It’s sad, but if these right-winged Catholics had their way no one but pro-life Republicans would ever be allowed to give addresses at any type of Catholic university functions. All types of programs or initiatives within Catholic universities that prompted dialogue, on ALL issues (regardless of the Church’s current stance), would be cancelled because they don’t officially reflect the views of the Pope.
His Holiness speaks so eloquently about the integration that must always occur between faith and reason. How can it not occur when ALL aspects of science and reason are considered? The Vatican a few weeks ago hosted a conference on the theory of evolution portraying how it can indeed be compatible with Catholic teaching despite the fact that scientists many times use it to deny the existance of God. If this can be used why can homosexuality and abortion not be discussed within new and broad contexts? Does anyone notice a double standard here…?

It seems absurd – and I hope we will one day find it humorous – that within the Catholic Church we have two groups claiming that the other is led by either “Hitler” or an “Ayatollah.”
In the meantime, we seem to be losing any ground that we can all stand on. Much less kneel on.
My husband has been working for many days, because that is his way, on an essay on the abortion issue. It is well-thought out and very scholarly. He is highly trained and a gifted writer. He makes a case for common ground and the role of the Catholic Church as a leader in providing just such a space between Pro-Choice and Pro-Life advocates.
Sadly, it seems that within our Church, among people who agree that abortion is grave evil, we ascribe a kind of radicalization of other beliefs to which this belief must attach. THIS is the real division.
I see it as an abuse of the Church teachings, but I may be too harsh. It is perhaps more a corruption of, or best case – misunderstanding, of the totality of the teachings of the Catholic Church.
What I continue to be mystified by is how come if I am in complete agreement with the Catholic Church Dogma, Doctrine and Tradition but do not subscribe to an agenda of hate (laced with election era propaganda) that I am automatically accused of being less Catholic, unformed, and “squishy” on Pro-Life?
Well, I am glad to read this particular article as well as the one by DC’s Bishop. I hope that reason will be integrated with faith, and that minds will open and hearts will love.

Having been flogged over at Via Media by Amy and her friendly fans for suggesting that the pro-life movement hurts its own cause by demonizing Obama, I comment here with some trepidation, but hoping for possibly a more reasoned exchange of thoughts. (Cindy, I totally feel your pain.) Here’s what I said:
(Taking a deep breath): I know I’m setting myself up for the harshest excoriation from posters here, but I think [ND prez] Jenkins’ reasoning [for inviting Obama] is quite … reasonable. Obama is the president. That’s pretty major. (And apparently that made Bush an appropriate pick for speaker, despite his disdain for virtually every aspect of Catholic social teaching.) Most Catholic voters voted for him. And it’s simply wrong, wrong, wrong to characterize him as some kind of abortion-loving Nazi whose very presence defiles the university’s lilly-white soul. Have you seen this guy with his wife and kids? Have you heard him speak about healthcare, helping those who are struggling, lifting women out of poverty, etc.? And you want to demonize him? He wants to see abortions reduced, not increased, for crying out loud. Let’s engage with him, as Jenkins suggests, and move forward. Censoring all dialogue, cutting off contact, saying “nyah nyah we’re not gonna let you in” is immature and unproductive. Demonizing him hurts the cause by making the pro-life movement look fascist, out of touch and sort of pathetic. I’m pro-life. And I’m regularly appalled by the, I’m sorry, but the nerdiness factor within the movement. We could accomplish so much more if we weren’t regarded as so many Saturday Night Live “Church Ladies” screeching Satan at anyone who dares think differently. There’s no forward movement when you take that tack.
(The nerdiness reference really got folks riled up. Understandably. It was an awkward way to make a very honest observation. Let me repeat this: I AM pro-life. I’d like to see the movement be successful. And if I’M cringing at the vicious response by pro-lifers to the prospect of Obama speaking at Notre Dame, then there’s some major alienation going on. How the movement looks to outsiders IS important, unfair as it may seem — if it hopes to grow stronger, attract more people and have a bigger impact on abortion.)

I am a devote catholic and work for the church.
Please qualify your headline to “some catholics.”
I grew up in a neighborhood where girls at my school performed abortions on themselves with coat hangers. Many got infections or suffered from internal bleeding. One girl hermoraged and bled to death. I don’t want to go back to that.
Killing is a sin and I will advise any girl or couple to seriously think about keeping the child, but it’s a decision they or she must make with full knowledge of God’s law.
When it comes to civil law, they should have the right to a clean proceedure performed by a professional.
I know very few anti-abortion people who have adopted homeless or unwanted children, and until the majority of these people have adopted and truly demonstrated their willingness to care for the unwanted, keep the civil law open.
Let’s start a real, honest pro-life movement and demand the USA stop all production of guns, land mines, bombs and missles, military aircraft and ships and hardware.
The so-called prolife people are willing to kill anything, animal or human. It is just a matter of personal circumstances. Palin is supposedly prolife but she will kill elk from helicopters, or cut oil lines across God’s most beautiful creation if it maker her money. Even the church will promote killing if it suits it’s political aims. Remember the Reformation? Or how about Afganistan? Or heritics? Or liberation theology priests and nuns who where killed when our beloved John Paul II turned his back on them to support the ruling class in South American?
Let’s be honest, and remember the Lord said, “the heart of the law is mercy.” I find little that happened in Brazil last week toward a nine-year-old pregnant girl that lives up to the teachings of the Messiah.
I also believe Obama is a good devote Christian.

Gibson:
Shame on you! Why draw attention to NCR’s new editor? Feuerhard’s resort to name-calling (calling the CNS founder an “Ayatollah”) is a new low and does nothing to promote genuine dialogue. As bad is his demonizing of Reilly and attempt to call into question the man’s sincerity … especially with the suggestion that fund-raising is the primary motive for CNS’ choice of concerns.
All these tactics by you and Feuerhard are a lame attempt to divert attention from the central issue here: the conferring of honor and a platform by a nominally Catholic college to the most extreme pro-abortion politician in US history.
Nice try, but nobody is fooled.

Wow, how refreshing to find people who see this in the same way I do. While everyone else is weeping and gnashing teeth over the President of the United States giving a speech, who is paying any attention to what the Pope has said about the shadow of evil over Africa?
The U.S. is so pampered we are the only nation with the leisure to think that abortion is THE only evil in the world.
Amen. Let us proclaim our faith in the words of ……
Wait a minute, wrong thing.
Steve

I don’t suppose the Catholic Church know how absurd it appears to outsiders for them to be arguing about a silly thing like that. Barack Obama is the president of the United States. If I were graduating, it would be a privilege to have him speak at the commencement.

http://intoonwiththeworld.blogspot.com/2009/03/nd-betrayal.html

I want to see the bishops and “certain Catholics” to get this upset the next time Notre Dame or any other high profile Catholic based organization issues an invite to anyone who supports the death penalty (see Cattolic Church teachings), unjust war (see Catholic teachings), torture (see Catholic teachings), etc. etc.
I could go into the whole how-the-GOP-handles-the-war-on-poverty and social justice issue, but you catch my drift.

I find it troubling that in situations like this a single issue becomes the focus. Where is the voice of dissent against the politicians who support the death penalty. Shouldn’t the volume of protest be similar? To be consistent, one should be willing to voice support for the sanctity of all life. I believe it was Cardinal Bernardine who spoke of the “seamless garment” approach that is often lacking in these protests.

Tarheel Rambler
I don’t think I could have said it better myself.
Often it’s the difference between the life begins at conception/ends at birth and the true pro-lifers Catholic-wise.

How many death row inmates are executed every year as opposed to babies aborted? As for the anonymous ‘see church teaching’ poster, there’s ambiguity and grey area on issues such as death penalty and unjust war as opposed to abortion where there’s no such leeway(see ‘intrinsic evil’ under church teaching), and a little ambiguity on what genuinely constitutes torture.
The Al Smith Dinner is a light-mooded, good-humored fundraiser where speakers rarely if ever take the opportunity to expound on their political platform; but then I guess the same can be said for commencement speeches at universities.
I can see the concern of some progressives. Though they may be legitimate, from a Catholic perspective one can hardly equate not supporting a ban on gay marriage amendment to legalizing fetal dismemberment/dehydration from salene solution in amnyotic fluid sac/blunt object in base of skull at any stage of pregnancy for any reason whatsoever and requiring taxpayers to fit the bill.

How many Catholics are calling for the government to ban in vitro? What about those embryos?
Gray areas. Supporting the right to choose is being equated with actually performing abortion, but signing death warrants and sending our men and women into what the Church has long considered to be an unjust war that has result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of men, women & children is a gray area?????
Sounds suspicious like like hypocricy and self justification.