Posted on 05/06/2009 11:29:39 AM PDT by presidio9
In the seven weeks since Notre Dame announced President Barack Obama as its 2009 Commencement speaker, the campus has seen prayer gatherings, academic debates, banner-flying planes and bloodied baby dolls in strollers.
Now, with a week and a half to go until Obama lands in South Bend to address the graduating class, another group has arrived in town to demand Notre Dame be stripped of its Catholic identity.It's really been quite the month and a half. I spent the entire day stuck in the library studying for exams, but luckily the South Bend Tribune was on the scene Tuesday to capture the American Life League's news conference.
The American Life League is a grassroots Catholic pro-life organization based in Virginia. They gathered at the entrance to Notre Dame to protest the Obama invitation and intent to award the president with an honorary law degree.
A press release on the American Life League's Web site said Notre Dame was "placing the souls of millions in jeopardy" with its decision.
"The school has no right to sell itself as Catholic to donors and potential students while simultaneously working to undermine the Church and honor the most pro-abortion president in the nation's history. In the interest of truth, we're asking Bishop D'Arcy to remove the school from the Official Catholic Directory," said Mike Barnett, the leadership director at American Life League, according to the news release.
The Official Catholic Directory contains information on the Church's hierarchy, institutions, schools, dioceses and other related offices.
The Tribune did not get a comment Tuesday from D'Arcy, the bishop who oversees the South Bend and Fort Wayne, Indiana dioceses. But a spokesperson told the Tribune he did not know if the Bishop had the power to remove Notre Dame's Catholic status, nor if the Bishop would if he could, saying the Bishop "prefers to work with people to improve things."
American Life League's problem with Notre Dame started long before the university invited Obama to come to campus, according to the organization's news release. They said Notre Dame has "actively undermined Catholic teaching" since the early 1960s. The Obama invite is just the straw that broke the camel's back.
The League's numerous problems with Notre Dame, according to the Tribune report, include other campus speakers over the years like Walter Mondale, Mario Cuomo and Daniel Patrick Moynihan. They also condemned Notre Dame's allowance of student performances of the play "The Vagina Monologues" and the presence of the Queer Film Festival. And they don't like the fact that students have been trying to convince administrators for several years that the university needs to add sexual orientation to its non-discrimination clause (which it has not, so that one should be a check in the League's column of reasons why Notre Dame is Catholic.)
For decades, the American Life League has pursued the laudable goal of ending abortion, and the group has every right to protest Obama speaking at Notre Dame.
Calling on a bishop to remove the Catholic status of Notre Dame -- a school where every year, on average, 200 graduates spend time after graduation doing service, where dorm masses are as popular as dorm dances, where the Grotto is nearly always lit with candles, where students spend their spring breaks volunteering -- that's insulting to me and to all the people who come to Notre Dame, not only to learn but to develop and live out their faith. That's something that doesn't change with the choice of a Commencement speaker.
The American Life League and other groups who don't want Obama to speak here should keep protesting, as it is certainly their right and they have valid points, but don't tell us we're not being Catholic enough.
We've heard it before and I'm sure we'll hear it again. But that statue of Mary on top of the Dome isn't coming down anytime soon, and long after Obama has spoken, Notre Dame will still continue to be "a powerful force for good."
No more than eating at McDonalds gives you the right to call yourself a cheeseburger.
He does make Catholics who support him less Catholic.
“Fr” Jenkins has made Notre Dame less Catholic. Obama is just the tool he did it with.
I glanced over the above, did I miss the part where he defended the school’s decision to honor Barack Obama, abortion advocate, with a degree?
He makes the claim that “Obama doesn’t make Notre Dame LESS Catholic”. Maybe they aren’t Catholic at all. That would make sense.
Does Las Vegas have odds on that? I'm not too convinced myself.
Good point. How about this: Notre Dame is not any less Catholic then it was before Obama was invited to speak, but it is a lot less Catholic than it was 20 years ago.
Give him time.
They said Notre Dame has "actively undermined Catholic teaching" since the early 1960s. The Obama invite is just the straw that broke the camel's back.
It isn't about the man, it is about the agenda. Despite what the media tries to say.
I want to see the odds on HOW it comes down. Is it removed by the faculty? Do students storm the tower and tear it down? Or is it hit by an unexplained tornado?
Every defense of Notre Dame leaves that part out. They all create the straw man argument that it's okay to invite him. Which it isn't, but is less of an insult than the award.
No, the Liberal administration at Notre Dame makes them less Catholic. In fact, it makes them not Catholic at all since they regularly flaunt some of the most basic doctrines of the Catholic Church. The Obama invitation is simply a symptom of the rot that is pervasive throughout the Catholic Diocese and Fellowship. This from a very nonreligious observer.
And it was a lot less Catholic 20 years ago than it was 40 years ago. :-(
Catholic is as Catholic does. The actions of protesting Catholics and the likes of the American Life League are not making Notre Dame less Catholic. That is being done by none other than Notre Dame and Fr. Jenkins.
What are the odds on it coming to “life”, walking down on its own, putting Zero over its knee and delivering the good solid spanking he so desperately deserves?
For a "Catholic University" to endorse a person (give him an honorary degree) who is at direct odds with the Catholic Church is putting souls at risk.
The American Life League and other groups who don't want Obama to speak here should keep protesting, as it is certainly their right and they have valid points, but don't tell us we're not being Catholic enough.
You are not practicing your faith by not speaking out sir.
We've heard it before and I'm sure we'll hear it again. But that statue of Mary on top of the Dome isn't coming down anytime soon, and long after Obama has spoken, Notre Dame will still continue to be "a powerful force for good."
How can you be sure that The Virgin wont be covered with a cloth or some other device like at Georgetown?
“Fr” Jenkins has made Notre Dame less Catholic. Obama is just the tool he did it with.”
Bingo.
He’s much more like Mussolini.
“I don’t equate Barak Obama with Adolph Hitler”............not yet......Hitler presided over the extermination of 6 million Jews.......Obama has assumed the mantel as POTUS doing everything in his power to advance abortion even pushing partial birth abortions (over 40 million abortions)Hitler had his brown shirts to watch his back and Obama has ACORN to intimidate and fix elections. Hitler nationalized the banks and other businesses just as Obama is doing now.
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