Catholic Priest & former Republican Presidential hopeful Alan Keyes protests at Notre Dame before being arrested.
With the Notre Dame graduation festivities looming on Sun. May 17th , the choir of Catholic Bishops against President Obama being awarded an honorary doctorate of law continues to sing. While several polls taken since the dispute began suggest that either the American Catholic opinion is split or tilting in favor of the honor, there is more at play. Both the Bishops and Notre Dame have sound arguments. While the Bishops cry out blasphemy when it comes to Obama's stance on abortion, they also state the 2004 directive issued by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops as fodder for their argument. A statement which say: "The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions." A more recent Rasmussen poll claims that by a margin of 60% - 25%, Catholics are opposed to the Notre Dame invitation. To Notre Dame's credit, they emphasized that Obama will be honored as an inspiring leader who broke a historic racial barrier - not for his positions on abortion or even embryonic stem cell research. In an article featured on The Guardian's "Comment is Free: Belief" blog, Lola Adesioye brings up a few interesting points. An excerpt from her post entitled "Notre Dame's Abortion Message" reads: "this debate has opened up a question about how an institution like Notre Dame upholds religious principles while also pursuing intellectual rigor and progress for its students. How much of a role should religion play in academic life and should an educational institution stop its students from having access to people with other viewpoints in the name of upholding religious values? One of the most important facets of a good university education is access to a wide range of perspectives. I'm not sure what kind of education you can get if you only have access to one perspective but, as Notre Dame is finding, it's a tricky balancing act." And balancing act it continues to be, however we'll know the outcome of all the speculation soon enough, in one day to be exact.
- O. Lucius
