The following excerpts are from a letter that was sent to Father John I. Jenkins, president of the University of Notre Dame:
Do not misinterpret this as a lecture, but rather the echoing of the painful disappointment of your actions to invite and honor Obama. Irrelevant of your or my political preferences, should not “Christian correctness” be your standard, not “political correctness?”
To recognize and honor an individual through an institution as the University of Notre Dame does tend to validate the philosophy and actions of that individual. Obama’s position to promote abortion, infanticide and embryonic stem-cell research must not be supported under the excuse “that President Obama will follow in this long tradition of speaking from Notre Dame on issues of substance and significance.” Your statement that “The invitation to President Obama … should not be taken as condoning or endorsing his positions ….” is oxymoronic. This would be similar to a statement “that I don’t endorse his policies, but I choose to vote for him to advance his policies.”
From the literature of Notre Dame, it has a distinct mission that is “guided and elevated by the moral imperatives of the Catholic faith.” This distinction parallels the bishops’ request of 2004 that Catholic institutions not honor “those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles.”
I hope and pray that the future will be filled with action driven by integrity and commitment to the “moral imperatives of the Catholic faith.”
The writer is a parishioner of St. Augustine in Williamsport.