(LifeSiteNews) — The Jesuit-run University of Scranton announced that it has hired former U.S. Senator Bob Casey Jr. (D-PA) as a “Distinguished Fellow in Public Service.”

“It would be laughable if it wasn’t so sad,” wrote The American Spectator’s Francis P. Sempa, a 1981 graduate of the school.

“University President Joseph G. Marina, S.J., said Casey is ‘perfect’ for the role of ‘forming men and women to be agents of social change,’ noted Sempa. “Perhaps Casey will enlighten students on his Catholic intellectual and philosophical journey from pro-life politician to pro-abortion politico.” 

“As the national Democratic Party became America’s pro-abortion party, Casey, unlike his father, jumped on the pro-abortion bandwagon,” said Sempa. 

Casey’s father adamantly opposed abortion, and the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey Supreme Court decision that reaffirmed Roe v. Wade bore his name.

In 2022, Casey junior officially moved away from his prior claims of being pro-life and endorsed abortion through the moment of birth.

During his tenure on Capitol Hill, Casey has posted a mixed record on abortion. He voted for the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act in 2019 but has supported sending taxpayer dollars to abortion giant Planned Parenthood.

Politico reported in 2018 that Casey “has become an increasingly reliable vote in support of abortion rights — scoring as high as 100 percent on NARAL Pro-Choice America’s vote tally in 2016 and 2017.”

Casey has also consistently voted in favor of LGBTQ rights, and has been endorsed by the LGBTQ lobbying powerhouse, The Human Rights Campaign and GLAAD. 

Most recently he was a cosponsor of the so-called the “Respect for Marriage Act,” which enshrined same-sex “marriage” in federal law.

Sempa questioned the Jesuit university’s rationale for hiring Casey.

“While Casey Jr. apparently betrayed his pro-life position and abandoned the pro-life cause for political reasons — forgetting the words of St. Thomas More in the movie A Man for All Seasons that “it profits a man nothing to gain the whole world if he should lose his soul” — what is the University of Scranton’s excuse?” asked Sempa.  

“Why does a Catholic university hire a pro-abortion former politician to ‘mentor’ its students?” continued Sempa.  “What message does that send to the student body and the surrounding heavily Catholic community of Scranton and its suburbs?” 

“Just what kind of very expensive ‘Catholic’ education are those Jesuits providing to their young charges?” he wondered.