Benedictine College chose a commencement speaker who insulted their own graduates

May 16, 2024

Usually, when there are controversies involving college commencement speakers, they revolve around the speakers themselves—who they are, what they’ve said in the past, etc. Like when then-Vice President Mike Pence spoke at Notre Dame or more recently when Jerry Seinfeld spoke at Duke.

That’s why Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker may have seemed like an innocuous choice for Benedictine College, a Catholic school in Kansas. If you know anything about him—and you probably don’t—it’s wrapped up in football and not politics.

Butker’s speech, however, was a culture war cannonball in which he channeled Matt Walsh, telling women to remain housewives and baby-makers while trashing abortion rights, LGBTQ people, and progressive Catholics. It was a political speech cloaked in the language of Catholicism.

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Given how this speech has already gone viral, it’s worth looking at some of the lowlights, like when Butker talked about “cultural values”:

While COVID might have played a large role throughout your formative years, it is not unique. Bad policies and poor leadership have negatively impacted major life issues. Things like abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia as well as a growing support for degenerate cultural values and media all stem from the pervasiveness of disorder.

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I am certain the reporters at the AP could not have imagined that their attempt to rebuke and embarrass places and people like those here at Benedictine wouldn’t be met with anger, but instead with excitement and pride. Not the deadly sin sort of pride that has an entire month dedicated to it. But the true God-centered pride that is cooperating with the Holy Ghost to glorify Him.

While slamming abortion, IVF, surrogacy, and euthanasia are perfectly in line with the Vatican, they’re wildly out of step with practicing Catholics. In the U.S., 56% of Catholics who regularly attend Mass support abortion rights in all or most cases. A 2013 survey found that only 13% of Catholics found in vitro fertilization (IVF) morally wrong. A majority of Catholics say people have the moral right to end their own lives in certain circumstances.

U.S. Catholics also, overwhelmingly, support same-sex marriage and gay clergy.

Which is to say: The people in that audience are very likely to support what Butker calls “degenerate cultural values.”

Butker, of all people, should know that by now. In 2022, when abortion rights were up for a vote in Kansas, he filmed an ad urging voters to ban the procedure:

Voters famously rejected that option in shocking fashion.

Then Butker got into the political realm and dismissed the Catholicism of President Joe Biden:

Our own nation is led by a man who publicly and proudly proclaims his Catholic faith but at the same time is delusional enough to make the sign of the cross during a pro-abortion rally. He has been so vocal in his support for the murder of innocent babies that I'm sure to many people it appears that you can be both Catholic and pro-choice. He is not alone. From the man behind the COVID lockdowns to the people pushing dangerous gender ideologies onto the youth of America, they all have a glaring thing in common: They are Catholic. This is an important reminder that being Catholic alone doesn't cut it.

Setting aside the harsh-but-necessary measures during the early phases of COVID (which occurred when Donald Trump was in office), the idea that Biden is not the right kind of religious has been a perpetual right-wing talking point. As if the only kind of religious people are the ones who adhere to every rule handed down from above. (Joe Biden is apparently a bad Catholic, yet white evangelicals flock to Trump even though he openly rejects just about all of their supposed values.)

Again, Biden’s political positions are not dictated by the pope. If he’s a bad Catholic, then so are the majority of Catholics in the U.S. And if the Catholic Church wants to evict all of them from the pews, they would be shooting themselves in the foot because there would be virtually no one left.

You can indeed be Catholic and pro-choice. Most Catholics in America are.

Butker never explained what “dangerous gender ideologies” were being pushed on kids because of course he didn’t. It’s not happening. Transgender people just want to exist without being treated as pariahs or predators; conservatives don’t want them in public spaces or around children. The people calling for inclusion are not the bad guys.

Butker also helped spread an insane conservative conspiracy theory:

Our Catholic faith has always been countercultural. Our Lord along with countless followers were all put to death for their adherence to her teachings. The world around us says that we should keep our beliefs to ourselves whenever they go against the tyranny of diversity, equity and inclusion. We fear speaking truth because now unfortunately truth is in the minority. Congress just passed a bill where stating something as basic as the Biblical teaching of who killed Jesus could land you in jail.

That’s… just not true. He made that up. Butker is a liar.

If you’re wondering where that came from, though, he’s referring to a Republican-led bill that would withhold federal funding from colleges that fail to restrict/punish antisemitic speech. Some right-wing zealots argued that the bill would effectively punish people who claim the Jews killed Jesus. (Even if it did, which it does not, the punishment is not jail time.) That claim was propagated by, among others, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has spread antisemitic lies about Jewish space lasers.

Butker then took a shot as his own teammate… and the team’s most famous fan:

Tragically, so many priests revolve much of their happiness from the adulation they receive from their parishioners, and in searching for this, they let their guard down and become overly familiar. This undue familiarity will prove to be problematic every time, because as my teammate’s girlfriend says “familiarity breeds contempt.”

One surefire way to win over fans, no doubt, is to subtly criticize the most popular player on your team (Travis Kelce) and his girlfriend, Taylor Swift, the most popular person in the world. Swift, of course, has become a billionaire in her own right and her partner had nothing to do with it. She’s an icon to countless young women all over the world.

That fact seemed to bother Butker, who had his own advice for the ladies in the crowd:

For the ladies present today, congratulations on an amazing accomplishment. You should be proud of all that you have achieved to this point in your young lives. I want to speak directly to you briefly because I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you. How many of you are sitting here now, about to cross the stage, and are thinking about all the promotions and titles you’re going to get in your career? Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world. I can tell you that my beautiful wife Isabelle would be the first to say that her life truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.

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… I’m beyond blessed with the many talents God has given me. But it cannot be overstated, that all of my success is made possible because a girl I met in band class back in middle school would convert to the faith, become my wife and embrace one of the most important titles of all: homemaker.

Imagine working your ass off for four years, studying intensely for exams, perhaps working a job on the side to pay for tuition, eager to begin your career, only to have an overpaid athlete tell you you’re wasting your time by not having babies. What an insult to the women in that audience.

Just because his wife apparently didn’t have a life worth living before getting married doesn’t mean all women are worthless unless they’re attached to a man and pregnant.

It’s also the height of arrogance to tell women they should be more like his stay-at-home wife when he has the luxury of a multi-million-dollar paycheck.

The last thing college graduates need is an evangelical-esque sermon on the importance of purity culture and gender norms.

Jessica Valenti points out that one woman who has already rejected Butker’s advice… is his own mother:

Elizabeth Butker is a medical physicist in the oncology department at Emory’s medical school. I don’t know what kind of mommy issues Butker is working through, but it would have been nice if he did so with his therapist rather than from behind a podium.

The biggest takeaway from Butker’s speech is really the fact that none of it was surprising. These policies are what the Republican Party have been pushing for throughout the country, and if they have the votes to enact those ideas at the federal level, they absolutely will. They would gladly make life worse for LGBTQ people, put certain religious beliefs above others, create more obstacles for women in the workplace, etc.

Butker said out loud and bluntly what many elected Republicans say using coded language. That may be the most striking thing about his speech. It doubles as the GOP’s platform. It’s a mix of religious fundamentalism and right-wing paranoia. There’s no room in his world for people he doesn’t understand.

If the students had any sense, they would’ve walked out on him, but that’s asking a lot of people who came to celebrate their own achievements. The better question is why the administration thought that a guy like Butker was the best possible speaker. If a commencement speaker, at the very least, is supposed to represent success and offer students a model of what they could become, what message was the school trying to send? That people who dare to disagree with the Church aren’t welcome at the school? That women who pay tuition are wasting their money? What an irresponsible decision that should haunt Benedictine for years to come.

At one point in the speech, Butker lamented “bad leaders who don't stay in their lane.” He may as well have been referring to himself. He should’ve stuck to football instead of offering bad life advice to students who hopefully know better.

Some professional athletes, thinking about their post-playing careers, consider coaching or becoming a commentator. It’s clear that Butker would much rather be a talking head on conservative channel.

One final note: When the Los Angeles Chargers released their schedule yesterday (in what has become a hilarious social media spectacle for every NFL team), they appeared to show Butker (who wears #7) in the kitchen.

Very nice touch.

That subtle jab didn’t go unnoticed.