Yeah, I'm sure you never thought you'd read that headline from me! Believe me, neither did I. After my initial reaction of shock, I spent some time in stage 2 (anger) before now entering #3 which is depression.
There are so many angles to this travesty that I want to write about: 1) The general numbness the public (including Catholics) has grown into regarding the horrific reality of abortion. 2) The pathetic attempts used by supporters of Obama and this decision to justify it in the name of "Catholic Social Teaching" (which includes a baffling form of self-deception in order to interpret plain english (or Latin if you prefer) to mean the exact opposite of what it clearly teaches). 3) The general ignorance regarding the magnitude of Obama's
unprecedented assault on innocent life unleashed during his first 100 days in office (a list of atrocities that grows on almost a daily basis). 4) The confusion about what it means to be "Catholic" and/or a "Catholic University." 5) The University of Notre Dame's gradual 40-year fade from Christ, His Church, and His mother/its namesake... and selfishly, what exactly its devastating impact means for the identity of a once rabid supporter/alum like me.
Quite a list, I know. Can't all be tackled in one blog, so for I now I just want to provide a update on what has happened since Notre Dame announced it would hand its highest platform and an honorary degree to the world's leading advocate of child killing. Since, for the most part, the mainstream media has treated the scandal at Notre Dame as a non-story, many of you probably aren't aware of the raging battle that is taking place.
And the fire just got quite a bit hotter today for ND President Fr. Jenkins. Today, the long list of those protesting the decision added none other than
Mary Ann Glendon. Glendon is a Harvard Law Professor (ironically Obama's former professor!) and former US Ambassador to the Vatican. In short, she is arguably
the most prominent Catholic laywoman in the country. At the Commencement exercises on May 17, Glendon was expected to accept the University's highest honor, the Laetare Medal. In
her letter to Fr. Jenkins released today, Glendon strongly expressed her opposition to honoring "a prominent and uncompromising opponent of the Church's position on issues involving fundamental principles of justice." Due to this clear "disregard of the settled position of the U.S. Bishops" Glendon wants nothing to do with this public debacle and
has rejected Notre Dame's so-called prestigious award.
God Bless this woman! Jenkins obviously thought he could back up his "dialogue" claims by honoring one of the most prominent pro-lifers in the country, but Glendon didn't appreciate being used as some kind of public relations balancing act. As Fr. de Souza of the National Catholic Register wrote, "Father John Jenkins likely thought himself very clever. Professor Mary Ann Glendon just took him to school." While I had been praying for Glendon and the courage for her to shake down the thunder with a pro-life speech for the ages (with the Obaminator himself present), this decision speaks even louder.
Glendon is certainly not alone. No less than 49 U.S. Bishops
[EDIT: now 79] (and counting) have strongly condemned this decision. This list includes not only Ft. Wayne-South Bend Bishop D'Arcy (who will boycott the Commencement), but also heavy hitters such as USCCB President Cardinal George of Chicago, Cardinal DiNardo of Houston, and Bishop Dolan of New York
[EDIT: Add Cardinal Rigali of Philly, Archbishop Chaput of Denver, and Cardinal O'Malley of Boston].
Here is a sampling of the statements; they include phrases like "
your formerly Catholic University... a truly shameful, scandal to the Church... didn't understand what it means to be Catholic."
Ten courageous Holy Cross priests also spoke out in
this letter. (Just as heart-warming were their responses to my letter of gratitude.)
In addition to dozens of lay leaders, hundreds of thousands of others have voiced their outrage over the scandal. The
Cardinal Newman Society's petition is approaching 350,000 signatures (
http://notredamescandal.com), and several alumni and pro-life groups have launched websites of protest:
www.replacejenkins.com ... a group of ND alumni tracking the
financial hit taken by the University over this decision.
In it's first week? $8.2 million, [EDIT: now $14 million) with much more promised on the horizon, as they are "having a hard time keeping up with the response."
http://www.ndresponse.com/ ... a combination of several ND student groups. After Jenkins initially invited them to discuss the matter, he changed his mind and now refuses to meet with them.
So much for being all about "dialogue." There is also a student group supporting the decision and Jenkins
is meeting with them. Go figure.
The
Association for Jesuit Colleges and Universities has issued support for Jenkins and Notre Dame, which is no big surprise given these schools lost their Catholic identity long ago. Also, a statement of support was issued by the ND Faculty Senate, which again has no credibility given only a quarter of the [undergraduate] faculty is Catholic... even less when you figure that number includes heretics like Fr. Richard McBrien.
The most depressing part of this entire saga has been the desperate attempts by Jenkins to justify the decision. First he went with the "it is precisely because of our stance on human life" we invite President Obama to dialogue. Right. We all know Commencement ceremonies are all about the free-flowing exchange of differing viewpoints and have nothing to do with holding up the speaker as a model for the graduates and alumni to follow.
In a positive development, memos have been leaked which show a significant amount of in-fighting among the ND higher-ups. Jenkins tried again to defend himself with
a letter to the Board of Trustees. I quote:
"Two key sentences of the document have been frequently quoted regarding the invitation to President Obama:
"Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions."
Because the title of the document is "Catholics in Political Life", we understood this to refer to honoring Catholics whose actions are not in accord with our moral principles."
Huh? So Jenkins is claiming that since Obama is not Catholic, this mandate does not apply to honoring him? Seriously? Never mind the fact that the authors of this document, including Cardinal George, have stated that this decision is in direct defiance of this document. Translation: Jenkins is claiming that he can interpret the Bishops' document more accurately than the Bishops themselves. Brilliant!
Any credibility that Fr. Jenkins had left certainly disappeared with this irrational defense. Of course, what can he say? I guess it proves that his position is indefensible.
Jenkins had the audacity to use this twisted logic in a letter to Bishop Olmsted of Phoenix, which forced his own Bishop to answer. In his letter, D'Arcy made it very clear that "the terrible breach between Notre Dame and the Church... cannot be allowed to continue."
Stay tuned. Whatever is clear, Father Jenkins has ripped apart the Notre Dame family at its seams, which is a travesty. At best, this represents a crossroads in which Notre Dame must decide whether they want to continue down this path away from its source of strength. Any hope of righting the ship certainly doesn't appear to be possible with Jenkins at the helm.
Sadly, it could also represent the end of the story... a clean break from its noble mission. If that's the case, Notre Dame should do us all a favor and change its name to "Northwestern Indiana Humanist University," as Bishop Doran of Rockford suggested... and somebody please rescue Our Lady from the top of the Dome as soon as possible; her tears will only add to the tarnish.
However, there actually is potential for some good to come of this. Not quite the "means for good" Fr. Sorin had in mind when he founded the University, but this has also galvanized the truly pro-life Catholic community nation-wide in unprecedented fashion. While Notre Dame chose "prestige over truth," thank God Mary Ann Glendon showed us what it's like to do the opposite.
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