The Fighting Irish

The battle at Notre Dame rages, both there and far beyond.

The Alumni Association director issued a letter allegedly speaking for that group, and…well…here it is for the most part.

“The University does not support President Obama’s positions on specific issues regarding the protection of human life, including abortion and embryonic stem cell research. Notre Dame’s positions on these issues are firm and unwavering. The invitation to the President to be the Commencement speaker shouldn’t be taken as condoning or endorsing his positions that contradict the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Rather, the University has invited the President to campus for what he’s done for racial equality, and for his stands on poverty, health care, immigration, education, infectious disease, and seeking peace. These are causes dear to the heart of Notre Dame, and he has elevated these causes and made them his own.

It adds special significance that the Notre Dame family will hear the Commencement address from our first African-American president, a man who has spoken eloquently on the issue of race in this nation.

That said, presenting a Commencement speaker with an honorary degree does not imply approval of all a person thinks or does. We recognize that the University has differences with the President on specific issues of protecting life, and we hope his visit to campus will provide an opportunity to address our concerns in a dialogue that can deepen over time, and ultimately lead to better policies for protecting life. A policy that is never discussed is policy that is never changed, and we’re going to get more discussion on these issues because of his visit to Notre Dame.

Some creative thinking went into this rhetorical argument, but…..aside from being unconvincing…..it’s not even an accurate representation of the issue at hand. I’ve read and hear so many intellectually honest responses to this, I can’t even catalogue them all here.

But let’s take this one letter from the concerned alum I referenced below. He followed up:

I have been thinking about this a lot in the past few days.  To me (an alum and father of 7…), Notre Dame was a place that would steadfastly represent the Catholic Church (at least I felt it did when I was there in the 1980’s). 
 
Inviting Obama to speak hit me as almost one of those “you can’t go home again” moments.  It was this University that brought me closer to my Catholic faith while I was there.  THE REASON I AM SO STEADFASTLY AGAINST THIS POSITION THAT THE SCHOOL HAS TAKEN is because I am acting from their instruction on how to take a stand for our faith when others do not.  I never thought that the “others” meant the very school that originally helped form my conscience in this area.  Literally, this University is now no longer the way many of us saw it to be when we were there during the most formative years of our life. That reality is a very difficult thing to swallow. 
 
It is as if you found out your favorite uncle whom you idolized, admired, and wanted to be like was subsequently convicted of a major crime.  This makes you question everything you thought to be true about him.  And it makes you disappointed, frustrated, and angry. 
 
In a strange way, this situation has grabbed me out of my paralysis and put me in a place where I would not have gone previously- right in the middle of the pro life movement…

That is what it truly means to be one of “the Fighting Irish”.