according to a tip received through Young America’s Foundation’s Campus Bias Tipline.
St. Francis Xavier College Church agreed to host the event, which is part of the Robert and Patricia Herbold Lecture Series, after SLU tried to force Walsh to remain masked while speaking in a campus building, despite allowing unmasked speakers as recently as two weeks ago. However, the church suddenly canceled on Tuesday morning, one day before the event, leaving the hosting organization to try and find another location last minute. Luckily, the event will go on as scheduled at a new venue, The Coronado ballroom.
St. Francis Xavier College Church told YAF “a lot of the public comments he has made are not in line with our Catholic values.”
When pressed on which comments they were referring to, they pointed YAF to the church’s statement.
The statement does not reference any specific comments, instead referring to them broadly.
“…we cannot in good conscience give him a platform to speak.”
They claim to particularly take issue with “his stances on immigration, on communities of color, on Muslims, and on members of the LGBTQ community…”
Initially, Walsh was set to speak on campus, however, the administration was determined to make that as difficult as possible, requiring that he be masked for the duration of his speech and attempting to mandate vaccine passports for audience members.
According to SLU, “Matt Walsh would not fall under our category of professional performers and would instead be considered a guest lecturer/speaker. Therefore, he would need to be masked while indoors on any part of our St Louis campus.”
In violation of this supposed policy, the school allowed Steve Burns from Blue’s Clues to speak to students on November 2, unmasked. The visit, in all of its unmasked glory, was well documented on Facebook.
On November 16, Dr. Miguel De La Torre spoke in the Busch Student Center—unmasked—according to posts made to the Theological Studies at SLU Instagram account.
SLU did not respond to YAF’s request for comment in time for publication.
Despite canceling Walsh’s event, St. Francis Xavier College Church is promoting an event on “environmental racism” on December 7.
The church’s website also features an image of George Floyd depicted as Jesus Christ in the Racism and Reconciliation section. This is the same image that recently made headlines after being featured on Catholic University’s campus in Washington, D.C.
According to the SLU College Republicans, they were also banned from any form of print advertising for 30 days because their materials did not feature a masked Billiken, something that is not required in the school’s policy.
Clearly, the school and its affiliates are determined to stop Walsh’s visit to SLU. Unfortunately for them, YAF and the SLU College Republicans are not going to back down to the woke mob. Walsh’s message is the truth, and aligns with the Catholic faith, whether this supposedly Catholic university wants to accept it or not. The students at SLU are an example for YAF activists across the country to never bow down. To find out more information on how to attend this event, click here.