Bishop Jenky, CSC - a hope for Notre Dame?

In the interest of completeness I must mention one episcopal figure whose silence is notable in this Notre Dame scandal: the Most Rev. Daniel Jenky, CSC of Peoria, IL.

There are four reasons I hope Bishop Jenky is taking an active role in this situation, at least behind the scenes if not in public:

1) He is a member of the Notre Dame community. He completed several degrees there and was appointed Superior of the Holy Cross Priests and Brothers of Notre Dame (who administer the University).

2) He is a member of the Notre Dame administration - appointed both to its Board of Trustees and Board of Fellows (where the real decisions are made). Their charter includes this as a duty of the office:

The essential character of the University as a Catholic institution of higher learning shall at all times be maintained, it being the stated intention and desire of the present Fellows of the University that the University shall retain in perpetuity its identity as such an institution. (PDF source)

3) He is a member of the U.S. bishops. He was a one-time auxiliary under Bishop D'Arcy in the diocese of Fort Wayne - South Bend. And in 2002, as Ordinary of Peoria, he was a full member of the body which released the 2004 directives that Notre Dame has now been convicted of violating.

4) Finally, to my knowledge, he is the only CSC-congregation bishop in the United States. He is, in other words, a brother priest with President Jenkins and half of the others members on the Board of Fellows.

He is thus able to speak as member with, administrator of, overseer from without and brother to Notre Dame.

Though the letter is dated, hopefully it can be useful in getting to the bottom of the great scandal that just took place at Notre Dame.

From the ND website:
The Fellows of the University are a “self perpetuating body,” consisting of six members whom at all times must be “members of the Priests Society of the Congregation of Holy Cross, Indiana Province, and six of whom shall be lay persons.” http://nd.edu/leadership/fellows/

One is Jenkins and Bishop Jenky is another.

I have very little info on Bishop Jenky, but what I have found indicates that he is a good Pro-Life Bishop. His website has EWTN listed prominently which just does not happen with liberals, so that’s a positive note.

I have to hope that Bishop Jenky worked behind the scene to prevent Obama from speaking at Notre Dame. However I cannot find any public mention of his position one way or another.

There are only 12 members of the Board of Fellows: 6 lay people and 6 priests. We all know where Jenkins was on the decision. It would be good to know where Bishop Jenky and the rest stood on the issue.

I’m adding what else I can find…

The silence of Daniel Jenky

http://ranchomiller.wordpress.com/2009/05/18/the-silence-of-daniel-jenky/

As the controversy over Barack Obama’s invitation to speak at Notre Dame’s commencement — which he did on Sunday — has grown in recent weeks, one voice has been noticeably missing: Bishop Daniel Jenky’s.

Jenky, whose pro-life bona fides are not in doubt, is the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Peoria, which crosses the central part of Illinois. He also is a fellow and, thus, a member of the board of directors, of the University of Notre Dame. He spent many years at Notre Dame and in South Bend and has a confessed strong attachment to the school.

All of which would have given his denouncement of the pro-abortion, profoundly anti-life U.S. president’s appearance at Notre Dame that much more impact. Problem is, that denouncement or even veiled criticism never came.

At least one member of the Peoria diocese has expressed his disappointment. In “An Open Letter to Bishop Daniel R. Jenky,” John Telthorst, a grad student at the University of Illinois, writes that

Despite asking the members of your diocese to take a stand for the Gospel of Life, you have failed the Diocese of Peoria and The University of Notre Dame.
I couldn’t agree more. Jenky attended this year’s March for Life in Washington, D.C., and has spoken out on other occasions about the need to protect innocent life. Yet, when it came to criticizing his alma mater, he failed. Many other bishops spoke out about a Catholic university inviting one of the worst anti-life presidents to speak at its graduation — but not Dan Jenky.

Neither, from what I can find at its Web site, has the diocesan newspaper, the Catholic Post, even addressed the controversy. That’s not surprising. The bishop is the publisher and controls what’s printed. As usual, Jenky’s way of dealing with something is to ignore it, pretend it isn’t a problem. His communications policy is to not communicate. Now he’s training the diocese’s main communications tool to follow that practice.

So, what’s the problem, Dan Jenky? Why did you send the message to your “flock” that it’s OK to remain silent when it’s convenient? What about all those men who followed you at the recent diocesan Men’s March? Are they supposed to follow you in this regard? If you have been working behind the scenes regarding the Obama invitation, as some have indicated, then explain why you chose to take that path instead, and what message that sends your diocese, as well.

If I have missed something, if you did speak out and it just didn’t get publicized, I apologize and retract everything I’ve said. But if I haven’t missed something, then shame on you.

http://www.telthorst.net/ext/2009/05/an-open-letter-to-bishop-daniel-r-jenky/

An Open Letter to Bishop Daniel R. Jenky
Posted on May 14th, 2009 by John at 20:09 |

Bishop Jenky,

You have spoken out against abortion in the past and articulated the importance of furthering the Gospel of Life. In fact, on the diocese of Peoria website you speak of the increased importance of witnessing to the Gospel of Life as a result of the election of a pro-choice president:

This year’s march took place two days after the inauguration of President Barack Obama. Bishop Jenky said the election of a pro-choice president made the witness to the Gospel of Life in Washington, D.C., especially necessary this year.1

Despite asking the members of your diocese to take a stand for the Gospel of Life, you have failed the Diocese of Peoria and The University of Notre Dame. As a Trustee of The University of Notre Dame, and Bishop of the Diocese of Peria, you have a responsibility to stand up for what is right. You have failed by choosing not to join the courageous Bishops who have publicly spoken out against President Barack Obama’s visit to Notre Dame.2 Passive consent to the conferment of an honorary degree upon a radical supporter of abortion, President Barack Obama, is not acceptable.

We pray for you at every Mass, and I hope you will rise to the calling of your office and publicly condemn President Obama’s invitation to the University of Notre Dame.

Respectfully,

John Telthorst

It’s hard to see a silver lining on a massive turbulent cumulo-nimbus that’s still growing, but consider this:

Because of the ongoing publicity about the misappropriated Obama honors at Notre Dame, the light of inquiry is finally being focused upon the beliefs, practices, and record of the President of Notre Dame as well as its Board of Trustees.

If you simply Google

“Notre Dame” trustees embryonic millennium abortion fraud

you’ll get a rather stomach-unsettling set of indications that the problem isn’t just that “Jenkins hearts Obama,” but that the Board itself is dominated by members whose policies and practices are palpably corrupt.

There are two bishops in particular who need to address this: Bishop Daniel Jenky, who actually sits on the Board of Trustees, and Bishop John D’Arcy, who has the obligation to rescind the university’s right to call itself “Catholic” if it offends fundamental norms of faith and morals.

There is a pattern here that cries out for investigation and exposure.

It could take years to clear out the Augean stables, but at least they’re beginning to recognize there’s a stink.

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