WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Pete Munsey of Baltimore didn't vote for President Barack Obama and the 45-year-old Catholic Republican doesn't like many of his policies. But he also doesn't believe the new president will compromise the Catholic integrity of the University of Notre Dame if he delivers the commencement speech at the Indiana school as scheduled. "It's always been my understanding that institutions of higher learning were supposed to be places where complex issues could be discussed and debated," Munsey said. "Just because a guest speaker supports a cause that goes against Catholic teaching doesn't make him a threat to the Catholic identity of the school. Notre Dame is still going to hold onto to its core values." Vocal Catholic bishops from across the U.S. disagree with Munsey on that point and have denounced the Notre Dame president's choice for a commencement speaker for the 2009 graduation May 17. Those bishops emphatically stated that Obama's support for legal abortion and embryonic stem cell research makes him an inappropriate selection as a speaker and as a recipient of an honorary doctorate. Groups such as the Cardinal Newman Society, a self-appointed watchdog group of Catholic higher education, and the American Life League, a pro-life organization, have called on Holy Cross Father John I. Jenkins -- president of Notre Dame -- to rescind his invitation to Obama and mounted petition drives that claim hundreds of thousands of Catholic signatures to achieve that goal. They also have questioned the university's Catholic identity.
Group of Holy Cross priests opposes Notre Dame's invitation to Obama
NOTRE DAME, Ind. (CNS) -- A group of 10 Holy Cross priests said the decision to invite President Barack Obama as the University of Notre Dame's commencement speaker "portends a distancing of Notre Dame from the church which is its lifeblood and the source of its identity and real strength." "Such a distancing puts at risk the true soul of Notre Dame," said the priests, who are graduates of Notre Dame and members of the order that founded the university. The priests' signed letter to the editor was published in the April 8 issue of Notre Dame's student newspaper, The Observer. They said they wished to join and support the "courageous students and treasured alumni" who similarly opposed the university's "sad and regrettable decision" to host Obama as the school's May 17 commencement speaker and honorary degree recipient. Critics of Obama say his support of legal abortion and embryonic stem-cell research make him an inappropriate choice to be commencement speaker at a Catholic university.
Group of Holy Cross priests opposes Notre Dame's invitation to Obama
NOTRE DAME, Ind. (CNS) -- A group of 10 Holy Cross priests said the decision to invite President Barack Obama as the University of Notre Dame's commencement speaker "portends a distancing of Notre Dame from the church which is its lifeblood and the source of its identity and real strength." "Such a distancing puts at risk the true soul of Notre Dame," said the priests, who are graduates of Notre Dame and members of the order that founded the university. The priests' signed letter to the editor was published in the April 8 issue of Notre Dame's student newspaper, The Observer. They said they wished to join and support the "courageous students and treasured alumni" who similarly opposed the university's "sad and regrettable decision" to host Obama as the school's May 17 commencement speaker and honorary degree recipient. Critics of Obama say his support of legal abortion and embryonic stem-cell research make him an inappropriate choice to be commencement speaker at a Catholic university.