Nuns slam Harrison Butker’s college speech for ‘fostering division’

NFL star Harrison Butker’s controversial commencement speech was so out of touch that even the school’s nuns have criticised it.

The sisters of Mount St. Scholastica, a founding institution and sponsor of Benedictine College, the private institution in Kansas where the speech took place, have spoken out to accuse Kansas City Chiefs kicker Butker of ‘fostering division’ with his comments.

Butker, who plays for the same team as Taylor Swift’s boyfriend Travis Kelce, has faced a backlash since delivering his address last week.

During the speech, Butker labelled LGBTQ+ Pride month ‘sinful’ and told female students that the majority of them would be happiest as home-makers, like his wife – whose life, he said, “truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother”. 

‘His comments seem to have fostered division’

Taking to Facebook on 16 May, the school’s nuns hit back, saying his comments did not represent the “Catholic, Benedictine, liberal arts college that our founders envisioned and in which we have been so invested”.

The post went on to say: “Instead of promoting unity in our Church, our nation and the world, his comments seem to have fostered division.” 

The founding of the school goes to show women can do – and be – anything, the nuns added. 

“Our community has taught young women and men not just how to be ‘home-makers’ in a limited sense, but rather how to make a Gospel-centered, compassionate home within themselves where they can welcome others as Christ, empowering them to be the best versions of themselves.

“We reject a narrow definition of what it means to be Catholic. We are faithful members of the Catholic Church who embrace and promote the values of the Gospel, St. Benedict and Vatican II, and the teachings of Pope Francis.” 

The school wishes to be known as inclusive

The nuns’ post added that the school wishes to be known as “inclusive” and a “welcoming community” that embraces “Benedictine values”. 

There are 10 core values which make up a valued life under Benedictine code: love, prayer, stability, conversation (transformation), obedience, discipline, humility, stewardship, hospitality and community. 

Amid the controversy around Butker’s speech, The View’s host Whoopi Goldberg has defended the football star.

Ghost star Goldberg addressed Butker’s sexist and anti-LGBTQ+ comments on the 16 May episode of The View, after a petition calling on the Chiefs to fire him garnered more than 175,000 signatures. 

She highlighted her belief in respecting other people’s opinions, even if they are different from your own. 

Butker has not yet commented publicly about the backlash and the NFL has said his speech conveyed only “his views” and “not those of the NFL as an organisation”.