Bishop to Boycott Obama Commencement Speech
South Bend is heating up over the controversy surrounding Obama and the local bishop...Read the post2009 College Grads: We're the Lucky Ones
Why there is hope for the graduating Class of 2009, and how they can find work in a recession...Read the postBeer in Vending Machines -- What Drinking Age?
U.S. policies on drinking age seem restrictive when examining the rest of the world...Read the postHow The Press Can Remain Relevant
Is it any surprise that Obama has employed a strategy to cordon journalists that is similar to previous administrations?...Read the postBe Afraid, Cheney Warns. Be Very Afraid.
Just when you thought the Bush-era warnings of Armageddon around the corner were over, Cheney strikes again...Read the postObama: You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry...
Obama threw down his stick, spat on the floor and growled in the face of cameras -- metaphorically... Read the postObama to GOP: 'I Won, I'm The President'
"You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done," Obama told GOP leaders...Read the postPalin Seeks $11M Book Deal, but Can She Read?
One can only imagine what Republican rising star Sarah Palin could possibly write about in her memoirs...Read the post
politicsculture
Bishop to Boycott Obama Commencement Speech at Notre Dame
Kaitlynn RielyPosted: Mar 25th 2009 12:30AM
Filed under: Politics, Small Campus, Big Story, Culture, Religion, News, Local, Media, Notre Dame
Bishop John M. D'Arcy, who presides over Indiana's Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese, which includes Notre Dame, announced Tuesday he will not be attending Notre Dame's May 17 Commencement, since President Barack Obama will be speaking.
"Can I have the Bishop's ticket?" my friend posted on the Web site Twitter.com.
D'Arcy has clashed with Notre Dame in the past, most significantly when University President Fr. John Jenkins issued a statement in 2006 allowing The Vagina Monologues to be performed on campus. Now it's Obama's pro-choice stances and decisions, rather than vaginas, that have gotten D'Arcy's Irish up.
Notre Dame and the White House announced Friday that Obama would be speaking at Notre Dame's May 17 Commencement ceremony, with Jenkins following up Monday clarifying that asking Obama to speak, and awarding him with an honorary doctor of laws degree, does not signify support of his policies. Most students, from my observations on campus, seem to be supportive of and excited about hearing Obama speak. But a vocal student minority, as well as alumni and unaffiliated pro-life groups, have protested the decision vehemently.
In his statement Tuesday, D'Arcy said Jenkins informed him of Obama's acceptance shortly before the announcement was made. D'Arcy said it was the first time he'd been told about the invitation. This May is the 25th Notre Dame graduation since D'Arcy became bishop, and for the first time, he said, he will not attend.
"After much prayer, I have decided not to attend the graduation," he said. "I wish no disrespect to our president, I pray for him and wish him well. I have always revered the Office of the Presidency. But a bishop must teach the Catholic faith 'in season and out of season,' and he teaches not only by his words -- but by his actions."
He added: "My decision is not an attack on anyone, but is in defense of the truth about human life."
I understand that D'Arcy has major disagreements with Obama over abortion and stem cell issues. But isn't he giving up a unique opportunity to pull the president aside for a moment and voice his concerns? It may not make a difference in Obama's stances, but when else will D'Arcy have the ear of the president?
I'm unimpressed with D'Arcy's leadership. The pro-life movement's sign-carrying, march-making approach hasn't worked so far, and I doubt the Bishop's boycott will make any difference in abortion policy in the United States. It just distances the Catholic Church from the decision-making process.
Too bad. I wish D'Arcy had been a bit braver and seen the opportunity, rather than ask whether Notre Dame has "chosen prestige over truth."
D'Arcy's ticket won't go to waste. Notre Dame seniors, who are only guaranteed 3 tickets each for graduation, have been posting on Facebook asking those who don't want Obama to speak at Notre Dame to give away their tickets.
Security itself on graduation day promises to be intense. But already, with two months to go, life in the Notre Dame bubble is becoming surreal. Leaving the gym this afternoon, I stopped by a television because a woman from a local television station was delivering a report from my campus.
When I got back to my room, a friend told me Notre Dame was on CNN.
Does this controversy have the momentum to last two months? Pro-life groups will certainly try their best. Everyone here has a viewpoint on the Obama drama.
My favorite opinion of the day came in a letter to the editor published in Notre Dame's student newspaper, The Observer. The author of the letter is a student at Saint Mary's, the all-women college across the street from Notre Dame, who asked whether the Notre Dame "administration considered the impact such an important political figurehead will have on the travel plans of the other schools graduating that weekend."
I imagine potential traffic congestion is the last thing Jenkins is thinking about this week.
Categories
Most Popular Stories »
- U.S. retailers are on sale
- The Rivalry: 145 games strong
- Slideshow: Lehigh-Laf week
- HAWKS SKIN LEOPARDS
- Macys thanksgiving day history
Recent Comments »
Page 4/6
Post Your Comments Below
Previous 20 Comments | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Most Recent | Next 20 Comments
Jay
6:18PM 6:18PM Mar 25th 2009
Over 70,000 black preborn Americans have been murdered since the Obama regime began. Now Notre Dame wants the architect of the new Final Solution (killing preborns for their stem cells) to speak on its campus.
Sort of like inviting Adolf Hitler to speak before a Jewish University.
I don't care who this post offends. The man has innocent blood on his hands.
Rating :
Reply to this commentReport!
cuinne
7:30PM 7:30PM Mar 25th 2009
Father Jenkins invited him. He has to be sure he wears a heavy set of gloves when pressing down on the crown of thorns, and remember to remove them before he slaps the Pope in the face a second time.
Rating :
Reply to this commentReport!
I'll give your president the same respect you gave mine
8:42PM 8:42PM Mar 25th 2009
What mw said. I'm SICK of the OWhammy brownshirts attacking anyone who DARE not drink the Kool Aide/question OWhammy's Far Left Agenda. Have fun graduates (and your children!) paying for OWhammy's TAX AND SPEND politics....
----------------------------------------------------------------
The church is fessing up to their inactions. The guy has a right to stand up for what he believes in. Why is Obama going to a Catholic school? He doesn't agree with what they have to say. It's about votes and PR and the fact that these grads and their kids will be paying for his programs for the rest of their lives.
Rating :
Reply to this commentReport!
Nrthdude1
8:48PM 8:48PM Mar 25th 2009
This church of child rapists who tried to blame the rapes of their parish children on the Gays is now boycotting the President. This church's leader recently went to Africa which is epidemic with AIDS and preached against condoms. What is wrong with this church and its hateful followers? Why are they so un-Christian? Have they no shame?
Rating :
Reply to this commentReport!
letha johnson
8:55PM 8:55PM Mar 25th 2009
racism still here
Rating :
Reply to this commentReport!
I\\\'ll give your president the same respect you gave mine
12:12AM 12:12AM Mar 26th 2009
Yeah, have any issue whatsoever with OWhammy and you MUST AUTOMATICALLY be a "racist". Wake up pinhead. You forgot to end your post with "Sieg Heil!" F*ckin' Nazi....
Rating :
Report!
letha johnson
9:00PM 9:00PM Mar 25th 2009
http://www.nbcuniversalstore.com/info.php
Rating :
Reply to this commentReport!
letha johnson
9:00PM 9:00PM Mar 25th 2009
It's Official - Poll: Obama beats Jesus as American 'hero'
--------------------------------------------------------did the bishop read this
Rating :
Reply to this commentReport!
TRogers
2:43AM 2:43AM Mar 26th 2009
As a lifelong Catholic, I'm saddened that my Church resorts to stupid stunts like this and makes common cause with Evangelical Protestants that espoused hatred of Catholicism just a few decades before.
Rating :
Reply to this commentReport!
letha johnson
7:26PM 7:26PM Apr 5th 2009
george wallace was racist and no one said a word.
Rating :
Reply to this commentReport!
ELaurenAlanna
10:29AM 10:29AM Mar 26th 2009
When all those priests were discovered, right and left, over many years, many times, having committedgod-awful behavior violating children sexually,for years, and subsquent cover-ups by higher groups"priests", cardnals, bishops, for years too...instead of confronting these evil people, throwing them out of the Catholic Church, these acts were seen as something to be covered up instead, and they were transferred to another parish.
Stating one supports an issue is one thing....we may never act on that support ourselves...until that happens, those are words of support. Actions are what really count. WHY NO BOYCOTTING, PROTESING, DEMANDING ATTRITION, EXCAMUNICATIONS, JUSTICE, ...ON THE PART OF CHURCH REPRESENTATIVES???
There was some switch- talkin, two- faced, lieing, prideful, weak, and, evil -do -nothings .....
Rating :
Reply to this commentReport!
X777X
9:33PM 9:33PM Mar 27th 2009
The Catholic Church has always wanted to keep people in the dark ages and they are anti science. They have no room for other opinions and are intolerant of those that hold differing views. You can trust in science and believe in Christ. When someone becomes a Christian they do not have to be ignorant. Test your faith aka your hypothesis. If it's wrong learn the truth. We don't walk around thinking that the Earth is flat anymore or that God is living just above the clouds. I'd be delighted that ignorance doesn't want to have anything to do with someone that seeks the truth.
Rating :
Reply to this commentReport!
Jim
12:07PM 12:07PM Mar 26th 2009
The Catholic Church has rightly become a subject of ridicule in recent years. Ready to deny elected officials the Sacraments for being Pro-Choice, not for supporting the carnage in Iraq or the death penalty. Protecting pedophile clergy from the criminal justice system, but grandstanding like Bishop D'Arcy over Notre Dame's inviting the President to speak. The heirachy especially the current pope are transparent in their self-righteous indignation. A diversion to distract from their true cowardice in tackling moral issues.
Rating :
Reply to this commentReport!
Jim
2:13PM 2:13PM Mar 26th 2009
There was time when you could be proud to be a Catholic. Catholics were at the forefront of important social movements like Labor and Civil Rights Movements. These days you have clerics grandstanding to save fetuses, stell cells, and the brain-dead. Why aren't they doing the same including denying the sacraments to polls who support the Iraq War and the death penalty? How about not protecting pedophile clergy from the criminal justice? This Indiana bishop is a moral coward. Notre Dame invited the President. Why didn't they have all ducks in a row before they did? Shame on the Catholics protesting.
Rating :
Reply to this commentReport!
Michelle
7:01PM 7:01PM Apr 2nd 2009
Shame on YOU. If you knew anything about catholic teachings, you would know that abortion and stem cell research that involves obtaining stem cells from embryos in a process that kills the embryos is in the words of the church "intrinsically evil". There is stem cell research being done that is not on embryos. People write in these blogs with no knowledge of science or biology. Not all stem cells are embryonic stem cells. Why must we kill babies to do research? Also, all promising research has occurred with adult stem cells which harm no one. No success has been made to date with any of the research using embryonic stem cells. Do your research before you post.
Also, the Catholic church spoke up against the Iraq war before anyone else did. Although the church sees the war as unjust in its beginnings, the church in its wisdom is aware that simply leaving Iraq now with no plan in place would be devastating to the people and the region. The stance of the church has been that the war should never have started, but now we have a responsibility to help the country move beyond war.
As far as priests molesting kids, the church has made unbelievable progress toward correcting some horrible wrongs that occurred in the past. You imply that Bishop D'Arcy approved of the molesting which is disgusting and cowardly. You are the moral coward for sitting behind a computer spewing hatred at a man who is desperately trying to do his duty to save his Catholic flock and ensure their salvation. The primary job of a priest is to bring souls to heaven which he is trying to do by helping his diocesan catholics realize the teachings of the church.
I applaud Bishop D'Arcy and Bishop Sheridan who have had the courage to speak up against the culture of death that exists in this society.
Rating :
Report!
Hank
5:53PM 5:53PM Mar 26th 2009
Alice President Obama is surely someone as we all are, but He is the President of the United States. Obama stands for Christians and is one himself. Just like the vast majority of Americans he believes in freedom of choice. That is that we have no right to make abortion decisions for other people. People who want to take this right away from women seek to impose their views on other people and that has always been opposed in America since King George III.
Rating :
Reply to this commentReport!
FPaicely236
12:23AM 12:23AM Mar 27th 2009
Guess my comment got lost. If I rememember it i will try to repeat it. I do not believe in abortion, but believe the stem cell research will be helpful. If the "right reverend" does not want to attend the graduation, that is hie privilege. Personnally, I believe the Catholic Church is the largest CULT in the world, God gave his only son to die on the cross for ALL our sins, and obviously, it was for naught. We are sinning like you would not believe, people living together instead of getting married (David Letterman is one of them) Nothing is taken seriously anymore. Anyway, if he does not want to go, so be it.
Rating :
Reply to this commentReport!
su
11:37PM 11:37PM Mar 26th 2009
It is a historical fact that the Catholic Church condoned abortion until the time of "quickening" (approx. 4 months in utero)until the beginning of the 20th century. This outrage over abortion is not a traditional Catholic policy but, rather, a newly devised one that belongs in the political arena, not in a church. Too bad they weren't as outraged over the lives they ruined through their molesting priests. It's total hypocrisy.
Rating :
Reply to this commentReport!
barneyrin
12:23PM 12:23PM Mar 27th 2009
lots of power hungry assholes hide behind god
Rating :
Reply to this commentReport!
CM
12:37PM 12:37PM Mar 27th 2009
Bishop D'Arcy is doing the right thing. Boycotting the commencement engagement of OBAMA. Catholics have every right to defend human life. Abortion and stem cell are not only killers but exterminators of human life. They must not be tolerated by no less than the government. Hope the critics of Bishop D'Arcy would be enlightened in JESUS name, Amen.
Rating :
Reply to this commentReport!
Previous 20 Comments | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Most Recent | Next 20 Comments