The damage Notre Dame has caused

This will likely be my last post for awhile about the Notre Dame commencement speech given by President Obama last Sunday. In my previous blog entries on this subject I have focused on the reasons the decision of Notre Dame to invite Obama was wrong, some of the comments of his speech and the aftereffects of his visit may have on the university. In this last entry I want to discuss some of the wider repercussions his visit may and is having on the average Catholic.

We have discussed and agreed for the most part that Notre Dame is the most recognized Catholic university in the United States. Many proudly proclaim that they are alumni of this prestigious CATHOLIC university. I am not quesitoning their claims not am I saying they should not be proud of graduating from Notre Dame. It's not like they went to this university BECAUSE of its actions that are in conflict to the Catholic faith or that they even knew of the university's actions. What I DO want to discuss is the perception the university is having on Catholics because of their identity as a Catholic institution.

Prior to and following President Obama's commencement address I had numerous people who approached me with a wide range of comments about the situation. Many agreed with the Church's stance again inviting Obama. Some didn't understand why the Church cared. Some questioned why the Church thought she had the right to oppose his visit. However, it is the last group of people who approached me that is disturbing. Nearly a dozen people approached me over the course of the weekend and even the first couple of days during the week and used the situation at Notre Dame as proof that you could support abortion and embryonic stem cell research and still be a faithful Catholic.

The conclusions they came to because of Notre Dame's actions are understandable although completely wrong. The first conclusion, and the most common, was that the Church DOES support Obama and his policies and it is the invidivual bishops with their own 'agendas' that oppose him. Their reasoning was simple: Notre Dame - a public symbol of the Catholic Church in America - as a single unified body welcomed Obama whereas the U.S. bishops couldn't agree how to respond. They each simply gave their own "opinion" as one person put it. The university spoke as an "institution of the Catholic faith."

A second conclusion is a little more disturbing for me personally. A few approached me and stated that *I* was trying to impose my own personal beliefs about abortion, especially in my homilies, instead of the fact that it should be the decision of each person. Their reasoning was simple: Catholic priests on the Notre Dame campus supported abortion rights so it is obviously a decision for each person since even the priests can decide which position to take. What REALLY bothers me about this is one person who had moved here recently and told me that at her previous parish (not in this diocese thank heavens) the priest spoke often in his homilies that having an abortion was a deeply personal decion of a woman that we shouldn't question. She went on to say that her priest was against abortion but realized the necessity of it because of the world in which we live in today. Does that not sound eerily similar to what Obama is claiming?

The last conclusion that two people approached me with was that Notre Dame was the true example of the teaching of Jesus about tolerance. I could write a whole blog entry on Jesus and tolerance but their reasoning again was very simple: the university welcomed and respected everyone's feelings about Obama's visit. They supported those few graduates that boycotted the commencement. They allowed others to hold prayer protests. This, they claimed, shows the tolerance Jesus calls us to have and highlights the anti-christian lack of tolerance of the Church.

I spent a fair amount of time pointing out and explaining the holes in their reasoning. Most at least realized that their "simple reasoning" wasn't as clear cut as it seemed. Some came to agree with me that these lines of reasoning were wrong and in conflict with the Church. A few, however, stood by their solid belief that they had proved it was completely acceptable for them to be Catholic and support abortion and embryonic stem cell research. THAT, to me, is the greatest and most damaging consequence of Obama's visit to Notre Dame. Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 10:00 | link | comments |
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