Cardinal Justin Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia and USCCB Pro-Life Committee Chairman, and eight other archbishops and bishops are the latest prelates in the United States to publicly address the decision of the University of Notre Dame to honor President Barack Obama at commencement on May 17, 2009. “The Catholic Church in America is blessed to have so many holy shepherds speaking out in defense of authentic Catholic identity. They are a treasure and we owe them our prayers and gratitude,” said Patrick Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society.
Thus far, there have been 55 bishops who have spoken out about the Notre Dame scandal. Most of the bishops have expressed strong opposition and have cited the 2004 USCCB document “Catholics in Political Life” as foundational to their criticism of Notre Dame’s decision to honor President Obama. The document states that Catholic institutions should neither honor nor give platform to those who oppose fundamental Catholic moral principles.
The petition at NotreDameScandal.com grew to a staggering 347,000 supporters on Thursday morning. The first 300,000 signatures from the petition were delivered yesterday to Notre Dame’s president and board members in time for a pre-scheduled meeting. Copies were also sent to USCCB and Vatican officials.
In an interview with Life Site News, Cardinal Rigali said of the tremendous response from the bishops and other lay faithful over the Notre Dame scandal, “something very positive is going on in our country along with all the negative things - that there is a greater and evolving understanding of the value of human life in many, many people… The backlash is due to a great extent the reaction of people who through their intuition, through their common sense, they know that this is just not an acceptable way to take a position on something that is so important.” Cardinal Rigali said that, through this issue with Notre Dame, “the whole world has to see that it [the value of life] is such an important issue: that, yes, it is a sign of contradiction... it is a division between life and death, and we cannot treat it as one issue among many.”
Other bishops who have spoken out recently on the Notre Dame scandal include Archbishop Charles Chaput of the Denver Archdiocese; Archbishop Joseph Naumann of the Kansas City Archdiocese; Archbishop Donald Wuerl of the Washington Archdiocese; Bishop Peter Jugis of the Charlotte Diocese; Bishop William Murphy of the Rockville Center Diocese; Bishop Glen Provost of the Lake Charles Diocese; Bishop Joseph Galante of the Camden Diocese; and Bishop John McCormack of the Manchester Diocese.
Archbishop Chaput, in an e-mail statement relayed to Life Site News, said, “Notre Dame didn't need to do this to show its openness to 'dialogue.’ And candidly, very few Notre Dame faculty members would accept from their students the kind of creative reasoning now being used to defend the invitation.”
Archbishop Naumann made the poignant remark that, “In reality, Notre Dame’s invitation signals to President Obama that there is no need to dialogue. Why should the president feel a need to dialogue when he is honored by our nation’s most prestigious Catholic university no matter how extreme his policies and actions supporting legalized abortion?”
On April 24, The Washington Post reported that, when asked about the controversy at Notre Dame, Archbishop Wuerl said “the school should not have honored Obama but that he was not in favor of rescinding the invite.”
According to Life Site News, Bishop Jugis wrote, “Public outcry over Notre Dame's decision must be accompanied by ongoing catechesis in our parishes, public witness by the entire Catholic Church and involvement in the political process in order to promote a culture that protects the sanctity of unborn human life.”
Catholic blogger Thomas Peters, reported Tuesday that during a men’s conference attended by 800 on April 25, Bishop Murphy added his voice to the U.S. bishops speaking out on the Notre Dame scandal.
Bishop Provost said of the scandal, “I share the consternation of my brother bishops and of many Notre Dame alumni who have already voiced their objections. I am in complete agreement with them. Appeals to ‘academic freedom’ or engagement should not prompt an indifference to what our actions imply.”
Bishop Joseph Galante also spoke out, echoing the USCCB statement “Catholics in Political Life.” He said, “[I]t would appear to me to be inappropriate specifically to honor an individual, particularly a prominent public official, who intentionally holds and deliberately advocates positions contrary to fundamental moral principles.”
On the Diocese of Manchester’s website the initial statement by Notre Dame’s Bishop John D’Arcy is published. Above the text is a statement that reads, “Bishop McCormack has expressed his support for Bishop John M. D’Arcy in connection with his position on the decision by the University of Notre Dame to honor President Barack Obama.”
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