March 23, 2009 6:25 PM

Notre Dame invites Obama - God, help us!

Catholics Outraged after Notre Dame Invites Pro-Abortion Obama

 by Jennifer Mesko, editor

'There's a clear contradiction between his policies and that which a Catholic institution is presumably bound to promote.'

President Barack Obama will be the principal speaker and the recipient of an honorary doctor of laws degree at the University of Notre Dame's commencement May 17.

Longtime Notre Dame philosophy professor Ralph McInerny called it "a deliberate thumbing of the collective nose at the Roman Catholic Church to which Notre Dame purports to be faithful."

"The invitation to Barack Obama ... is an unequivocal abandonment of any pretense at being a Catholic university," McInerny wrote in a column today. "Abortion is an essentially evil act, both from the viewpoint of natural morality and from the explicit teaching the Church. There is no way in which an individual, a politician or an institution can finesse that fact.

"By inviting Barack Obama as commencement speaker, Notre Dame is telling the nation that the teaching of the Catholic Church on this fundamental matter can be ignored."

Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote.org, said the university should rescind the invitation.

"For a prominent Catholic institution to give President Obama the benefit of their platform is shocking and disappointing," he told the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette.

"There's a clear contradiction between his policies and that which a Catholic institution is presumably bound to promote."

Obama would be the ninth U.S. president to be awarded an honorary degree by Notre Dame and the sixth to speak at its commencement ceremonies. The president also is scheduled to give commencement addresses at Arizona State University and the Naval Academy.

From CitizenLink

Love,

Posted in Catholicism, Obama Nation | Permalink

Comments

I think he should go speak at ND and other Catholic schools. There should be some very hard questions presented to him. It's a problem when we block out what we do not want to hear. Just because it is wrong, does not mean we can bury our head in the sand. We need to understand the rationale in arguments that oppose our points of view if we are to successfully fight them.

[Note from Barbara:

Cath, this isn't a town hall meeting or a Q&A forum. It's a commencement speech to Catholic men and women about to graduate and go out into the world. It is certainly not burying your head in the sand to think that there should be some congruence in the commencement speech and the ideals of a Catholic education. This is another one of your comments where you make a pronouncement that just veers off into wonderland.

Sorry to be so harsh, but I am really tired of this pattern.]

Posted by: Cath Young | March 23, 2009 7:11 PM

Barbara,
Thank you so much for getting this out there. It is a very important issue to a lot of Catholics.
Thanks again,
Erin

Posted by: Erin Finkelmeier | March 23, 2009 9:35 PM

I am a Catholic who has spent a fortune in putting 5 kids through Catholic school even while we are in an excellent public school system. I have friends with kids at Notre Dame and currently work with two ND alums. I know many kids who are at Catholic colleges and have graduated from them. In fact, the majority of the folks I know have a strong affiliation with Catholic schools. Not a one would object to the POTUS, including Obama speaking at commencement. They would be honored if he would accept the invitation which is why they asked him to speak. I have seen any number of pro choice politicians and folks speak at Catholic commencements.

I just don't think that the speaker at a commencement should be vetted for being pro life. I feel this way despite being pro life. And they are not vetted that way. There have been any number of pro choice commencement speakers at Catholic colleges, and even parishes and seminaries. YOu can look this up. Am not just saying this--it is the absolute truth. I'll bet that the seminaries and churches would be honored to have Obama make an address. I know our very conservative Catholic all boys school would be delighted to have Obama as a commencement speaker. It would be a loss to the Catholic schools to exclude speakers who do not agree with the Church.

Posted by: Cath Young | March 24, 2009 10:07 AM

If there could be a silver lining to this travesty,should the invitation not be rescinded, the pro-life community will have the biggest rally Notre Dame could ever have imagined on graduation day.

A commenter on American Papist has already canceled a $50,000 bequest, and there are more alumni sanctions in the works. If Notre Dame wants to sleep with the devil, so be it, but it will have to do it without the financial support of Catholic alumni who know that support of abortion is evil and against Church teaching. Students upset about "meddling" into their graduation day ceremony by non-students will now get a real life demonstration of consequences of actions.

Bishop D'Arcy is expected to address this soon.

Posted by: aine | March 24, 2009 10:35 AM

Barbara, thank you for posting this! This is outrageous...

Posted by: Sue | March 24, 2009 1:13 PM

Here is National Right to Life's response. It includes a letter from a father of 8 (yes, 8!) Notre Dame students to the University protesting the speech.

Posted by: Becky Miller | March 24, 2009 3:35 PM

What was I thinking. The old "everyone else does it, so we should be able to, too!" certainly should trump the USCCB's statement here:

"The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions."

And if that isn't clear enough:

"Those who formulate law therefore have an obligation in conscience to work toward correcting morally defective laws, lest they be guilty of cooperating in evil and in sinning against the common good."

Thank goodness Father Jenkins, President of Notre Dame (must look into changing the school name, it's just so in your face Catholic) hasn't caved in to these extremists. Ever since that pesky Pope Benedict got to be pope it's like they expect us enlightened, bridge-building intellectuals to go all Catholic or something.(sarc)

Posted by: aine | March 24, 2009 5:26 PM

Bishop D'Arcy has released his statement.

Concerning President Barack Obama speaking at Notre Dame
graduation, receiving honorary law degree

March 24, 2009

On Friday, March 21, Father John Jenkins, CSC, phoned to inform me that President Obama had accepted his invitation to speak to the graduating class at Notre Dame and receive an honorary degree. We spoke shortly before the announcement was made public at the White House press briefing. It was the first time that I had been informed that Notre Dame had issued this invitation.

President Obama has recently reaffirmed, and has now placed in public policy, his long-stated unwillingness to hold human life as sacred. While claiming to separate politics from science, he has in fact separated science from ethics and has brought the American government, for the first time in history, into supporting direct destruction of innocent human life.

This will be the 25th Notre Dame graduation during my time as bishop. After much prayer, I have decided not to attend the graduation. I wish no disrespect to our president, I pray for him and wish him well. I have always revered the Office of the Presidency. But a bishop must teach the Catholic faith “in season and out of season,” and he teaches not only by his words — but by his actions.

My decision is not an attack on anyone, but is in defense of the truth about human life.

I have in mind also the statement of the U.S. Catholic Bishops in 2004. “The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.” Indeed, the measure of any Catholic institution is not only what it stands for, but also what it will not stand for.

I have spoken with Professor Mary Ann Glendon, who is to receive the Laetare Medal. I have known her for many years and hold her in high esteem. We are both teachers, but in different ways. I have encouraged her to accept this award and take the opportunity such an award gives her to teach.

Even as I continue to ponder in prayer these events, which many have found shocking, so must Notre Dame. Indeed, as a Catholic University, Notre Dame must ask itself, if by this decision it has chosen prestige over truth.

Tomorrow, we celebrate as Catholics the moment when our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, became a child in the womb of his most holy mother. Let us ask Our Lady to intercede for the university named in her honor, that it may recommit itself to the primacy of truth over prestige.
-------------------------------------------------

Posted by: aine | March 24, 2009 5:31 PM

South Bend Bishop D'Arcy has stated that he will NOT attend the commencement. Here is a link to his statement:
http://www.diocesefwsb.org/COMMUNICATIONS/statements.htm

Posted by: Donica | March 24, 2009 5:35 PM

Quote from the article:

"By inviting Barack Obama as commencement speaker, Notre Dame is telling the nation that the teaching of the Catholic Church on this fundamental matter can be ignored."

I think the whole issue surronding Obama's appearance at graduation is really an extension of a greater - and more important - question: What does it mean to be a "Catholic University" in the year 2009?

I'll preface what I'm about to write by telling you that 1) I'm not Catholic and 2) I really know nothing about Notre Dame. That said, here's my opinion...

Do the doctors at the on-campus student health clinic (I'm sure ND has one, all Universities do) write prescriptions for birth control pills for students? Can students get the "morning after" pill at the clinic? IUDs? Are campus sanctioned student groups allowed to make condoms available to students on campus?

If the answer to these questions is "yes" than I think that ND was already sending a message that the teaching of the Catholic Church can be ignored. And, if the answer to these questions is "yes" than I think it might be possible that the controversy surrounding Obama's invitation has more to do with Obama himself, and less to do with his position on abortion.

Personally, I think the most powerful way to get the pro-life message out would be to have Obama attend and then stage a protest. Students could still go to the graduation ceremony, but imagine what a powerful image it would be if the student body stood and turned their backs to Obama while he spoke as their form of protest against his views on abortion?

Posted by: Anna | March 24, 2009 7:58 PM

Barabra,

Thank you for posting this. I just signed the petition. I'm a convert to Catholicism and I'm having a very hard time coming to terms with the majority of Catholics who voted for Obama. I simply can understand why they would do this. I fear for our country and hope we can come through this. If Catholics would have only voted according to their beliefs and the church's teachings this man would not be President. What's more scary is that they did vote according to their beliefs.

Notre Dame and other Catholic institutions do not owe this man a platform and should not allow him to be given one.

Posted by: Bethany | March 25, 2009 1:44 PM

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