Notre Dame Resists Push to Disinvite Obama on Grounds of Catholic Incorrectness

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University of Notre Dame President John Jenkins is to be commended for his steadfast refusal to rescind the school’s invitation to President Barack Obama to be its commencement speaker. The more conservative wing of the Church is in a tizzy. Ten priests from the Congregation of the Holy Cross, the order which founded the university, have joined four bishops and 120,000+ signers of an online petition in objecting to Obama’s position favoring abortion as grounds for disqualification from speaking at the university. The grounds for their objections are based on their views of Catholic tenets.

This is so wrong-headed.

UND has not sought to exempt itself, in the name of the Pope or Church dogma, from the academic freedom of scholarly debate. Even were President Obama to use the speech to promote abortion, his speech would certainly fall under scholarly debate.

Is UND to screen its speakers based on Catholic correctness no matter the subject of a speech? For example, no one who has been divorced (especially divorced and remarried – bigamy) would be invited to campus. Among US presidents to speak at Notre Dame was Ronald Reagan, divorced and remarried. So what do we have here? Hypocrisy.

To those protesting the invitation by the university:

This is the President of the United States that has been invited to deliver Notre Dame’s commencement address. Presidents don’t do many of these in any one graduation season. Hey conservative folks – rejoice – do cartwheels in your robes. Don’t be getting all holy on everyone – he’s the president and is coming to speak as the president. He is not coming to speak in favor of abortion. This isn’t and never was about abortion until you brought it up. It bears repeating that this is the President of the United States, not a rabble-rouser espousing either position on abortion. Be honored that President of the United States Barack Obama chose Notre Dame to deliver one of his remarkable speeches.

Those clergymen who go through with threatened on-site protests will succeed in only embarrassing the premier Catholic university in the country for the entertainment of the world media. To the clergymen getting all holy on this issue: Shut up!

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