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Some Fighting Irish are fighting mad over Obama invitation

05 Apr 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

President Obama is widely acknowledged to be an eloquent speaker--to possess "a well-trained tongue," as the author of the Book of Isaiah puts it in this Sunday's reading. Some Catholics are not pleased, however, that he has been invited to deliver the commencement address at the University of Notre Dame graduation ceremonies this May. Notre Dame's decision to invite Obama to speak has sparked protest from some Catholics because his stances on abortion and stem cell research are at odds with Catholic Church teachings. Notre Dame's overture to Obama is in keeping with the university's record of seeking newly elected presidents from both political parties as commencement speakers. Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush spoke to Notre Dame graduates months after taking office."This has sparked something beyond the usual right-left controversy," said David Gibson, a Catholic author of books on Pope Benedict XVI and the U.S. church. "Whether you're for or against the decision to invite him is morphing into kind of an X-ray of where everybody stands in the Catholic Church." Rev. Hugh W. Cleary, superior general of the Congregation of Holy Cross, which founded Notre Dame, wrote a letter to Obama on March 22 asking him to rethink--through "prayerful wrestling" with his conscience--his positions on abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research in the weeks leading up to his speech. Cleary said the decision to invite Obama wasn't his but said the visit should be a "teachable moment" for all. Rev. John Jenkins, Notre Dame's president, said Obama is being honored as an "inspiring leader" facing challenges from the economy, two wars, health care, and immigration and health care reform.Jenkins also singled out Obama, the first black president, as a healer of racial wounds. That is of special significance at Notre Dame because retired university president Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, 91, linked arms with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and served on the first U.S. Civil Rights Commission.The Obama invitation, Jenkins emphasized, does not condone or endorse Obama's positions on stem cells or abortion but the visit is "a basis for further positive engagement." Past Notre Dame invitations have drawn protests as well, said Douglas Kmiec, a Catholic law professor and former Reagan administration lawyer whose endorsement of Obama last year was controversial. Kmiec, who taught at Notre Dame for 20 years and supports the invitation to Obama, called it a sign of a mature university and further evidence that religion is now firmly part of the public discourse."Religion has been invited into the public square," Kmiec said. "Our voice is being heard. But we now will presume to exclude from the religious venue the public voices that have the duty and responsibility to people of many different faiths and no faith at all? That seems to be an ironic way to return a favor." Source: Articles by Eric Gorski and Tom Coyne for the Associated Press

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Some Fighting Irish are fighting mad over Obama invitation

05 Apr 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

President Obama is widely acknowledged to be an eloquent speaker--to possess "a well-trained tongue," as the author of the Book of Isaiah puts it in this Sunday's reading. Some Catholics are not pleased, however, that he has been invited to deliver the commencement address at the University of Notre Dame graduation ceremonies this May. Notre Dame's decision to invite Obama to speak has sparked protest from some Catholics because his stances on abortion and stem cell research are at odds with Catholic Church teachings. Notre Dame's overture to Obama is in keeping with the university's record of seeking newly elected presidents from both political parties as commencement speakers. Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush spoke to Notre Dame graduates months after taking office."This has sparked something beyond the usual right-left controversy," said David Gibson, a Catholic author of books on Pope Benedict XVI and the U.S. church. "Whether you're for or against the decision to invite him is morphing into kind of an X-ray of where everybody stands in the Catholic Church." Rev. Hugh W. Cleary, superior general of the Congregation of Holy Cross, which founded Notre Dame, wrote a letter to Obama on March 22 asking him to rethink--through "prayerful wrestling" with his conscience--his positions on abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research in the weeks leading up to his speech. Cleary said the decision to invite Obama wasn't his but said the visit should be a "teachable moment" for all. Rev. John Jenkins, Notre Dame's president, said Obama is being honored as an "inspiring leader" facing challenges from the economy, two wars, health care, and immigration and health care reform.Jenkins also singled out Obama, the first black president, as a healer of racial wounds. That is of special significance at Notre Dame because retired university president Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, 91, linked arms with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and served on the first U.S. Civil Rights Commission.The Obama invitation, Jenkins emphasized, does not condone or endorse Obama's positions on stem cells or abortion but the visit is "a basis for further positive engagement." Past Notre Dame invitations have drawn protests as well, said Douglas Kmiec, a Catholic law professor and former Reagan administration lawyer whose endorsement of Obama last year was controversial. Kmiec, who taught at Notre Dame for 20 years and supports the invitation to Obama, called it a sign of a mature university and further evidence that religion is now firmly part of the public discourse."Religion has been invited into the public square," Kmiec said. "Our voice is being heard. But we now will presume to exclude from the religious venue the public voices that have the duty and responsibility to people of many different faiths and no faith at all? That seems to be an ironic way to return a favor." Source: Articles by Eric Gorski and Tom Coyne for the Associated Press

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Transatlantic tragedy

07 Jun 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

This Sunday's reading from the Letter to the Romans tells us that we are children and heirs with Christ "if only we suffer with him." Loved ones of passengers due in on overnight flight from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil suffered stunning news upon arriving at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris Monday morning: Air France Flight 447 had disappeared over the Atlantic. Midweek, research vessels from several nations were sailing toward a site some 600 miles off the northeast coast of Brazil where what was thought to be debris from the jet had been spotted, while aviation experts tried to determine why the plane carrying 228 people ended up in the sea. Later reports said the debris was in fact not from the jet, but by the weekend crews later did begin finding bodies and debris from the flight at another site. Fierce thunderstorms, lightning, and severe turbulence had been reported prior to the plane's disappearance, but the final cause was likely a combination of these and other unknown factors, experts said. The crew made no distress call before the crash, but the plane's warning system sent automatic messages just before it disappeared, reporting lost cabin pressure and electrical failure. High seas and heavy winds hampered the search for debris, and an investigator said the black boxes may never be found, given that the depth of the Atlantic Ocean at the likely site of the crash can sink to more than 22,900 feet. Charlstie Laytin, 31, of Island Park, New York, whose uncle and aunt, Michael and Anne Harris, were two Americans on the flight, hopes to see the investigation continue until the victims' families know what happened. "It's so hard to come to the point of closure when you don't have your loved ones in front of you to grieve over," she said. Brazil began three days of national mourning Tuesday, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy and relatives of the victims were attending an ecumenical service at Notre Dame Cathedral later Wednesday for the crash victims. Source: Articles by Greg Viscusi and Andrea Rothman for Bloomberg.com, Christine Negroni for the New York Times, and Federico Escher and Emma Vandore for the Associated Press

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Speech at Notre Dame provokes scrimmage

27 Dec 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

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.

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Bishop’s comments on president prove controversial

29 Apr 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“How often do you pray for the president?” asks PreparetheWord scripture commentator Alice Camille in discussing themes of leadership in the Sunday readings. Instead of a prayer for Barack Obama, Bishop Daniel R. Jenky of Peoria, Illinois made a comparison from the pulpit between the president’s policies on religious freedom to those of Stalin and Hitler that has led to some heated criticisms, including a formal complaint filed with the IRS alleging the diocese violated its tax-exempt status. The diocese said the bishop’s statement haD been taken out of context.Jenky’s April 15 homily criticized actions proposed by the Obama administration regarding coverage of contraceptives in healthcare insurance plans. The bishop included those policies in a litany of government challenges the Catholic Church has overcome in previous centuries, including actions by Hitler and Stalin.The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, filed the IRS complaint last week, accusing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Peoria of violating federal law by intervening in a political campaign.Faculty at the University of Notre Dame have petitioned for a clear and strong retraction from the bishop, who is a member of university's sponsoring Congregation of Holy Cross, or his removal from the university’s board of overseers, and the Anti-Defamation League wants the bishop to apologize for making the comparison between the president and those who practiced wholesale genocide.A spokeswoman for the diocese responded to the criticism by saying the bishop’s statements were misunderstood. “Based upon the current government’s threatened infringement upon the church’s religious exercise of its ministry, Bishop Jenky offered historical context and comparisons as a means to prevent a repetition of historical attacks upon the Catholic Church and other religions,” said Patricia Gibson, chancellor of the Peoria Diocese. Sources: Articles by the Associated Press, The Huffington Post, and Manya A. Brachear for the Chicago Tribune

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