The ND Petition Has Been Delivered!
Dear Friends, Congratulations! The names of the first 300,000 signers to the NotreDameScandal.com petition opposing Notre Dame’s honor for President Obama are being delivered today to Father Jenkins and the individual members of the Notre Dame Boards of Fellows and Trustees.
These board members are preparing to meet on Friday in South Bend, and now they will have something more to consider! This meeting is our best hope for Notre Dame’s leaders to listen to the nearly 350,000 concerned people like you who have signed the petition and the 50 bishops who have publicly opposed this honor.
We are also rushing copies of your petition to the Vatican, Cardinal George, the Apostolic Nuncio (Pope Benedict’s ambassador to the U.S.), Notre Dame’s Bishop and the Chair of the U.S. Bishops’ Education Committee!
Below you will find the press release regarding the delivery of the petitions.
Please, take a few minutes over the next few days to pray that Our Lady’s University will end the scandal and be a witness for Life.
And please keep the pressure on by urging friends and family to sign the petition at NotreDameScandal.com before May 17. About 8,800 people per day have signed the petition – thank you so much for all of your efforts!
Let’s keep the pressure on Notre Dame to BE CATHOLIC!
Sincerely, Patrick J. Reilly, President, The Cardinal Newman Society
Glendon declines commencement honor from Notre Dame
Apr. 27, 2009 (CWNews.com) -
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/features/index.cfm?recnum=60313
Mary Ann Glendon has announced that she will not accept the Laetare Medal-- the highest honor conferred by the University of Notre Dame-- at this year's commencement exercises.
Glendon-- the Harvard Law professor who recently stepped down from her post as US ambassador to the Holy See-- has indicated that she decided to decline the Laetare Medal because of her concerns about the commencement address that will be delivered by President Barack Obama. In an April 27 letter to Father John Jenkins, the president of Notre Dame, she wrote that a prospect "that once seemed so delightful has been complicated" by the Obama appearance and by Notre Dame's response to criticism from the American bishops.
To read more of this article, go to the above link.
Bishop D’Arcy laments ‘terrible breach’ between Notre Dame and the Church, critiques recent Jenkins comments April 23, 2009
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=2691
Lamenting “the terrible breach which has taken place between Notre Dame and the Church,” Bishop John D’Arcy of Fort Wayne - South Bend offered strong criticism of the university president’s recent interpretation of a United States Conference of Catholic Bishop’ document.
The document-- “Catholics in Political Life”-- states that “the Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.” Father John Jenkins, CSC, had said that this statement does not apply to non-Catholics such as President Barack Obama. Bishop D’Arcy responded:
Since the matter is now public, it is my duty as the bishop of this diocese to respond and correct. I take up this responsibility with some sadness, but also with the conviction that if I did not do so, I would be remiss in my pastoral responsibility Rather than share my full letter, which I have shared with some in church leadership, I prefer to present some of the key points … I reminded Father Jenkins that he indicated that he consulted presidents of other Catholic universities, and at least indirectly, consulted other bishops, since he asked those presidents to share with him those judgments of their own bishops. However, he chose not to consult his own bishop who, as I made clear, is the teacher and lawgiver in his own diocese. To read more of this article go to the above link.