Sunday, May 17, 2009
Vita, Dulcedo, Spes
Life, Sweetness, Hope, Notre Dame's motto. Thought it possibly counterproductive for The Prez to accept an invite to Notre Dame this year. Why stir up the abortion issue? But it's stirring up anyway with a SCOTUS nomination. The protests were small, the young graduates overwhelmingly appreciated having him as their commencement speaker, a few had silent protest symbols, the four hecklers were all men. Most of the "controversy" was being generated in television studios. College students are probably why Barack Hussein Obama carried Indiana last November.
Today I praise Notre Dame.
Notre Dame University reminds us that there's a lot more to the Roman Catholic Church than Bishops. Which is, of course, the proud, traditional conceit of Notre Dame & its vast diaspora of fanatical alumni. If Notre Dame started five declared atheists on its basketball team, the Church would still take credit when the team won. The Church wins whenever a sitting president speaks at commencement, & it appeals to Notre Dame's inflated sense of importance. For a national stage, Presidents choose Notre Dame before Gonzaga, Boston College, Villanova, Georgetown, Fordham, Seton Hall, or however many Catholic colleges & universities there are in America (six in New Jersey). Any Catholic school of higher learning that considers itself too pure to host the President of the United States for one occasion or another is too damned stupid to be accredited.
An anti-abortion priest said, "Now this honorary doctorate today is a law degree. Law is for the protection of human rights.” Wrong. Law protects those rights conferred by law. Dogs have some rights. An elderly woman may think she has the "natural right" to a seat on a crowded bus, but unless seats are legally designated for elderly people, no one is required by law to vacate a seat for her. Obama did not receive an honorary degree in Church Canon Law. Canon Law is the source of the Notre Dame controversy.
Arch conservative legal scholar & Catholic Mary Ann Glendon declined an honor from Notre Dame as a protest against the Obama appearance. I respect that decision. But she did so from the safety of her position as a professor at Harvard School of Law.
Today I praise Notre Dame.
Notre Dame University reminds us that there's a lot more to the Roman Catholic Church than Bishops. Which is, of course, the proud, traditional conceit of Notre Dame & its vast diaspora of fanatical alumni. If Notre Dame started five declared atheists on its basketball team, the Church would still take credit when the team won. The Church wins whenever a sitting president speaks at commencement, & it appeals to Notre Dame's inflated sense of importance. For a national stage, Presidents choose Notre Dame before Gonzaga, Boston College, Villanova, Georgetown, Fordham, Seton Hall, or however many Catholic colleges & universities there are in America (six in New Jersey). Any Catholic school of higher learning that considers itself too pure to host the President of the United States for one occasion or another is too damned stupid to be accredited.
An anti-abortion priest said, "Now this honorary doctorate today is a law degree. Law is for the protection of human rights.” Wrong. Law protects those rights conferred by law. Dogs have some rights. An elderly woman may think she has the "natural right" to a seat on a crowded bus, but unless seats are legally designated for elderly people, no one is required by law to vacate a seat for her. Obama did not receive an honorary degree in Church Canon Law. Canon Law is the source of the Notre Dame controversy.
Arch conservative legal scholar & Catholic Mary Ann Glendon declined an honor from Notre Dame as a protest against the Obama appearance. I respect that decision. But she did so from the safety of her position as a professor at Harvard School of Law.
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"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
I have to find the speech given by the ND President, Fr. Jenkins, and the valedictorian. They were as good as, if not better than, BHO's address.
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