President Bush was the commencement speaker in 2001.
Should either have been invited?
Neither?
One or the other?
I think it would be easier on everyone, frankly, if Catholic universities cut the cord with politicians completely. I don't care how prestigious you aim to be, how much you want your graduates to contribute to the fabric of American civic life, even a sitting president cannot help but associate you with a political ideology.
I'm not arguing for the ghetto, at all, but we're not talking noble statesmen here. We're talking politicians who are divisive figures and who, Obama's case, are pursuing policies that directly threaten Catholic institutions.
(Bush is a worthy object of criticism, too, IMHO, but remember his speech was 2001 - before the Iraq war was pursued. And I don't necessarily want to get mired in that conversation, but we might as well bring it up at the beginning.)
VIa American Papist, an open letter to ND President Jenkins from a ND alum.
I'm not arguing for the ghetto, at all, but we're not talking noble statesmen here. We're talking politicians who are divisive figures and who, Obama's case, are pursuing policies that directly threaten Catholic institutions.
(Bush is a worthy object of criticism, too, IMHO, but remember his speech was 2001 - before the Iraq war was pursued. And I don't necessarily want to get mired in that conversation, but we might as well bring it up at the beginning.)
VIa American Papist, an open letter to ND President Jenkins from a ND alum.
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Notre Dame is now fully collusional with a vicious form of Satanic evil - and worse, is seeking to entwine students in that evil.
Obama is a 'man' who thinks letting born babies die on piles of refuse, unheld and unloved and unfed, is AOK. He vigorously defends partial birth abortion (another form of infanticide), and every form of abortion. He is using our tax money to fund abortions worldwide. He is a proponent of sexual perversion, and of encouraging public schools students to be comfortable with sexual perversion - and despite his lying words - will never lift a hand to stop the implementation of homosodomitic 'marriage,' and with that, a worldwide political correctness tyranny that will seek to criminalize free speech and freedom of religion.
Obama IS infected with Satanic evil - and so is Notre Dame.
Fight now - or realize that the Church has become totally irrelevant, and Christians will be persecuted.
My son goes to Notre Dame - and he is in shock and deeply ashamed - as are we.
This is one of the foulest things I have witnessed.
'Father' Jenkins at Notre Dame has chosen the world and its evil over God.
I wish that we had not sent our son to this travesty of a 'Catholic' university.
James
As a current Notre Dame student, I can speak for many on campus who are genuinely conflicted about our university's choice for commencement speaker. We hold a tremendous amount of respect for the office of President of the United States, but we hold an even greater belief in the sanctity of human life. Some of us have written and signed an open letter to Fr. John Jenkins, President of Notre Dame, asking him to make a public statement denouncing Pres. Obama's views on abortion, embryonic stem cell research, etc. I invited you to read it on our student Web page here: http://www.nd.edu/~pbrown6/ObamaVisitLetter.html. With your help, we can raise awareness about the sizable portion of the student body who chose to attend ND not only for its academic reputation and history on the gridiron, but its Catholic foundations and identity as well. God bless all of you who still wish the best for a university that was and hopefully will still remain one of the premier Catholic institutions in America.
Notre Dame stands now with evil; my son just wants to get out now.
As Ayn Rand said: When you compromise with evil, evil wins.
Notre Dame has changed sides in the spiritual battle of the world.
James
I'm so tired of Catholic universities being impressed with themselves and speaking power to truth instead of truth to power.
I can more easily sympathize when universities and empires fall due to fatigue rather than the sacrilegious donning of fashionable opinions for something as perishable-on-impact as earthy status. Surely I am a hypocrite, loving the good opinions of others as much as Notre Dame craves the opinion of the elite, intent on ensuring self-engineered subsistence rather than relying on God's sustenance.
Fr. Jenkins' argument is that they invite all sitting U.S. Presidents. I agree with you Amy that this is a bad policy. Was equally bad when they allowed Bush to speak in 2001. You are right that was before Iraq, but it was after he presided over more executions than any other recent governor and callously mocked Karla Faye Tucker in an interview (among other callousness to death penalty victims during his time as governor/candidate for President).