Thread by presidio9.
A pro-life group is warning that the University of Notre Dame may be given its "Collaborators" designation, a mark it reserves for those it considers the worst offenders in the war over abortion, because of its invitation to President Obama to speak at its commencement.
In a letter today to university officials, Leslie Hanks, chief of the Collaborators Project, wrote:
Because Notre Dame has extended the extraordinary honor of speaking at one of America's foremost Catholic colleges to one with such cavalier disregard for the sanctity of life, social tension is increasing exponentially in your community.
Collaborators Project was founded to do precisely that. Our motto is, "No Child Killing with Tranquility."
On the organization's Website, officials for the Collaborators Project said: "For their plan to honor Barack Obama, the leading pro-abortion advocate in America, the Collaborators Project is considering designating Notre Dame with Permanent Collaborator Status (PCS). If the university does not rescind their Obama invitation to deliver their commencement address on Sunday, May 17, 2009, the CP will designate Notre Dame with PCS.
"This would be only the second time in its history that the Collaborators Project has issued such a designation. If this occurs, the Collaborators Project will ask Indiana and Michigan pro-lifers to add Notre Dame to their ongoing anti-abortion protest itinerary," the group said.
Hanks explained to WND that only once before has the group awarded its Permanent Collaborator Status, to the Weitz Corp., which built Denver's Planned Parenthood megaclinic abortion facility. . .
"We will not be silent.
We are your bad conscience.
The White Rose will give you no rest."
Two threads by me.
SOUTH BEND, Indiana, May 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The president of the University of Notre Dame, Fr. John Jenkins, has issued a letter to graduates addressing the controversy that has exploded over the school's invitation to President Obama to deliver this year's commencement address and receive an honorary degree. In the letter Jenkins expresses his admiration for President Obama and his record.
"There is much to admire and celebrate in the life and work of President Obama," wrote Fr. Jenkins. "He's a remarkable figure in American history and I look forward to welcoming him to Notre Dame."
(To see full text of Fr. Jenkins' letter: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/may/09051305.html)
The University has been the center of a firestorm of controversy, drawing criticism from 74 U.S. bishops and 360,000 petitioning Catholics, ever since it was announced that Obama would appear on campus for graduation on May 17.
Instead of attending the official commencement ceremonies, pro-life graduating seniors protesting the invitation will attend a meditation led by Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life in the university's Grotto of Our Lady Lourdes. A rally on Notre Dame's South Quad, organized by ND Response and featuring several speakers, is expected to draw thousands of peaceful pro-life protesters. . .
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South Bend, IN (LifeNews.com) -- Notre Dame alumni who are upset with the university's decision to allow pro-abortion President Barack Obama to give this coming weekend's commencement speech and to give him an honorary degree continue to withhold their donations to the Catholic college.
In total, pro-life alumni and donors who feel disenfranchised by Notre Dame's decision have decided to withhold nearly $14 million in gifts they normally would have given.
David DiFranco, a Michigan businessman and 1995 Notre Dame graduate, told LifeNews.com on Wednesday that the ReplaceJenkins.com web site for disgruntled alumni has received over 1,400 pledges to withhold donations within a month since its launch.
Most of the donors were at least loosely aware of the Universitys trend away from its Catholic identity," DiFranco explained.
"But the invitation of President Obama to speak and to receive an honorary degree, combined with the weak responses presented by Father Jenkins as a defense to those who have criticized the decision, is what drives most alumni to our site," DiFranco added. . .