At Notre Dame, a commencement speaker is named. On the Internet, a niche group moves to rouse a petition. At Villanova, a graduate student writes in dismay. On campus, Fairfield hosts a conference to discuss the issue publicly.
At the center of all the newfound controversy lies Barack Obama: President of the United States, leader of the free world, pro-choice candidate.
The University of Notre Dame’s decision to name Obama as its commencement speaker at the University’s graduation ceremony on May 17, 2009 has caused widespread debate among Catholic groups on and off campus. While most groups, Catholic or secular, lauded Notre Dame’s choice, many conservative Christian factions across America cite Obama’s stance on abortion – in which he explicitly supports a woman’s right to choose – as a position in conflict with Catholic doctrine.
Specifically, several grassroots pro-life groups – including CatholicVote.org – have started petitions in opposition of Notre Dame’s choice, claiming that Obama’s ‘utterly shameful record on life’ is not worthy of an honorary degree from a Catholic university, especially one of such national prominence.
‘Sadly, it is now indisputable that our President has become the world’s leading promoter of abortion, embryo-killing cloning and research, taxpayer-funded abortion, and a vigorous opponent of conscience protections for medical professionals,’ said Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote.org. ‘His campaign promises to find ‘common ground’ have sadly been ignored, or perhaps were simply lies.’
The Mirror obtained a copy of Burch’s letter in an e-mail forwarded from Annie Rast, a graduate student at Villanova University, who urged other Catholic schools – and students – to consider Burch’s petition.
Ironically, amidst the public stir of Notre Dame’s choice, Fairfield housed an open forum on Tuesday night regarding the issue, ‘Are Catholic Universities still Catholic?’ The panel consisted of several diverse, comprehensive members of the University, ranging from professors and administrative officials, to students and staff members.
Similarly, religious studies professors on campus have brought the issue of Notre Dame’s choice into the classroom for a more academic perspective. All the professors that opined overwhelmingly condemned the rather close-minded opposition.
‘I polled my classes last week about the furor over Notre Dame’s invitation, calling their attention to the link to it on the home page of the National Catholic Reporter,’ Fairfield Religious Studies Professor Hugh Humphrey said. ‘Most were quite willing to have Fairfield extend an invitation to the President, precisely because he would come as President and not as an anti-Catholic.’
Many professors echoed Humphrey’s sentiments. Some went a step further, asserting that the niche, pro-life critics’ petition is the ‘the work of a small and unrepresentative organization which frequently targets Catholic institutions for the people they invite to speak or give honorary degrees to, simply because of some single issue, usually the abortion issue,’ said Paul Lakeland, the Alysius P. Kelley, S.J. chair in Catholic studies.
‘I abhor this kind of pressure being placed on any schools, Catholics or otherwise,’ Lakeland added.
‘If a university is sponsored by a particular religious group – Baptist, Methodist, Jewish, Roman Catholic, etc. – it is important for that university to respect and affirm the positions of the church with which they are affiliated – and vice versa,’ said Elizabeth Dreyer, Fairfield religious studies professor.
‘But this support should not take the form of blind acceptance,’ Dreyer added.
‘It would be a sad day in American Catholic life if Notre Dame were unable to invite the President of the United States to speak,’ said Rosemarie Gorman, a religious studies adjunct professor at Fairfield. ‘Such an invitation does not mean that the university endorses particular positions.’
As for the issue of Fairifield’s adherence to basic Catholic teachings and the general state of Jesuit Universities across America, academics chimed in that the relationship between a university and its religious sponsor or affiliation is one of constant evolution.
‘Fairfield today may have fewer Jesuits that when I arrived, but it continues in the Jesuit tradition, and the Catholic ethos is very much supported,’ Humphrey said. ‘There’s been change, of course, but also marked continuity.’
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