Our Lady's University?

NOTRE DAME, Indiana, March 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - White House Secretary Robert Gibbs stated today that Obama will give the commencement address at Notre Dame University this year. The school confirmed the announcement, stating on its website that Obama will also receive an honorary doctor of laws degree at the University's 164th University Commencement Ceremony at 2 p.m. May 17 in the Joyce Center on campus. In 2004, the United States of Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) approved a policy statement called "Catholics in Political Life," which says, with reference to pro-abortion politicians, "They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions."

President Obama has been called the "abortion president" by pro-life activists, and his appearance at the university would appear to violate the USCCB's policy against honoring pro-abortion politicians.

The "unseen" villian in all this is Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., President of Notre Dame. (pic below)

 

His ND bio reads:

Rev. John Jenkins, C.S.C., professor of philosophy, presently serves as President of the University of Notre Dame. Areas of scholarly interest include medieval philosophy, particularly Aquinas and Augustine, philosophy of religion and epistemology. He received a B.A. and M.A. in philosophy from the University of Notre Dame (1976, 1978), a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley (1984) and a D.Phil. in philosophy from Oxford University (1989). He is th author of Knowledge and Faith in Thomas Aquinas (Cambridge University Press, 1997) and of articles which have appeared in The Journal of Philosophy, Medieval Philosophy and Theology, and Journal of Religious Ethics.

"Father" Jenkins can add inviting Obama to speak (and receive an honorary doctorate) to his list of infamy which includes his allowing the Notre Dame Queer Film Festival and the Vagina Monologues to be hosted on a campus supposedly dedicated to Our Lady!

Comments

[Why?]

Poor Ignatius must be turning in his grave I could understand the President being invited to a debate or forum discussing the protection of the rights of the unborn in Law or religious freedom under the constitution but to award the President an honorary Law degree when he has proceeded to initiate measures to strip the most vulnerable human beings of their right to live seems akin to giving Hitler an honorary degree in sociology for his contribution to German society !

[Central Valley]

Come on, is anyone who reads this blog surprised? I wonder when Da Prez was in Los Angeles recently if the California bishop had a private audiance with their messiah? The Cardinal at Da Pez's right hand and Steinbock and Brown washing the blood of aborted children from his hands. Do they care if he supports the death of innocents? Of course they don't. If the bishops can latch onto the government teet they will suck it dry. As far as these alleged catholic collges, ask yourself just how catholic are they? Nothing shocking in this story, just an example of Amchurch. God help us.

[robinc]

I may be wrong but aren't religious institutions run by an "order" (in this case the Holy Cross Fathers) free from having to follow the USCCB - isn't there something about the fact that they answer to the head of order? I believe that is why the Bishop in the area gets so frustrated by some of the happenings at ND? Again I amy be wrong so please correct me if I am!

[James Rich]

I guess Catholics Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden were too busy to give the commencement that week. She'll doubtlessly be very busy twisting arms and attaching earmarks for weak-kneed representatives in an effort to pass FOCA in the House, while Biden will have to stay close to the Senate in case his tie-breaking vote is needed. And why not pass FOCA during May, the month dedicated to Mary. (It is May, right?) And I'm sure there will be a priest or two available to do the benediction before FOCA's signing ceremony, probably also a Notre Dame graduate. I can guarrantee his teleprompter will more than likely forget to mention all of this in those hallowed halls, since his teleprompter tends to be very sensitive to criticism.

One wonders if there is anything a politician can do or stand for that would disqualify him/her from Catholic adulation in some circles. I wonder if he starts euthanasing "the poor" if that would be enough.

I can only hope his taxation plans put a crimp in Notre Dame's bequethals and trust fund. That seems to be the only thing people can hear anymore.

[robinc]

James - a quick side note - - liturgically I think October is considered the month of Mary (Feast of the Holy Rosary) - although May for many is traditional - unfortunately May falls during the Easter season therefore the Easter season takes a higher precedence. But this ND graduation is probably on a Saturday and all Saturdays have an option of the liturgy being that of the Blessed Mother/

[Michigan Wolverine]

I'm not exactly familiar with how things work at Notre Dame. But I have several friends who attend the school, and they tell me the school is Catholic in name only. This is why I'm not surprised by some of the themes happening around campus. I wonder how many of these theologians really pray to Jesus and ask Him for guidance and light. Studying and knowing liturgy is great and all, but living the faith is a completely different story.

[Michigan Wolverine]

From reading some of the other posts, it seems that I'm a younger generation Catholic. (didn't want to call you guys old :) My faith story is pretty long, so I won't share it unless you are interested. But my question is about the state of society today. As a student at a large secular and liberal university, I see something every day that derides Christians and the values that we cherish. It seems to me that this trend has dramatically increased over the past few years or so. But maybe it's just because I'm more aware of what's happening around me. Is this something anyone else is noticing? Or has this been going on for awhile, but I was just too young to see/understand it?

[american aquarium drinker]

No shock here. Anyone who has been paying half attention knows that ND is Catholic in name only - it's a great for recruitment, donations, etc. Remember, this is the same University that employs arch-heretic "father" Richard McBrien...... " by their fruits, you will know them".

Michigan Wolverine -
You are completely correct in your assessment. This has been going on for awhile now, but it seems to really be gaining much more force in the past decade. I was recently listening to a conference Archbishop Fulton Sheen gave to priests a in the late 1970s. He had this to say - which is becoming more true each passing day:

"As we will begin to see as the world goes on, a new kind of bigotry. We will be opposed not because we believe, for example in the supremacy of the Holy Father but because we are standing in the way of the demoralization of the world. We stand for life against death. We stand for family against divorce. We stand for purity against fornication. We stand for goodness against vice. We are the great obstacle to the world. And the new bigotry will see [the crucifix] and it will hate us. So we have to be prepared for it and will have to take our stand underneath it [the cross]."
- Fulton J. Sheen

[Michigan Wolverine]

Thanks for your response. I'd like to think that for every wayward priest at ND, there are 9 still standing firmly for the Church. For some reason I don't think that's the case.

[robinc]

Another point of view:
http://ncronline.org/news/politics/catholic-academic-ayatollah-shows-true-colors

[My Fathers Daughter]

As an ND grad and parent of 2 current ND students, I can personally assure you that Notre Dame is much, much more than "Catholic in name only." I can also personally assure you that there are many, many in the Notre Dame community who are tremendously disappointed in Fr. Jenkins' decision and who are praying whole-heartedly that he reconsider and rescind. We would appreciate your prayers as well.

[american aquarium drinker]

I know that there are many good Catholics @ ND (I have many friends and family who are grads) but the leadership does not support Catholic teaching, therefore they are not fully Catholic. Employing Fr. Richard McBrien, hosting the Vagina Monologues, and now inviting Obama as this year's commencement speaker are just a few examples. If this thing goes through it will create great scandal - and not just among Catholics. How the university's leadership cannot see this is beyond belief.

Prayers that Fr. Jenkins rescind his invite to Obama may help but I'm guessing that a more immediate approach is for parents, alumni and everyone who has a stake in ND to call and voice their opposition AND withhold monetary donations until the Obama is dis-invited. Sometimes that is the only language these people understand.

Apparently Fr. Jenkins isn't budging....
http://www.lifenews.com/state3971.html

[robinc]

Well now - Bishop Darcy will NOT attend the graduation - he feels his absence makes a stronger statement. My personal thought - Bishop Darcy should attend - offer to say an opening prayer or benediction and within the text of the prayer call forth the statements of the church's teachings that may be in opposition of what the President may speak about - just a thought - what would happen if both sides were in the same place? I just wonder if the absence makes as strong a statement.

[jen3921]

Yes, the bishop not attending makes a statement. What did Christ say when the apostles encountered non-believers that were not swayed from their counselings? "Shake the dust from your feet" and walk away. I am proud that the Bishop is holding firm; it's about time that one did! What adds to the scandal is how this looks to Christians and seculars who will assume that this visit is condoned by all Catholics because Obama is being invited by the predominate Catholic college. This is a true Obamanation...

[James Rich]

I think the only thing the absence of the bishop communicates is impotence, impotence in the bishops' ability to control and affect their institutions. I can understand a bishop's inability to control a wayward politician or doctor (in other words, an individual), but to have no control over its own institution is a terrible thing.

Many bishops spent valuable time and effort over the Fall rebuking and condemning Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden for their abortion stances, only to be outflanked by ND's decision to have Barak as the Commencement Speaker. It will be a goldmind for Obama's re-election campaign to replay the commencement speech where 10,000 Catholics at ND cheer as his name is announced--and Touchdown Jesus is in the background appearing to give his blessing over the whole thing. As the commercial for POTUS sometime in 2011 fades to black, these words will be shown: Barak Obama, Uniter.

[Stan]

Just a clarification: Fr. Jenkins prohibited the "Queer Film Festival" from using the title "Queer" or screening pornographic films. In fact, as far as I know, neither the "Queer" festival _nor_ the Vagina Monologues even happened this year. Nothing was said about them. I suspect taht Fr. Jenkins worked behind the scenes to end them; he may have seemed weak in public, but he got the job done. All the same, I still disagree with his decision on the commencement speaker and I wish that he would show the same subtle action in this case.

[James M. Essig]

Many folks have great outspokenness at unethical treatment of animals, but support pro-abortion agendas and gay and/or lesbian anti-Christian lifestyles or lifestyles full of fornication, and adultery.

But what Catholic or non-Catholic Christian would not want to promote the creation of the wonderful thing of a human person. It does not matter whether one is a clergy or a consecrated religious, a consecrated layman, someone who has chosen the life of single hood such as myself, or someone who has chosen to procreate in the life of Marriage which within the Catholic Church is elevated to the reality of a Sacrament with its own unique graces. Human persons are the crown of creation.

Come to think of it, our very own mortal physical bodies will be Resurrected Incorruptible with the same characteristics as Christ Resin body and will be reunited with our glorified spiritual and immortal souls at the Final Resurrection.

Our brains are part of our bodies and so all of the powers that our brains currently have will be greatly amplified and exalted in a manner commensurate with our overall Resurrected and Glorified Spiritualized bodies that will still be physical bodies but also spiritualized bodies at the same time. Wow! What an exalted state of the already stable and conservative properties of mass and energy.

In addition to being reunited to our souls, I believe if I am not mistaken, that The New Catholic Catechism mentions that the Resurrected Human bodies will have their own immortal life definitively granted to them or something similar. I am still trying to find out what that means.

Part of my quest for my interest in physics is a reflective if only philosophical type of insight into the physical world and by extension, a means to provide a heuristic and epistemological ability to question exactly what our glorified bodies and brains will be like.

As some one who obtained a final overall modest B average at George Mason University in their B.S. physics program, I will take all of the eternal glorification of my body and brain that I can have. LOL!

Not to sound greedy, but Post Resurrection Heaven is there for the asking. No one will have any sense of diss-satisfaction in Heaven. The Catechism states that we all share a fundamental moral equality before GOD. The road to Heaven in this life has its ups and downs but nonetheless can be enjoyable.

I find physics and cosmology a cause for spiritual joy instead of a means for denying the existence of what we cannot prove experimentally such as the reality of the Almighty GOD as TRIUNE, and the existence of a human spiritual and immortal soul.

My studies in physics at the University Level and now mainly on a personal level are a tool I use to deepen my faith in a GOD who created the Cosmos, both physical and created spiritual realities and beings and who could blink it all out of existence with an effortless act of His Almighty will. If the entire Creation is so vast and still being created b GOD in terms of its spiritual components with each creation by GOD of an immortal and spiritual soul with each act of procreation, how much greater is its Creator.

In a world marked by: armed conflict, the still bloated nuclear arsenals of the United States and Russia, the anti life practices that enable near complete freedom for mothers that are often manipulated into having an abortion by the antilife elements of modern culture, the ever present danger of terrorism and maniacal James Bond and Apocalyptic organizations such as Al Queda, Hamass, the Taliban, the seemingly irrepressible and growing strength of the drug cartels, and the ever looming news of potential climatic disasters we face from global warming, we can see that we have a need to improve life on Earth, but that ultimately Christ's Kingdom is not of the world.

Many years ago, as I was going through some great personal difficulties, my sister Mary would often console me with the words, "Jim, this life is just a tiny infinitesimal stepping stone in Eternity."

But in these financially difficult times, it is good to know that just as we have our crosses and stand for ethical principles, our crosses and the crosses of our loved ones are roads to eternal glory without bounds. Just as Christ sits at the Right Hand of the Father in Heaven and is destined to be the Father of the World to come, our crosses will merit us a glory beyond all measure.

I did some soul searching today after I went to confession at my local church and told the Priest of the inward silent curseful thoughts I sometimes seem to be plagued with when I see the great injustices being done and I realized that I am not much better if at all when as a practicing Catholic, I denigrate myself and do an act of un-Charity when I inwardly call down anger or mentally curse all those who have gotten our world into the state that it is.

And so I feel compelled to light a candle in the darkness by the various comments I post on the Roman Catholic Blog site and desire to share some enthusiasm over this marvelous work of God which we call the Creation or the Cosmos.

GOD BLESS!

Jim

[James M. Essig]

Hi Ace of Hearts;

Thanks very much for the above kind words.

Regards;

Jim

[Robin Conroy]

Interesting note: It is reported that Archbishop Timothy Dolan has invited President Obama to his installation as Archbishop of New York - are we all on the same page? Are we upset because President Obama is exercising his first amendment right of free speech - I am confused - why Notre Dame "bad" and St. Patrick's Cathedral "good" - Trust me - I am sure President Obama will express his views from a podium in South Bend or in the first pew of the Cathedral of St. Patrick. Knowing graduates of Notre Dame's school of theology and liturgy and having a sister who graduated from St. Mary's but did a lot of liturgical work at ND - - I don't see a "lack of Catholicism" - I don't mind people spouting off but men and women who have graduated from Notre Dame are found to be active participants in their local churches and dioceses - again - watch the generalizing please.

[James Rich]

Again, Robin, there's a big difference between Barak sitting in the pews, perhaps to hear something intended for his conversion, and giving THE Commencement Address at THE MOST identifiable University in the country.

Inviting sinners to Mass, dinner, etc. is a lot different than allowing the sinner to give the homile.

[robinc]

And if Obama says NOTHING about abortion or stem cells - as I am sure his staff writers are going to do - can he still not speak because of what he believes - - once again - in the pew he is not saying anything - he is not giving a homily - - he is speaking at a COMMENCEMENT! With the logic line going on here anyone who disagrees with the teachings of the church can never speak at any Catholic Institution - if that's what you want - you better alert the bishops - because they are having dissenters all the time speaking at their diocesan events - and their catholic universities - my own faith life was formed by dissenters I greatly disagreed with - but I have my present position because I learned how to debate and defend the church's teachings - I have never blindly accepted the faith - I use reason and logic and FAITH to defend - but I will never censor or prevent anyone from receiving eucharist just because they question and debate.

[Robin Conroy]

I am an extraordinary minister of communion - but the last line was about a petition that was handed to a pastor in a Catholic parish. The parishioners wanted the pastor to refuse some local politicians eucharist at Mass - some parishioners felt these politicians' views on ethical issues were questionable. I was called in to mediate what turned into a very ugly - non-christian event. I could NOT believe that people actually thought it would be OK to physically prevent people from receiving eucharist - actually preventing some of them to come out of the pews. It got down to judging each other as God, judge and jury. My question always goes back to - does this in some way resemble the reading where the woman is to be stoned and Jesus asks - who of you are without sin may cast the first stone - and they all went away - I guess I believe I AM NOT GOD - and do I have a right to refuse eucharist to someone I perceive to be Catholic but wrong on their political issues

I appreciate many of you who are passionate about Right to life, unborn babies and embryonic stem cells - and yes, anyone against those things are acting against the teachings of the church - but are WE THE ONES TO CONDEM?

Desert Flower - I am not sure if you were asking the questions in jest or for real - I know what I am taught and what I believe - my oncologist knew I was Catholic and I work for the church - so he felt it important to tell me that the protocol I was going to follow was developed by the use of embryonic stem cells - his question to me - do you want to live or do you want to walk away from life because testing was done on an unclaimed embryonic cell - he left the decision to me. Thus began this very difficult journey - but YES, I chose my own life - and did so with the full support of my VERY catholic family and my parish community. So . . whenever this question comes up I am interested in what people say - BUT I am just trying to say - it is NOT as easy as black and white. Again, just my thoughts and questions.

[pat mallory]

I hope that the church has not sold it's soul to the Republican party. Using the Sacrament of Communion as a political tool can't be right. And where was the outrage when the GOP did nothing to end abortion when they controlled all three branches of our government from 2000 to 2006? These politicians remember, were elected to "save the babies. Of course abortion must be condemned as any sin should be. But when we stoop to politicize the Mass and other Sacraments, can we at least demand some results?

[pat mallory]

More important than doing anything substantial towards ending abortion are our public displays of indignation about it.
Our displays before others have replaced
our fear of the Lord.

[pat mallory]

The unseen villian in this instance is Randall Terry who would exploit his new found religion in an attempt to promote the Republican party.