Outrage? Scandal?
Why must we be so divisive?
I'll admit, George W. Bush was not my favorite person and there's plenty of very important things on which we disagree (likewishe with Obama, for that matter), but I was glad to have him speak at ND commencement in 2001 and did consider it an honor.
Like it or not, the President of the United States might have some wisdom to offer graduating college seniors. And he might have something to learn from dialogue with a Catholic university community. Some students and alums seem to think bestowing him with an honorary degree is a travesty. I'd like to see the orthodoxy tests they had to take to get their degrees. Oh, wait, I didn't have to take one of those either.
Thank you, Fr. Jenkins: "We are not ignoring the critical issue of the protection of life. On the contrary, we invited him because we care so much about those issues, and we hope ... for this to be the basis of an engagement with him. You cannot change the world if you shun the people you want to persuade, and if you cannot persuade them ... show respect for them and listen to them."
USA Today - March 24, 2009
Notre Dame's Obama invite outrages some Catholics
UPDATE: The Bishop John D'Arcy of South Bend, home to University of Notre Dame, says he won't attend the Catholic school's commencement because it will offer an honorary degree to President Obama, the graduation speaker. D'Arcy calls for the university to "recommit itself to the primacy of truth over prestige."
Back to my original post:
A new front has opened in the continuing turmoil between traditionalist Catholics -- who want no one taking the microphone on a Catholic campus who disagrees with Church on any moral question -- and those willing to hear a wide range of views and hold on points of disagreement.
The battleground: University of Notre Dame's commencement May 17. President Barack Obama has agreed to be the speaker at the private, Catholic university in South Bend, Ind., and will receive an honorary degree.
Paulist Press' CathNews hits the hot buttons in a wrap up. Leading the attack on the invitation is the Cardinal Newman Society, dedicated to promoting orthodoxy on Catholic campuses. The Society called this invitation a "travesty," launched the website notredamescandal.com and gathered 13,000 signatures on a protest petition, in less than a week. The petition says, in part:
It is an outrage and a scandal that 'Our Lady's University,' one of the premier Catholic universities in the United States, would bestow such an honor on President Obama given his clear support for policies and laws that directly contradict fundamental Catholic teachings on life and marriage.
But National Catholic Reporter publisher Joe Feuerherd takes the Newman Society to task for promoting "the idea of university as Catholic madrassa."
He points out that the group was ...
... strangely silent when then-Vice President Cheney spoke at the Catholic University of America" although "Cheney (like Obama) opposes a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and has some questionable views on the 'intrinsic evil' of state-sponsored torture ...
And to match Newman founder Patrick Reilly's hyperbolic language, Feuerherd calls him "Ayatollah Reilly" and says he revs up his base by pouncing on ...
... anything that has to do with gays gets them excited, as do performances of "The Vagina Monologues" and, of course, pro-choice speakers (few of whom actually even discuss abortion in their presentations) รข€“- that will energize their base of donors and activists. Then they highlight these offenses on the Web and through direct mail to generate revenue ...
Meanwhile, Catholic college presidents feel the heat generated by the witch hunts. They are required to go explain the basics of academic freedom to their local bishop, and risk alienating conservative alumni (i.e. their donors) when Reilly vents "outrage" over the "scandal of the day" he has uncovered.
US News Dan Gilgoff argued Monday that the grassroots outcry shows "conservative Catholics are stepping up efforts to blunt Obama's strenuous outreach to social conservatives. And today, Gilgoff offers Notre Dame's defense, quoting from the campus newspaper, The Observer, where University President Fr. John Jenkins says the invitation to Obama ...
... should in no way be taken as condoning or endorsing his positions on specific issues regarding the protection of life, such as abortion and embryonic stem cell research ..."
We are not ignoring the critical issue of the protection of life. On the contrary, we invited him because we care so much about those issues, and we hope ... for this to be the basis of an engagement with him. You cannot change the world if you shun the people you want to persuade, and if you cannot persuade them ... show respect for them and listen to them.
It's early in the commencement-invitation season so I expect we'll see many more dust ups as controversial invites go out and students, parents, alumni and college administrators wrestle with the meaning of "education."
Indeed, in 2001, protesters marched on campus objecting to the commencement address by President Bush.
Would you want your college senior to be sent off to post-graduate life by a speaker who may challenge your personal values?
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