GoldenDomeUSCapitol Obama:DoubleDomer?By Larry Marsh, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist
Notre Dame has a long tradition of awarding honorary degrees to people with a wide range of religious beliefs and political positions. Why should it break with its traditions now?
Non-Catholics have always played important roles at Notre Dame. As early as the late 1970s a team of five non-Catholic Notre Dame faculty members worked to assist the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland with their high school enrollment and financial problems. Notre Dame's previous provost, Nathan Hatch, was a non-Catholic and served Notre Dame for many years with great distinction.
Awarding honorary degrees to non-Catholics who hold beliefs at odds with most Catholics is nothing new. President Obama is certainly not the first to be so honored.
In 2002 as a Notre Dame faculty member, I served on Notre Dame's College of Arts and Letters Honorary Degree Committee with two other faculty members to recommend honorary degree recipients for the 2003 commencement. I was glad to recommend a Jewish scholar for an honorary degree. The Committee and the University agreed.
My recommendation was well within Notre Dame's tradition of occasionally awarding an honorary degree to someone whose beliefs were contrary not only to most Catholics, but in some cases, contrary to all Catholics. How can it be ok to award an honorary degree to a person who does not recognize the divinity of Christ, but not ok to award one to someone who might have a different conception about conception? Why should Christ's divinity have to take a back seat to the disagreement over when a fetus becomes a child?
Notre Dame should continue its tradition of awarding honorary degrees to people who have made important contributions even if they happen to hold some beliefs entirely contrary to those of the Catholic Church.
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If you don't believe in
If you don't believe in abortion, don't have one. If you do believe in it and wish to obtain one, don't ask the taxpayers to foot the bill. While I believe a woman has the right to choose, I must stand with the anti-abortion crowd when I insist that we the taxpayers should not pay for women to have abortions.
May I repeat: While I do not agree with the anti-abortion position, as long as taxpayer funding is involved, they are absolutely in the right to protest. I don't believe the right to privacy extends to those on the dole.
Is this permanent?
Is this topic to be listed permanently under the heading of Midwest Voices in the online Star Opinion section?
It has been at the top of the list for at least two weeks.
Howsabout let's MoveOn?
In solidarity with the protesting Notre Dame graduates
If I were graduating from Notre Dame today I would be quite confused, dismayed and angered by the leadership of my university choosing to honor a man who deliberately and with forethought increased world-wide access to American tax-payer funded abortion and put into a position of national prominence and leadership a woman known for her approval and sanctions of the heinous crime of late term abortion. I would be heart-sick. I would be frustrated. I would protest. Obama talks the talk but he refuses to walk the walk. One is either pro-life or one is not. There is no in-between. Of all the issues we face as a nation, economics, immigration, same-sex marriage, off-shore drilling, wind energy, health care, social security...NONE of these matter if we allow the indiscriminate murder of human beings in the womb. Notre Dame, our mother, is crying for the 40 million productive, innovative, loving, creative humans that have been murdered. Mary, queen of heaven, pray for us.
You are either a follow of
You are either a follow of Christ or an observer. One cannot be both. As a Catholic, if you support Obama, you are an observe of Christ, not a follower.
Easy for the living to say
The Catholic Church stands for human life.
Obama stands for abortion for any reason at any time.
These two don't mix. And now that the latest Gallup poll shows that a great shift has occurred that a majority of Americans are pro-life, Jenkins and his cohorts on the Board of Trustees are on the wrong side of the fence.
The life of a human being may not be important to some, here in this country the majority believes otherwise.
Lighten up! He's the
Lighten up! He's the President, he's making a speech. I'm certin that not every speaker they have had at graduation has always agreed with Catholic policy.
This has to do with human life!
Obama is one of the most pro-abortion politicians around. He even believes that babies that survive botched abortions should be killed!
The Catholic Church which Notre Dame is directly affiliated with believes in life. They should not be honoring a politician with such radical views that are in direct opposition to the Catholic Church!
And we have a right to speak against this travesty!
This is all much ado about
This is all much ado about nothing. It is an honorary degree and a speech to graduates by the President of the United States. There is nothing in the bible that says listening to someone you do not agree with will damn you to hell.
Give it arest...Save the bible thumping, pro-life, BS debate for his first so massively left wing SCOTUS appointee.
As for the teleprompter comment. Yes every major politican uses a teleprompter for major addresses. It is virtually impossible to memorize a 30-2 hr address.
But few politicans or speakers need a prompter for EVERY event, every occasion they speak at. President Obama uses one at press conferences, campaign stops (something i have rarely if ever seen other than major speeches), town hall meetings, etc.
One would expect Bush to use a teleprompter and many of us DEMANDED he never speak a word not written.
But Obama is packaged as this great communicator and wonderful orator ala Kennedy or Reagan. Yet neither of those two used prompters for every event. And both of them could think on their feet and speak without help and sound great. The President when off the cuff (read: no prompter) he is many times no better and on rare occasions WORSE than Bush was.
The whole point doesnt boil down to anyone saying his use of the device makes him a bad person or president. It boils down to stop calling him and selling him as this great speaker...great speakers give wonderful addresses without having every word pre-written and scrolling in front of them. Think of MLK at the lincoln memorial for the I have a Dream...ive seen video and do not recall him ever even looking down at notes...THAT'S A GREAT SPEAKER.
Obama is, essentially, a GREAT READER same as almost any network news anchor.
The teleprompter line of
The teleprompter line of attack is such hackwork. Bush is out of office, we don't have to talk about his poor public speaking abilities anymore.
Last i checked obama was a christian (though some wackos insist he's muslim), regardless of whether he agrees with every official position of the Catholic church on which many Catholics also may disagree. should notre dame undergrads who are pro-choice be denied real degrees, because real degrees are well, REAL?
Amusing another BS Comment
From BS.