Why can't Fr. Jenkins be fired?

[Scoobyshme]

Will someone please explain to me why Fr. Jenkins cannot be fired? What authority does the Church have over this former Catholic university, anyway? Can’t we remove their Catholic charter or something, if they don’t remove him? Can’t we just clean house? I mean, really! It’s time to stop procrastinating and trying to be “nice guys.” We need to make an example of this clown, and we need to do it sooner rather than later. There needs to be a strong connection in the mind of folks similar to Jenkins that if you conduct yourself like this, you get slapped down…hard.

 

[adowcday]

Jenkins won’t be fired and he shouldn’t be. Like every recent NDU president before him, he invited the President to the commencement. Every recent president has been invited, and Jenkins did not break with that tradition. Notre Dame is a private university and Jenkins reports to his Board, which apparently agrees with his decision. Although this is not adequately represented on CA forums, most Catholics do not agree with you that Jenkins should be fired and Notre Dame punished. Jenkins is not a clown – he is a leader, and he won’t give in to pressure from right-wing Catholics to turn Catholicism into a one-issue religious sect that shrinks from engagement with those who disagree with us. I applaud his decision. I also applaud Obama for a remarkable speech, one of his best. Obama is willing to engage in reasoned, fair-minded dialogue and to find common ground on which to move forward together. That should be our desire as well.

 

[Catholic20064]

Jenkins won’t be fired and he shouldn’t be. Like every recent NDU president before him, he invited the President to the commencement. Every recent president has been invited, and Jenkins did not break with that tradition. Notre Dame is a private university and Jenkins reports to his Board, which apparently agrees with his decision. Although this is not adequately represented on CA forums, most Catholics do not agree with you that Jenkins should be fired and Notre Dame punished. Jenkins is not a clown – he is a leader, and he won’t give in to pressure from right-wing Catholics to turn Catholicism into a one-issue religious sect that shrinks from engagement with those who disagree with us. I applaud his decision. I also applaud Obama for a remarkable speech, one of his best. Obama is willing to engage in reasoned, fair-minded dialogue and to find common ground on which to move forward together. That should be our desire as well.

My understanding is that Bill Clinton was not invited.

 

[Havard]

Exactly how could you consider a monologue, a dialogue? President Obama specifically acknowledged that the pro-Life and pro-Choice stances are irreconcilable, so regarding ‘common ground’, I don’t even think he agrees with you.

And labeling the Catholics who disagree with the President ‘right-wing’ is dishonest. Father Hugh Cleary C.S.C., Father Jenkins’ superior, called the honoring a grave scandal. The bishop of the diocese, John D’Arcy, also called it a scandal. So did a Vatican official, the Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura. This isn’t something Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh drummed up.

 

[bookgirl32]

My understanding is that Bill Clinton was not invited.

He wasn’t.

 

[Havard]

Bah, quited myself by mistake. Sorry!

 

[Cristiano]

…Obama is willing to engage in reasoned, fair-minded dialogue …

Just get rid of them babies even if they come out alive because they must be part of the one-issue religious sect that shrinks from engagement with those who disagree with us!

 

[Teelynn]

Jenkins won’t be fired and he shouldn’t be. Like every recent NDU president before him, he invited the President to the commencement. Every recent president has been invited, and Jenkins did not break with that tradition. Notre Dame is a private university and Jenkins reports to his Board, which apparently agrees with his decision. Although this is not adequately represented on CA forums, most Catholics do not agree with you that Jenkins should be fired and Notre Dame punished. Jenkins is not a clown – he is a leader, and he won’t give in to pressure from right-wing Catholics to turn Catholicism into a one-issue religious sect that shrinks from engagement with those who disagree with us. I applaud his decision. I also applaud Obama for a remarkable speech, one of his best. Obama is willing to engage in reasoned, fair-minded dialogue and to find common ground on which to move forward together. That should be our desire as well.

Right wing Catholics? Catholics are either dissident or they conform to Catholic teachings. This is a misnomer. No such thing as a left wing or right wing Catholic. You either adhere to Catholic teaching or you don’t. You are either Catholic or you’re not. Pope John Paul wrote an encyclical on guidelines for Catholic Colleges and Universities, that specified that dignitaries that opposed Catholic teaching should not be honored or given a platform. This was a scandal of huge magnitude as our current President is not just pro choice, he is rabidly pro abortion…and where’s the dialogue that the President has promised? Seems to me he just shot through several abortion policies without any dialogue whatsoever! And besides that he has just pulled money from the abstinence program and put it in a program with “alternative” means to birth control. I don’t see any hint of proposed “dialogue” that he is encouraging.

 

[AnimalGal]

Jenkins won’t be fired and he shouldn’t be. Like every recent NDU president before him, he invited the President to the commencement. Every recent president has been invited, and Jenkins did not break with that tradition. Notre Dame is a private university and Jenkins reports to his Board, which apparently agrees with his decision. Although this is not adequately represented on CA forums, most Catholics do not agree with you that Jenkins should be fired and Notre Dame punished. Jenkins is not a clown – he is a leader, and he won’t give in to pressure from right-wing Catholics to turn Catholicism into a one-issue religious sect that shrinks from engagement with those who disagree with us. I applaud his decision. I also applaud Obama for a remarkable speech, one of his best. Obama is willing to engage in reasoned, fair-minded dialogue and to find common ground on which to move forward together. That should be our desire as well.

THANK YOU!

 

[gez722]

Jenkins won’t be fired and he shouldn’t be. Like every recent NDU president before him, he invited the President to the commencement. Every recent president has been invited, and Jenkins did not break with that tradition. Notre Dame is a private university and Jenkins reports to his Board, which apparently agrees with his decision. Although this is not adequately represented on CA forums, most Catholics do not agree with you that Jenkins should be fired and Notre Dame punished. Jenkins is not a clown – he is a leader, and he won’t give in to pressure from right-wing Catholics to turn Catholicism into a one-issue religious sect that shrinks from engagement with those who disagree with us. I applaud his decision. I also applaud Obama for a remarkable speech, one of his best. Obama is willing to engage in reasoned, fair-minded dialogue and to find common ground on which to move forward together. That should be our desire as well.

Your position saddens me, but even sadder is that you are not alone in your opinion. What is missing from your post, Obama’s speech, Fr. Jenkins’ remarks, Doug Kmiec’s commentary on the speech, etc. are the true facts about the murder that is taking place every day. This empty rhetoric about “working together” and “compromise” ignores the fact that unborn children are being slaughtered every day under the guise of “the right to choose”. If you would speak to people whose lives have been shattered because they murdered their children though abortion or health care workers who have seen the corpses of the dead babies, you may realize that this “single issue” is worth fighting for. Obama’s actions (both past and present) do not indicate that he wants to reduce the number of abortions, despite what he says. He is not a friend of the pro-life movement and should not be given a forum at a Catholic University. I am sorry that you and many others have been fooled by his “feel good” vague speeches. It serves as a reminder to me that there is still much education that needs to be done, especially among Catholics. There is no way that anyone who really understands what abortion is would be fooled by this “razzle dazzle”.

God Bless,
Gary

 

[LucyLou]

There is no common ground on abortion in the Catholic Faith. Nor is it a subject that is up for debate. If a Catholic University is going to hold itself out as “Catholic”, then it must teach the Truth. Chosing who it has for teachers, professors, lecturers must also teach the Truth and Catholic Doctrine. The Truth is immutable – Christ is not changable nor is He up for discussion. The Ten Commandments cannot be changed.

 

[Havard]

It’s pretty simple.

You can’t reduce the number of abortions by abandoning the Mexico City Policy and funding the UN Population Fund which supports forced abortion in China.

Filling your staff with hard-core, pro-abortion advocates from the National Abortion Rights Action League and Planned Parenthood is NOT the way to find common ground with those who respect life.

Supporting FOCA, which would wipe out any law that protects unborn children and their mothers—such as parental consent, partial-birth abortion or tax funding of abortion-on-demand—leaves NO room for even the SMALLEST compromise.

 

[Marsha_Adams]

. . . most Catholics do not agree with you that Jenkins should be fired and Notre Dame punished.

This is not true. ALL Catholics agree that Jenkins should be fired with his entire board of trustees and Notre Dame should be reformed or closed. The problem is that many pseudo-catholics claim to be Catholics when in fact they are not, this is why uninformed people think that some Catholics have no problem with abortion.

 

[Religion_Ninja]

Jenkins won’t be fired and he shouldn’t be. Like every recent NDU president before him, he invited the President to the commencement. Every recent president has been invited, and Jenkins did not break with that tradition. Notre Dame is a private university and Jenkins reports to his Board, which apparently agrees with his decision. Although this is not adequately represented on CA forums, most Catholics do not agree with you that Jenkins should be fired and Notre Dame punished. Jenkins is not a clown – he is a leader, and he won’t give in to pressure from right-wing Catholics to turn Catholicism into a one-issue religious sect that shrinks from engagement with those who disagree with us. I applaud his decision. I also applaud Obama for a remarkable speech, one of his best. Obama is willing to engage in reasoned, fair-minded dialogue and to find common ground on which to move forward together. That should be our desire as well.

The only way you can take that position is simply because you don’t think abortion is that big of a deal. Well it is! It is nothing other than the murder of over 1 million innocent people of this nation per year.

I noticed you didn’t mention the honorary law degree that ND gave him. Here is a man whose views on abortion are the most extreme of any president–whose views of law and freedom are so skewed that the unborn have no rights until they escape from the womb. And, based on his voting record they don’t even have rights if they manage to miraculously escape the abortionists knife by being born. Then a Catholic University honors him with a law doctorate?!? An honorary law doctorate?!? This is in clear violation for the USCCB’s guildines. Is the USCCB the group of right-wing Catholic nuts of which you speak?

Here is a little exercise that might help you understand. Take every instance of the word abortion and replace it with “instituted slavery” or “holocaust of the Jews” and see if anything Obama and his supporters say about finding common ground and having respectful dialog make any sense.

Here is an example:

“While I disagree with Obama’s decision to keep the Nazi death camps open, he did say he would try to keep the gassing of Jews rare. Plus I like his position on health care and the economy”

Some issues are so serious (serious isn’t even a strong enough word) that they override everything else. Open your eyes.

Its not that ND won’t cave in to right-wingers. They won’t cave in to authentic Catholic principles of the dignity of human life and social justice.

Based on what you said, I think there is only one thing we will ever agree on: nothing will happen to Jenkins. Bishops have very little control over Universities. After the elitists in Catholic Universities decided to invent their own form of dissident Catholicism in the name of academic freedom in the 60’s-90’s, the only kind of pressure that can be applied to them is financial.

 

[canadianguy1143]

Hey look everybody the Obama Catholics are showing their face again on CAF again. I thought you people were gone for a few months!!

 

[gez722]

The only way you can take that position is simply because you don’t think abortion is that big of a deal. Well it is! It is nothing other than the murder of over 1 million innocent people of this nation per year.

Amen!

 

[adowcday]

Let me clear up a few misconceptions: I agree with the Catholic position on abortion. I am a faithful Roman Catholic. Nothing that I said previously was contrary to Catholic teaching. We can dialog with Muslims. Why can’t we dialog with the President of the United States, a dedicated Christian and, from all appearances, a good, thoughtful man? We can work with atheists in the Kremlin to reduce the threat of nuclear warfare. Why not work with President Obama?

Like many faithful Catholics, I think that this President (like most of our Presidents) is a mixed bag. We should respectfully criticize him when necessary and work with him when we can. There are lots of areas where we can work together. In most areas, I think this President is a dramatic improvement over Bush in areas that should matter to Catholics: war, capital punishment, equitable distribution of wealth, care for the poor and disadvantaged, care for the environment, peaceful relations with other nations, etc. It’s just stupid and counter-productive if we focus only on this one issue, where there is obviously a conflict between Catholic teaching and our President (and the majority of Americans for that matter).

The criticism of Obama that I hear among conservative Catholics is not respectful. I think it makes Catholics look ignorant and mean-spirited. It smacks of politics more than faith. The approach espoused by those who would snub Obama and fire Jenkins will only lead to Catholics being marginalized in the public arena.

The fact is that a majority of Catholics (yes, faithful Catholics) voted for Obama and continue to agree in the main with his leadership. I did and I do.

 

[gez722]

We can dialog with Muslims. Why can’t we dialog with the President of the United States, a dedicated Christian and, from all appearances, a good, thoughtful man? We can work with atheists in the Kremlin to reduce the threat of nuclear warfare. Why not work with President Obama?

I agree that we can dialog with him, but we can’t give him a public forum and an award at a Catholic college. That is wrong. Yes, let’s invite him to a meeting where we attempt to persuade him that murder of the unborn is wrong. A speech and an award at a Catholic college, however, is not “dialog”.

The criticism of Obama that I hear among conservative Catholics is not respectful. I think it makes Catholics look ignorant and mean-spirited.

I agree that we should try to do it without name calling and anger. However, we need to be blunt and uncompromising when someone denies that abortion is murder.

The fact is that a majority of Catholics (yes, faithful Catholics) voted for Obama and continue to agree in the main with his leadership. I did and I do.

I have to respectfully say that this is sad. The man advocates unrestricted murder of the unborn. I don’t see how that doesn’t nullify any good that he could possibly do.

God Bless,
Gary

 

[Religion_Ninja]

Let me clear up a few misconceptions: I agree with the Catholic position on abortion. I am a faithful Roman Catholic. Nothing that I said previously was contrary to Catholic teaching. We can dialog with Muslims. Why can’t we dialog with the President of the United States, a dedicated Christian and, from all appearances, a good, thoughtful man? We can work with atheists in the Kremlin to reduce the threat of nuclear warfare. Why not work with President Obama?

Like many faithful Catholics, I think that this President (like most of our Presidents) is a mixed bag. We should respectfully criticize him when necessary and work with him when we can. There are lots of areas where we can work together. In most areas, I think this President is a dramatic improvement over Bush in areas that should matter to Catholics: war, capital punishment, equitable distribution of wealth, care for the poor and disadvantaged, care for the environment, peaceful relations with other nations, etc. It’s just stupid and counter-productive if we focus only on this one issue, where there is obviously a conflict between Catholic teaching and our President (and the majority of Americans for that matter).

The criticism of Obama that I hear among conservative Catholics is not respectful. I think it makes Catholics look ignorant and mean-spirited. It smacks of politics more than faith. The approach espoused by those who would snub Obama and fire Jenkins will only lead to Catholics being marginalized in the public arena.

The fact is that a majority of Catholics (yes, faithful Catholics) voted for Obama and continue to agree in the main with his leadership. I did and I do.

1. We can dialog with anyone. That doesn’t mean we ought to show approval for their policies by giving them an honorary law degree and disobeying our US bishops in the process.
2. While no candidate is perfect (I didn’t like Bush either) this president supports the legality of the murder of over a million of the people he is supposed to protect. Let me just emphasize that again: abortion murders over a million people a year. Its murder. Its the slaughter of over a million people of our country.
3. You say you believe what the church says about abortion. Therefore you voted for a president that supports the legalization of the murder of over a million of his own people per year. Health care, capital punishment (Obama supports capital punishment in some cases), and foreign nations thinking highly of us, and yes even the war in Iraq, do not even compare to the horror of abortion.

Some issues outweigh everything, would you vote for a pro-slavery president because he promises to fix health care or end capital punishment? Would you vote for a candidate that supports a holocaust of a race of people? But wait those are singular issues. In your case, I don’t think the horror of the atrocity of abortion has fully sunk in. Maybe then you would see how important that “one issue” really is.

Thats not even saying anything about the fact that if people in this country don’t have the right to life, all other rights are meaningless.

 

[COLOS]

– he is a leader, and he won’t give in to pressure from right-wing Catholics to turn Catholicism into a one-issue religious sect that shrinks from engagement with those who disagree with us. I applaud his decision.

Hmm, right-wing Catholics? I believe there were 70 or so Bishops that voiced their concerns as well. Perhaps you view them as right-wing Bishop extremists hell bent on a republican world view?

Describing faithful Catholics as nothing more than political lackeys is disgraceful. The Catholic Church will be around long after American society has imploded.

I had no real opinion on the subject until it was made clear that a high profile Priest was ignoring the Conference of Catholic Bishops. Fr. Jenkins is a Priest before he is anything else in this world, and Priests have sworn to obey their Bishops. Those who refuse to do so generally cause some sort of public scandal, imho.

And since when is a speech at a graduation considered a dialogue between two sides? It’s an address to a captive audience, not a debate where two points of view collide.