Obama Commencement Address 2009: Notre Dame

The Hill reports that Republican lawmakers who attended Notre Dame have now joined critics of the school's decision to invite President Obama to speak at commencement and offer him an honorary degree.

"It would be appropriate for Notre Dame to invite the president of the United States to deliver the commencement address, provided that the university made it absolutely clear how strongly it disagreed with President Obama's stand on abortion," [Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.)]said.

"It is wrong, however, for Notre Dame to award President Obama an honorary degree, because this will be seen as tacit acceptance of the president's abortion views, which are so antithetical to Catholic moral teaching on the sanctity and value of human life."

Tougher words came from Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.).

"It's an extreme disappointment," said Lungren, whose father, two brothers, son and three nieces also graduated from Notre Dame. [...]

Republican Rep. Mark Souder (Ind.), another Notre Dame alumnus, also voiced concern over this year's speaker.

Souder said it is "an honor" for a president to visit the university -- but pointed to abortion and even Obama's views on school vouchers as affronts to the Catholic faith.

* * * * *

President Obama will address the graduates of Notre Dame, a private university in South Bend, Indiana, on May 17. The speech has become controversial, as a Roman Catholic Bishop has said he will boycott the speech because of the president's stances on abortion and stem cell research.

From the AP:

Bishop John D'Arcy of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend said Tuesday that Obama's recent decision to federally fund embryonic stem cell research brought the U.S. government for the first time "into supporting direct destruction of innocent human life."

Obama has said the policy will ease human suffering.

Notre Dame says it doesn't support all of Obama's positions but does not plan to rescind the invitation.

Anti-abortion groups are organizing protests and petitioning the school to rescind their invitation.

Comments

[sagcat]

For everyone criticizing ND here (from the left), do you even realize which side of this ND is on? ND invited Obama to speak and is giving him an honorary degree. ND is being criticized by right-wingers for doing this. The University is standing by it's decision.

If you think the wingnuts are wrong, then you're on the same side of this debate as the school.

I'm proud of ND for standing up to these Republican critics and standing up for academic freedom. Hooray for Fr. Jenkins and Notre Dame.

[VolsFan101]

I think obama should not go to notre dame I hate obama

[Jeter002]

Yet another reason to be embarrassed to be a Catholic! Why don't we find out if he eats meat on Fridays during Lent, and ... hey wait a minute...HE'S NOT A CATHOLIC! If they cancel him, Notre Dame grads should boycott graduation.

[chazzman]

Hey you guys lost. Get over it.

[AdvancedDegree]

Morehouse should have been his first stop. And after how ND treated Ty Willingham, who had a better record than Weiss, they deserve to be snubbed.

[jemma]

Willingham was and is a lousy coach. He received a 6 million dollar buyout from ND and another million from UDub for being a lousy recruiter and mediocre at best coach. We all should be so lucky.

[sagcat]

Sure, the President should make his decisions on where to speak based on past football coaching decisions.

You've really got the pulse of what's important.

[jacobomorales]

My family just scratched ND from the list of colleges. Looks like they are no better than pat roberttson's school for flunkies.

[Principaldad]

Notre Dame invited Obama and has stood by the decision. It is a few self-righteous Republican hypocrites that are complaining.

[sagcat]

if you can't read the article and figure out ND's position on this, then I seriously doubt you could get the SAT's to get in to the school.

(Hint - you got it backwards.)

[Justin Satzman]

Notre Dame is a pathetic university that just needs to shut up. They welcome President Bush who supports the warming of the planet for corporate money. He supports the death of thousands of US soliders and innocent Iraqi's for corporate greed and family history and Notre Dame welcomes Bush. Notre Dame is ok with Priests who basically rape little boys and moves them around as to avoid arrest. Yea Notre Dame should be the school that we should all listen to and be proud of, wow.

[jacobomorales]

Amen!!

[sagcat]

Notre Dame is welcoming Obama, too. I'm amazed at people's lack of reading comprehension.

[BushBites]

Mr. President:

I got one word for you:

Northwestern.

[BVictor1]

I'd rather see him at the University of Chicago, especially seeing as both he and his wife worked there.

[zeitgeist79]

Go U, NU!

Wildcats love the Prez!

[BushBites]

Notre Dame's kind of a Wingnut school, isn't it?

[sagcat]

Notre Dame is a place where people have all kinds of politics, from wing-nut to moderate to communist. It's a University.

[Whinger]

Catholicism is like Christianity, in both case you must walk a narrow path.

To be a true Christian one must put into practice the word of God and the teachings of Christ.
To be a true Catholic one must put into practice the word of the Pope and teachings of the Church.

The Catholic Church has altered and changed the word of God to suit their needs!
For example, they changed the Sabbath day, Saturday to Sunday, and the Ten Commandments to their version, and amongst other things, assumed authority to do so by papal decree.

In my view, the Catholic Church by virtue of these acts is Anti-God and Anti-Christ.
This is why I am an ex-catholic, they have strayed off that narrow path and attempted to replace God with the Pope, that's why you address a priest as Father, thru them you talk to God, another deception!
Matthew 15: 8 & 9 and similar elsewhere in the Bible seems very appropriate!
I now view the Catholic Church as a blind shepherd tending a flock of visually challenged sheep!

[zeitgeist79]

Tell us how you really feel.

[DannyDanson]

So, the President of the United States of America speaking at an American University is distasteful, how about a politician who supports the death penalty, or torture, or war. The Catholic church has it's elected leader in the Holy See, he represents their values and their faith, the President of the United States of America represents the values of the American people not the Vatican, this is an assault on the democratic free will of the American people, these elected officials are foolishly attempting to perform political sleight of hand to build support for its suffering party base, have your prayers no power or authority any longer, must the entire congregation place its faith in the politics of anti-abortion rhetoric to win the hearts and minds of the American people, can not Christ model of love redeem the parent of an aborted child, or is political rhetoric the means to new-aged salvation. Its as if Christ himself the liberal who washed the feet of a prostitute to the dismay of the "holier than thou" disciples has been abandoned for the honor of Herod who crucified Jesus to remedy what he and the elites of society felt was a threat to the order of the day. he who would make himself first int he kingdom of heaven, should first make himself a servant, not a punisher thats a wide and crowded path

[IndianRidge]

The God of the Old Testament is an angry, blood thirsty genie, created by an angry blood thirsty people. It seems that god has lots of followers even today.

[auntiecairo]

I think Notre Dame should get a notable pro-lifer like Pat Buchanan - who this morning suggested snipers shoot illegal aliens crossing the border from Mexico -- anyone who is against abortion needs to first adopt an unwanted child - then they can argue against abortion. Otherwise they need to quit using the issue to promote the rest of their political agenda which doesn't include taking care of unwanted children, poor people or anyone else except themselves. .

[zeitgeist79]

Hear hear. And women against stem cell research should volunteer their wombs for unwanted fertilized eggs.

[barackobama4prez]

Note to GOP: BITE IT!

[inorbit]

I think Obama should decline this invitation on the grounds that he doesn't approve of organizations that cover-up child sexual abuse.

[BushBites]

Then go speak at Purdue or Northwestern.

[jacobomorales]

The best solution..

[sagcat]

That was the Church, not the University. But kudos on the clever joke.