SOUTH BEND, IN – The University of Notre Dame’s president says selecting President Barack Obama as its commencement speaker and to receive an honorary degree didn’t violate a statement by U.S. bishops.
The bishops’ 2004 statement declared that “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.” Obama supports abortion rights and embryonic stem-cell research.
In a letter to trustees, Notre Dame’s president, the Rev. John Jenkins, said the bishops’ statement couldn’t refer to Protestants like Obama because “only Catholics who implicitly recognize the authority of Church teaching can act in ‘defiance’ of it.”
(Editor’s note: Is Fr. Jenkins stupid or somethin’?)
But New York Archbishop-designate Timothy Dolan and more than 30 other bishops say Jenkins made a mistake. Dolan says honoring Obama suggests that Notre Dame is holding “him up as a model” to students.
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