President of Notre Dame, Fr Jenkins: Commencement remarks

Updated list of Fr Weslin/Fr Jenkins/Notre Dame posts

May 22, 2009

Once I saw Fr Jenkins' face, it was clear why he invited barry - he has the same glazed-eyed look as the manlove media members. Priest, laymen, women, children, fellow politicians, the press - it doesn't matter. It's the same look: obamessiah mesmerism. I didn't think it could get any more disturbing. At times, his eyes were aglow and cheeks flushed with an abnormal...stimulation is the best world I can come up with. It literally made my skin crawl. A priest should not have that look unless they are looking at Jesus on the Cross. His voice choked up, his mouth parched and he began blinking when he began to speak of barry, with the great awe that the president accepted the invite - his invite. Listen to him - it had nothing to do with barry facing the controversy, which he was trying to imply. It had to do with Fr Jenkins' personal wish, desire if you will, coming to fruition.

Nothing at all wrong with it except for the confusion of Catholics everywhere, the students who could not in good conscience go to their own graduation, the brutal treatment of Fr Weslin, the sexist treatment of Professor Glendon and the breaking of a 120-year old tradition of awarding the highest honor an American Catholic can receive. Something former Ambassador to the Pope, Professor Glendon would have received had barry just declined the honorary deree. He could have still spoken and been adored. And she received and accepted her invitation 4 months before barry was ever offered one hers. Imagine if that were the ther way around. Would it have been allowed? Double Standard.

Fr John Jenkins relishing the moment, flushed cheeks and all

Fr Jenkins is a natural speaker in the crisp rhetorical tradition of the Jesuits and most likely a scholastic genius, especially the Classics, but his physical voice and intonation are grating and jarring - so the speech is better read than heard. At least to my ear. He also appears in vigorous health - my guess, a runner, who has a precise schedule. Wonder what he is trying to keep at bay. Just curiosities based on observation. If he didn't anger me so for what he allowed to happen to Fr Weslin, I would want to know more about him.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday, May 17, 2009
President of Notre Dame, Father John I. Jenkins Commencement Remarks (Text) (Video)
Remarks and Introduction, As Prepared [emphasis added]

President Obama, Fr. Hesburgh, Judge Noonan, Members of the Board of Trustees, Members of the faculty, staff, alumni, friends, parents, and most of all – the Notre Dame Class of 2009:

Several autumns ago, you came to Notre Dame from home….now Notre Dame has become home. And it always will be. For home is not where you live. Home is where you belong. You will always belong – and I pray you will always feel you belong – here at Notre Dame.

You are … ND.

In my four years as President of your University – I have found that even among those who did not go to Notre Dame, even among those who do not share the Catholic faith, there is a special expectation, a special hope, for what Notre Dame can accomplish in the world. They hope that Notre Dame will be one of the great universities in the nation, but they also hope that it will send forth graduates who—grounded in deep moral values—can help solve the world's toughest problems.

Their hope is in you, the graduates of 2009.

That is a good place for hope to be. I have great confidence in what your talent and energy can accomplish in the world. But I have a special optimism for what you can do inspired by faith.

It is your faith that will focus your talents and help you build the world you long to live in and leave to your children.

The world you enter today is torn by division – and is fixed on its differences.

Differences must be acknowledged, and in some cases cherished. But too often differences lead to pride in self and contempt for others, until two sides – taking opposing views of the same difference—demonize each other. Whether the difference is political, religious, racial, or national—trust falls, anger rises, and cooperation ends … even for the sake of causes all sides care about.

More than any problem in the arts or sciences – engineering or medicine – easing the hateful divisions between human beings is the supreme challenge of this age. If we can solve this problem, we have a chance to come together and solve all the others.

A Catholic university – and its graduates – are specially called, and I believe specially equipped, to help meet this challenge.

As a Catholic university, we are part of the Church – members of the "mystical body of Christ" animated by our faith in the Gospel. Yet we are also – most of us – citizens of the United States – this extraordinary evolving expression of human freedom. We are called to serve each community of which we're a part, and this call is captured in the motto over the door of the east nave of the Basilica: "God, Country, Notre Dame."

As we serve the Church, we can persuade believers by appeals to both faith and reason. As we serve our country, we will be motivated by faith, but we cannot appeal only to faith. We must also engage in a dialogue that appeals to reason that all can accept.

When we face differences with fellow citizens, we will be tested: do we keep trying, with love and a generous spirit, to appeal to ethical principles that might be persuasive to others – or do we condemn those who differ with us for not seeing the truth that we see?

The first approach can lead to healing, the second to hostility. We know which approach we are called to as disciples of Christ.

Pope Benedict said last year from the South Lawn of the White House: "I am confident that the American people will find in their religious beliefs a precious source of insight and an inspiration to pursue reasoned, responsible and respectful dialogue in the effort to build a more humane and free society."

Genuine faith does not inhibit the use of reason; it purifies it of pride and distorting self-interest. As it does so, Pope Benedict has said, "human reason is emboldened to pursue its noble purpose of serving mankind, giving expression to our deepest common aspirations and extending … public debate."

Tapping the full potential of human reason to seek God and serve humanity is a central mission of the Catholic Church. The natural place for the Church to pursue this mission is at a Catholic university. The University of Notre Dame belongs to an academic tradition of nearly a thousand years – born of the Church's teaching that human reason, tempered by faith, is a gift of God, a path to religious truth, and a means for seeking the common good in secular life.

It is out of this duty to serve the common good that we seek to foster dialogue with all people of good will, regardless of faith, background or perspective. We will listen to all views, and always bear witness for what we believe. [Like Fr Weslin did, which resulted in manhandling, handcuffing, humiliation, arrest and jail.]

Insofar as we play this role, we can be what Pope John Paul II said a Catholic university is meant to be – "a primary and privileged place for a fruitful dialogue between the Gospel and culture" [Ex corde ecclesiae, 3.34].

Of course, dialogue is never instantaneous; it doesn't begin and end in an afternoon. It is an ongoing process made possible by many acts of courtesy and gestures of respect, by listening carefully and speaking honestly. [Fr Weslin spoke honestly, but recieved none of the other in return.]

Paradoxically, support for these actions often falls as the need for them rises – so they are most controversial precisely when they can be most helpful. [His words speak for Fr Weslin and he doesn't seem to realize it.]

As we all know, a great deal of attention has surrounded President Obama's visit to Notre Dame. We honor all people of good will who have come to this discussion respectfully and out of deeply held conviction.

Most of the debate has centered on Notre Dame's decision to invite and honor the President. [Here's where he begins to gets emotional.] Less attention has been focused on the President's decision to accept. [Surveys the crowd, smile of personal accomplishment.]

President Obama has come to Notre Dame, though he knows well that we are fully supportive of Church teaching on the sanctity of human life, and we oppose his policies on abortion and embryonic stem cell research.

Others might have avoided this venue for that reason. [Sounds like he is going to cry.] But President [voice cracks] Obama is not someone who stops talking to those [voice cracks] who differ with him. [barry responds by scratching his cheek]

Mr. President: [looks to barry] This is a principle we share.

As the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council wrote in their pastoral constitution Gaudium et Spes: "Respect and love ought to be extended also to those who think or act differently than we do in social, political and even religious matters. In fact, the more deeply we come to understand their ways of thinking through such courtesy and love, the more easily will we be able to enter into dialogue with them."

If we want to extend courtesy, respect and love – and enter into dialogue – then surely we can start by acknowledging what is honorable in others.

We welcome President Obama to Notre Dame, and we honor him for the qualities and accomplishments the American people admired in him when they elected him. [a most revealing smile best seen on video]

He is a man who grew up without a father, whose family was fed for a time with the help of food stamps—yet who mastered the most rigorous academic challenges, who turned his back on wealth to serve the poor, who sought the Presidency at a young age against long odds, and who – on the threshold of his goal—left the campaign to go to the bedside of his dying grandmother who helped raise him.

[Here I must interject facts, Padre. barry spent only 22 hours there, did not stay with her, and refused to stay for her last birthday (a few hours after he left) knowing it would be her last. His choice - but your statement is disingenuous. He said to Harry Smith before he left for Hawaii that he didn't want to make the mistake like he did with his mother. BARRY: Most people understand that if you are not caring for your family, then you are probably not the kind of person who is going to be caring for other people.” He then left his sister alone in Hawaii to grieve and take care of all of the arrangements. Did his actions match his words? Who was there to hold her hands and recall fond memories of a woman who worked so he could be be where he is now? A woman who did not raise her, but a woman she had taken full responsibility, by necessity, to care for. He never even thanked her by name in his speeches. Only one direct relative - only one sister to acknowledge and nothing. He also was not at his mother's side when she died not unpredicatably from cancer, again leaving his sister alone. Yes. Don't judge, lest ye be judged. But that is cold. My opinion.]

He is a leader who has great respect for the role of faith and religious institutions in public life. [How? In actions, not just words?] He has said: "Secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering into the public square."

He is the first African American to be elected President, yet his appeal powerfully transcends race. [Another telling smile - like a proud papa. It's clear why he wanted him there for the anniversary of Brown vs Board of Education]

In a country that has been deeply wounded by racial hatred – he has been a healer. [??]

He has set ambitious goals across a sweeping agenda—extending health care coverage to millions who don't have it, improving education especially for those who most need it, promoting renewable energy for the sake of our economy, our security, and our climate.

He has declared the goal of a world without nuclear weapons and has begun arms reduction talks with the Russians.

He has pledged to accelerate America's fight against poverty, to reform immigration to make it more humane, and to advance America's merciful work in fighting disease in the poorest places on earth.

[He's talked about a lot of things and they don't quite come through as he spoke of them. Iraq, military commissions, torture photos, Gitmo, Fisa.... Why those folks voted for him, who aren't feeling healed by yet another example of his words not in the same reality as actions.]

As commander-in-chief and as chief executive, he embraces with confidence both the burdens of leadership and the hopes of his country.

Ladies and Gentlemen: The President of the United States.

----------------------------

Unfortunately, his last smile and the subsequent greeting is not on the video. Something that would have been most enlightening as to the actual physical contact involved. The looks said plenty.

Notre Dame Students Stand for Life Video

May 21, 2009

The students who ultimately had no say in the matter.

jimblazsik.com

Fr Weslin arrest/Notre Dame Commencement posts

Fr Weslin arrest/Fr Jenkins/Notre Dame

May 21, 2009

It’s a lot easier to link and update this way.

(5-15) Arrest #1 Fr Weslin (Video)
(5-16) Arrest #2 Fr Weslin (Video)
Side by side video: barry/Fr Weslin

“Emergency ruling” was not directed at Notre Dame protesters (lie)

The hood of honor vs the humiliation of handcuffs (pix)

Fr Weslin’s earthly reward for defending sacred vows (pix)

Alan Keyes message from jail

Match not made in heaven: Francis Cardinal George & barry (videos)

Quinnipiac poll re: Notre Dame Commencement

President of Notre Dame Fr Jenkins’ letter to 2009 Graduates
President of Notre Dame, Fr Jenkins: Commencement remarks (pix + video link)

barry’s Notre Dame Commencement Address (video)
barry’s Notre Dame Commencement Address (text)

Notre Dame Students Stand For Life (video)

Professor Mary Ann Glendon declines Notre Dame’s highest honor

Fr Weslin’s earthly reward for defending sacred vows

May 20, 2009

(5-15) Arrest #1 Fr Weslin (Video)
(5-16) Arrest #2 Fr Weslin (Video)
Updated list of Fr Weslin/Fr Jenkins/Notre Dame Commencement posts

A Catholic priest, Father Norman Weslin goes about defending the Church’s Teachings on the sanctity of human life in his protest against abortion. He attempts to protest on the campus of a Catholic University, Notre Dame, where he should be welcome as a Catholic priest.

(AP Photo/JOE RAYMOND)

He wasn’t welcomed. He was arrested for trespassing, for putting one foot on to Notre Dame property. And then spent the next 4 minutes being brutally manhandled and handcuffed just for taking that step. Manhandled while he sang to Our Lady aka “Notre Dame”.

Why was a 78 y/o Man of God manhandled like this? Look the pain on Fr Weslin’s face – for what? For being a Catholic Priest, for following his vows, for trying to save the lives of unborn children, for protesting that a Catholic University wuld reward a man with an honorary degree who is as far away from the Church’s Teaching on abortion that it can get.

Fr Weslin was not treated with the respect a Catholic priest should have been given – trespassing or not. He was doing his job just as the policemen were doing theirs. Who treated the other as thy would like to have been treated? Who never fought or complained or waivered despite the obvious pain and humiliation?

Fr Weslin to policemen:

We’re Catholic priests. Why are you arresting a Catholic priest for trying to stop the killing of a baby? Use your mind. What are you doing that for? Why are you arresting a priest for trying to stop the killing of a baby? You’ve got it all backwards.

This was the policemen’s answer.

AP

Note how Fr Weslin’s hands are bound tightly behind him and the pressure of the handhold of the blue blanket is directly on them – jostling up and down on his hands, wrists, elbows and shoulders as they haul him away. Just try it. Get in that position yourself. Have someone used a soft sock to bind your wrists and see how uncomfortable it is. Then imagine you have the joints of a 78 y/o man. And then imagine that your arms have been broken before. And then realize that the officer who handcuffed him knew about Fr Weslin’s injuries and did it anyway as Father “resisted” by singing.

May 17, 2009 (SCOTT OLSEN/Getty Images)

While Fr Weslin was still jailed following his second arrest, others carried on the protest. Even as barry accepted an award ASU said he was not qualified to receive. One that should never have been awarded to a man who thinks abortion, something the Church classifies as murder. Here a unidentified nun is acting out her faith. Look at the pain on her face and look at the deference she was given.

Why the difference?

And indoors the alleged Catholic priest, who allowed his fellow priest to be manhandled, shakes hands with a man who vows never to outlaw the murder of the most innocent of soul even as he admits determining whether life begins at conception is above his pay grade.

(JEFF HAYNES/Getty Images)

Matthew 7:15

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but within are ravening wolves.

(AP/GERALD HERBERT)

The hood of honor vs the humiliation of handcuffs

May 21, 2009 by mattie14

May 21, 2009

I can’t get past this.

Fr Weslin Arrest #1: Four minutes of pain and humiliation while he sings

And is has nothing to do with my personal views on abortion or stem cell research or Notre Dame or Catholicism or Father Weslin’s foundation or even barry. I’m not debating the issue of abortion – the morality or ethics – or my personal thoughts. I am looking it from the Catholic viewpoint.

I can’t get past the vision of a 78 y/o Catholic priest–who was doing what the Lord asked of him and what he vowed to the Lord he would do–getting manhandled, disrespected and humiliated in front of the world, on the grounds of Catholic University because the president of the alleged Catholic University, an alleged Catholic priest, chose to award a man who thinks it’s okay not only to kill fetuses, but to withhold from them medical care should they survive the attempt on their life.

Father Weslin, hands bound behind his back, propped up by policeman asks:

We’re Catholic priests. Why are you arresting a Catholic priest for trying to stop the killing of a baby? Use your mind. What are you doing that for? Why are you arresting a priest for trying to stop the killing of a baby? You’ve got it all backwards.

In what world, let alone Catholic institution, is this even remotely okay?

And how is it a Catholic University when it allows a devout Man of God to be manhandled, bound and humiliated for the sake of a man who disregards the most sacred tenet of the Church? A man who believes killing a fetus is not murder. A man who voted to withhold treatment from a human life that by any definition was alive, despite the attempt to murder it.

As of Friday, Notre Dame ceased being a Catholic University. By censoring a priest, who was defending the Church, they unequivocally sanctioned abortion and did so for a man in favor of withholding medical care from fetuses who survive abortion.

Over what?

An ego-feeding honorary degree that means absolutely nothing because he has done absolutely nothing.

“These honorary degrees are apparently pretty hard to come by“

(JEFF HAYNES/Getty)

This smiling man, who made Father’s arrest necessary, could have gotten his fix of adoration, given his teleprompter reading and been feted like a king even without accepting the honorary degree. And his greedy egomania prevented an accomplished Harvard Law Professor and former Ambassador to the Holy See, Professor Mary Ann Glendon, a woman who was actually deserving of the highest honor bestowed by the University to not be awarded hers. A 120 year tradition broken for a man who is not even Catholic and who is diametrically opposed to the most sacred teaching of the Church.

But his ego wouldn’t budge. His needs were more important than the Catholic electorate and ND graduates opposed to his presence. ASU wouldn’t give him anything but naming rights to an already established scholarship and he was not about to go 2-0. He even admitted so in his Commencement Address. So he chose to accept an honorary degree that was based on nothing and had no inherent meaning other than a token given out to dignitaries during commencements.

But that meaningless token now has meaning. It will forever be linked to the image of Father Weslin, helpless on the ground, alone, hands bound behind his back and his torso held in place, not by human hands, but by a booted leg and anonymous material. Instead of some trivial degree given away to a man who speaks but does not act – it will represent the actions of a man who stood behind his words, willing to suffer the consequences.

The hood of honor vs the humiliation of handcuffs

(UPI Photo/Brian Kersey)

Arrest #2
Side by side video of barry’s and Weslin’s respective welcomings

Quinnipiac poll re: Notre Dame Commencement

May 20, 2009

Quinnipiac University poll
April 21-27
2041 voters
MOE +/- 2.2%

Should Notre Dame rescind invite to POTUS?
Yes 31%
No 56%

Catholics
Yes 34%
No 60%

Catholics attend service weekly
Yes 43%
No 49%

Less observant Catholics
Yes 26%
No 70%

Protestants
Yes 33%
No 51%

Evangelicals
Yes 42%
No 44%

Given four choices on abortion:

• 15% of all voters, including 13% of Catholics and 10% of observant Catholics, say abortion should be legal in all cases;
• 37% of all voters, including 37% of Catholics and 19% of observant Catholics, say abortion should be legal in most cases;
• 27% of all voters, including 28% of Catholics and 40% of observant Catholics, say abortion should be illegal in most cases;
• 14% of all voters, including 16% of Catholics and 26% of observant Catholics, say abortion should be illegal in all cases.

Pres Notre Dame Fr Jenkins’ letter to 2009 Graduates

May 20, 2009

President of Notre Dame (and priest who allowed Fr Weslin to be manhandled, disrespected and humiliated) FATHER JENKINS’ letter to the 2009 graduating class of Notre Dame. Found at rpinet. In closing he says “there is much to admire and celebrate in the life and work” of barry and that he is a “remarkable figure in American history”.

What? And for what?

How many graduates – because of their Catholic consciences – could not attend their own graduations?

What special type of letter did they get?

A refund?

—————–

May 11, 2009

Dear Members of the Notre Dame Graduating Class of 2009:

This Sunday, as you receive your degrees at Commencement, your joy – and that of your families – will be shared by the faculty, staff, and administration of the University. We have had the privilege of laboring with each of you to inquire and discover, to teach and to learn, and we will send you off with affectionate and fond hopes for the future.

For those of you who are undergraduates, I feel a special kinship. You arrived in your dorm rooms as I arrived in the President’s Office. You have learned much; I may have learned more. I am grateful for the opportunity I had to learn with you, come to know you, and to serve you during our time together at Notre Dame.

During your years here we have endeavored to train you in the various disciplines and urged you to ask the larger questions – discussing not only the technical and practical but also the ethical and spiritual dimensions of pressing issues. I have been proud of you as you’ve grappled with intellectual, political, and spiritual questions. But I have never been more proud than I have been watching the way you’ve conducted yourselves over the past several weeks.

The decision to invite President Obama to Notre Dame to receive an honorary degree and deliver the Commencement address has triggered debate. In many cases, the debate has grown heated, even between people who agree completely on Church teaching regarding the sanctity of human life, who agree completely that we should work for change – and differ only on how we should work for change.

Yet, there has been an extra dimension to your debate. You have discussed this issue with each other while being observed, interviewed, and evaluated by people who are interested in this story. You engaged each other with passion, intelligence and respect. And I saw no sign that your differences led to division. You inspire me. We need the wider society to be more like you; it is good that we are sending you into that world on Sunday.

I am saddened that many friends of Notre Dame have suggested that our invitation to President Obama indicates ambiguity in our position on matters of Catholic teaching. The University and I are unequivocally committed to the sanctity of human life and to its protection from conception to natural death.

Notre Dame has a long custom of conferring honorary degrees on the President of the United States. It has never been a political statement or an endorsement of policy. It is the University’s expression of respect for the leader of the nation and the Office of the President. In the Catholic tradition, our first allegiance is to God in Christ, yet we are called to respect, participate in, and contribute to the wider society. As St. Peter wrote (I Pt. 2:17), we should honor the leader who upholds the secular order.

At the same time, and born of the same duty, a Catholic university has a special obligation not just to honor the leader but to engage the culture. Carrying out this role of the Catholic university has never been easy or without controversy. When I was an undergraduate at Notre Dame, Fr. Hesburgh spoke of the Catholic university as being both a lighthouse and a crossroads. As a lighthouse, we strive to stand apart and be different, illuminating issues with the moral and spiritual wisdom of the Catholic tradition. Yet, we must also be a crossroads through which pass people of many different perspectives, backgrounds, faiths, and cultures. At this crossroads, we must be a place where people of good will are received with charity, are able to speak, be heard, and engage in responsible and reasoned dialogue.

The President’s visit to Notre Dame can help lead to broader engagement on issues of importance to the country and of deep significance to Catholics. Ultimately, I hope that the conversations and the good will that come from this day will contribute to closer relations between Catholics and public officials who make decisions on matters of human life and human dignity.

There is much to admire and celebrate in the life and work of President Obama. His views and policies on immigration, expanding health care, alleviating poverty, and building peace through diplomacy have a deep resonance with Catholic social teaching. As the first African-American holder of this office, he has accelerated our country’s progress in overcoming the painful legacy of slavery and segregation. He is a remarkable figure in American history, and I look forward to welcoming him to Notre Dame.

As President Obama is our principal speaker, there will no doubt be much attention on your Commencement. Remember, though, that this day is your day. My fervent prayer is that May 17 will be a joyous day for you and your family. You are the ones we celebrate and applaud. Congratulations, and may God bless you.

In Notre Dame,

Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.

President

barry’s Notre Dame Commencement Address (video)

May 20, 2009

TEXT

Video of barry’s commencement speech at Nortre Dame

Courtesy of joegerarden http://townhall.com/blog/

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

barry’s Notre Dame Commencement Address (text)

May 20, 2009

Provided by the South Bend Tribune. Note the absence of the transcription of the “heckling”. And how much press were the hecklers given? And if it would have been President Bush hecklers? Media bias that needs no polling.

[Emphasis and comments added]

VIDEO

President Barack Obama’s commencement address Sunday at the University of Notre Dame.

Thank you, Father Jenkins, for that generous introduction even though you said what I want to say much more elegantly. You are doing an outstanding job as president of this extraordinary institution, and your continued and courageous and contagious commitment to honest, thoughtful dialogue is an inspiration to us all.

(heckler)

Good afternoon Father Hesburgh, Notre Dame trustees, faculty, family, friends, and the Class of 2009. I am honored to be here today, and grateful to all of you for allowing me to be part of your graduation.

I want to thank you for this honorary degree. I know it has not been without controversy. I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but these honorary degrees are apparently pretty hard to come by. (laughter) So far I’m only 1 for 2 as President. (applause) Father Hesburgh is 150 for 150. I guess that’s better. Father Ted, after the ceremony, maybe you can give me some pointers to boost my average. I also want to congratulate the Class of 2009 for all your accomplishments. And since this is Notre Dame, I mean both in the classroom and in the competitive arena. We all know about this university’s proud and storied football team, but I also hear that Notre Dame holds the largest outdoor 5-on-5 basketball tournament in the world — Bookstore Basketball.

Now this excites me. I want to congratulate the winners of this year’s tournament, a team by the name of “Hallelujah Holla Back.” Well done. Though I have to say, I am personally disappointed that the “Barack O’Ballers” did not pull it out. Next year, if you need a 6′2″ forward with a decent jumper, you know where I live.

Every one of you should be proud of what you have achieved at this institution. One hundred and sixty three classes of Notre Dame graduates have sat where you are today. Some were here during years that simply rolled into the next without much notice or fanfare — periods of relative peace and prosperity that required little by way of sacrifice or struggle.

You, however, are not getting off that easy. You have a different deal. Your class has come of age at a moment of great consequence for our nation and the world — a rare inflection point in history where the size and scope of the challenges before us require that we remake our world to renew its promise; that we align our deepest values and commitments to the demands of a new age. It is a privilege and a responsibility afforded to few generations — and a task that you are now called to fulfill.

This generation, your generation, is the one that must find a path back to prosperity and decide how we respond to a global economy that left millions behind even before the most recent crisis hit — an economy where greed and short-term thinking were too often rewarded at the expense of fairness, and diligence, and an honest day’s work.Your generation must decide how to save God’s creation from a changing climate that threatens to destroy it.

(heckler)

We must seek peace at a time when there are those who will stop at nothing to do us harm, and when weapons in the hands of a few can destroy the many. And we must find a way to reconcile our ever-shrinking world with its ever-growing diversity — diversity of thought, of culture, and of belief.

(Others in crowd yell at heckler)

In short, we must find a way to live together as one human family. (Heckler is escorted out.)

[Short it was. Take em out and haul em to jail]

It is this last challenge that I’d like to talk about today, despite the fact that Father John stole all my best lines. For the major threats we face in the 21st century — whether it’s global recession or violent extremism; the spread of nuclear weapons or pandemic disease — these things do not discriminate. They do not recognize borders. They do not see color. They do not target specific ethnic groups.

Moreover, no one person, or religion, or nation can meet these challenges alone. Our very survival has never required greater cooperation and greater understanding among all people from all places than at this moment in history.

[PART 2 VIDEO STARTS HERE]

‘Common effort’

Unfortunately, finding that common ground — recognizing that our fates are tied up, as Dr. King said, in a “single garment of destiny” — is not easy. Part of the problem, of course, lies in the imperfections of man — our selfishness, our pride, our stubbornness, our acquisitiveness, our insecurities, our egos; all the cruelties large and small that those of us in the Christian tradition understand to be rooted in original sin. We too often seek advantage over others. We cling to outworn prejudice and fear those who are unfamiliar. Too many of us view life only through the lens of immediate self-interest and crass materialism; in which the world is necessarily a zero-sum game. The strong too often dominate the weak, and too many of those with wealth and with power find all manner of justification for their own privilege in the face of poverty and injustice.

And so, for all our technological and scientific advances, we see here in this country and around the globe violence and want and strife that would seem sadly familiar to those in ancient times.We know these things; and hopefully one of the benefits of the wonderful education you have received is that you have had time to consider these wrongs in the world … impulses in yourself that you want to leave behind … and grown determined, each in your own way, to right them. And yet, one of the vexing things for those of us interested in promoting greater understanding and cooperation among people is the discovery that even bringing together persons of good will, bringing together men and women of principle and purpose, even accomplishing that can be difficult.

The soldier and the lawyer may both love this country with equal passion, and yet reach very different conclusions on the specific steps needed to protect us from harm.

[Was it coincidence he picks lawyer - himself - vs the military?]

The gay activist and the evangelical pastor may both deplore the ravages of HIV/AIDS, but find themselves unable to bridge the cultural divide that might unite their efforts. Those who speak out against stem cell research may be rooted in admirable conviction about the sacredness of life, but so are the parents of a child with juvenile diabetes who are convinced that their son’s or daughter’s hardships might be relieved.

(applause)

The question, then, is how do we work through these conflicts. Is it possible for us to join hands in common effort?

(Heckler shouts as he’s escorted out.)

[It can't get much funnier than this. Working together through handcuffs.]

As citizens of a vibrant and varied democracy, how do we engage in vigorous debate? How does each of us remain firm in our principles, and fight for what we consider right, without, as Father John said, demonizing those with just as strongly held convictions on the other side?

Nowhere do these questions come up more powerfully than on the issue of abortion.

‘Fair-minded words’

As I considered the controversy surrounding my visit here, I was reminded of an encounter I had during my Senate campaign, one that I describe in a book I wrote called “The Audacity of Hope.” A few days after the Democratic nomination, I received an e-mail from a doctor who told me that while he voted for me in the Illinois primary, he had a serious concern that might prevent him from voting for me in the general election. He described himself as a Christian who was strongly pro-life, but that’s not what was preventing him from voting for me.

What bothered the doctor was an entry that my campaign staff had posted on my Web site — an entry that said I would fight “right-wing ideologues who want to take away a woman’s right to choose.” The doctor said that he had assumed I was a reasonable person, but that if I truly believed that every pro-life individual was simply an ideologue who wanted to inflict suffering on women, then I was not very reasonable. He wrote, “I do not ask at this point that you oppose abortion, only that you speak about this issue in fair-minded words.”

Fair-minded words.

After I read the doctor’s letter, I wrote back to him and thanked him. I didn’t change my position, but I did tell my staff to change the words on my Web site. And I said a prayer that night that I might extend the same presumption of good faith to others that the doctor had extended to me. Because when we do that — when we open our hearts and our minds to those who may not think precisely like we do or believe precisely what we believe — that’s when we discover at least the possibility of common ground.

Open hearts

That’s when we begin to say, “Maybe we won’t agree on abortion, but we can still agree that this is a heart-wrenching decision for any woman, is not made casually, but has both moral and spiritual dimensions.”

So let’s work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions by reducing unintended pregnancies (applause). Let’s make adoption more available (applause). Let’s provide care and support for women who do carry their child to term. Let’s honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause, and make sure that all of our health care policies are grounded not only in sound science, but also in clear ethics, as well as respect for the equality of women.

[How honored was Fr Weslin's conscience as a Catholic priest protesting an award given by an alleged Catholic institution rewarding a man who believes in abortion? As always, barry's words sound nice but the actions that proceed from never jive. ]

Understand, Class of 2009 — I do not suggest that the debate surrounding abortion can or should go away. No matter how much we may want to fudge it — indeed, while we know that the views of most Americans on the subject are complex and even contradictory — the fact is that at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable. Each side will continue to make its case to the public with passion and conviction. But surely we can do so without reducing those with differing views to caricature.

Open hearts. Open minds. Fair-minded words. It’s a way of life that has always been the Notre Dame tradition. Father Hesburgh has long spoken of this institution as both a lighthouse and a crossroads. The lighthouse that stands apart, shining with the wisdom of the Catholic tradition, while the crossroads is where “differences of culture and religion and conviction can co-exist with friendship, civility, hospitality, and especially love.” And I want to join him and Father John in saying how inspired I am by the maturity and responsibility with which this class has approached the debate surrounding today’s ceremony.

(Standing ovation from audience.)

‘A saintly man’

This tradition of cooperation and understanding is one that I learned in my own life many years ago — also with the help of the Catholic Church.

You see, I was not raised in a particularly religious household, but my mother instilled in me a sense of service and empathy that eventually led me to become a community organizer after I graduated college. A group of Catholic churches in Chicago helped fund an organization known as the Developing Communities Project, and we worked to lift up South Side neighborhoods that had been devastated when the local steel plant closed. It was quite an eclectic crew. Catholic and Protestant churches. Jewish and African-American organizers

[PART 3 VIDEO STARTS HERE]

Working-class black and white and Hispanic residents. All of us with different experiences. All of us with different beliefs. But all of us learned to work side by side because all of us saw in these neighborhoods other human beings who needed our help — to find jobs and improve schools. We were bound together in the service of others.

And something else happened during the time I spent in those neighborhoods. Perhaps because the church folks I worked with were so welcoming and understanding; perhaps because they invited me to their services and sang with me from their hymnals; perhaps because I was really broke and they fed me. Perhaps because I witnessed all of the good works their faith inspired them to perform, I found myself drawn — not just to the work with the church, but to be in the church. It was through this service that I was brought to Christ.

[The truth? He didn't find Jesus until he wanted to get elected and realized he needed some "street cred". He had no church ties when he was an organizer like he's trying to make people believe. He didn't join Wright's Church until after he had gone to Harvard.]

At the time, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin was the archbishop of Chicago. For those of you too young to have known him, he was a kind and good and wise man. A saintly man. I can still remember him speaking at one of the first organizing meetings I attended on the South Side. He stood as both a lighthouse and a crossroads — unafraid to speak his mind on moral issues ranging from poverty, AIDS, and abortion to the death penalty and nuclear war. And yet, he was congenial and gentle in his persuasion, always trying to bring people together; always trying to find common ground. Just before he died, a reporter asked Cardinal Bernardin about this approach to his ministry. And he said, “You can’t really get on with preaching the Gospel until you’ve touched hearts and minds.”

My heart and mind were touched by the words and deeds of the men and women I worked alongside with in Chicago. And I’d like to think that we touched the hearts and minds of the neighborhood families whose lives we helped change. For this, I believe, is our highest calling.

‘An abiding example’

You are about to enter the next phase of your life at a time of great uncertainty. You will be called upon to help restore a free market that is also fair to all who are willing to work; to seek new sources of energy that can save our planet; to give future generations the same chance that you had to receive an extraordinary education. And whether as a person drawn to public service, or simply someone who insists on being an active citizen, you will be exposed to more opinions and ideas broadcast through more means of communication than ever existed before. You will hear talking heads scream on cable, and you’ll read blogs that claim definitive knowledge [birthers], and you will watch politicians pretend to know what they’re talking about. [As they are LIVE!] Occasionally, you may have the great fortune of seeing important issues debated by people who do know what they’re talking about. By well-intentioned people with brilliant minds and mastery of the facts. In fact, I suspect that many of you will be among those bright stars.

[As he believes he is and this is one of those occasions.]

In this world of competing claims about what is right and what is true, have confidence in the values with which you’ve been raised and educated. Be unafraid to speak your mind when those values are at stake. Hold firm to your faith and allow it to guide you on your journey. Stand as a lighthouse.

But remember too that the ultimate irony of faith is that it necessarily admits doubt. It is the belief in things not seen. It is beyond our capacity as human beings to know with certainty what God has planned for us or what He asks of us, and those of us who believe must trust that His wisdom is greater than our own.

This doubt should not push away our faith. But it should humble us. It should temper our passions, and cause us to be wary of too much self-righteousness. It should compel us to remain open, and curious, and eager to continue the moral and spiritual debate that began for so many of you within the walls of Notre Dame. And within our vast democracy, this doubt should remind, even as we cling to our faith, to persuade through reason, through an appeal whenever we can to universal rather than parochial principles, and most of all through an abiding example of good works, charity, kindness, and service that moves hearts and minds.

‘The call to love’

For if there is one law that we can be most certain of, it is the law that binds people of all faiths and no faith together. It is no coincidence that it exists in Christianity and Judaism; in Islam and Hinduism; in Buddhism and humanism. It is, of course, the Golden Rule — the call to treat one another as we wish to be treated. The call to love. The call to serve. To do what we can to make a difference in the lives of those with whom we share the same brief moment on this Earth.

So many of you at Notre Dame — by the last count, upwards of 80 percent — have lived this law of love through the service you’ve performed at schools and hospitals; international relief agencies and local charities. That is incredibly impressive; a powerful testament to this institution. Now you must carry the tradition forward. Make it a way of life. Because when you serve, it doesn’t just improve your community, it makes you a part of your community. It breaks down walls. It fosters cooperation. And when that happens — when people set aside their differences even for a moment to work in common effort toward a common good; when they struggle together, and sacrifice together, and learn from one another — all things are possible.

After all, I stand here today, as president and as an African-American, on the 55th anniversary of the day that the Supreme Court handed down the decision in Brown v. the Board of Education.

[There it is folks. Right there in black and white is why he is standing there. So that Notre Dame can be added to the list of historical events and presidential re-creations - along with the convention speech, the Inauguration, the train ride..]

Brown was of course the first major step in dismantling the “separate but equal” doctrine, but it would take a number of years and a nationwide movement to fully realize the dream of civil rights for all of God’s children. There were freedom rides and lunch counters and billy clubs, and there was also a Civil Rights Commission appointed by President Eisenhower. It was the twelve resolutions recommended by this commission that would ultimately become law in the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Not that simple

There were six members of the commission. It included five whites and one African-American; Democrats and Republicans; two Southern governors, the dean of a Southern law school, a Midwestern university president, and your own Father Ted Hesburgh, president of Notre Dame. So they worked for two years, and at times, President Eisenhower had to intervene personally since no hotel or restaurant in the South would serve the black and white members of the commission together. Finally, when they reached an impasse in Louisiana, Father Ted flew them all to Notre Dame’s retreat in Land O’Lakes, Wisconsin, where they eventually overcame their differences and hammered out a final deal. Years later, President Eisenhower asked Father Ted how on Earth he was able to broker an agreement between men of such different backgrounds and beliefs. And Father Ted simply said that during their first dinner in Wisconsin, they discovered that they were all fishermen. And so he quickly readied a boat for a twilight trip out on the lake. They fished, and they talked, and they changed the course of history.

I will not pretend that the challenges we face will be easy, or that the answers will come quickly, or that all our differences and divisions will fade happily away. Because life is not that simple. It never has been.

But as you leave here today, remember the lessons of Cardinal Bernardin, of Father Hesburgh, of movements for change both large and small. Remember that each of us, endowed with the dignity possessed by all children of God, has the grace to recognize ourselves in one another; to understand that we all seek the same love of family and the same fulfillment of a life well-lived. Remember that in the end, in some way, we are all fishermen.

If nothing else, that knowledge should give us faith that through our collective labor, and God’s providence, and our willingness to shoulder each other’s burdens, America will continue on its precious journey towards that more perfect union. Congratulations Class of 2009, may God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.

Match not made in heaven: Francis Cardinal George & barry

May 20, 2009

Francis Caedinal George is not a fan of barry’s politics. barry of course doesn’t like that – he takes it as a personal attack. And it came to play at Notre Dame. Why did barry speak of Cardinal Bernadin and not Cardinal George, who is alive and the current president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops? Because George spoke out against Notre Dame and barry – early and loudly and before that because of his stance on abortion.

(4-30) CARDINAL GEORGE: Whatever else is clear, it’s clear Notre Dame didn’t understand what it means to be Catholic when they issued this invitation and didn’t anticipate the kind of uproar that would be consequent to the decision, at least not to the extent that it has happened.

There are only two things one needs to know about who barry:

1) He works solely out of political expedience.
2) He cannot and will not stand for anyone to saying anything less than glowing about him.

He seeks not just to win but to destroy his opponent as well. Born out in his political career if one has the honesty to look. If you haven’t seen it or are still denying it – stay tuned.

Other video comments by Cardinal George re: Notre Dame, barry’s intent to reverse the healthworker “conscience clause” and that voting for barry was a “Hobson’s Choice” for Catholics.

April 3, 2009

Addresses his previous comments re: Notre Dame’s decision to invite barry in which he told Catholics “to call, to e-mail, to write letters” about the “extreme embarrassment” the University of Notre Dame has caused and that “Notre Dame doesn’t know what it means to be Catholic”

CatholicChicago

March 16, 2009

Francis Cardinal George in response to barry’s announcement on Feb 27th to remove the conscience clause for health care workers.

USCC

barry’s Notre Dame Commencement speech:

Let’s honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause, and make sure that all of our health care policies are grounded not only in sound science, but also in clear ethics, as well as respect for the equality of women.

————

March 2, 2009

Parish Leadership Day 2009 at Maria High School. Cardinal Francis George is talking about who voted for barry and abortion.

CatholicChicago

You have to have a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, good reason to vote or somebody who is pro-abortion, as is the president.

Abortion is fundamental to the common good of the country. It does away with a human right, namely the right to life, which is fundamental to every other right. If you’re dead you have no other rights.

But it was a Hobson’s choice.

Hobson’s choice as in something’s better than nothing – not exactly praise. Then he goes on to quote barry saying at the National Prayer breakfast that God never permits the killing of an innocent person. Which clearly doesn’t square with abortion unless the fetus in not a person and/or is not innocent.

barry can’t stand for awyone to criticize him and takes it as a personal affront rather than an idealogical one where we “can agree to disagree”. He is very good at saying lofty things about what others should do that never seems to apply to him. At this stage folks still believe his words – hear only his words. They have refused to look at his actions, which have no relevance to those lofty words. Once they do (he’s counting on it never happening) there are going to be some really angry people. His recent reversals on the photos and tribunals have woken some folks up. Be prepared for some more stumping to keep the folks mesmerized…

“Emergency ruling” was not directed at Notre Dame protesters

May 18, 2009

It seems Notre Dame was getting ready for a police state just like Denver. God forbid freedom of speech and religion and the right to assembly interrupt barry’s adoration. A 78 y/o Catholic priest, who was doing nothing more than peacefully protesting and singing to the Virgin Mary, was manhandled like he was a meth head threatening to assassinate someone.

Four policemen layed hands on him, forcibly restrained him, roughly bound his arms behind his back, shoved him down, pinned him there with a booted leg and let him lay humiliated on the ground – surrounded by gawkers and media who captured the humiliation on cellphones and video and camera but did absolutely nothing – before they hauled him off to jail. Four minutes of violence perpetrated ON him and he was arrested for trespass and resisting arrest.

I sure hope Father Weslin fights his arrest in court – as humiliating and demeaning as that video is – so that the media will be forced to show what they have censored and Fr Jenkins will have to be forced to explain why he didn’t simply have a wheelchair waiting to take Fr Weslin away. If there was anyone who was absolutely certain Fr Weslin was coming it was Fr Jenkins and he allowed his fellow priest — who was actually following his vows — to be dehumanized and humiliated.

And also so all of those mindless folks who chanted Change! and Yes, we can! can see what exactly Change! means and that Yes, they did! assault a priest in the name of barry’s ego.

Why doesn’t the absolute media corruption not concern folks?

Here’s what St. Joseph Superior Court judges got together and decided. Guess they figured the sight of a Catholic priest getting assaulted day after day might just have to be picked up on the media somewhere so they made themselves a little ruling under the darkness of night and cover of media embargo that on the second arrest on a misdemeanor charge [for instance, trespassing at Notre Dame], the arrestee would not be able to bond out until a hearing before a judge, at which time the judge would have the discretion to set a new (higher) bond.

Yep. A second misdemeanor arrest would warrant a special hearing before a judge on a weekend before the violent misdemeanor offender could safely be released back into society on Monday with the commencement long over. But Judge Jerome Frese made an appearance on Saturday and they were allowed to bond out. Why?

(5-17) WSBT.com SUE LOWE:

….However, the St. Joseph County prosecutor’s office and St. Joseph Superior Court Judge Jerome Frese reviewed the cases Saturday and Frese set the bonds, allowing the six to be released, St. Joseph County Police Sgt. Bill Redman said.

The only person arrested for a second time Saturday was the Rev. Norman Weslin, 78, of Council Bluff, Iowa.

Redman did not know if Weslin’s case will be reviewed today or if the priest will have to stay in jail until Monday.

Weslin was one of four people arrested Saturday on charges of trespassing and resisting arrest. Another 15 were arrested only on trespassing charges.

Please watch the videos of Fr Weslin’s arrest and decide for yourself whether he resisted arrest or whether he was a victim of excessive police force.

(5-15) Arrest #1 Trespass (Four minutes of excessive force while Fr Weslin sings)
(5-16) Arrest #2 Trespass/Resisting arrest (Takes less than a minute, no handcuffs, no manhandling)

Then decide how much the video of Father’s first arrest played into his additional charge and the sudden reversal of the judge’s ruling allowing the violent misdemeanor offenders posing a threat to society at large to bond out after all.

And the best part?

The police, the St Joseph Superior Court, the DA and evidently the media in and around South Bend must think the entire country either loves barry or just too damb dumb to reason because they expect the world to believe the “emergency ruling” did not come about because of protests at Notre Dame and that it was just a coincidence that it didn’t come to light until after the first set of arrests were made on Friday.

How many turnip trucks are there driving around South Bend?

South Bend Tribune, PABLO ROS (5-16):

Reported that the ruling was signed on Thursday, went into effect Thursday, but wasn’t announced until after the policed captured their first wave of Notre Dame insurgents, and that it will expire on Dec 31st if not adopted. He interviewed Judge Scopelitis who would have folks believe that it was something brewing and that Notre Dame had nothing to do with and that the timing was, you know, strictly coincidental and that it’s meant really for drunks and not to keep 78 y/o (real) Catholic priests and barry naysayers from taking the spotlight away from obamessiah and making ND look bad.

Too late for that.

ROS: The new rule is something “we, or at least I, have been thinking about for quite some time,” Chief Judge Michael P. Scopelitis said Friday. The arrests of protesters at Notre Dame brought the need for such a rule into focus, but the need existed also in other cases, he said.

A classic example, Scopelitis said, is of an individual arrested for driving while intoxicated, posting bond, then being arrested a second time for driving while intoxicated and posting the presumptive bond yet again.

How often does/has that happen in that jurisdiction? Is it a common problem? Has it been talked about by prosecutors? MADD? Is $1K bond the norm for a simple trespass charge? It would have been nice to know that the reporter at least looked into something. What else would the Judge say?

ROS: Notre Dame officials did not ask the judges to implement such a rule at this time, Scopelitis said.

“This local rule is not for Notre Dame’s benefit,” he said. “It was not created to benefit Notre Dame in some way.”

Why the need to say it? What are the chances any reporter will actually become a reporter and investigate this further for the non-South Bendians?

Are there any reporters not corrupted by barry? Any with even a microgram of curiosity? An outraged law student?

Forget the national press corps. Their corruption is complete. They are now the National Press Corps.

There has to be someone locally who saw that video of Fr Weslin being “arrested” – the word punishment and scapegoat come to mind – with the wherewithal to investigate and continue documenting this insanity.

A real old fashioned American who could tell folks the connection of the St Joseph Superior Court Judges personally and professional to Notre Dame University, Father Jenkins and barry; whether they’re alumni, board members, contributors, have family members involved in the Commencement or barry’s campaign; whether they’re Catholics; appointed (most likely), elected, running for re-election; the precedence for the ruling, whether it had been brought up before, how often these emergency rulings are made; explain why St. Joseph Superior Court Judge Jerome Frese did what he did; and then document the quid pro quo resulting from the ruling – especially from the White House.

Remember those days?

barry’s idea of Change! is becoming clearer and clearer, isn’t it, Comrade?

Alan Keyes message from jail

(5-15) Catholic priest, Fr Weslin, arrested at Catholic Univ for protesting abortion

(5-16) Arrest #2 (respectful, takes less than a minute, no handcuffs, no manhandling, no humiliation)
(5-17) POTUS anti-Catholic stance awarded – Catholic priest, Fr Weslin, arrested and jailed (side by side video of POTUS & Fr Weslin)

May 18, 2009

A view from Notre Dame from Alan Keyes.

DISCALIMER: Provided for informational purposes only. This website neither espouses or denounces Alan Keyes’ message.

Speaking only for myself – I find what was done to Fr Weslin nothing short of police brutality/excessive police force and think it should be prosecuted as such. Change his race and/or his religion and it would have been plastered all over the media. As is, it recevied very little media attention. Why? Because of how it would reflect on barry. Media corruption persists.

===========================

Sent: Sunday, May 17, 2009 12:08 PM
Subject: FROM: Alan Keyes at Notre Dame

Last Friday, and again this week, I and others profoundly concerned with the University of Notre Dame’s scandalous invitation and extension of an honorary degree to Barack Obama were engaged in peaceful, prayerful witness to truth on the Notre Dame campus…

then it happened…

We walked onto the campus praying the rosary and bearing witness to the Church’s teaching against the objective evil of abortion. At the behest of Father John Jenkins, the President of the University, we were detained by the UND police and turned over to the civil authorities!

So I went twice to jail, along with two Catholic priests and other brothers and sisters in Christ. I am told that on Thursday unpublicized action was taken by a local Superior Court judge to enforce new, harsher procedures for posting bond in cases such as ours, so that those of us persistent in our witness could be unjustly incarcerated without relief or any opportunity to post bail for days. This judge cooperated with the “powers and principalities” who disgrace Notre Dame with the Obama “honors,” and now violate our constitutional and canonical legal rights to our witness for life. During our arrests we were not defying civil law, but merely obeying the laws of God and the directives of the Church and its leadership!

We sought to counteract the scandalous impression given by University authorities that it is compatible with Christian faith and Catholic teaching to honor and hold up as an example of good conduct someone who has made himself the focus of abortion evil in the world today.

Unlike Father Jenkins, we are acting with respect for Christ’s instruction that people of faith should work out their differences within the communion of the faithful before calling upon civil authorities, who may not act with respect for the laws of God and the teachings of the Church.

This is why I sought to meet with Father Jenkins before I joined in the spiritual rescue efforts occasioned by the University’s scandalous behavior. He refused to respond to my request!!!

In this, Father Jenkins displayed the same obdurate indifference to spiritual considerations that has exemplified his conduct throughout this scandalous affair. He has encouraged a bunker mentality within the University of Notre Dame community, by treating other members of the Body of Christ, even those in communion with the Holy See, as if we are “outsiders.”

This mentality contradicts the “emphasis on Community in Catholicism” cited in the University’s mission statement but utterly ignored by Father Jenkins and his colleagues.

Archbishop Burke of the Vatican and the some 70 American bishops who have demanded that the invitation and honorary degree be withdrawn; the hundreds of thousands who have signed the petition with the same plea; the millions of Catholics and prolife Christians they represent — although part of the Church communion, the body of Christ, and a community of the faithful, all are apparently to be treated as criminals if they dare to set foot on the Notre Dame campus to protect life and protest the University administration’s scandalous judgment!!

Where is the humility that should characterize Christian leadership?

Where is the love toward other believers that should give glory to God?

And where is the respect and the will to stand up and protect innocent, vulnerable life?

Instead of ordering arrests and persecution of those – including PRIESTS – bearing true witness, a faithful Catholic and Christian heart should seek to converse in order to instruct or to learn!

Instead, Father Jenkins has reacted with a harshness that bespeaks fearful guilt, using force to dispose of opposition. If, despite the opinion of the Vatican, the bishops and so many of the clergy, religious and the laity, Father Jenkins and his colleagues are right to honor evil, why are they afraid to deal openly and respectfully with both the Church authorities and fellow believers who disagree?

They react with forceful abuses of their authority because they cannot properly defend their actions in terms of the laws of God and the teachings of the Catholic Church.

They therefore substitute force for persuasion. In this too they honor evil, by imitating its methods.

Please help us expose this grave injustice, as this shocking scandal unfolds!

My Utmost for His Highest Honor,

Alan Keyes

P.S. Father Jenkins continues to arrogantly ignore national and international pleas to hear the concerns from Christians about the injustice of honoring Barack Obama with a podium and degree from Notre Dame, in direct contradiction to the directives of the American Bishops, and in disrepute of the purpose, principles and mission of such a prestigious institution of faith. He has faithful Catholic priests and laity unjustly arrested and jailed for days to silence their witness for innocent life. Father Jenkins and the police powers collude in abuse of the faithful to curry favor with Barack Obama, who is eager for the political credential that “honors” from the University of Our Lady will bring him, to aid in duping a prolife America about his radical anti-life policies. Help us bring public pressure on Jenkins and Obama to force acknowledgement that their abuses of faith and trust diminish Notre Dame’s integrity in on-going scandal, controversy and dishonor throughout the Christian and Catholic community, and bring disillusionment to voters of conscience.

P.P.S. If you are able to help us financially in the battle, our needs are rising! We have dozens of people in jail, including Father Weslin and others with families facing a likely few hundreds of dollars each in court costs and fines, never mind the high $1,000 bail that has been set for each of us. With your faxes of protest, you will help us free our brothers and sisters still in jail, INCLUDING 78-YEAR OLD FATHER WESLIN, of the Lambs of Christ!

POTUS anti-Catholic stance awarded – Catholic priest arrested & jailed

(5-15) Catholic priest arrested at Catholic Univ for protesting abortion

(5-16) Fr Weslin arrested (again) at Notre Dame

May 18, 2009

A non-Catholic lay man, who believes abortion is legal and vows to made sure it never becomes illegal and who voted to withhold medical care from fetuses who happened to survive the attempt on their lives, is given a Prodigal Son welcome and honored with an award by the President of a prestigious Catholic University, who claims to be a Catholic priest–meaning he took the same vows as the Pope–while another man, a 78 y/o devout Catholic priest, who also took the same vows and because he was defending them in action on the campus of the very same Catholic University, was, with the tacit approval of the very same Catholic priest President, allowed to be disrespected, manhandled and humiliated in front of the entire world by being laid on the ground with his hands bound tightly behind his back and his torso pinned in place by a booted leg, and then hauled off, arrested and jailed.

How is any of this even remotely Catholic?

You decide.

Watch them side by side as graciously provided by max1media

———