Fr. John Jenkins, President of the University of Notre Dame, is attempting to answer his critics. Many faithful Catholics including nearly one hundred bishops reacted with outrage when Fr. Jenkins conferred an honorary law degree upon President Obama when President Obama offered the 2009 University of Notre Dame commencement address last spring. President Obama's uncompromising support for unlimited abortion on demand made such an honor scandalous. The Church document, Ex Corde Ecclesiae clearly states that a Catholic University should not honor or give a platform to someone who opposes such a fundamental Church teaching. Bishop D'Arcy, the bishop of Ft. Wayne-South Bend Indiana---the diocese in which Notre Dame resides--boycotted the commencement ceremony and instead attended an alternative ceremony and prayer vigil organized by students. On August 31, Bishop D'Arcy published an article in America magazine indicating that the issues underlying the commencement dust-up are still unresolved. He posed three questions to Notre Dame specifically as well as to all universities that claim to be Catholic:
As bishops, we must be teachers and pastors. In that spirit, I would respectfully put these questions to the Catholic universities in the diocese I serve and to other Catholic universities.
Do you consider it a responsibility in your public statements, in your life as a university and in your actions, including your public awards, to give witness to the Catholic faith in all its fullness?
What is your relationship to the church and, specifically, to the local bishop and his pastoral authority as defined by the Second Vatican Council?
Finally, a more fundamental question: Where will the great Catholic universities search for a guiding light in the years ahead? Will it be the Land O’Lakes Statement or Ex Corde Ecclesiae? The first comes from a frantic time, with finances as the driving force. Its understanding of freedom is defensive, absolutist and narrow. It never mentions Christ and barely mentions the truth. The second text, Ex Corde Ecclesiae, speaks constantly of truth and the pursuit of truth. It speaks of freedom in the broader, Catholic philosophical and theological tradition, as linked to the common good, to the rights of others and always subject to truth. Unlike Land O’Lakes, it is communal, reflective of the developments since Vatican II, and it speaks with a language enlightened by the Holy Spirit.
On these three questions, I respectfully submit, rests the future of Catholic higher education in this country and so much else.
Last week Fr. Jenkins sent an email to Notre Dame alums and supporters noting new initiatives to reassert the University of Notre Dame's pro-life credentials. He stated he would join the Notre Dame contingency at the annual March for Life in Washington D.C. and encouraged other members of the Notre Dame community to join him.
He also announced the formation of the Task Force on Supporting the Choice for Life. The stated purpose of this task force is to consider and recommend to President Jenkins ways in which the University of Notre Dame can support the sanctity of life.
Finally, Fr. Jenkins praised The Women's Care Center, the nation's largest Catholic-based pregnancy resource center. This crisis pregnancy center located in South Bend just south of the University of Notre Dame is run by a Notre Dame graduate. He recommended that this center as well as similar crisis pregnancy center in other cities be supported by Notre Dame clubs and individuals.
The response to Fr. Jenkins' attempt to reclaim a pro-life identity has been mixed. University of Notre Dame law professor, Rick Garnett, has reacted with optimism. He was a prominent critic of the award for President Obama but now feels that Fr. Jenkins is making a good faith effort to heal the divisions engendered by last spring's commencement.
The Cardinal Newman Society welcomed the moves as good first steps, but indicates these steps are insufficient to bring the University of Notre Dame to an unequivocally pro-life stance. The Society asks for four more steps to be added to Fr. Jenkins' plan:
- Acknowledge the scandal of publicly honoring a staunchly pro-abortion public official as commencement speaker and recipient of an honorary degree, and apologize to the U.S. bishops, the 2009 Notre Dame graduates, and all faithful Catholics.
- Drop criminal charges against those who, through peaceful and civil disobedience, protested last May’s commencement ceremony.
- Develop firm policies to prevent such scandal in the future, by ensuring that honorees are not public opponents of Catholic teaching on key moral issues, and favoring campus speakers who uphold Catholic teaching with regard to the topic of their address and also in their public life.
- Support the Notre Dame Fund to Protect Human Life, already established by the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture and excluded from mention in Father Jenkins’ announcement of new pro-life efforts.
Bill Dempsey, president of the Sycamore Trust, is even more critical. He asserts that the newly formed Task Force on Supporting the Choice for LIfe deliberately excludes from membership anyone associated with the Center for Ethics & Culture and the Notre dame Fund for the Protection of Human Life, two organizations already established at Notre Dame and already actively pro-life. He further notes that neither of these organizations currently receive any University support. He also points out that the student representatives on this task force included no one from the leadership of the current student Right to Life organization or anyone who was involved in ND Response, the student alliance protesting the honoring of President Obama. Dempsey sees this as an attempt to marginalize the current pro-life movement at Notre Dame and replace it with a committee that is more supportive of both Fr. Jenkins and of President Obama.
Ed Morrisey notes the irony that Fr. Jenkins is stating his intent to mend divisions and join forces in the support for the sanctity of life all the while refusing to drop the charges against eighty-eight people who were charged with trespassing for staging a peaceful and prayerful protest against the President Obama speech and honorary law degree. Those facing trial include Norma McCorvey, the actual Roe of Roe v. Wade, and Fr. Weslin, a 78-year-old priest. The Thomas More Society Pro-Life Law Center has asked Fr. Jenkins to dismiss the charges. The President of the Thomas More Society notes that the University of Notre Dame security personnel specifically arrested pro-life protesters while intentionally ignoring those carrying pro-Obama signs or those taunting pro-life protesters.
It is clear that there is a great deal of skepticism surrounding Fr. Jenkins' announcement of pro-life initiatives. While charity demands that Fr. Jenkins' be given an opportunity to demonstrate his pro-life commitment, the onus lies on his shoulders to show that his endorsement of Church teaching on the sanctity of life runs deeper than a photo-op at the March for Life in January.
Comments
Much of the "scandal" behind Obama's degree comes from the USCCB position on "honoring" pro-choice politicians. It comes from ignorance on two fronts - that to be pro-choice is not the same thing as encouraging abortion (which would be a scandal and a sin) and that the USCCB somehow has a say over what happens at a non-diocesean Catholic college. To D'Arcy's credit, he at least did not assert that somehow his authority, or that of the bishops, was violated (since they have no authority over Notre Dame.
The other unsaid fact is that Obama's in Indiana is due in no small part to the efforts of the Notre Dame community. What cheeses many off is that the commencement was a victory lap for him and for those students who worked so hard to move Indiana to the blue side.
While there is indeed reason to be skeptical, I still think this is the time to persuade more with honey than vinegar. At least Fr. Jenkins is moving a little in the right direction. I sent him an email thanking him and applauding his efforts while also encouraging him to try to mend fences. Yes, he could and should apologize but we might get further not asking that his face be rubbed into his very serious mistake. He remains in my prayers. Nice article.
Michael,
Just some clarifications. Bishop D'Arcy has no direct authority on the day-to-day activities of Notre Dame. He does have authority over which institutions in his diocese may call themselves Catholic. Also, he has the pastoral authority and duty to correct anything he believes will undermine or confuse the teaching of the Catholic Church. This is what he did. Furthermore, the University of Notre Dame stated they sought counsel from unnamed sources about whether or not the commencement speech and honorary degree would conflict with the directives from the USCCB. Bishop D'Arcy rightly pointed out to the university that he, as bishop, is the only one authorized to provide such counsel and he was not consulted. Also, to be pro-choice is to support abortion. Multiple Magisterial documents have made it clear that abortion must always be opposed. To be "personally opposed but unwilling to impose my views" is not a validly Catholic viewpoint.
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