The Chronicle:

Georgetown University has barred Protestant ministries run by outside groups from conducting activities on its campus, The Hoya reported last week. Groups composed solely of students will not be affected by the move, the student-run newspaper said.

Six outside groups, including the Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, both national organizations, were informed of the decision in a letter this month from the Rev. Constance C. Wheeler, a Protestant chaplain at Georgetown. The move followed a restructuring of the Roman Catholic university’s Office of Campus Ministry.

Leaders and student members of the affected groups told The Washington Post that there had been “a growing lack of trust” between Georgetown officials, especially over the issue of whether the organizations proselytize. A Georgetown official, however, said the move was intended to create a stronger Protestant presence within the campus ministry and to rely less on outside groups.

And, as is often the case, the best line came from a comment on this post:

It might be more accurate to say that the goal is to make the Protestant presence symbolic and innocuous.

What makes it even better is the default pastoral conversation-stopper the university chaplain used in her letter to the groups:

While we realize this comes as a great disappointment, please know we are moving forward with this decision only after much dialogue with the Lord.

The letter, by the way, was dated August 14 but wasn’t delivered until August 17.

Does Georgetown have the legal right to do this? Of course.

Is it the right decision? Maybe, especially if the relationships between the outside groups and the campus ministry office were strained, as the Hoya reported (though it’s hard to tell which side might be to blame for the strained relationships). But probably not since it doesn’t seem there was any real effort toward reconciliation and a better working relationship.

And the timing and way Georgetown went about it was despicable.