God & Country

Notre Dame President Is Focal Point for Conservative Outrage Over Obama Speech

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April 16, 2009 RSS Feed Print
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By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

Reporting on the new campaign by some Notre Dame alumni to withhold donations from the university over President Obama's forthcoming commencement appearance there, I spoke yesterday with Anthony Rea, a Michigan-based Notre Dame benefactor who has joined the effort. A developer and architect who has sent three children to Notre Dame, Rea says he has given more than $100,000 to the school.

But no more. Rea says he won't donate another penny until the university's president, the Rev. John Jenkins, is ousted. "I intend to contribute in the future as long as they support the Catholic values that the school is supposed to represent," he told me by phone. I asked him how serious he was about the goal of getting Jenkins removed. His response:

"I don't think it's symbolic. It's a grass-roots movement that many of my friends are joining because we've supported Notre Dame because of what they represent in Catholic education. And this latest Obama thing has basically shattered our confidence. It's not necessarily the administration, but the guy at the top [Jenkins]. The school's board had no decision to make in this thing."

Notre Dame's president—as opposed to Obama or the college's board or the broader administration—has clearly emerged as the focal point for Roman Catholic outrage over Obama's appearance at the school. Many of the bishops who've criticized Notre Dame's invitation to Obama have also singled out Jenkins for blame. It will be interesting to see if the school president becomes more vocal in defending himself.

For those of you following the controversy closely, especially those in the Notre Dame community, how active has Jenkins been so far in making his own case that he was right to invite Obama?

Tags:
Barack Obama,
religion,
University of Notre Dame,
Catholic Church

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I am a Catholic convert. The main issue that brought me to the church was the protection of innocent lives in the womb. Now a college that is Catholic invites a president who is the most pro choice ever to make a speech and receive an award. This is very sad. In my opinion the protection of innocent babies in the womb is the most important issue there is. How many innocent children have to die?

Wayne Riley of TX 12:29PM May 16, 2009

There certainly were a good number of Catholics who attend Mass weekly or more often, pro-life, usually conservative who voted for Obama if only as a last ditch stand against an illegal and immoral war and eight years of criminal torture of people we designated as 'terrorists'. Not to mention the social and economic tragedies rapidly destroying the country, or the fact that more than 75% of the abortions in the U.S. since 1973 were either sponsored or ignored by the Republicans.I think it is as appropriate to say that the 'good' Catholics who supported those travesties can be thrown into the 'self-identified' barrel since they speak out only when their political interests are at stake.

Jeff of CO 7:22PM April 22, 2009

Where was all of this 'zeal' from the Bishops and the American Catholic Church when the Vatican voiced its outrage over the invasion of Iraq. Oh yes, war is not intrinsically evil, or at least, not an American instigated war. Now this uproar about a sinner speaking at Notre Dame. I would guess that all of the good Catholics who are protesting so vehemently are without sin and have plenty of rocks to throw. What a great way to display our inclusive nature. Frankly, as a Roman Catholic (I think American Catholic values are shaky), the majority of the protests represent a sour grapes political reaction which the Church should be ashamed of.

Jeff of CO 7:07PM April 22, 2009

God & Country

Dan Gilgoff covers religion for U.S. News & World Report. He is the author of The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War, and is a former politics editor at beliefnet. E-mail Dan at godandcountry@usnews.com.

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