Although I do not think Notre Dame should have invited President Obama to give its commencement address, and I express my support for the actions taken by many US Bishops, the CNS blog has an interesting point this morning on why the Vatican has not joined a number of U.S. Bishops, including the President of the USCCB, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, in voicing its displeasure. Remember in the last year in Italy, the Pope decided to decline an invitation to speak at Sapienza University, the public university of Rome, because of planned protests of his talk. The Vatican saw the intolerance showed by faculty and students of Sapienza as quite disrespectful of the Holy Father. Because the Vatican has not spoken on Obama's appearance at Notre Dame, there may be a stronger opinion there that his presence at Notre Dame does not compromise the Catholicity of the university. Just in case the two visits have a relation, this is food for thought.
1 comment:
Father,
I'm not sure if I can make the correlation here. Perhaps the University of Notre Dame has previously asserted itself as an "independent" Catholic university - I.E. Land o' Lakes Statement.
Cardinal George has requested that complaints be lodged with those that actually have some influence/authority over ND including the Congregation for Catholic Education as seen here :
http://www.americanpapist.com/2009/03/update-pdf-scan-of-cardinal-georges-nd.html
God Bless-
LOVE THE BLOG!
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