No
Do you understand that Notre Dame long ago (in its own eyes) grew far beyond the diocese.
Actually, more than that. Since the 1967 Land of Lakes agreement and the subsequent adjustment of their bylaws, only a small number of their "Board of Fellows" and "Board of Trustees" are Catholic Clergy, whether CSC or otherwise.
No one at Notre Dame who matters (faculty—with a handful of individual exceptions—administrators, board members, donors) cares what the podunk (in their eyes) bishop says in terms of sacramental, pastoral regulations.
And that's exactly why this podunk bishop needs to show some brass. The faculty, staff, and trustees of Notre Dame believe they outrank their own bishop.
Yes, they would care—for about 35 minutes—if bishop D’Arcy withdrew from them the right to call themselves a Catholic university.
Got some news for you, they are an entity unto themselves. If he were to do so (and, believe it or not, I'm not suggesting that he go to that extreme), it wouldn't be for the benefit of ND that he did so, it would be for the benefit of the laity who send their kids to be educated there. But as I just said, I am not suggesting he go to that extreme (yet).
Then they would crank up their PR machine and spin that decision to their favor by portraying the bishop as a two-bit Inquisitor from the long-forgotten Medieval Past and the national and international press would lap it up and broadcast it.
OK, so what. In case you haven't figured it out by now, the national and international press laps up any and every thing that they can spin negative about the Church. And people buy it without subjecting it to any kind of rigorous examination (including here on FR).
And Bishop D’Arcy would now be totally powerless, having fired his last weapon and achieved nothing.
Again, I am not suggesting he fire off the thermonuclear weapon at the onset. But he needs to show SOME kind of sanction, leaving himself options to ramp up.
With the media biased the way they are, a international multi-billion-dollar university in one of the smaller and least important dioceses of the country is an elephant compared to a chickadee. And Notre Dame knows it. Why don’t you know it?
I do know it. But the fact of the matter is that the local bishop is the ultimate lawgiver and teacher in his diocese. See Canon 381 § 1. The USCCB doesn't have that authority and the Holy Father, for the cause of subsidiarity, is not going to do anything.
D’Arcy’s only effective countermeasures have to come with the backing of the rest of the bishops. Is that so hard to understand?
D'Arcy is da Man (little Chicago lingo there, since the Chicago Democratic Machine runs that place). The most the USCCB could do is to back him up and say "we agree." It's not like Cardinal George has any room to talk: DePaul, which is in far worse condition than ND, is in his diocese. And Cardinal George is not a "podunk bishop."
Freepers are supposed to be savvy when it comes to strategy and tactics—whether military or political or social. Wake up and get off D’Arcy’s back and get onto the back of your own bishop and tell him to support D’Arcy and quit your own harping on D’Arcy.
D'Arcy said some VERY powerful words of warning before this incident (see a sample here. If he's not willing to back those words up with actions, then maybe he shouldn't have said those words to begin with. Likewise with the 2004 USCCB statement that everybody's citing, if he isn't willing to back those words up with actions (the diocesan bishop, even one of a "podunk diocese" is the only one with the canonical authority to do so), then those words become a joke. Can't you see that??
You said, Freepers are supposed to be savvy when it comes to strategy and tactics—whether military or political or social. Well, one of the things that this FReeper has learned through time is that if you aren't willing to back up your words with actions, don't say the words to begin with...and if you do say the words, you'd better back them up with action. As you say, Why don’t you know it? Is that so hard to understand? You've been around here for almost a whole year, I'd think you'd have picked that one up already.
I find this extremely disturbing. Christ’s Church is run by men, very weak men, unfortunately.
This is absolutely no different than a finger-in-the-wind politician, calling for a Commission or yet another Letter decrying the activity.
It’s the same as a weakened GOP saying we’ll have our Caucus look into this and put out a statement.
I’m no expert like many of you on here, but I know that it is time for rank and file Catholics to start putting pressure on these weak kneed men.
How? I have no idea. But surely Christ wants us to do something.
By your own tactical principles (don’t say the words unless you are ready to back them up), D’Arcy needs to enlist the support of the other bishops before doing anything (doing, for a bishop, involves saying things) to back up his previous words because in dealing with ND he’s dealing with the nation, not with his own diocese.
And since when do you get to decide the timetable for him backing up his previous words and actions? Since you recognize he is the lawgiver in his diocese, might you not grant him the privilege of setting the timetable? Or does he dance to your tune?
And yes, all the bishops need to take further steps with universities in their dioceses. The 80 who supported D’Arcy suggest that more of them are finally getting it. Before jumping on them, you might wait to see what they decide they will do as a follow-up.
But you cannot treat Notre Dame and the diocese of South Bend-Fort Wayne as simply a bishop and his diocese. That’s why we’ve got such a problem—you can cite canon law about the authority of a bishop in his see, but Notre Dame as a university long since ceased to “know” that. And sanctions on Jenkins as a person simply do not address the university as a whole, indeed, they are tailor-made for a counterattack in which those personal sanctions against a priest can be encircled, isolated, made into the issue as a way to sidestep the real issue about the university and Catholicism.
Notre Dame, more so than DePaul or Fordham or even Georgetown or Boston College is a national problem. You can shout about Church Law saying otherwise, but in political, cultural, marketing, public relations, and all other factual terms, it’s a national problem. It can only be solved at that level and to do that, enough of the bishops have to awaken to the enormity of the problem.
But beat up on Bishop D’Arcy some more, if it makes you feel better.