The College Fix

A contraception and population control advocate is set to speak at Boston College today, which some Catholics say is a slap in the face to the church’s belief system.

Extreme environmentalist Bill McKibben, a scholar in residence at Middlebury College who travels the country speaking on campuses about various green causes and equates environmentalism with the American Civil Rights movement, will give a speech as part of the private Catholic university’s Lowell Humanities Series events.

Some Catholics are not amused.

John Ritchie, director of TFP Student Action, a conservative student Catholic advocacy group, told The College Fix that “Bill McKibben wants America to look like communist China by attempting to impose a draconian one-child policy on every American family.”

“Communists and radical environmentalist share a common goal: the destruction of the family,” Ritchie said in an email. “What makes McKibben’s scheduled appearance at Boston College most appalling is the fact that he promotes abortion-inducing drugs and homosexual ‘marriage.’ Thus, he openly promotes behavior that offends God and undermines the time-honored Catholic identity of Boston College.”

The Cardinal Newman Society, a conservative Catholic education and news organization, has also weighed in on McKibben’s scheduled appearance at Boston College, writing that the Jesuit institution “will be hosting one of the world’s leading environmentalists who has publicly advocated contraception and voluntary sterilization as a means of curbing population growth.”

“In his book Maybe One: A Case for Smaller Families, McKibben discussed his vasectomy and urged others to consider stopping at one child. Slate Magazine called the book McKibben’s ‘vasectomy memoir,’ ” the society reports.

The group also mentions an op-ed McKibben coauthored that called for population control as the world’s population hits 7 billion, noting: “If all the world’s parents, particularly women, had access to the basic contraceptives they already want — condoms, pills, IUDs — we’d see a huge increase in human well being, and in our efforts to stabilize climate change and conserve resources.”

The Cardinal Newman Society in its piece also cited examples in which McKibben has joked about the Stations of the Cross and advocated for same-sex marriage.

Boston College officials did not respond to emails from The College Fix to speak on the appropriateness of McKibben’s visit to a Catholic institution.

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