Posted on 05/19/2009 12:06:06 PM PDT by Lorianne
Organizers of a group asking alumni and donors to withhold donations to the University of Notre Dame following its controversial commencement invitation to President Barack Obama claim to have confirmed nearly $14 million in donations have been withheld by those concerned about the university’s Catholic identity.
The group, ReplaceJenkins.com, said it had received over 1,400 pledges from alumni and donors promising to withhold future donations.
ReplaceJenkins.com was launched by alumni and financial supporters of the university who said they would withhold their contributions until Rev. Jenkins is replaced by someone who "is committed to the authentic identity of Notre Dame, grounded in the teachings of the Catholic Church."
Group spokesman David DiFranco, a 1995 graduate of Notre Dame, said the donors were "at least loosely aware" of what he called the university’s "trend away from its Catholic identity."
"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," he said.
Fr. Jenkins’ action brought national attention to a problem "decades in the making," DiFranco said.
"A shrinking percentage of Catholic faculty and the efforts of secular-minded board members has long been eroding the Catholic heritage and foundation that makes Notre Dame great. President Obama’s invitation represents the culminating scandal in this trend."
DiFranco said nearly all alumni who had contacted ReplaceJenkins.com had already decided to cease supporting the school.
"Our website merely tallies the sum of their collective decision," he
Lay off the crack pipe.
Lay off the crack pipe.
Nice, A.A. Very well reasoned and persuasively argued. Your people skills are truly a wonder to behold. You must be a diplomat, right? Or a lawyer?
Or an unemployed asshole living in his mom's basement getting a beer buzz at the computer in the middle of a work day.
If it were ME .. I’d give to Ave Maria Law School in FL. THAT place is Catholic.
No, but Fr. Jenkins is a priest. The board will can him if he can’t raise dough. That means the good Father is up for reassignment, if he isn’t retired already.
But the Holy Cross order gives his assignment, not the Vatican.
Same difference - they’ll post him to a parish in Antarctica.
Wow, that’s gonna hurt.
It has to be overwhelming. Remember the leftists who support the Obamanation will attempt to make up and revenue losses to Notre Dame.
The penalty to Notre Dame should be so painful that the President and Board of Directors are forced to resign in disgrace or the institution should collapse.
The same should have happened to University of Colorado but it didn’t.
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