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
Hmmmm. I guess they accidentally threw out the bathwater with the baby...
Your post stirred a thought.
Pro-abortion secularists tend to use government to force everyone else to support their causes.
I wonder if ND is going to go to government to make up for the shortfall.
This of course is in your humble opinion.
Catholic donations to Notre Dame drop? What about Baptists and Presbyterians?..................
If the truth be told, I don’t think Chuck pulls too hard for Catholics, and Christianity in general, anyway.
Excellent. Perhaps this was a good thing. This was a wakeup call to all of the Catholics out there who were unaware of what was going on at this so-called Catholic University!
Obama makes light of Notre Dame woesI cite this not as really important news, but as vintage Obama--classless, juvenile, and slightly creepy. Notre Dame actually thought they could ingratiate themselves with the O-man, but the moment he walks off campus he craps on them. The way this man makes jokes about serious matters sends a chill up my spine. He's not from my moral universe.
INDIANAPOLIS -- Having put up with hecklers at Notre Dame, President Barack Obama got in a shot of his own at the school whose renowned football team has gone its longest stretch without a national championship.
After giving the commencement speech at Notre Dame, Obama spoke at an Indianapolis fundraiser Sunday night for the Democratic National Committee. He began his remarks by joking that he told The Rev. John Jenkins, the university president, that the controversy surrounding his campus appearance "paled in comparison to what to do about the football team."
The Fighting Irish had records of 3-9 and 7-6 the past two seasons -- the most losses at the school in a two-year period -- and haven't won a national championship since 1988.
"That's an issue we may not resolve within my four years," Obama said.
"Eight," shouted someone from the audience. "All right, well, maybe in eight we might get it done," Obama said......
I don’t think you have to be Catholic to attend Notre Dame.
donations dropping slightly? Big deal
What will be more effective, by far, is if the Fighting Irish play their home games this year in front of a half-filled stadium, and no one goes to the biggest college bookstore in America and loads up on all the merchandise.
That would be a far more effective witness.
This, however, will not happen. Some of the same folks with the lukewarm faith that stood there clapping and cheering for the Infanticider on Sunday, will be rooting like mad for the Irish on Saturdays, and then going to the grotto afterward for a quiet prayer. Hopefully, those who could not see the hypocrisy of honoring the aborter in chief with a degree of laws will feel some twinge of guilt, at least.
“$14 million in donations have been withheld”
Ouch. Karma will do that to you.
I’m sure Zero will come up with some federal funds to bail out Notre Dame. Just watch..sooner or later they will get their “earmark”.
It can be, but if a family tithes its income or sets aside an agreed-upon percentage of its income for charitable donations, the money will find its way to a worthier destination.
Right.
So it what way was Notre Dame ever a Catholic University?
That’ll get their attention - until Zero funnels money to them to make it up...
Obama will be taking ND’s money. The endowment grew to just over $7 billion by the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008.
"LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- For years the University of Southern California has had a reputation for being a politically conservative campus. Yet even on a campus where most students remain more interested in football than politics, some are beginning to see a shift to the left as student Democrats gain numbers and become more involved in the political arena...." http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/12/25/elec04.cv.usc/index.html
Ouch, another Christian referring to Karma... :)
LOL, I heard that.
Back when Anita Hill testified against Clarence Thomas at his confirmation hearing, she was supported by the Dean of the University of Oklahoma law school. He allowed her to do a press conference at the school, etc. Donations to the school dried up to the point that he wrote a pleading and apologetic letter to the school alumni begging for funds. He ultimately resigned and then the funds started flowing again. This can be a powerful strategy.
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