by Nora Puglia

As so often happens, the Obama-Notre Dame controversy is a collision of issues, tending to confuse each issue, and us.  The recent Catholic Standard &Times editorial, “Engage with others in dialogue of love”, is an example of such confusion. Six quotes from that piece will help us deal with six issues surrounding the controversy.

Issue #1   “.....he was invited by the university to accept an
honorary degree and address the graduates,” 
The university is America’s most well-known Catholic university,
and he is the most radical pro-abortion person to hold the office
of President of the United States.  This was not a dialogue; it was
a platform. This was not a simple speech; it was a specific and
deliberate and very public HONOR.  If silence is consent,
what is honor?

Issue #2    “...the country’s most prominent Catholic university
honoring a president whose positions contradict the core Catholic
teaching on the inviolability of human life at every stage.”
The inviolability of human life is a universal principle, not simply
a core Catholic teaching.  It is not one opinion among many. 
The Church must teach it simply because it is the truth.

Issue #3   “The commencement became an occasion for debating the issue of legal abortion on demand in the United States.” The debate on the issue of legalized abortion on demand is ongoing. The commencement was really the occasion to debate the authenticity of Notre Dame’s claim to the appellation Catholic.  Is Catholic simply an adjective to be pulled out for fundraising and recruitment drives – or is it a Way of Life?

Issue #4  “...people committed to the pro-life cause... [must] engage in respectful dialogue that never shrinks from principle or the chance to express it clearly and consistently.” This was not a dialogue.  There was no response allowed, no chance for pro-life people to express their principles.  No equal time at Notre Dame!

Issue #5  “Turning hearts and minds to see the reasonableness of Church teaching will not come about by screaming...”.  Who is screaming? Yes, there were many phone calls, many e-mails, many opinion pieces, many petitions, many prayers, and even some quiet civic disobedience.  Yet only one voice was guaranteed a platform.

A more pertinent question is: Who is listening?  Our President has dedicated his whole moral and political capital toward the guarantee of abortion, any time, any way, for any reason.  He employs his political power to require each American to participate in abortion via the taxes we must pay.  In the name of restoring Science to its rightful place - even as Science has passed him by - he has committed us all to the pursuit of embryonic stem cell research.

Just where is the middle ground President Obama calls us to and when does he begin the journey?


Issue #6  “By engaging in a dialogue of love, we hope to work with the president...” A dialogue of love requires two things – dialogue, as in two participants, each speaking and listening; and the same two participants, each loving. One hand clapping does not make a sound and one voice speaking does not make a dialogue. 

Let us all, loudly and clearly, do the loving thing and call on the president to engage in a dialogue of truth. Let us call upon Notre Dame to be who it says it is, because the real issue is that Notre Dame’s golden dome is in danger of becoming a white-washed sepulchre.
















Pres. Obama at Notre Dame
Opinion:
Six Issues
June 9, 2009