Notre Dame Alumni and Catholic Laity Outraged by University's Decision to Honor Obama

As of 3:00 p.m. on Monday, March 23, more than 28,000 people have joined a nationwide campaign, launched by the Cardinal Newman Society, urging the University of Notre Dame to rescind the honor of selecting President Barack Hussein Obama as its commencement speaker on May 17. The campaign was launched at 6:00 p.m. Friday, March 20 immediately after The White House and Notre Dame made the announcement that Notre Dame would honor Obama.

The campaign is organized around a Newman Society sponsored website, NotreDameScandal.com, which includes an online petition to Notre Dame president Rev. John Jenkins, CSC, and contact information for the university. Catholics are urged to join the campaign, and the petition is being circulated among leaders of several Catholic organizations.

The petition has averaged more than 270 signatures per hour since its launch, and CatholicVote.org has joined the campaign as a cosponsor of the petition effort.

The decision to honor President Obama has been criticized by Dr. Ralph McInerny, a professor at Notre Dame for more than 50 years. He has written on the popular website The Catholic Thing that “By inviting Barack Obama as commencement speaker, Notre Dame is telling the nation that the teaching of the Catholic church on this fundamental matter [abortion] can be ignored.”

It is also reported that Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput has encouraged Catholics to write to Notre Dame to protest the honor.

Project Sycamore, an organization dedicated to protecting Notre Dame’s Catholic identity, is organizing alumni to protest the honor.

NotreDameScandal.com will provide regular updates on all of the activities.

“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 President Obama given his clear support for policies and laws that directly contradict fundamental Catholic teachings on life and marriage,” the petition reads.

Please sign the petition at the links above. Those concerned may also wish to contact any or all of the following:

To contact Notre Dame:
Phone: (574) 631-5000
email form: http://president.nd.edu/contact-us

Notre Dame Fellows:
Rev. E. William Beauchamp, C.S.C., President, U. of Portland
(503) 943-7101

Patrick F. McCartan, Senior partner, Jones Day
(216) 586-7272
Email: pmccartan@jonesday.com

William M. Goodyear, CEO, Navigant Consulting
main: (312) 583-5700

list of all Notre Dame Fellows: http://www.nd.edu/leadership/fellows/

To contact the USCCB:

Cardinal Francis George, President
Archdiocese of Chicago
phone: 312-751- 8200
email: mfox@archchicago.org

Most Rev. Robert J. McManus, Chairman, Committee on Education
Diocese of Worcester
phone: 508-791-7171
committee email: catholiceducation@usccb.org

To contact Notre Dame's bishop:
Bishop John D'Arcy, Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese
Fort Wayne Chancery
phone: (260) 422-4611