President Obama to receive honorary degree from Notre Dame

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NDResponse Adds to List of Supporters

Posted: 08 Apr 2009 01:04 PM PDT

We are pleased to be able to add twelve more bishops to the list of those who have publicly opposed Notre Dame’s invitation to President Obama, as well as links to an interview which Bishop John D’Arcy, the local ordinary, gave on local ABC and NBC stations. We are especially grateful to ten priests of the Congregation of Holy Cross for their Letter to the Editor in this morning’s Notre Dame-Saint Mary’s Observer. Thank you to our priests, bishops, and all those who have taken a courageous stand for the cause of life!

Bishops
The Most Reverend William Lori, Bishop of Bridgeport (Connecticut) (PDF, see page 10)
The Most Reverend George V. Murry, S.J., Bishop of Youngstown (Ohio)
The Most Reverend William Higi, Bishop of Lafayette (Indiana)
The Most Reverend José Gomez, Archbishop of San Antonio (Texas) (PDF)
The Most Reverend Oscar Cantú, Auxiliary Bishop of San Antonio (Texas) (PDF)
The Most Reverend Anthony Taylor, Bishop of Little Rock (Arkansas)
Text of Note
News report of comments
The Most Reverend Jerome E. Listecki, Bishop of La Crosse (Wisconsin) (PDF)
The Most Reverend Alexander Sample, Bishop of Marquette (Michigan)
The Most Reverend Samuel Aquila, Bishop of Fargo (North Dakota) (PDF)
The Most Reverend Edwin F. O’Brien, Archbishop of Baltimore (Maryland)
News report of comments
The Most Reverend Daniel Buechlein, Archbishop of Indianapolis (Indiana)
The Most Reverend Rober Baker, Bishop of Birmingham (Alabama)

Faculty and Congregation of Holy Cross
ND-SMC Observer Letter to the Editor: Work to maintain Catholic tradtions
Wilson D. Miscamble, C.S.C.
Stephen M. Koeth, C.S.C.
Gregory P. Haake, C.S.C.
Daniel J. Parrish, C.S.C.
Michael B. Wurtz, C.S.C.
Mark R. Ghyselink, C.S.C.
Terrence P. Ehrman, C.S.C.
John A. Herman, C.S.C.
Ronald J. Wasowski, C.S.C.
Vincent A. Kuna, C.S.C.
Richard W. Garnett, Professor of Law - The Importance of Notre Dame
Remarks at the NRO Symposium, “A Moral Exemplar?”
Charles E. Rice, Professor of Law (emeritus) - No Confrontation Necessary
Francis J. Beckwith, Remick Senior Visiting Fellow, Center for Ethics & Culture - Barack Obama and Notre Dame: Juris Doctor Honoris Causa?
Interview with Dr. Beckwith
Ralph McInerny, Professor of Philosophy - Is Obama Worth a Mass?
Remarks at the NRO Symposium, “A Moral Exemplar?”
 
Luis_Santiago said:
What if they had him speak at commencement but didn’t give him the honorary degree? I’m just curious what your opinion would be then.
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Why should this be any different? Would people be any less likely to construe this as N.D.'s endorsement. When you invite someone to speak for you, you are tacitly giving your approval for what they say and/or stand for. If there was a way in which they could do so such that there was no doubt that N.D. disapproves of the president’s pro-death stance, it may be acceptable. Note how when two unmarried people of opposite gender share a room together, even if nothing is happening between them, it is scandalous by its nature. Why? Because of people’s perception. We show approval by our actions, not our intent.
 
Yes,right on…and in the movie…Rudi…the coach calls the team together in the locker room…the chaplain recites the Hail Mary while team members hold hands…then the Coach looks sternly at his squad and intones " We dont allow strangers to enter our home and tell us what to do"…When I spoke to the real Rudi on radio he inspired me so much and he said it was the faith held strong at NotraDame that kept him going day after day …on the bench,never getting in till the final seconds of the last game…thats how we most be…we are like him…small and outnumbered and no where near getting favorable publicity from the establishment press and so far ingnored by the powers that be over there…over there,over there…the Catholics are coming…etc etc…
 
I was watching Fox News this morning. Judge Napolianto (sp?) was on as a guest. He attened Notre Dame Law School. He stated the the University is Catholic in name only

When he was there, he attended Mass where the priest consecrated a birthday cake!!!

What else is going on at this school and other Catholic institutions?
 
I love my faith and I am pro-life pre-birth and pro-life after birth. Without my faith I am nothing. Obama coming to ND and receiving a meaningless degree is not the threat in my opinion.
Why can’t this be seen as an opportunity for conversion and thank God for this opportunity?
The best chance to stop abortion is for the conversion of this president. The reality is he will speak at commencement and will receive a meaningless honor. That is what God has allowed. Instead of being scandalized and outraged why not offer suggestions that will exhibit how beautiful our faith is and give the world something that it would never expect to see in this situation.
The world will expect protests because that is the way of the world. Can anyone come up with something other than being outraged.
 
Trader said:
Archbishop Daniel M Buechlein, Archbishop of Indianapolis, and our Metropolitan for Indiana has added his own statement:

archindy.org/criterion/local/2009/04-10/notredame.html

To those who share my belief that ND was wrong, is this strong enough for you?
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Trader, Thanks for this link. I am disheartened by his letter. He offers no constructive intelligent spiritual leadership that I would expect from a man who has been blessed with such an important and sacred office. I do not believe I am wrong to expect something more than his response.
We take Our Lord into our bodies and souls in the Eucharist. That is a total submission to the Mystical Truth of our Catholic Faith. The Archbishop’s letter makes no connection to that mystical union that is not of this world; instead, he reacts as a man of the world would react.
I have a deep craving for one of our bishops to have a mystical view and response to this situation. There is more than meets the eye.
 
mapleoak said:
That is excellent, but the question should be directed to those who don’t think ND is wrong.
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The reason I said that is that our diocese has reported that while the thousands of letters and phone calls received have supported Bishop D’Arcy, the majority of those who criticize the bishop are for not being harsh enough.

I know Bishop D’Arcy personally. I know he loves Notre Dame. He told young people at a
retreat less than two weeks ago that he likes Father Jenkins.(I was too old for the retreat, but my nieces were not).

Notre Dame has been a great blessing for our diocese. They hosted our Eucharistic Congresses for the Holy Year of 2000 and for the 150th anniversary of our diocese in 2007. Bishop Jenke, now Bishop of Peoria, Illinois is a Holy Cross Priest who was rector of the Sacred Heart Basilica on the Notre Dame campus when he was ordained to be our auxillary bishop. It was my privelege to be part of the choir for all three of those events, just me and 10,000 close friends at the ACC. The episcopal ordination was actually at Saint Mathew Cathedral, but the reception afterward was at Notre Dame with great appetizers and filet mignon, and cherries jubilee for dessert, just the typical ND cafeteria fare:D.

Our Superintendant of Catholic Schools is a facutly member at Notre Dame. Most of the people in our liturgy and family life offices have attended classes at Notre Dame. Bishop D’Arcy has attended every ND commencement and presided at their baccalaureate mass since he came here from Boston in 1985.

Bishop D’Arcy has responded to our shortage of priests by “importing” priests from Nigeria, Uganda, India, and Sri Lanka. Their bishops and religious superiors have allowed them to serve us, at least in part, because they have the opportunity to attend classes at Notre Dame. A diocese in Nigeria now has a trained canon lawyer because of that opportunity.

Notre Dame even gives football tickets to the bishop so he can entertain his friends from Boston for the ND-BC games. (Trivia extra: Notre Dame and Boston College are the only catholic universities to play NCAA Division 1 football, and both were founded by Congregation of the Holy Cross.)

The majority of Americans probably don’t know that Boston College is Catholic. Just about everyone knows that Notre Dame is Catholic. That is why the invitation and award to someone so opposed to our basic teachings is a cause of scandal. If I had written to Father Jenkins, my letter would have resembled that of Archbishop Buechlein more than Bishop D’Arcy’s statement. I am pleased that Bishop D’Arcy wants to get ND back on track in a way that is both firm and loving.
 
If anyone is interested you can check out Newt Gingrich’s perspective on ND. Since I do not know how to give you the direct contact to the website I will just give you the name of it. It is The Deacon’s Bench. Gingrich is now a new Catholic.
 
Ronald_E said:
I love my faith and I am pro-life pre-birth and pro-life after birth. Without my faith I am nothing. Obama coming to ND and receiving a meaningless degree is not the threat in my opinion.
Why can’t this be seen as an opportunity for conversion and thank God for this opportunity?
The best chance to stop abortion is for the conversion of this president. The reality is he will speak at commencement and will receive a meaningless honor. That is what God has allowed. Instead of being scandalized and outraged why not offer suggestions that will exhibit how beautiful our faith is and give the world something that it would never expect to see in this situation.
The world will expect protests because that is the way of the world. Can anyone come up with something other than being outraged.
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Outrage isn’t such a bad reaction to profaning the body of Christ, the Catholic Church by sponsoring and widening of the scope of killing Americans thru abortion by a man selected to protect all of us.

Christ did overturn tables and through out the money changers in the temple. He was outraged, but as we all know, outrage is not a sin, and Christ being fully God, still loved all of us even while he was overturning table in the temple.

Can you name one person who presided over a system that seeks to increase the number of babies killed in one day from 4,000 to a number more than that, that was stopped by a conversation?

The Archibishop along with other people of “good faith” await an action from N.D. that indicates that they are wrong. Hint: he is talking about the mystical body of Christ, the faithful who are waiting.

“There isn’t a single reason for Catholic Sponsorship of the president.” The Archibishop is speaking to us as the Archibishop not as a man. The article is part of the Archdiocese Newpaper, not a person pronouncement.

Now what is your reason, if there isn’t “a single reason”?

I’m sure you expected this sort of comment already.

Why don’t you draft a response for us that shows your distain for the actions of the pres. in his first week in office, and his diregard for the human right to life as a rule. How do you adress a president that believes it is a God given right to kill a segement of our population because of their age and get him to listen?
 
Sean_Boyle said:
Outrage isn’t such a bad reaction to profaning the body of Christ, the Catholic Church by sponsoring and widening of the scope of killing Americans thru abortion by a man selected to protect all of us.

Christ did overturn tables and through out the money changers in the temple. He was outraged, but as we all know, outrage is not a sin, and Christ being fully God, still loved all of us even while he was overturning table in the temple.

Can you name one person who presided over a system that seeks to increase the number of babies killed in one day from 4,000 to a number more than that, that was stopped by a conversation?

The Archibishop along with other people of “good faith” await an action from N.D. that indicates that they are wrong. Hint: he is talking about the mystical body of Christ, the faithful who are waiting.

“There isn’t a single reason for Catholic Sponsorship of the president.” The Archibishop is speaking to us as the Archibishop not as a man. The article is part of the Archdiocese Newpaper, not a person pronouncement.

Now what is your reason, if there isn’t “a single reason”?

I’m sure you expected this sort of comment already.

Why don’t you draft a response for us that shows your distain for the actions of the pres. in his first week in office, and his diregard for the human right to life as a rule. How do you adress a president that believes it is a God given right to kill a segement of our population because of their age and get him to listen?
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Are you angry because I ask for spiritual deepening rather than using Christ turning over tables to justify your anger. Is your faith built on turning over tables in the temple which is a far cry from ND commencement and a meaningless human award? Or, is your faith built on Christ on the Cross?
You are correct I did expect this response. I was hoping for something that represents the beauty of our Catholic faith. There were 421 babies saved from abortion in this most recent 40 Days for Life campaign. This was accomplished through praying the Rosary at abortion clinics. The Rosary is an act of love. I would rather follow their example than your justification of your angry response.
Rather than draft a response of disdain, I would draft a response of love and grieving for the loss of innocent life and appeal to his faith in Christ that he search his heart and pray for a deeper understanding of our position for the unborn child.
Disdain gets us nowhere except in the lust for expression of anger.
I understand that you are angry with me because I do not resonate with your anger. I did not return to this beautiful faith because of the outrage of the faithful. I returned because of the Love of God in the midst of the evil of sexual abuse being committed by the priests who were to be servants of God.
I will not settle for anything less than every situation being resolved through Christ on the Cross. That is the beginning and the infinite expression of my faith. Anytime I see anything that diminishes the Cross I will speak against it. I do not care who it is.
 
Trader said:
The reason I said that is that our diocese has reported that while the thousands of letters and phone calls received have supported Bishop D’Arcy, the majority of those who criticize the bishop are for not being harsh enough.

I know Bishop D’Arcy personally. I know he loves Notre Dame. He told young people at a
retreat less than two weeks ago that he likes Father Jenkins.(I was too old for the retreat, but my nieces were not).

Notre Dame has been a great blessing for our diocese. They hosted our Eucharistic Congresses for the Holy Year of 2000 and for the 150th anniversary of our diocese in 2007. Bishop Jenke, now Bishop of Peoria, Illinois is a Holy Cross Priest who was rector of the Sacred Heart Basilica on the Notre Dame campus when he was ordained to be our auxillary bishop. It was my privelege to be part of the choir for all three of those events, just me and 10,000 close friends at the ACC. The episcopal ordination was actually at Saint Mathew Cathedral, but the reception afterward was at Notre Dame with great appetizers and filet mignon, and cherries jubilee for dessert, just the typical ND cafeteria fare:D.

Our Superintendant of Catholic Schools is a facutly member at Notre Dame. Most of the people in our liturgy and family life offices have attended classes at Notre Dame. Bishop D’Arcy has attended every ND commencement and presided at their baccalaureate mass since he came here from Boston in 1985.

Bishop D’Arcy has responded to our shortage of priests by “importing” priests from Nigeria, Uganda, India, and Sri Lanka. Their bishops and religious superiors have allowed them to serve us, at least in part, because they have the opportunity to attend classes at Notre Dame. A diocese in Nigeria now has a trained canon lawyer because of that opportunity.

Notre Dame even gives football tickets to the bishop so he can entertain his friends from Boston for the ND-BC games. (Trivia extra: Notre Dame and Boston College are the only catholic universities to play NCAA Division 1 football, and both were founded by Congregation of the Holy Cross.)

The majority of Americans probably don’t know that Boston College is Catholic. Just about everyone knows that Notre Dame is Catholic. That is why the invitation and award to someone so opposed to our basic teachings is a cause of scandal. If I had written to Father Jenkins, my letter would have resembled that of Archbishop Buechlein more than Bishop D’Arcy’s statement. I am pleased that Bishop D’Arcy wants to get ND back on track in a way that is both firm and loving.
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That makes sense now, thank you for clarifying. 👍
 
Ronald_E said:
I love my faith and I am pro-life pre-birth and pro-life after birth. Without my faith I am nothing. Obama coming to ND and receiving a meaningless degree is not the threat in my opinion.
Why can’t this be seen as an opportunity for conversion and thank God for this opportunity?
The best chance to stop abortion is for the conversion of this president.
Click to expand...
Anything is possible, however unlikely. However, in my view, the best chance to stop abortion was to not elect this president.

But that horse has already left the barn. This president’s agenda now is the preservation of abortion rights throughout nine months of pregnancy and perhaps after.
 
JimG said:
However, in my view, the best chance to stop abortion was to not elect this president.
.
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I think this is getting off-topic, but since you brought it up, I disagree completely. I think the President has had little or nothing to do with the prevalence of abortion since 1973 Roe v. Wade. If anyone is really interested in continuing a discussion on the posting I’m responding to (which, again, I think is unfortunately off topic of the OP) let’s start a new thread. What influence, really, can anyone cite, regardless of what position you support, to show objectively that a certain President had a significant impact, by himself, on abortion? C’mon, let’s be realistic. Many people who describe themselves as pro-life supported George Bush…did he do anything, in fact, to address the abortion issue? Does anyone have objective facts, statistics, etc. to share to show that his being President advanced the Catholic Church’s values on this issue? I disagree with President Obama’s position on this issue, but I don’t think his being President will have, in the end, any more significant impact on the issue than any other president since 1973.
 
diggerdomer said:
I think this is getting off-topic, but since you brought it up, I disagree completely. I think the President has had little or nothing to do with the prevalence of abortion since 1973 Roe v. Wade. If anyone is really interested in continuing a discussion on the posting I’m responding to (which, again, I think is unfortunately off topic of the OP) let’s start a new thread. What influence, really, can anyone cite, regardless of what position you support, to show objectively that a certain President had a significant impact, by himself, on abortion? C’mon, let’s be realistic.
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Thank you for your much needed and welcomed insight.
 
diggerdomer said:
I think this is getting off-topic, but since you brought it up, I disagree completely. I think the President has had little or nothing to do with the prevalence of abortion since 1973 Roe v. Wade. If anyone is really interested in continuing a discussion on the posting I’m responding to (which, again, I think is unfortunately off topic of the OP) let’s start a new thread. What influence, really, can anyone cite, regardless of what position you support, to show objectively that a certain President had a significant impact, by himself, on abortion? C’mon, let’s be realistic. Many people who describe themselves as pro-life supported George Bush…did he do anything, in fact, to address the abortion issue? Does anyone have objective facts, statistics, etc. to share to show that his being President advanced the Catholic Church’s values on this issue? I disagree with President Obama’s position on this issue, but I don’t think his being President will have, in the end, any more significant impact on the issue than any other president since 1973.
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I guess that depends on how much money Obama decides to take out of your checking account once he’s siezed control of it(lets be honest, we cant be trusted with our own money) and sends to foreign countries to abort their children. Since he did lift Bush’s executive order for that we now fund abortions anywhere he wants.
 
diggerdomer said:
Many people who describe themselves as pro-life supported George Bush…did he do anything, in fact, to address the abortion issue? .
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Yes. You can find the Bush statistics and actions here. Obama has spent the first days of his administration trying to undo the Bush pro-life actions. Had a pro-life president remained in office, he would likely have had the opportunity to appoint a Supreme Court justice who is not married to Roe and Doe. That will not happen under Obama, who is firmly committed to cementing abortion on demand as a national right, and to ensuring that the SCOTUS remains pro-abortion.
 
JimG said:
Yes. You can find the Bush statistics and actions here. Obama has spent the first days of his administration trying to undo the Bush pro-life actions. Had a pro-life president remained in office, he would likely have had the opportunity to appoint a Supreme Court justice who is not married to Roe and Doe. That will not happen under Obama, who is firmly committed to cementing abortion on demand as a national right, and to ensuring that the SCOTUS remains pro-abortion.
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I saw no objective statistics or reports here to validate your claim. There were a number of predictable quotations from pro-life figures and sources, but nothing objective that would appeal to anyone regardless of their preconceptions. Can you please clarify?
 
diggerdomer said:
I saw no objective statistics or reports here to validate your claim. There were a number of predictable quotations from pro-life figures and sources, but nothing objective that would appeal to anyone regardless of their preconceptions. Can you please clarify?
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Nothing objective? Here are a few of Bush’s pro-life actions:
  • Re-instituted the Mexico City Policy to stop taxpayer funding of overseas abortions.
  • Cut funding for UNFPA which supported China’s abortion programs.
  • Instituted a policy which prevented taxpayer funding of new embryonic stem cell programs.
  • Signed bill banning partial birth abortion ban. (Note that Clinton had vetoed such a bill twice.)
  • Signed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act.
  • Appointed pro-life people to many key positions. (Obama has consistently appointed pro-abortion persons.)
  • Named two supreme court justices who are not part of the pro-choice contingent.
  • Instituted conscience clause regulations to protect pro-life health care workers.
  • Instituted conscience clause regulations to protect pro-life health care workers.
Obama has already undone several of the above. All of his actions will be directed to preserving abortion, not preventing it.
 
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