Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Notre Dame As Enabler

William McGinn in the Wall Street Journal writes on Notre Dame University's appalling decision to invite President Obama to speak and award him an honorary degree:
In the end, the result is moral incoherence. It is an incoherence in which abortion-rights advocates have the most to gain, because it demoralizes those who support the cause of life while removing fears of even the slightest social sanction for those who do not. And it is an incoherence we see all across American Catholic life today.
In our intellectual life, this incoherence gives us a college president who tells the campus paper that honoring an abortion-rights president is consistent with the bishops' statement that such leaders "should not be given awards, honors, or platforms which would suggest support for their actions."
In our public life, it has brought us to a day where the most prominent Catholics in America -- from Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to virtually every well-known Irish Catholic in the Senate -- now defend the snuffing out of tens of millions of innocent human lives as the exercise of a fundamental right.
And on the Midwestern campus of the Golden Dome, it allows administrators and professors to tell themselves they are in "dialogue" with the spirit of John F. Kennedy when they are in fact surrendering to a Ted Kennedy reality they themselves have helped create.

CatholicVote.org has partnered with the Cardinal Newman Society, a dynamic organization dedicated to the renewal of Catholic higher education in establishing www.NotreDameScandal.com. Together their aim is to collect thousands of signatures and present them to University officials. Sign the petition now.
Also, contact Notre Dame and express your outrage. Contact Notre Dame President Father Jenkins at (574) 631-5000.

5 comments:

Radu Gherman said...

Leave it up to the students. They, by now, should be old enough to guide their institution on whatever path they think is right.

Anonymous said...

News Flash!!! Disgraced South Philly Politician kills himself with power tools. Several state workers "volunteered" to work overtime to clean up. However, all staffers did claim mileage and meal expenses. The funeral procession is rumored to commence at the Sea Port Museum. The ex Senator will be paraded on a Flotilla (possibly, the Spirit of Philadelphia) down the Delaware under each Bridge controlled by the DRPA. The funeral luncheon will include canapes provide by a private Chef. All expenses for funeral to be paid by a toll hike on all bridges. A relieved overweight Governor claimed he was glad the ex Senator did the right thing. "Who needs a disgraced Semator spreading true rumors about me in order to save himself" claimed the Governor after downing his seventh portion of Lasagna and asking for the butter (not to use as a condiment but to actually eat one bite at a time). Philadelphia: The Next Chicago.

Anonymous said...

ONe of my son's said it best: Inviting Obama to speak at Notre Dame is like asking David Duke or Sen. Robt. Byrd to speak at Grambling Univ. or Madonna to give the commencement at BYU. For those of us who follow the faith this is a travesty. Pres. Fr. Jenkins had better be ready to accept the fact that hundreds of thousands in donations will not be finding a pathway to ND>

Dan Cirucci said...

I spoke to someone at the News and information Office at Notre Dame today and this person was very sympathetic.
Call the main Notre Dame number and if you can't get through to the President ask for the News Office (Public affairs/PR) and give your message to them.
Keep up the pressure.
Don;t let up!

Radu Gherman said...

I just visited the ND website, just to get a better perspective on the atmosphere of their institution. I've never gone to a Catholic school, so I have no concept of how much effect religion would have on "mildly" religious students.
After reading ND's views on it's own visions, I can see how this is something that's out of touch with their vision.
Anyone have any info on student reactions to this?