Protesters Arrested at Notre Dame - Presidential Politics | Political News - FOXNews.com --------------------------------------Photos by Fox News
Friday, May 15, 2009
Protesters Arrested at Notre Dame - Presidential Politics | Political News - FOXNews.com
Protesters Arrested at Notre Dame - Presidential Politics | Political News - FOXNews.com --------------------------------------Photos by Fox News
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58 comments:
makes me ashamed to be a Catholic
Is this what this country is coming to when the Catholic Church is using its own armed agents to arrest a Catholic priest for peacefully defending life while honoring someone who endorses the killing of babies? Imagine that, a Catholic priest arrested by church police officers for trespassing on church property?
I guess the Catholic church no longer supports the protection of life.
Liberals are such morons and we can prove it at NormalUSA . com
what public relations for the church!
this outta help boost the collection plates this Sunday for sure!
The University of Notre Dame Security Police Department, located in Hammes Mowbray Hall just east of the Power Plant, is fully authorized as a police agency by the State of Indiana. The department employs both sworn police officers and non-sworn security officers who patrol campus and respond to emergencies. Notre Dame Security Police staff offer an array of other services for the community.
Does one of those community services include beating up priests?
looks to me from that photo they are lifting the good father up by his neck?
what ever happened to forgiveness?
don't worry, according to Robert Gibbs, Obama's press secretary, Obama plans to set the church straight about their policy on abortion during his speech on sunday.
How is it that a priest refused to serve communion to Senator John Kerry for his views on abortion, but allowed President Nobama tp speak at a Catholic university? If Obama wasn't the speaker, the protest might not have happened. May God have mercy on us all!!
It must be a proud mark on the history of this historic Catholic University to imprison a priest for supporting life?
The good thing about this issue is that the leadership of Notre Dame has been exposed. They are not really interested in making Notre Dame a truly Catholic university but Catholic University in name only so as to take advantage of the donations and priviledges.
How can they dishonor "Notre Dame, The Lady", the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is beyond any reason.
Seems to me that the Catholic Church now actively supports abortion, including abortion of babies born alive. They better get the message out to all the Catholic hospitals to get updated on the new church doctrine and start killing those babies immediately!
It is the height of hypocrisy to call "waterboarding" torture, after having voted for the most excruciating kind of torture, dismembering an unborn baby.
Obama is beyond hypocrisy. For Notre Dame to honor this man is shameful.
Obama will give some speech that the teleprompter will tell him to say. It will be something along the lines of "this is an esteemed institution, where people of different backgrounds, views and faiths come together to learn and contribute to this great country". All very empty and full of platitudes. All the while ignoring it's a Catholic funded and founded institution that speaks vehemently against abortion. Obama on the other hand loves abortions. He doesn't want to see women "punished" with a child (remember when he said that? ). One of his first efforts when he gained the office was to send millions of dollars to overseas abortion groups (because there's so much of other peoples' money in the U.S. to throw at "important" overseas abortions right now) Funding for embryonic stem cell research...that uses discarded embryos (don't you love that? Discarded...).
Obama will no doubt be making jokes about a priest getting beat up by tomorrow!
My jaw dropped when I saw the video on these arrests. Notre Dame is becoming a disgrace. :-(
This power-hungry, ego maniac OBOZO could've politely declined the invitation and save all these people such grief and anguish. But he is too important is his own inflated ego to do that. He has to know the controversy surrounding his visit, yet he goes trudging along like it's nothing.
What a hypocrite and phony. Just more egotism and arrogance put forth by our dear leader.
you are witnessing the changeover from Catholicism to Obamacism
I was originally surprised that the Catholic Church would endorse someone who is so blatantly against their own church doctrine, but then I think back to WWII and the Catholic Church remained neutral, not wanting to offend the Nazis in the event that the Nazis were the victors--apparently under hopes that the Nazis would allow the church to continue to exist.
Anonymous said...
Church officers arresting a priest for trespassing? what will be next, your local parish priest speaks against abortion, so church officers storm into the church and drag him away from the altar?
May 16, 2009 11:50 AM
God does have Absolute values. and Notre Dame has becoma Godless University
The image this afternoon on television is a priest getting arrested today by Notre Dame Police while they put handcuffs on a pair of hands that is holding a string of rosary beads and a cross.
That should be the new logo of the university. Handcuffed hands with rosary beads intertwined. How appropriate a symbol for the new church!
ND lost all rights to call itself a Catholic Univ. a long time ago.
I believe this incident shows that the catholic church has become a propaganda ministry for the new Messiah.
In a few short years, if one or both of his daughters becomes pregnant out of wedlock, Obama won't have any qualms about them getting an abortion...so much for respect for life!
simply disgraceful!
I go back further than most readers. Growing up in an anti-Catholic city in N.H., I remember my wonderful father with his ear close to the radio every Saturday praying for the 'Fighting Irish" to win their football games.
I knew that it was his way of wanting the Catholics to WIN! Everyone was against us. He would roll over in his grave today.
I guess this is the type of paramilitary police force Obama has been referring to. Serve your country, minions! Attack those who oppose your Leader.
Well, the Wizard of Oz, gave out a degree to scarecrow with no brains, maybe Jenkins is just given the same thing, in Freudian to Obama, who follows the yellow brick after all.
Causing UNREST at a CHRISTIAN College plays to ALL his supporters:
Pro-Choice
Anti-Religion (take the CHRIST out of CHRISTmas types, etc)
Socialists
Woe and alas, the anti-christ cometh
Makes you wonder if the church's hierarchy really believes in God and life or if they're against abortion because they want maximum membership to reap the monetary rewards of satan.
Whether it's a deceitful Head of Treasury, the lies of the Speaker of the House, an unintelligible Press Secretary, a corrupt, designing Chief of Staff, be it Notre Dame or Arizona State...BAILOUTS, BANKS, AUTO INDUSTRY, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS... the CHAOS GROWS, and OBAMA'S STRATEGY - "disrupt-dismantle-defeat" - SUCCEEDS!
Liberals think their intellect is superior to conservatives. I've been trying to figure out their way of thinking. Then finally I realized they have altered their brain chemistry by smoking too much pot. Today's liberal/democratic/radical left all have damaged brains due to the many years of pot smoking. Its a real hoot that they think they are smarter.
well, he might want at least the Muslim babies to live, don't you think?
Someone should send a copy of this photo to Pope Benedict, and ask him if he is proud of the new image of the Catholic church?
Pro-life people are speaking out. A lot of Catholics must have changed their minds about Obama after realizing that he is nothing but a liar constantly lying to the American people.
In real life, it is acceptable to respect the "office," but not the person...until respect is earned. And Obama will never earn the respect in that office.
Since when did the church care about anything other than the amount of money you put in the collection basket? Maybe he made a big enough donation, that they don't care what he stands for, so long as the check clears.
HAS THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TURNED TO THE DEVIL FOR IT'S GUIDE ON HOW TO RUN THEIR OPERATION?
Very good point! Notre Shame has shown us that the devil himself is taking over the catholic church!
Obama has no more business addressing a Catholic college than a Klansman does addressing the NAACP. Of course, those at the NAACP wouldn't be so stupid as to invite someone who is working for their destruction.
Do you think the same people who are against a Godless president will know enough to not vote for anti-christian candidates like Truworthy, Sherwood, Cantazaro, O'Brien, and DeFronzo to name a few?
Anyone who follows the oppressive values of socialism is against God regardless of what religion they may claim to be.
I am Catholic, and I am so disgusted with the church over this outrageous conduct, that I may never step foot in another church again.
Is that a picture of a cop hitting the priest in the side of the head with a 2 by 4?
A bunch of wishy-washy Catholics who follow the world rather than follow God. They demonstrated today who is their Messiah.
Our once great country is in major jeopardy of decline and collapse.
Well at least he's consistant, Everything Obama Touches is destroyed, once President the Stock market Grabbed their Money and Ran for GOOD and then Notre Dame & over $20 Million Dollars has been denied to continue to give to this University SO FAR. Bye Bye Notre Dame This action has just destroyed this University. America is already Destroyed as another 650,000 people Lost their JOBS and the Scandles will keep coming as with Palosi, even though She's Histroy Now, The Next Speaker will be Just as Bad or Worse, Watch and See !! Complete Destruction is what this administration is Unveiling
The University of Notre Dame is taking a hit with President Obama's commencement invitation, not just to its reputation but its wallet.
According to organizers of ReplaceJenkins.com, a Web site critical of Notre Dame President Rev. John Jenkins' decision to host President Obama, more than 1,400 pledges have been received from alumni and donors promising to withhold future donations, a tally of nearly $14 million.
Father Jenkins’ decision to honor President Obama directly violates the 2004 US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ directive on Catholics in Political Life and is offensive to all Catholics. That decision, together with other poor decisions over the years, calls into question Father Jenkins’ judgment and leadership. Although we love Notre Dame, our conscience requires that we withhold all financial support from our University until such time as Father Jenkins is replaced as Notre Dame’s President with someone who will be more loyal to the teaching of the Catholic Church.
Obama urges dialogue, not demonization, on abortion
Says sides can work together on root causes
By Joseph Williams, Globe Staff | May 18, 2009
WASHINGTON - President Obama, in perhaps the most controversial appearance of his presidency, told graduates and faculty at the University of Notre Dame yesterday that both sides in the debate over abortion must engage without "demonizing" each other, and can work together to address one of the root causes of abortion - unintended pregnancies.
Tackling an emotionally charged issue he largely managed to avoid during his candidacy, Obama said he doesn't believe the clash over abortion "can or should go away" even though "the views of the two camps are irreconcilable." Yet the "vigorous debate," he said, has to occur "without reducing those with differing views to caricature."
Despite the clash, "we can still agree that this is a heart-wrenching decision for any woman to make, with both moral and spiritual dimensions," Obama said, drawing one of several ovations from the crowd of 12,000 during the speech. Along with curtailing unintended pregnancies, making adoption easier, and treating opponents with respect, the nation must "make sure that all of our healthcare policies are grounded in clear ethics and sound science, as well as respect for the equality of women."
The speech, which was largely well received by the audience, comes at a critical moment for Obama, who was swept into office largely on national concerns over the Iraq war and the staggering economy.
Within months, Obama is expected to name a replacement for retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter, the first of what will probably be a number of nominations to the high court; already, Republicans are marshaling forces on how to contest the president's pick, widely expected to be a moderate liberal, and most likely a woman.
Obama, who supports abortion rights but says the procedure should be rare, was invited to speak at the school and receive an honorary degree, an invitation that sparked outrage among conservative Catholics and antiabortion activists. Students led protests at the school's South Bend, Ind., campus, some members of the graduating class wore crosses and symbols on their mortar boards, and conservatives nationwide used the moment to rally their supporters.
While a Gallup poll on abortion found that 51 percent of those questioned call themselves "prolife" - the first time a majority of US adults have identified themselves as such since Gallup began asking this question in 1995 - a Pew Research Center survey found public opinion about abortion is more closely divided than it has been in several years.
The debate over Obama's appearance at Notre Dame was more contentious because the Catholic Church in particular holds the belief that abortion and the use of embryos for stem cell research violates the church's tenets against the destruction of human life, and should be banned by law.
On the Notre Dame campus, members of an abortion rights group also protested while a plane pulling an antiabortion banner circled above. Yesterday, more than 300 antiabortion demonstrators gathered at the school's front gate ahead of Obama's arrival, the Associated Press reported. More than half held signs, some declaring "Shame on Notre Dame" and "Stop Abortion Now."
Tara Makowski of Seattle, who received a master's degree Saturday from the school, told the Associated Press she was dismayed by the way Notre Dame was being characterized.
"Seeing us being portrayed nationally as radical conservative has been really tough," she said. "People need to realize that the majority of students and faculty" favored Obama's visit.
But Bishop John D'Arcy of the Fort Wayne-South Bend diocese, which includes Notre Dame, skipped the president's visit to attend an open-air Mass and rally, and said the students protesting Obama's speech "are heroes, and I'm proud to stand with you."
Despite the contentious atmosphere, the audience greeted Obama with thunderous applause and a standing ovation as he entered the arena.
In his introduction, the Rev. John Jenkins, Notre Dame's president, praised Obama for not being "someone who stops talking to those who disagree with him."
While critics excoriated Notre Dame for inviting Obama, Jenkins said, too little attention has been paid to Obama's decision to speak at an institution that opposes his abortion policy.
Shortly after the president began his speech, at least three protesters interrupted, yelling, "Stop killing our children." An overwhelming number of graduates then booed, began chanting, "We are ND!" and "Yes we can!" - Obama's campaign slogan - and cheered as security led the protesters out.
Obama reassured his audience, then smiled and said he was not going to "shy away from things that are uncomfortable sometimes."
While most recognize the need to find common ground on issues like abortion, Obama said, part of the problem "lies in the imperfections of man" and an unwillingness to see beyond "immediate self-interest and crass materialism" and the desire of both sides to dominate the discussion.
Soldiers and lawyers both love America, "and yet reach very different conclusions on the specific steps needed to protect us from harm," just as gay activists and evangelical ministers want to fight the HIV/AIDS virus but can't agree how, Obama said.
Religious opponents of stem cell research, he said, "may be rooted in admirable conviction about the sacredness of life, but so are the parents of a child with juvenile diabetes who are convinced that their son's or daughter's hardships can be relieved."
That debate can be resolved, and common ground found, only through good works, kindness, and mutual respect - a fundamental part of all religious traditions, Obama said.
As students try to sort out what's true, Obama said, "have confidence in the values with which you've been raised and educated. Be unafraid to speak your mind when those values are at stake," yet recognize that "the ultimate irony of faith is that it necessarily admits doubt. It is the belief in things not seen."
If nothing else, the president concluded, the graduates should have faith "that through our collective labor, and God's providence, and our willingness to shoulder each other's burdens, America will continue on its precious journey towards that more perfect union."
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
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May 18, 2009, 4:00 a.m.
Notre Dame Says ‘Yes We Can’
And adds to the cloud of moral confusion on the human-rights issue of our lifetimes.
By Kathryn Jean Lopez
At Saint Patrick’s Cathedral Sunday night in New York City, the celebrant of the 5:30 Mass pointed out that “love” was mentioned 17 times in 13 verses between the second reading and the Gospel for the day.
Presumably, more than a few of those who attended the University of Notre Dame’s commencement on the same day heard those two Biblical selections. Some of them had to be among those applauding and “whooping and hollering,” as one anchor on CNN described their reaction to President Barack Obama’s presence at Notre Dame, where he was receiving an honorary degree.
It’s understandable that some (and even many) who graduated or otherwise attended the N.D. commencement might interpret love as embracing the “Yes we can” message of Barack Obama (whatever that message means) when the most immediate and vocal alternative at the time seemed to be screaming “stop killing babies” and “abortion is murder” during the commencement exercises. Or getting arrested. Or well-intentioned ranting on talk radio.
Of course, that was not the necessary alternative to embracing the feel-goodness inside the Joyce Center in South Bend. Fr. Wilson Miscamble, a Holy Cross priest and a professor of history at Notre Dame, offered some instruction as to how Notre Dame can restore its identity in the face of this Sunday’s honoring of Obama.
Fr. Miscamble cautioned against “rhetoric [that] seems to ring rather hollow.” He said: “The words have not been matched by deeds. Instead of fostering the moral development of its students Notre Dame’s leaders have planted the damaging seeds of moral confusion.” Though speaking before the commencement speakers, he captured the rhetoric perfectly.
Notre Dame president Fr. John Jenkins did exactly what Fr. Miscamble worried he would: He led a hollow and confusing event. Fr. Jenkins said: “More than any problem in the arts or sciences, engineering or medicine, easing the hateful divisions between human beings is the supreme challenge of this age. . . . If we can solve this problem, we have a chance to come together and solve all the others.”
One might try to defend Fr. Jenkins, saying he was just trying to apply the Gospel of the day to the graduation ceremony, as the country was watching. But instead, while speaking vaguely about the need for both faith and reason, he preached a nebulous, vacuous gospel. He said: “Difference must be acknowledged, and in some cases even cherished. . . . We can persuade believers by appeal to both faith and reason. As we serve our country, we will be motivated by faith, but we cannot appeal only to faith. We must also engage in a dialogue that appeals to reason that all can accept.”
But there was no dialogue, or persuasion, at the commencement on Sunday. There was the president of Our Lady’s University treating the key human-rights issue of our day as one issue among many, granting the president of the United States a red carpet to make the case for agreeing to disagree.
Fr. Jenkins quoted Pope John Paul II and the Second Vatican Council in defending the Obama honorary degree. But he didn’t quote from the current pope and his address to Fr. Jenkins and all Catholic university presidents last year while visiting the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Benedict began his speech by saying that “first and foremost every Catholic educational institution is a place to encounter the living God who in Jesus Christ reveals his transforming love and truth.” He continued: “Teachers and administrators . . . have the duty and privilege to ensure that students receive instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice. This requires that public witness to the way of Christ, as found in the Gospel and upheld by the Church’s Magisterium, shapes all aspects of an institution’s life, both inside and outside the classroom. Divergence from this vision weakens Catholic identity and, far from advancing freedom, inevitably leads to confusion, whether moral, intellectual, or spiritual.”
The valedictory address on Sunday made reference to being different: Notice your bus driver. Recycle, even if your coworkers think you’re weird walking around with an empty can. The Gospel, of course, calls for a far deeper difference than this. It’s not clear that the university that presented The Vagina Monologues on campus under the Jenkins administration makes this exceedingly clear.
Contrary to headlines over the weekend, the Vatican has not been silent on this Notre Dame award to Obama. A little over a week before the Notre Dame commencement, Archbishop Raymond Burke, formerly archbishop of St. Louis, traveled to our nation’s capital from Rome to provide the leadership Notre Dame didn’t this May. Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura at the Vatican, Burke had something to say about Notre Dame (the Obama commencement is “rightly the source of the greatest scandal”), about Catholics and public life, about patriotism and faith, and about how one lives a life of faithfulness.
Archbishop Burke opened with the following explanation:
Before the fundamental and great challenges which we as a nation are facing, how better to express our patriotism than by celebrating the teachings of our Catholic faith. The most treasured gift which we as citizens of the United States of America can offer to our country is a faithful Catholic life. It is the gift which, even though it has often been misunderstood, has brought great strength to our nation, from the time of its founding. Today more than ever, our nation is in need of Catholics who know their faith deeply and express their faith, with integrity, by their daily living.
Somehow he was able to do that without hollow rhetoric and without being partisan. But he also did not provide cover to anyone. “Over the past several months, our nation has chosen a path which more completely denies any legal guarantee of the most fundamental human right, the right to life, to the innocent and defenseless unborn,” Archbishop Burke said.
He also said: “Those in power now determine who will or will not be accorded the legal protection of the most fundamental right to life. First the legal protection of the right to life is denied to the unborn and, then, to those whose lives have become burdened by advanced years, special needs, or serious illness, or whose lives are somehow judged to be unprofitable or unworthy.” And Archbishop Burke warned: “Our laws may soon force those who have dedicated themselves to the care of the sick and the promotion of good health to give up their noble life work, in order to be true to the most sacred dictate of their consciences. What is more, if our nation continues down the path it has taken, health-care institutions operating in accord with the natural moral law, which teaches us that innocent human life is to be protected and fostered at all times and that it is always and everywhere evil to destroy an innocent human life, will be forced to close their doors.”
Archbishop Burke talked, too, about marriage and the “confusion and error about marriage” that is rooted in “the contraceptive mentality,” which, he said, “would have us believe that the inherently procreative nature of the conjugal union can, in practice, be mechanically or chemically eliminated, while the marital act remains unitive. It cannot be so. With unparalleled arrogance, our nation is choosing to renounce its foundation upon the faithful, indissoluble, and inherently procreative love of a man and a woman in marriage, and, in violation of what nature itself teaches us, to replace it with a so-called marital relationship, according to the definition of those who exercise the greatest power in our society.”
You get the idea. It was very different from what we heard at Notre Dame on Sunday.
Was the president of the University of Notre Dame supposed to say all of this in front of the president of the United States? Well, he shouldn’t have been lending the president the school’s credibility in the first place. And once he did — once invited, the president could not have been uninvited — he didn’t help foster a culture of life by demonizing those who thought his decision to honor Barack Obama was an outrage. “Outrage” didn’t come just from Alan Keyes, Obama’s former Senate opponent; it came, in a much more civil and instructive style, from a Vatican official who provided leadership in a time of confusion on the campus of Notre Dame and in the watching nation.
This incident in the life of the University of Notre Dame, the Catholic Church, and the United States will not end with the passage of the weekend, or even when the talking heads stop chattering about it. In an interview with National Review Online last week, Archbishop Burke urged those who are concerned about what has happened at Notre Dame to let their views be known. (Some did just this on campus, with varying degrees of effectiveness and prudence.) Write Fr. Jenkins. Write Bishop D’Arcy, who did not attend the commencement exercises but did attend an on-campus protest. Write the Vatican.
I might add: If you have occasion to, encourage the schools that are doing the right things. Encourage those who do not sow and water yet more moral confusion.(And thank former Vatican ambassador Mary Ann Glendon for providing real leadership for refusing to be used at the commencment.)
“Dialogue” has been the apparent cardinal virtue during this Notre Dame affair, as so often is the case when higher education and religion get controversial. True dialogue can be fruitful (Pope Benedict said just this on the South Lawn of the White House, as Fr. Jenkins reminded us Sunday). But it wasn’t there on Sunday at the commencement exercises, and to pretend that it was is a continued outrage.
In that address to Catholic educators last year, Pope Benedict had something to say about “academic freedom”:
I wish to reaffirm the great value of academic freedom. In virtue of this freedom you are called to search for the truth wherever careful analysis of evidence leads you. Yet it is also the case that any appeal to the principle of academic freedom in order to justify positions that contradict the faith and the teaching of the Church would obstruct or even betray the university’s identity and mission; a mission at the heart of the Church’s munus docendi [duty to teach] and not somehow autonomous or independent of it.
Teachers and administrators, whether in universities or schools, have the duty and privilege to ensure that students receive instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice. This requires that public witness to the way of Christ, as found in the Gospel and upheld by the Church’s Magisterium, shapes all aspects of an institution’s life, both inside and outside the classroom. Divergence from this vision weakens Catholic identity and, far from advancing freedom, inevitably leads to confusion, whether moral, intellectual, or spiritual.
The University of Notre Dame used appeals to academic freedom and dialogue to justify a weakening of the school and thereby the Church’s public identity. Fr. Jenkins presided over a muddle on Sunday. But there’s hope for both Notre Dame and the Catholic Church.
President Obama plugged his book The Audacity of Hope during his commencement address. Let me plug Spe Salvi, Pope Benedict’s encyclical on Christian hope. He wrote that “the one who has hope lives differently” — and pointed toward Mary, Mother of God, for whom the University of Notre Dame is named, in a way that could have fit into commencement remarks this weekend:
Human life is a journey. Towards what destination? How do we find the way? Life is like a voyage on the sea of history, often dark and stormy, a voyage in which we watch for the stars that indicate the route. The true stars of our life are the people who have lived good lives. They are lights of hope. Certainly, Jesus Christ is the true light, the sun that has risen above all the shadows of history. But to reach him we also need lights close by — people who shine with his light and so guide us along our way. Who more than Mary could be a star of hope for us? With her “yes” she opened the door of our world to God himself; she became the living Ark of the Covenant, in whom God took flesh, became one of us, and pitched his tent among us (cf. Jn 1:14).
On the campus of the University of Notre Dame, there are such lights. There is the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture and the Notre Dame Fund to Protect Human Life. There are more examples here. If you are a Notre Dame alum or other former donor, you might consider supporting some of those lights of hope. A Catholic university that can touch as many souls as Notre Dame — in the classroom, on the football field, in months of headlines over a commencement speaker — is not one to surrender without a fight.
— Kathryn Jean Lopez is editor of National Review Online.
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National Review Online - http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=Y2VkNmMzNTY2NDI1MjY1MDZkZjQ2YzU4NGFmZmZhZmY=
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Obama Takes On Abortion Debate
Obama Takes On Abortion Debate
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR , The Washington Post
Published on 5/18/2009 in Home »Main Photo
South Bend, Ind. - Amid a scattering of angry protests over his support for abortion rights, President Obama addressed the issue head-on Sunday at the University of Notre Dame, calling for “open hearts, open minds, fair-minded words” in the pursuit of “common ground.”
Since becoming president, and before that for nearly two years on the campaign trail, Obama has sought to skirt the emotional anger that surrounds the debate over abortion. But his decision to speak to graduating Notre Dame students made that approach impossible Sunday.
The invitation from one of America's best-known Catholic universities ignited a firestorm of discussion over whether an institution that adheres to the Roman Catholic Church's condemnation of abortion should award an honorary law degree to a president who is committed to safeguarding abortion rights.
Obama appeared energized by the controversy over his appearance, and he addressed the debate over abortion with relish. He pleaded for courtesy in the dialogue even as he acknowledged that “at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable.”
”Is it possible for us to join hands in common effort?” he said. “As citizens of a vibrant and varied democracy, how do we engage in vigorous debate? How does each of us remain firm in our principles, and fight for what we consider right, without demonizing those with just as strongly held convictions on the other side?”
The vast majority of the 12,000 in attendance at the Joyce Center basketball arena gave the president several loud, sustained ovations, and the crowd rallied to his defense when people attempted to interrupt him at the start. One protester yelled “Abortion is murder!” “Baby killer!” and “You have blood on your hands.” Another shouted, “Stop killing our children.” The crowd responded with boos and then chants of “Yes, we can” and “We are N.D.”
A handful of graduates engaged in a silent protest, having taped a yellow cross and yellow images of baby feet to the top of their mortarboards.
Meanwhile, hundreds of antiabortion protesters gathered Sunday outside the front gate of the university, beyond the view of the presidential motorcade; police arrested more than three dozen for trespassing, including Norma McCorvey, the woman at the center of the landmark Supreme Court abortion case Roe v. Wade, who is now an antiabortion activist. Billboards on the nearby Indiana Toll Road read: “Notre Dame: Obama is pro abortion choice. How dare you honor him.”
Obama did not engage in the debate over when life begins, nor did he attempt to justify his beliefs about abortion or embryonic stem cell research, positions that some said should have disqualified him from Notre Dame's honorary degree. Instead, the president took aim at the loud and angry rhetoric that he said too often dominates the discussion.
The failure of both sides to use “fair-minded words,” he said, overly inflames an important debate. As an example, he described his own 2004 campaign Web site, which at one point referred to “right-wing ideologues who want to take away a woman's right to choose.”
It was not until a doctor e-mailed him about the phrase that Obama ordered it taken down, he said.
”I didn't change my underlying position, but I did tell my staff to change the words on my Web site,” he told the crowd. “And I said a prayer that night that I might extend the same presumption of good faith to others that the doctor had extended to me. Because when we do that ... that's when we discover at least the possibility of common ground.”
Obama's call was echoed by the university's president, the Rev. John Jenkins, who chided those who had spoken angrily about the president's visit. He urged the Notre Dame community to appeal to both “faith and reason.”
The university seeks “to foster dialogue with all people of good will, regardless of faith, background or perspective,” Jenkins said. He praised Obama for accepting the invitation to speak despite the controversy.
”President Obama has come to Notre Dame, though he knows full well that we are fully supportive of the church's teaching on the sanctity of life,” Jenkins said. “Others might have avoided this venue for that reason.”
More than 70 Catholic bishops criticized Jenkins for inviting the president, and more than 360,000 people signed a petition calling for the invitation to be rescinded.
Obama's speech marked the second time in a week that he had used a commencement address to recast a discussion about him into a broader context.
At Arizona State University's graduation Wednesday, Obama talked directly about the school's decision to deny him an honorary degree on the basis that he lacks the accomplishments to justify the accolade. “His body of work is yet to come,” university officials had said.
”Your own body of work is also yet to come,” he told 60,000 people at the stadium. “Building a body of work is all about ... the daily labor, the many individual acts, the choices large and small that add up over time, over a lifetime, to a lasting legacy. That's what you want on your tombstone. It's about not being satisfied with the latest achievement, the latest gold star - because the one thing I know about a body of work is that it's never finished.”
In similar fashion, Obama did not shy away from the abortion controversy Sunday. He stressed the need for cooperation and goodwill even among those who disagree about the most morally weighted issues.
”Remember, too, that the ultimate irony of faith is that it necessarily admits doubt,” he said. “This doubt should not push us away from our faith. But it should humble us. It should temper our passions and cause us to be wary of too much self-righteousness.”
As president, Obama has sidestepped some of the most sensitive questions about life and when it begins. He loosened Bush-era rules governing embryonic stem cell research but left it to the National Institutes of Health to devise new regulations for such research. And Obama has resisted calls from abortion-rights activists to push for passage of the Freedom of Choice Act, which would make abortions legal in all cases. In his most recent news conference, he said the measure was “not my highest priority.”
Obama's upcoming nomination of a new Supreme Court justice is likely to spark an even more heated abortion debate. Antiabortion activists have vowed to loudly oppose any nominee for the court who supports abortion rights.
"Regional"
Total 1 images.
By Associated Press
President Obama receives an honorary doctorate degree in law during commencement at the University of Notre Dame on Sunday.
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Cheers, Protests At Notre Dame
Obama Calls for 'Open Minds' Amid Abortion Debate
By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 18, 2009
SOUTH BEND, Ind., May 17 -- Amid a scattering of angry protests over his support for abortion rights, President Obama addressed the issue head-on Sunday at the University of Notre Dame, calling for "open hearts, open minds, fair-minded words" in the pursuit of "common ground."
Since becoming president, and before that for nearly two years on the campaign trail, Obama has sought to skirt the emotional anger that surrounds the debate over abortion. But his decision to speak to graduating Notre Dame students made that approach impossible Sunday.
The invitation from one of America's best-known Catholic universities ignited a firestorm of discussion over whether an institution that adheres to the Roman Catholic Church's condemnation of abortion should confer an honorary law degree on a president who is committed to safeguarding abortion rights.
Obama appeared energized by the controversy over his appearance, and he addressed the debate over abortion with relish. He pleaded for courtesy in the dialogue even as he acknowledged that "at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable."
"Is it possible for us to join hands in common effort?" he said. "As citizens of a vibrant and varied democracy, how do we engage in vigorous debate? How does each of us remain firm in our principles, and fight for what we consider right, without demonizing those with just as strongly held convictions on the other side?"
He added: "Let us work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions. Let's reduce unintended pregnancies. Let's make adoption more available. . . . Let's honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause."
The vast majority of the 12,000 in attendance at the Joyce Center basketball arena gave the president several loud, sustained ovations, and the crowd rallied to his defense when people attempted to interrupt him at the start. One protester yelled "Abortion is murder!" "Baby killer!" and "You have blood on your hands." Another shouted, "Stop killing our children." The crowd responded with boos and then chants of "Yes, we can" and "We are N.D."
A handful of graduates engaged in a silent protest, having taped a yellow cross and yellow images of baby feet to the top of their mortarboards. Twenty-six of the 2,900 graduates elected to skip the ceremony to protest the school's decision to honor Obama, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Meanwhile, hundreds of antiabortion protesters gathered Sunday outside the front gate of the university, beyond the view of the presidential motorcade; police arrested more than three dozen for trespassing, including Norma McCorvey, the woman at the center of the landmark Supreme Court abortion case Roe v. Wade, who is now an antiabortion activist. Billboards on the nearby Indiana Toll Road read: "Notre Dame: Obama is pro abortion choice. How dare you honor him."
Obama did not engage in the debate over when life begins, nor did he attempt to justify his beliefs about abortion or embryonic stem cell research, positions that some said should have disqualified him from Notre Dame's honorary degree. Instead, the president took aim at the loud and angry rhetoric that he said too often dominates the discussion.
The failure of both sides to use "fair-minded words," he said, overly inflames an important debate. As an example, he described his own 2004 campaign Web site, which at one point referred to "right-wing ideologues who want to take away a woman's right to choose."
It was not until a doctor e-mailed him about the phrase that Obama ordered it taken down, he said.
"I didn't change my underlying position, but I did tell my staff to change the words on my Web site," he told the crowd. "And I said a prayer that night that I might extend the same presumption of good faith to others that the doctor had extended to me. Because when we do that . . . that's when we discover at least the possibility of common ground."
Obama's call was echoed by the university's president, the Rev. John I. Jenkins, who chided those who had spoken angrily about the president's visit. He urged the Notre Dame community to appeal to both "faith and reason."
The university seeks "to foster dialogue with all people of good will, regardless of faith, background or perspective," Jenkins said. He praised Obama for accepting the invitation to speak despite the controversy.
"President Obama has come to Notre Dame, though he knows full well that we are fully supportive of the church's teaching on the sanctity of life," Jenkins said. "Others might have avoided this venue for that reason."
More than 70 Catholic bishops criticized Jenkins for inviting the president, and more than 360,000 people signed a petition calling for the invitation to be rescinded.
Obama's speech marked the second time in a week that he had used a commencement address to recast a discussion about him into a broader context.
At Arizona State University's graduation Wednesday, Obama talked directly about the school's decision to deny him an honorary degree on the basis that he lacks the accomplishments to justify the accolade. "His body of work is yet to come," university officials had said.
"Your own body of work is also yet to come," he told 60,000 people at the stadium. "Building a body of work is all about . . . the daily labor, the many individual acts, the choices large and small that add up over time, over a lifetime, to a lasting legacy. That's what you want on your tombstone. It's about not being satisfied with the latest achievement, the latest gold star -- because the one thing I know about a body of work is that it's never finished."
In similar fashion, Obama did not shy away from the abortion controversy Sunday. He stressed the need for cooperation and goodwill even among those who disagree about the most morally weighted issues.
"Remember, too, that the ultimate irony of faith is that it necessarily admits doubt," he said. "This doubt should not push us away from our faith. But it should humble us. It should temper our passions and cause us to be wary of too much self-righteousness."
As president, Obama has sidestepped some of the most sensitive questions about life and when it begins. He loosened Bush-era rules governing embryonic stem cell research but left it to the National Institutes of Health to devise new regulations for such research. And Obama has resisted calls from abortion rights activists to push for passage of the Freedom of Choice Act, which would make abortions legal in all cases. In his most recent news conference, he said the measure was "not my highest priority."
Obama's upcoming nomination of a new Supreme Court justice is likely to spark an even more heated abortion debate. Antiabortion activists have vowed to loudly oppose any nominee for the court who supports abortion rights.
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Father Richard Peter McBrien, Honorary degree to President Barack Obama
Controversy over Obama at Notre Dame should hightlight UnCatholic professors
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By Online Monday, May 18, 2009
The controversy over Notre Dame and its awarding of an honorary degree to President Barack Obama brings to mind a professor named Father Richard Peter McBrien and the urgent need for the Church to rein in “Catholic” institutions of higher learning, which in some cases are outright renegade.
Father McBrien is the Crowley-O’Brien Professor of Theology at Notre Dame; for 11 years, he was chairman of that department.
We certainly respect his priesthood, as well as his freedom of speech. We respect his scholarship. And we hate to single anyone out.
But there is a searing question and it is is how Father McBrien—and many like him—could be allowed to teach young Catholics. Is Father McBrien an appropriate teacher when one of his major works was officially disapproved by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on the grounds that many of its statements are “inaccurate or misleading” —also, “unforgivable.” Other transgressions:
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courant.com/news/nationworld/hc-chi-obama-speaks-at-notre-dame,0,2324108.story
Courant.com
Obama Calls For More Understanding In Abortion Debate
By John McCormick and Manya A. Brachear
Tribune Correspondents
May 18, 2009
SOUTH BEND, Ind.
President Barack Obama called for greater understanding on both sides of America's abortion debate as he delivered a much anticipated University of Notre Dame commencement address and sought to quell a divisive controversy.
"I do not suggest that the debate surrounding abortion can or should go away," he said. "At some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable. Each side will continue to make its case to the public with passion and conviction. But surely we can do so without reducing those with differing views to caricature."
One man shouting during Obama's speech was escorted from the arena, as those gathered applauded the president. Then, another man shouted "abortion is murder," triggering boos from the crowd and another escort from the hall. A third man followed by shouting, "Stop killing our children," as Obama continued through his speech.
Since Obama's late March acceptance of the university's invitation to speak, a national furor has brewed over whether such a prominent supporter of abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research should be honored at one of America's premier Catholic universities.
The president said the controversy has reminded him of when a doctor wrote to him in 2004, a few days after he won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Illinois. He said the man had complained about language on his campaign Web site that suggested "right-wing ideologues" wanted to take away a woman's right to choose.
"The doctor said he had assumed I was a reasonable person," he said. "But that if I truly believed that every pro-life individual was simply an ideologue who wanted to inflict suffering on women, then I was not very reasonable."
Obama, wearing the blue gown of the University of Notre Dame, said he did not change his position on the issue but did instruct his staff to change the language on his Web site. He said he also said a prayer that night to ask that he might extend the same presumption of good faith to others.
"When we open up our hearts and our minds to those who may not think precisely like we do or believe precisely what we believe, that's when we discover at least the possibility of common ground," he said. Obama also pointed to his days as a community organizer on Chicago's South Side and his meeting of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, the deceased longtime archbishop of Chicago.
"For those of you too young to have known him, or known of him, he was a kind and good and wise man. A saintly man," he said. "He stood as both a lighthouse and a crossroads - unafraid to speak his mind on moral issues ranging from poverty, AIDS, and abortion to the death penalty and nuclear war. And yet, he was congenial and gentle in his persuasion, always trying to bring people together; always trying to find common ground."
Virtually all of the graduates stood and applauded, as Obama received his honorary degree.
As Obama arrived on campus, his motorcade entered from the east and mostly bypassed the dozens of protesters outside. He was showered with several minutes of applause, as hundreds of flashes snapped from cameras as he entered the arena.
Before the ceremony, the scene was mostly tranquil on campus, with few signs of protests, as graduates in suits, dresses and black robes walked and snapped photos under a cool spring sun with family members. Bishop John D'Arcy of the Diocese of Ft. Wayne-South Bend, whose jurisdiction includes Notre Dame, spoke at an opposition rally held before Obama's arrival.
"John D'Arcy is not important. The office of bishop is very important," he said. "It must always be like Pope John Paul II, to [stand] for life everywhere with no exception."
D'Arcy said he had not intended to be on campus Sunday, but wanted to support the student opposition. "The heroes are the young people on campus and the students in the great tradition of John Paul and Pope Benedict," he said. "Their protest was carried out with love, prayer, dignity and respect."
Dozens knelt in prayer and lit candles at The Grotto, a popular place for reflection on campus. Some donned mortarboards decorated with yellow crosses and tiny footprints, a display of support for opponents of abortion rights, while others wore caps displaying Obama's campaign logo.
Sebastian Palacio, 22, a student from Lima, Peru, said he wanted to share a prayerful moment and reflect with his entire family who flew from South America for graduation. He said he agrees with the protesters, but "there's a time and a place, and this isn't it."
Whitney Young's family toted a full-sized cardboard cutout of Obama to show her support, a remnant from the campaign that the 22-year-old had in her dorm room.
Young said she supports her fellow students who have chosen to boycott or protest Obama's appearance, but she does not believe others should be here. "The extreme outside protests do a disservice to the cause," she said.
At a mass on the university's South Quad, Rev. Kevin Rousseau, a Holy Cross priest on the university faculty, praised the students' spiritual response to the "debate, confusion and mixed emotions" since the invitation to Obama was announced.
"There is an instinct cultivated here at Notre Dame," he said. "Our student body instinctively came to the Lord ... with rosaries, masses and prayer services as responses to the culture of death."
He added, "We have gathered today to give voice to the vulnerable in society."
Small groups of protesters gathered at intersections near the school, holding signs that read such things as "Why is the church silent?" and "Abortion is torture." Cargo trucks with pictures of bloodied fetuses circled campus.
A small plane that has been flown across South Bend in recent days, pulling behind it a banner displaying the remains of an aborted fetus, made what will likely be its final passes over campus this morning.
Temporary flight restrictions have been put in place by the Federal Aviation Administration for later today.
Such restrictions are typical anywhere the president travels and limit planes within a 12-mile radius of his location to commercial, law enforcement, military and air ambulance flights.
About two dozen protesters were arrested Saturday on charges of trespassing and resisting law enforcement, according to The Associated Press.
A group of Obama supporters, meanwhile, planned to greet him at the airport and then go door-to-door to collect canned food for a local pantry as a way to show their compassion.
As a candidate and as president, Obama has promoted policies popular with abortion rights supporters, while also suggesting that he wants to rise above the fierce rhetoric that often surrounds the issue.
The Notre Dame event, however, has become a rallying point for abortion-rights opponents during a time when Obama's presidency is weighing heavily on them as he prepares to pick a Supreme Court justice to replace retiring Justice David Souter.
Asked once during the campaign when human life begins, Obama responded by saying the question was "above my pay grade." As president, he has lifted his predecessor's limits on embryonic stem cell research and removed funding for abstinence-only sex education.
Obama delivered his first commencement address as president on Wednesday at Arizona State University, where he used subtle humor to confront a less-intense controversy over the school's decision not to award him a ceremonial diploma because it claimed he had not yet accomplished enough to justify the honor. "These honorary degrees are apparently pretty hard to come by," he said at the start of Sunday's speech. "So far I'm only 1 for 2 as president."
Today's, which includes more than 2,900 graduates, takes place inside the Joyce Center, a legendary basketball arena that seats more than 11,000.
Capt. Phil Trent, a spokesman for the South Bend Police Department, said nearby jurisdictions and the Indiana State Police have provided additional officers to the city for the day.
"Some of the groups that have decided to protest are contentious groups, so that could be problematic," he said. "Some of them are nationally recognized as being very outspoken and confrontational."
Alan Keyes, a former Republican presidential candidate who also lost to Obama in a lopsided 2004 election for U.S. Senate in Illinois, has been among those arrested in recent days for refusing to leave campus during protests that have included baby carriages with dolls covered in fake blood.
The Notre Dame speech comes as the White House has started to bring together abortion-rights supporters and opponents to discuss proposals to reduce unwanted pregnancies and abortions.
The meetings began about a month ago and are expected to run a couple more months, with the goal of having a proposal by late summer. The White House is interested in ideas such as sex education, contraception and adoption.
National opinion on the abortion is split. A Gallup Poll released Friday showed 51 percent of American adults consider themselves "pro-life" and 42 percent consider themselves "pro-choice." It was the first time a majority identified themselves as "pro-life" since Gallup started asking the question in 1995.
Catholics supported Obama over Sen. John McCain, 54 percent to 45 percent, according to exit polls in the 2008 election. That was significantly better than Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry, a Catholic himself, did against then- President George W. Bush in 2004.
Notre Dame's president, Rev. John Jenkins, praised Obama for accepting the school's invitation, despite knowledge that his views differ from many of those taught by the Roman Catholic Church.
"Others might have avoided this venue for that reason," Jenkins said. "But President Obama is not someone who stops talking with those who differ with him."
D'Arcy boycotted the ceremony and suggested the university has "chosen prestige over truth." Also missing from the ceremony will be Mary Ann Glendon, a former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, who turned down a prestigious Notre Dame medal because she did not agree with the university's decision to honor Obama. After his Notre Dame speech, the president is scheduled to travel to Indianapolis for a $15,000-per-couple fundraiser to benefit some of Indiana's congressional Democrats. He completes his commencement season tour Friday with a speech before the graduates at the U.S. Naval Academy in Maryland.
Copyright © 2009, Chicago Tribune
it's not a board that they are hitting the priest with, it is a cross!
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