Notre Dame Anti-Military, Pro-Gay Protesters Let Go; Pro-Lifers Still Face Fines, Imprisonment

LifeSiteNews ^ | 4/22/10 | Kathleen Gilbert and John Jalsevac

[wagglebee]

SOUTH BEND, Indiana, April 22, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - While numerous pro-life protesters who were arrested for trespassing at the University of Notre Dame last year continue to face up to a year in prison and a $5,000 fine, anti-military and pro-gay demonstrators who were previously arrested on campus had their charges dropped, according to a shocking new investigation by the Sycamore Trust. Furthermore, the president of the University, Fr. John Jenkins, has reportedly refused to discuss the disparate treatment.

William Dempsey, Notre Dame alumnus and president of the Sycamore Trust, notes in the organization's latest bulletin that Jenkins has responded to inquiries about the pro-lifers (who were arrested last May while peacefully protesting Obama’s commencement speech and honorary degree) by saying that, "The University cannot have one set of rules for causes we oppose, and another more lenient set of rules for causes we support. We have one consistent set of rules for demonstrations on campus – no matter the cause."

While Notre Dame does not have power to drop the charges, the University's recommendation to dismiss would likely carry great weight with the St. Joseph County prosecutor.

Dempsey says that "we doubted that any organization would saddle itself with such an inflexible policy." Hence, his organization set about investigating how past trespassers have been treated.

It turns out that members of the pro-gay group Soulforce, and Catholic Worker anti-ROTC demonstrators, who were arrested for trespassing on campus in March 2007, were let off scot free. Dempsey says that he interviewed participants in each case, who "all state that, after they were taken into custody and processed on the campus, they were released and heard nothing more." It is unclear whether the decision not to pursue the cases further was made by the university or the district prosecutors, although the Trust suggests that it originated with the university.

Having related the information to Notre Dame, says Dempsey, a spokesman replied that "this exchange is no longer serving any purpose from our perspective, and, as a result, we have decided to discontinue communications with you on this topic."

After writing Fr. Jenkins, the Trust reported that "his brief response was not encouraging."

"He seconded the spokesman’s termination of the discussion and he characterized as 'not warranted' unidentified 'inferences' and 'assumptions' in Bill Dempsey’s wide-ranging exchanges with the University spokesman, but he did not dispute the facts respecting the Soulforce and Catholic Workers arrests."

"The stark facts, then," the Trust alleges, "are that the University has treated pro-gay and anti-military demonstrators far more generously than pro-life demonstrators and that it declines to explain why.

"The mystery of the University’s attitude toward the pro-life demonstrators deepens."

The bulletin further points out how the prosecution of the pro-life "Notre Dame 88" can and already has wreaked havoc on the defendants' lives, even prior to sentencing: the Trust reports that one defendant and her husband have already been declined as foster parents thanks to the trespassing charges.

"The University’s position is bewildering, for there are many compelling reasons for the University to recommend to the prosecutor that he drop these cases," notes the group. "The University’s stance obviously impairs Father Jenkins’s post-Obama efforts to shore up Notre Dame’s pro-life credentials. The demonstrators are intensely dedicated and include many notably sympathetic individuals."

"The question, then, is why the University persists in endorsing these prosecutions."

 

To sign a petition to free the ND 88, click here.

For University of Notre Dame contact information, click here.

See recent LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Notre Dame Releases New Pro-Life Statement after Obama Dust Up
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/apr/10041310.html

Document Reveals Inconsistencies in ND's Jenkins Claims on ND88
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/feb/10020811.html

Scheidler: Jenkins Remains Utterly Immovable on ND 88
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jan/10012505.html

[wagglebee]

"The stark facts, then," the Trust alleges, "are that the University has treated pro-gay and anti-military demonstrators far more generously than pro-life demonstrators and that it declines to explain why.

"The mystery of the University’s attitude toward the pro-life demonstrators deepens."

This is disgraceful!

[wagglebee]

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[little jeremiah]

I snuck back on...

Horrible.

[Kimmers]

They forgot to mention snotty elitists students.....

I used to live in IN and have never met such arrogant people as ND students/grads.....

I know there are has to be some decent ND grads but I never met them and neither did anyone else I knew....

[EternalVigilance]

[freedomfiter2]

Didn’t the University of Notre Dame used to be a Catholic college?

[IrishCatholic]

I wonder why Father Jenkins hates Catholics? Maybe if he met a few who practiced the faith, he could be converted.

[wagglebee]

Didn’t the University of Notre Dame used to be a Catholic college?

Yep, but not anymore. The seem to have followed the same path of other fine Christian universities (all of the Ivy League schools, Georgetown, etc.) that have abandoned the Gospel and embraced secularism.

[manc]

why is this school calling itself catholic still anyway?

[manc]

it;s the same for most students to day,

Here we have a very small school and most of these snotty nosed brats walk around this town thinking they are owed something because they were born

they come here to this town and then moan about the confederate flags or how conservative it is,. well fine then piss off

[manc]

maybe if students had to pay tax where they went to school they would understand life is not free earlier in age

[wagglebee]

why is this school calling itself catholic still anyway?

I have a feeling that the real reason is that their wealthy alumni will quit giving money if they don't at least call themselves Catholic.

[manc]

wagglebee is there no way that these wealthy alumni be told that they are Catholic in name only and thus stop their funding?

I have not been to that school nor went to college over in America so that is why I am asking

[MrChips]

Then you haven't met my highly-decorated WWII father, Sir, who left a small Southern town to go to Notre Dame, fought for YOU in Germany, risking his life by using himself as a decoy for his men when discovererd on a reconnaissance mission by the Germans, earning a silver medal to add to his purple heart and several other honors, and returned to Notre Dame to finish his degree, of which he is naturally very, very proud. They don't have basket weaving. They hold chapel and mass in every dormitory, every day. They don't redshirt their football players and their fans don't paint profanities on their cars about other teams like the fans of many schools I can think of. And so, Sir, I suggest you wash your mouth out with soap. Yes, my father is "elite". That is a compliment, not anything to be ashamed of. He, like so many Notre Dame men (and women) is the cream of the crop. By and large, Notre Dame people are some of the finest people I know. Did I go there? No. Sadly, I couldn't get in. But, while I am of a mind to tell you just where to go, I am too much of a Christian to say it. Why? Because I was reared by a Notre Dame man. Good day, Sir.

[wagglebee]

There are plenty of wealthy Catholics who have blinders on, as long as the president of the college is a priest and the football team is winning they are satisfied.

[353FMG]

They will soon rename the school to ‘Notre Shame’.

[EternalVigilance]

I admire your devotion to your patriot father.

As such an obviously devoted ND supporter, what are you doing to bring pressure to bear on this abominable administration that is currently in control of the institution?

[little jeremiah]

See the post right above yours.

BTW - I’m going to take a little vacation from FR - was going to start today but didn’t make it. Just a week or two, for mental health. The bad news is making me nervous.