Just thought the last detail was funny.
I guess the real question for this forum is, what does everyone think the U. of Notre Dame should do in this circumstance, follow the advice of the Holy Cross priests or do what the administration has decided and give the president the degree?
Most Roman Catholics get it. These guys do not. Abortion is forbidden by Catholic dogma and condemned by the Pope. Fine. But the church has also condemned capital punishment and unjust war...yet I fail to recall any clergy protesting George W. Bush's presence on any Catholic campuses.
(Perhaps some liberationists did, but I don't recall any press coverage .)
Notre Dame is doing the right thing. The Bishop in this diocese, a personal friend of mine, is wrong. President Obama has the right to be on the Notre Dame campus and to receive whatever accolades the University wishes to bestow.
I hasten to add, however, that those who criticize Bishop John D'Arcy with too much pleasure need to consider the whole man. He is a giant in the Roman Catholic Church and, quite possibly, one of that communion's best kept secrets. He was a medium-level official in the Diocese of Boston at one time. And he was conveniently "transferred" to Fort Wayne-South Bend because he continued to raise ferocious objections to pedophile priests in that Diocese. Roger Cardinal Mahoney (I believe that's the right name) shipped D'Arcy out and let the evil persist.
I offer this because I know there are people, often Protestants or just secularists, who broad-brush the entire Roman Catholic Church over this horrific scandal. The fact is, just as there were Catholic villians in this story...so were there Catholic heroes. My friend was among them and I remain so proud of him for that. Even if I think he is completely wrong about President Obama and Notre Dame.
