Minnesota bishop compares Notre Dame to pro-abortion politicians

May 05, 2009

Bishop Bernard Harrington of Winona has written a diocesan newspaper column criticizing the University of Notre Dame’s decision to award President Barack Obama an honorary degree. Bishop Harrington writes:

Like so many bishops of the United States, I have written to Father John Jenkins, CSC, President of the University of Notre Dame, to express my disbelief and disappointment that the administration of the University of Notre Dame has invited President Obama to address the graduating class and then to bestow an honorary degree upon him. President Obama has been blatantly proabortion in the first few weeks of his new administration with the lifting of the ban on federal funding of abortions and approving with federal funds embryonic stem cell research …

The Bishops of the United States in June 2004 asked Catholic universities and other Catholic institutions not to give public honors or to permit pro-abortion politicians a public platform. The University of Notre Dame, which has considered itself a leading Catholic institution of higher learning, is choosing to defy the bishops of the United States and turn its back on the Catholic community in its continual defense of the right-to-life. The university’s stance is similar to that of Catholic politicians who say that they are pro-life and then support legislation and vote for programs that foster abortion …

It might be a little too dramatic to say that Our Lady of the Golden Dome is hanging her head in shame, but there is no question that hundreds of thousands of “ loyal Irish” supporters are angered, dumbfounded and disappointed in this administration’s decision.

 

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Further information:

• Bishop Bernard Harrington: The Notre Dame Flap (Winona Courier)