Oklahoma bishops criticize Notre Dame honor for Obama
April 01, 2009
The bishops of Oklahoma are offering strong criticism of the University of Notre Dame’s decision to award President Barack Obama an honorary degree. “President Obama, by word and action, has approved of abortion and other atrocities against human life,” says Archbishop Eusebius Beltran of Oklahoma City. “Therefore he deserves no recognition at a Catholic institution.” In a separate letter, Bishop Edward Slattery of Tulsa writes:
I am writing to plead with you to cancel the invitation you gave to President Obama to speak at the University and the plans to honor him with a doctorate degree. Many, many Catholics and alumni of the University of Notre Dame are waiting for you to do so-- some of them live here in Tulsa and are graduates of Notre Dame.
As you know, President Obama is aggressively promoting abortion on demand not only here in the United States but all over the world. In fact, he wants doctors to be required to perform an abortion whenever the mother asks.
Faithful Catholics and all men and women of good will are appalled by the sin of abortion. It is a cancer in our society which is eating away at all the other pro-life issues because abortion destroys human life at its very beginning and has become so common.
For President Obama to be honored by Notre Dame is more than a disappointment, it is a scandal-- especially to young adults. His being honored by Notre Dame will make it easier for a woman who contemplates abortion to actually submit herself to this cruel and deadly procedure. At the same time, the University of Notre Dame will have distanced itself from the Bishops of the country who unanimously have asked that no politician promoting abortion be honored by any of our institutions.
On the other hand, your cancellation of the president’s visit will be noted and remembered as an affirmation of the intrinsic value of human life, a courageous example of prophetic witness worthy of a Catholic institution.
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Further information:
- Speech by Obama faces Catholic foes (The Oklahoman)
- Bishop Slattery's Letter to Father John Jenkins, President of Notre Dame (Diocese of Tulsa)
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