During the January 1 Mass of the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the gospel reading from Luke tells us that when the newborn savior was eight days old, "he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb."

Debate over matters related to the womb, particularly the issue of abortion, was the key flash point in a big story for the Catholic Church as well as the general media this past year: the University of Notre Dame's decision to honor President Obama with an honorary law degree and invitation to deliver a commencement address.

Holy Cross Father John I. Jenkins, Notre Dame's president, faced criticism for inviting the president. Some 70 U.S. bishops and others said Obama's support of legal abortion and embryonic stem-cell research made him an inappropriate choice to be commencement speaker at a Catholic university.

Critics called for the invitation to be rescinded and some said Jenkins should resign or be fired. But he and other university officials stood firm, saying Notre Dame was not condoning Obama's stand on abortion or embryonic stem-cell research by inviting him but rather engaging in the kind of dialogue needed to move beyond differences.

The controversy hit the airwaves and the blogsphere as some commentators accused Notre Dame of forsaking its Catholic identity while others accused bishops and others who opposed Obama's appearance on campus of participating in partisan politics at the expense of the free exchange of ideas on Catholic campuses.

Obama delivered the May 17 commencement address, in which he discussed Catholic social teachings and called for dialogue and mutual respect for differences of opinions on complex moral and political issues. Later in the year Jenkins was elected to a second five-year term by the university's board of trustees.