Obama ND's Commencement Speaker

[MirageSmack]

Petition if interested. 170K+ signers at this point.

Notre Dame Scandal > Home

 

[Junkhead]

I'm Catholic, and I think they should be honored the Pres is speaking. Leave the politics aside, and use it to honor the graduates who put in the hard work.

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

Petition if interested. 170K+ signers at this point.

Notre Dame Scandal > Home

Pretty gay actually...170,000+??? LOL Not ND people clearly.

How many of us grads are there? 100k??? Maybe not even that many.


I am SOOOOO *shocked* we did not see this with Bush...after all the cardinal rules of the Church that he opposes...

Here's some food for thought:
Catholic academic ayatollah shows true colors | National Catholic Reporter

Catholic academic ayatollah shows true colors
Cardinal Newman Society uses McCarthyite tactics to promote a fundamentalist agenda
Mar. 23, 2009
By Joe Feuerherd
Politics
Four years ago I put a theoretical question to Patrick Reilly, president of the Virginia-based Cardinal Newman Society and self-appointed ayatollah to Catholic academia in this country. Reilly is back in the news today because President Obama will deliver the commencement address at the University of Notre Dame in May. The overseer of false orthodoxy doesn’t like that one bit.

“It is an outrage and a scandal (emphasis in the original) that ‘Our Lady’s University,’ one of the premier Catholic universities in the United States, would bestow such an honor on President Obama given his clear support for policies and laws that directly contradict fundamental Catholic teachings on life and marriage,” according to a letter to Holy Cross Fr. John Jenkins, president of Notre Dame, from Reilly and thousands of petitioners he’s drummed up online.

Founded in 1993 by the Fordham-educated Reilly, the Society claims it is dedicated to strengthening Catholic identity at America’s Catholic colleges and universities. In reality, as Cardinal Newman rolls over in his recently relocated grave, Reilly uses the cardinal’s good name to promote the idea of university as Catholic madrassa.

My question to Reilly: How would he respond if then-president George W. Bush was invited to give a Catholic college commencement address? (Bush did not speak at a Catholic school that year.)

It was a trick question, designed, at some later date, to illustrate the truth about the Society’s McCarthyite tactics and fundamentalist agenda. The question had a context. Reilly is frequently “scandalized” and appears to live in a constant state of “outrage.”

In May 2005, for example, Reilly was outraged not only at the pro-choice speakers invited to address new Catholic graduates at campuses across the country, but also that Sr. Helen Prejean, the anti-death penalty activist, was delivering the commencement address at Belmont, California’s Notre Dame de Namur University. Prejean, you see, is a capital punishment abolitionist, while the church leaves some wiggle room for “cases of absolute necessity,” which, in Reilly’s view, makes her a dangerous dissenter. And though Prejean opposes abortion, she has publicly expressed sympathy for poor women in crisis pregnancies – questioning whether our society really gives them a legitimate “choice” – which apparently is a big no-no for the keeper of conformity.

Reilly and the Society, however, were strangely silent when then-Vice President Cheney spoke at the Catholic University of America in January 2005. Cheney (like Obama) opposes a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and has some questionable views on the “intrinsic evil” of state-sponsored torture, but that was apparently of no concern to Reilly. The Society did not protest the vice president’s appearance.

Here’s what is really going on. Ayatollah Reilly searches for hot button issues on Catholic campuses -- anything that has to do with gays gets them excited, as do performances of “The Vagina Monologues” and, of course, pro-choice speakers (few of whom actually even discuss abortion in their presentations) – that will energize their base of donors and activists. Then they highlight these offenses on the Web and through direct mail to generate revenue.

It is good work if you can get it: for his efforts Reilly (according to a 2007 financial disclosure report) drew a nearly six-figure salary.

Meanwhile, Catholic college presidents feel the heat generated by the witch hunts. They are required to go explain the basics of academic freedom to their local bishop, and risk alienating conservative alumni (i.e. their donors) when Reilly vents “outrage” over the “scandal of the day” he has uncovered.

All this, says the Society, is done in the name of preserving the “Catholic identity” – which in Reilly’s view seems threatened anytime any liberal or any Democrat disagrees, however mildly, with church teaching on abortion and gays. Better to silence the critics, mischaracterize their views, and place fear in the hearts of academic administrators then actually engage someone with an opposing view.

Meanwhile, for the head of an organization whose mission includes “urging fidelity to the church’s magisterium,” Reilly is keeping some strange company. He serves on the advisory board of another extremist group – “Catholic Citizens of Illinois” – which is currently publicizing an effort by whacky anti-abortion advocate Randall Terry to replace Washington Archbishop Donald Wuerl and get Arlington Bishop Paul Loverde replaced. Terry was in Rome recently making the case to Vatican officials that Wuerl and Loverde are insufficiently zealous because they refuse to deny Communion to pro-choice politicians in their dioceses.

With fidelity like that, maybe magisterial members Wuerl and Loverde would prefer some respectful dissent. Perhaps Loverde, whose diocese is home to the Newman Society, should have Reilly in for a visit.

Back to my trick question.

In 2005 I pointed out to Reilly that should Bush be invited to speak at a Catholic campus, the Society would be compelled to outrage. “Bush, you see, supports embryonic stem cell research, though his policies limit it to existing stem cell lines,” I wrote. “That’s a position directly counter to church teaching.

“Similarly, despite his anti-abortion record, the president supports exceptions for abortion in cases of rape, incest or where the life of the mother is threatened. That alone should be enough to draw the wrath of the Virginia-based group ... ’”

Responded Reilly: “Certainly if his position is opposed to the church on those issues (stem cell research and abortion exceptions),” he would be treated “just like anyone else.”

That, I concluded, was “more than a little hard to believe.”

Two years later, Bush was invited by his old friend and former adviser Jim Towey, president of St. Vincent College in Pennsylvania, to give the commencement address at the small Catholic school.

Not a peep from Reilly – a silence that says more about Reilly and company than all the “outrages” and “scandals” he manufactures and exploits.

Feuerherd is NCR publisher and editor-in-chief.

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

I'm Catholic, and I think they should be honored the Pres is speaking. Leave the politics aside, and use it to honor the graduates who put in the hard work.

Those who oppose having the President speak at ND are ND haters down deep...just looking for reasons to attack Our Lady.

 

[NDFan4Life]

Those who oppose having the President speak at ND are ND haters down deep...just looking for reasons to attack Our Lady.

Are you serious?

Just because people don't agree with Obama's policies regarding abortion & stem cell research and believe that having him speak at ND goes against the Catholic doctrine regarding these issues makes them "ND haters"?

Wow!

I guess I must be one of them then. Oh well, I guess I'll go root for the Skunkbears then.

 

[IrishAddiction]

Though i did intially disagree with having the president come and speak, i have to say it is an honor to have the president of the UNITED states of america speak. didnt vote for the guy, dont agree with most all of his policies except education(which ND is an educational institution) but to be one of only 3 universitys he is speaking at this year, would be an honor. Jimmy carter, Reagan, and Bush Jr. all were invited and spoke at ND commencement ceremonies before. Dont have to agree with the guy, but learn to respect his position. New article front page of Yahoo.com. link below.

Criticism over Obama invite mounts at Notre Dame

 

[IrishAddiction]

Those who oppose having the President speak at ND are ND haters down deep...just looking for reasons to attack Our Lady.

got to admit, thats a little outlandish LMI. doesnt mean they are ND haters, just means they feel very strongly in their opinions in the same way many bush haters were. i supported bush, i dont support obama, will not vote for him the next election...... but now i do support him coming to the university after i have looked into the situation more. they havent done research, that doesnt make them ND haters.

 

[NDFan4Life]

My parents were anti-abortion and instilled that belief in my brothers and I. Just because I disagree with Obama's policy regarding abortion and stem-cell research does not make me an "ND hater". I do agree that it is a great honor to have the president speak at their commencement, however that doesn't mean I have to like it.

 

[IrishAddiction]

im not calling you a nd hater, trust me. im a very conservative guy myself. but he is the president of the US. i intially didnt realize ND invites new presidents to speak at commencement ceremonies regularly, on both sides of the political spectrum, which LMI pointed out early in the thread. i do like his policies regarding education, but thats pretty much it. i think we are all on the same page having the president speak, the only difference is some like the who the president is, and some do not like who it is.

 

[NDFan4Life]

im not calling you a nd hater, trust me. im a very conservative guy myself. but he is the president of the US. i intially didnt realize ND invites new presidents to speak at commencement ceremonies regularly, on both sides of the political spectrum, which LMI pointed out early in the thread. i do like his policies regarding education, but thats pretty much it. i think we are all on the same page having the president speak, the only difference is some like the who the president is, and some do not like who it is.

I know you weren't, IA. As I've already said, it's an honor to have the president speaking at the commencement. However, I'm not going to heap adoration and praise on the "anointed one" and follow him to the ends of the earth. There are things that Bush did that I didn't like, and there are things I don't like that Obama's doing. Following either one with blinders on is both rediculous and asinine. Clinton wasn't invited to speak, and I'm looking into why this was. When I find it, I'll be sure to let you know.

 

[GOLDENISTHYTATE]

This petition makes me sick. In a time where we face the most critical economic meltdown our country has ever faced, a myriad of environmental issues to address, and a war that has our young men and women fighting for their lives, ND people think this is the issue to flex their moral-code muscle. I hate the fact that these political topics are being discussed on a sports messageboard anyways. We should be discussing how Aldridge is being moved to fullback. And I hate that this story is getting so much attention. No such petition is going to keep the President of the United States from coming, I guarantee that, and if people are that inspired to get involved, than write your local congressman to make sure he is representing you on the issues you deem important. And let's not forget that none of us truly have a say in this because it isn't our day. It is those of the graduating seniors, the students who have worked and studied for four years to receive a degree from what I feel is the greatest university on the planet. They don't deserve a day filled with protest and dramatic affairs. They should be able to relish what is supposed to be one of the happiest days of their lives. The fact that of the 95 letters that have been written by seniors to The Observer, 97 percent of them approve the invitation (according to the Yahoo article), is the point which should be acknowledged. They want him to speak, and we should all bite our tongues on this. I know that many of us don't agree with the President's ideas and that is completely warranted, but this is not the venue to vocalize them. This is a day for those seniors, and they deserve to have a beautiful one.

 

[Bubba]

This petition makes me sick. In a time where we face the most critical economic meltdown our country has ever faced, a myriad of environmental issues to address, and a war that has our young men and women fighting for their lives, ND people think this is the issue to flex their moral-code muscle. I hate the fact that these political topics are being discussed on a sports messageboard anyways. We should be discussing how Aldridge is being moved to fullback. And I hate that this story is getting so much attention. No such petition is going to keep the President of the United States from coming, I guarantee that, and if people are that inspired to get involved, than write your local congressman to make sure he is representing you on the issues you deem important. And let's not forget that none of us truly have a say in this because it isn't our day. It is those of the graduating seniors, the students who have worked and studied for four years to receive a degree from what I feel is the greatest university on the planet. They don't deserve a day filled with protest and dramatic affairs. They should be able to relish what is supposed to be one of the happiest days of their lives. The fact that of the 95 letters that have been written by seniors to The Observer, 97 percent of them approve the invitation (according to the Yahoo article), is the point which should be acknowledged. They want him to speak, and we should all bite our tongues on this. I know that many of us don't agree with the President's ideas and that is completely warranted, but this is not the venue to vocalize them. This is a day for those seniors, and they deserve to have a beautiful one.

Well said. Rock on! Go Irish!

 

[fortwayne_nd]

sorry bud, i think he has alot of work to do before we can recognize him as any sort of savior...... making posts like that just make you look dumb. no results yet, the economy is still spiraling downward, the moral values are declining, i wouldnt say its the workings of a savior yet.

obama did come on tv the other day and say the economys on the rise, so americans should go out and buy stocks. if he said it it must be true.

People are sheep. During the campaign, watching people cry during his campaign speeches. The Savior has come. Its as silly as the dopes that call Limbaugh and say, "mega-dittos Rush, tell me what to do."

 

[Junkhead]

People are sheep. During the campaign, watching people cry during his campaign speeches. The Savior has come. Its as silly as the dopes that call Limbaugh and say, "mega-dittos Rush, tell me what to do."

No one can think for themselves.

 

[NDinL.A.]

No one can think for themselves.

I agree with EVERYONE on this thread!

 

[Bubba]

hmmm... What should I post? Any ideas?

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

Are you serious?

Just because people don't agree with Obama's policies regarding abortion & stem cell research and believe that having him speak at ND goes against the Catholic doctrine regarding these issues makes them "ND haters"?

Wow!

I guess I must be one of them then. Oh well, I guess I'll go root for the Skunkbears then.

Nah, just sarcasm...hehe

 

[NeuteredDoomer]

Dear Svoboda (and StoneBreaker...)

It has come to our attention that the University of Notre Dame will honor LoveMyIrish.

It is an outrage and a scandal that “Our Lady’s University,” one of the premier Catholic universities in the United States, would bestow such an honor on LoveMyIrish's allowance for sarcasm and clear support for policies and laws that directly contradict fundamental IrishEnvy's teachings on life and marriage.

BURN LoveMyIrish.

Why?

Because he's a witch. He do we know? Because he LOOKS like one.

Sincerely,

(Sign petition here)

 

[Honey Nut Irish]

OBAMA IS HITLER'S MUSLIM COUSIN THAT LIVED IN COMMUNIST KENYA!!! HE IS GOING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD, KILL ALL CHRISTIANS, AND ENSLAVE ALL GUN OWNERS IN HIS SECRET FLOATING FORTRESSES, WHICH HE PURCHASED FROM THE CHINESE WITH HIS SECRET AMERO STOCKPILE!!!





...oh I forgot to mention that his daily diet consists of kittens and discarded fetuses...

 

[ACamp1900]

merged to previous thread

 

[ACamp1900]

I married into a Catholic family and they are libid... the local diocese has also condemed ND in their public annocements... so although I am not 100% percent familar with direct Catholic doctrine I would say Obama is obviously not in touch with catholic doctrine beyond abortion...

with that being said those who are standing up against this and throwing hate speech out there are no better than the animals on the left who throw shoes at our President, or refuse to let family memebers of 9/11 victums visit ground zero because they blame them for the war... the extremists on both sides need a serious can of STFU... I don't like Obama but he is our Presidnet like it or not... show some damn respect





on a side note, does anyone have a list of ND Presidental speakers??? I have been trying to find one but have not been able to do so... thanks in advance

 

[Jason Pham]

A list of past speakers can be found in the original press release from the University. Also of possible interest is the list of honorary degree recipients found on the site of the University registrar.

 

[TheMightyQuinn10]

on a side note, does anyone have a list of ND Presidental speakers??? I have been trying to find one but have not been able to do so... thanks in advance

University of Notre Dame graduates have heard from a diverse group of Commencement speakers through the years: presidents, prime ministers and other government officials; ambassadors, actors and attorneys; writers, editors and educators; judges, generals and even a G-man.

This year's speaker, President Bush, is the eighth U.S. president to be awarded an honorary degree by the University and the fifth to be the Commencement speaker. Bush's father was the most recent president to speak to Notre Dame graduates, delivering an address on family values and service to community at the 1992 Sesquicentennial Year exercises.

The American family is "an institution under siege," Bush said. "Today's crisis will have to be addressed by millions of Americans at the personal, individual level for governmental programs to be effective. And the federal government, of course, must do everything it can do, but the point is, government alone is simply not enough."

On June 5, 1960, President Dwight Eisenhower delivered the University's first presidential Commencement speech, interrupting the 45th reunion of his class at the U.S. Military Academy to make the trip.

In his 20-minute address, Eisenhower foreshadowed a U.S. government on the verge of social and political change, and one facing the difficult task of striking the right balance.

"We do not want governmental programs which, advanced, often falsely, in the guise of promoting the general welfare destroy in the individual those priceless qualities of self-dependence, self-confidence, and a readiness to risk his judgement against the trends of the crowd," Eisenhower said. "We do want a government that assures the security and general welfare of the nation and its people in concord with the philosophy of Abraham Lincoln, who insisted that government should do, and do only, the things which people cannot well do for themselves."

President Jimmy Carter made what many regard as the key foreign policy address of his presidency at the 1977 exercises. The president spoke of a diminishing threat from the Soviet Union, a notion dismissed as naive at the time but which proved prophetic. At the same time, he advocated the creation of new global alliances and championed human rights, policies built upon the "new reality of a politically awakening world."

Four years later, security was exceptionally tight when President Ronald Reagan made his first public appearance after the attempt on his life in March 1981. Reagan had had an indirect association with Notre Dame ever since his portrayal of Fighting Irish football legend George Gipp in the 1940 film "Knute Rockne, All-American." The president was reunited with his costar in the movie, Pat O'Brien, who also received an honorary degree.

Melding his personas as the "Gipper" and president, Reagan promised to win one for the "private sector" by shrinking the nation's government. Americans, Reagan said, "have made it plain they want an end to excessive government intervention in their lives and in the economy."

. Reagan also told the graduates about a need for a strong national defense. But he predicted, "The West will not contain Communism, it will transcend Communism. We'll dismiss it as a sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages are even now being written."

President John F. Kennedy ? the nation's only Catholic president ?received the Laetare Medal, Notre Dame's highest honor, in a White House ceremony in 1961, and as a U.S. congressman in 1950 delivered the winter Commencement address and received an honorary degree.

Notre Dame also awarded honorary degrees to Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Gerald Ford, but those were at special academic convocations, not at Commencements.

Kennedy's grandfather, John F. Fitzgerald, and father, Joseph P. Kennedy, served as Notre Dame Commencement speakers in 1915 and 1941, respectively. JFK's brother-in-law, former Peace Corps director R. Sargent Shriver, spoke to the class of 1961.

The profile of Commencement speakers in Notre Dame's early years was considerably lower than in recent times ? with one exception.

Founded in 1842 by Holy Cross priest Father Edward F. Sorin, the University held its inaugural Commencement in 1845, and the first with true baccalaureate graduates took place four years later. Neal Gillespie and Richard Shortis received Notre Dame's first diplomas and Gillespie was one of several speakers to address the assembly.

Commencement speakers for the next several years included local educators, priests and attorneys, but that changed in 1865 when the guest of honor was Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, commander of the famous Civil War "March to the Sea." During the war, Sherman had sent two sons, Willy and Tommy, to Notre Dame and a daughter, Minnie, to Saint Mary's College. All three were enrolled in the "Minims" department for children ages 6-13. Willy died of "camp fever" during summer vacation in 1863 and the visit to Notre Dame two years later was emotionally trying for Sherman.

The New York Tablet reported that Sherman received a "hearty cheer" from the Notre Dame students. He spoke at length of the "dangers of the battle of life" awaiting the graduates, but assured them of the "final triumph of the right."

Of the remainder of 19th-century Notre Dame Commencement speakers, Rev. J. Lancaster Spalding, bishop from Peoria, Ill., is the standout. The University's most frequent Commencement speaker, he addressed the classes of 1878, '86, '90, '91, '95 and '99.

During the first two decades of the 20th century, Notre Dame began to attract government officials as Commencement speakers, among them Sen. John Gearin of Oregon, Secretary of the Navy Joseph Bonaparte (later attorney general in Theodore Roosevelt's administration), Gov. Thomas Marshall of Indiana, Gov. James Cox of Ohio, Sen. Joseph Ransdell of Louisiana, and the previously mentioned John F. Fitzgerald, mayor of Boston.

Other notable speakers through the years included Dr. William Mayo, cofounder of the Mayo Clinic, in 1936; FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who spoke at the 1942 Centennial Year graduation ceremonies; and Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren in 1957.

Since 1960 the principal speakers at Commencement have been increasingly well known, coming from all walks of life. Among them:

? Government figures Henry Cabot Lodge (1962), Eugene McCarthy (1967), Andrew Young (1988) and Elizabeth Dole (1999)

? Canadian Prime Ministers Lester Pearson (1963) and Pierre Trudeau (1982), the president of El Salvador (and Notre Dame alumnus) Jose Napoleon Duarte (1985), Irish Taoiseach Albert Reynolds (1994) and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (2000)

? Former Yale University President Kingman Brewster, Jr. (1972), former Harvard University President Derek Bok (1987), UCLA professor Rosemary Park (1974) and Stanford Provost (and now national security adviser in the Bush administration) Condoleezza Rice, a Notre Dame alumna

? Urban League Executive Director Vernon Jordan (1976)

? Actor Bill Cosby (1990) and former commissioner of baseball Peter Ueberroth (1989)

? Cardinal Joseph Bernardin (1983) and Bishop James Malone (1986)

?Journalists William F. Buckley, Jr. (1978), Tom Brokaw (1993) and Mark Shields (1997)

 

[NeuteredDoomer]

Great post. Thanks for that.

 

[IrishAlum1997]

Who is Mark Shields? He was my year, don't remember a word he said. Too lazy to google, using my extra income from Comrade's tax relief plan to watch porn.

 

[TheMightyQuinn10]

Great post. Thanks for that.

no probs bud......gotta go pee around ndoms weed plants now before you eat them...latas'

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

Who is Mark Shields? He was my year, don't remember a word he said. Too lazy to google, using my extra income from Comrade's tax relief plan to watch porn.

So why is a return to the 1999 tax system a bad thing if it only applies to one tax bracket? Was it so Socialist in 1999 that we were all under Communist rule, but missed it???