Inviting Obama to Speak at Notre Dame Exposes New Catholic Church Rift

catholic church

Shame on you. Sending mixed messages about what is moral and what is not.

I've been a strong Catholic all my life....now 76.....and I can see why so many Catholic churches are closing.....when our Catholic church allows someone to speak and give him an honary degree....who believes completely the opposite of the churches teaching, saying "it's a sin to have an abortion" and than saying no it's not......oh, well.......guess I'll use my gut "feelings" about what is right or wrong....not the church's teachings.....

Obama at Notre Dame

When stating percentages of Catholics, it is important to find out if such Catholics are practicing Catholics or simply Catholic by birth but not practicing their faith (or C & E Catholics - those that attend their church on Christmas and Easter and other special occasions).

Also, it matters little how many have this opinion or that opininion, rather what mattes is the truth. The magisterium of the church promotes truth even if it is not popular since Jesus IS truth.

If one asks "What would Jesus say about abortion?", it is extremely hard to believe that Jesus would say "Do whatever you like, your happiness is what is most important". He would simply say, "Don't do this" or if someone had an abortion he would say, "Your sin is forgiven, go and do this no more". Those facing an unwanted pregancy, be courageous and believe thee is help for you and "beauty can be brought out of the ashes of your fear", let God show you the way.

Jesus IS truth, and I think we'd have to admit he would say abortion is an abomination (or do you say Obama-nation!)

Dialogue with Obama OK, don't give him an honorary degree, or let him lie to our students

Having a dialogue with Obama would be good, and that may be, but a speech is not a dialogue. Also, any “REAL” Catholic knows that abortion is killing a pre-born person. Anyone who doesn’t see that is either misinformed or what I call a “FAKE” Catholic, like the priest at Notre Dame that invited Obama in the first place, and many of the commentators on this blog. Honoring any pro abortion speaker, president or not, at a Catholic event is dishonoring to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus did not come to unite; he came to divide the sheep from the goats. At this point, Obama is in the goat category. Let’s all pray for the Holy Spirit to convict Obama of his sins and wrong thinking so that he can become a true Christian and right his wrongs. Catholic Christians and non-Catholic Christians, Jews and Muslims all need to pray or meditate for discernment on every matter, but especially on who we decide to teach our children. Most people graduating from a college are in their early 20’s and are still gullible to a point, especially when they are trusting the generation before them to “have it right”, and to “know better” as to what should be done in a situation. Some say the abortion issue is a non-issue, but guess what? They’re wrong! No other law means anything if you are dead. Obama voted three times for allowing a baby to die if during an abortion it was indeed born alive out of the mother’s body even though the baby was far enough along to warrant standard medical care which would have allowed the baby to survive? Don’t forget, in America, it is legal to kill an unborn baby through ALL NINE MONTHS. It’s quite bizarre, don’t you think? It’s difficult to wrap your mind around that concept, isn’t it? Obama also said something to the affect that he wanted his daughters to have the “choice” (the choice is either life or death) to be able to have an abortion if either of them found themselves in an unwanted pregnancy. So, that means that Obama wouldn’t mind if one or both of his daughters had his grandchildren killed by an abortionist. A strange idea for any man who calls himself a Christian, let alone one with Jewish or African ancestry. Too many times in history Jewish or African children were killed in the name of some so called great purpose. ENOUGH! America has legalized too many sins. We have to wake up and stand for the truth. This is not only a religious issue; the “Natural Law” also shows abortion to be wrong. Look it up. If a pregnant woman is killed by manslaughter, the law shows that the unborn baby is a person, the person responsible is charged with two counts of manslaughter. So, why do people “tolerate” the murder of our United States citizens just because a woman finds her pregnancy inconvenient and wants to get on with “HER LIFE”? What about the life of her baby? Ask a woman who has had an abortion whether murdering her baby made her life easier. Her answer, if she can even answer without bursting into tears, would be “NO, it made it much worse!” Seek God’s face. Is He smiling at you or do you make Him sick? Be careful, He might spit you from His mouth!

Honored and pleased

As a practicing, church-going Catholic who prays, receives the sacraments, and reads scripture regularly, I am totally in favor of the US President speaking at this honored Catholic institution. None of the other presidents invited to speak have completely embraced all aspects of Catholic teaching in their policies, why is Obama being held to a different standard? Bush claimed to be "pro-life", but his actions abroad took the lives of millions, and he did nothing to reduce abortions or change the climate in this country that leads to abortions.The policies that Obama is endorsing are far more likely to reduce abortions and support life than his predecessors -- we should all be applauding his speech with gusto.

President Obama

This 70 year old Roman Catholic has grown weary of my church's self righteous hierarchy throwing stones at anyone that does not "walk their walk". The Bishops need to work on cleaning up their own houses and keep their noses out of politics. This is the President of the United States of America and I pray Notre Dame welcomes him with gusto. Where was the outrage when Bush spoke? It would take days to list his crimes. I just become sick at heat when I read about the constant pointing of fingers and condemning these supposed "good" men are doing. Obama is not even Catholic for God's sake. I wish I could attend this historical commencement at The University of Notre Dame and please, please, let all the naysayers just stay far, far, away. I know it is too much to ask for them to keep their mouths shut, their egos would not allow that to happen.

DIstrubing Article

Re:Barack Obama giving commencement address to Notre Dame shouldn't be about the religion he is not but rather an honor,the place he is at. If the President of the United States were to walk into my Catholic home,he would command as much respect and attention as if the Pope was entering my home.

This rift between the RCC and American politcs is disturbing.

it's not a debate setting

Obama has not been invited to a debate. He has been invited to speak TO an audience. He will undoubtedly be standing on a stage in which one has to lift their eyes to see him. He should not be lifted up for any christian to look upon. He has no words of wisdom and his beliefs are not in line with what God teaches us. Christians are to be IN the world not OF the world. Never invite someone with his 'beliefs made laws' to speak and be honored. His actions do not glorify God and God's ways.

Wow . . .hypcrotical views, lest we forget

At least nine bishops???(has triggered denunciations from at least nine American bishops). And of those nine how many of them stepped up an denouonced or even acknowledged all of the inappropriate conduct of the Roman Catholic Church as it relates to the abuse of its children and members??? How many of them have acknowledged errors of the Roman Catholic Church in the past???

Remember' John 8:7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said to them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

We as a society has forgotten. We should take that pile of stones and lay it before us forming a path, then as we show others what to do with thier stones we can extend our path forward. We may even cross paths with others in the process and let us not make war over whos path it is, otherwise we would have to pick up our stones to make war with them. Let us meet those whos paths we cross and extend a kind word or gesture, maybe, an invinte, they may find our path more desirable and if not we can grow from the experence of having traveled down a common path if only for a little while.

As such, allowing President Obama the privilege of sharing a conversation, a kind word, or even standing on you path, both potentially will gain knowledge from the experience of sharing a path together.

You only have one choice that is productive, pick up those stones and start your path.

To Michael of FL (For Pity's sake)

The Catholic Church has shown leadership when it comes to all of the things you mentioned, and the Church has not been ignoring death by poverty/starvation. You simply haven't been listening or paying attention. The Church teaches that to be a Pro-Life Catholic is to be against anything that takes away a human life or prevents life - abortion, the death penalty, unjust wars (including the War in Iraq), etc.

Problem With Americans

The problem is not that the Church is out of touch with Americans - the problem is that Americans are becoming out of touch with God. More and more Americans are looking to Hollywood and the media for direction, and the direction they are getting is to do whatever makes them feel good regardless of the consequences. We don't want to hear about right and wrong because that would mess up our "do whatever makes us feel good" plans. We want God to change for us, but we aren't willing to change for God. That's a shame.