Notre Dame Turns Its Back on Abortion But Not on President Obama
May 18, 2009
by Carl Fiser
(Long Island, N.Y.) The University of Notre Dame du Lac invited President Barack Hussein Obama to speak at its graduation ceremony on May 17, 2009. To Notre Dame’s benefit, the President accepted said invitation. Notre Dame, once again, was able to attract to its campus, the man who holds the position of world’s most influential figurehead, the Presidency of the United States of America. This time, the University bagged quite an orator in the President (as opposed to past presidential years). Additionally, Notre Dame was able to blast the spotlight on one of the most controversial issues of our modern day, abortion. Yes, according to this author, the whole shenanigan was a ruse.
In the movie, Groundhog Day, Bill Murray plays a character who gets stuck living out the same day over and over and over again. The character becomes so familiar with the events of the day that he comes to know every occurrence and every consequence with precision. So it is that the older we get, the more familiar we become with life’s repeating stories. Convention calls this wisdom, but I call it experience, and if you simply pay attention throughout your years, you too can avail yourself of such insight.
I ask, what happens when the Church bans a book or movie? That book or movie gains more popularity through sheer curiosity than if the Church had said nothing. Oh, and what happens when a celebrity gets arrested, or becomes the subject of a major scandal. Her next project always gets an attendance boost, regardless of its shortcomings. So what happens when you mix the pre-eminent Catholic institution of higher learning with the pro-choice leader of the United States of America? Well, something big has to happen! The visit and the controversy take center stage in a typical media circus over a long weekend in May. People start discussing Notre Dame’s decision. People start discussing abortion, stem cell research, the Constitution and the vacancy in the Supreme Court, among other things.
Are the administrators of the University of Notre Dame all that bright? Was aiming the spotlight on abortion the main goal? Or is the leadership at the University simply curry favoring with Washington?
Regardless of the actual intent of the invitation, those who are a part of the student body and family of the University of Notre Dame handled the major controversy with poise and with respect to the Commander in Chief. The dissenters, and there were many, turned their backs or departed the convention center during President Obama’s speech. Some refused to attend at all, and a very small handful of others yelled from their seats. It was a palpable and dignified response for a bunch of 20-something’s, and it was a memorable graduation, if anything.
Now, I don’t care if you’re pro-choice or pro-life, or even if you think you don’t have a dog in the fight on this one, but here’s the bottom line. If the University’s mission in inviting a pro-choice president to speak at commencement was to bring abortion back into the spotlight, then kudos to the administration for furthering its agenda. However, if that were not the purpose, then the University should have withdrawn the invitation or, at the very least, withdrawn the bestowal of the honorary law degree. If a school prides itself on being the pre-eminent Catholic institution of higher learning, then it is expected to stick to its tenets. By its Catholic nature, Notre Dame needs to take a hard core stance against abortion. By its nature as an institution of higher learning, Notre Dame must be crafty enough to bring controversial issues to the forefront so that they are discussed and addressed not only by its students but by our representative leaders. If the University of Notre Dame fails in either the Catholic circle or the higher learning circle, then it risks losing its pre-eminence in both. If the University loses its pre-eminence, it thereby risks losing its voice as well as some very hefty donations. Again, I’m betting that Notre Dame’s leaders foresaw and even welcomed the fracas, because quite frankly, if they didn’t see it coming, they shouldn’t be its leaders.
Posted by News LI Editor · Filed Under Politics
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