<p>Here's a link if anyone is interested in hearing any of the speeches given at commencement (by Obama, Fr. Jenkins, Noonan, or the valedictorian).</p>
<p>Commencement</a> Videos // Commencement // University of Notre Dame</p>
<p>Not to be missed! Especially Father Jenkins address…</p>
<p>I still have very mixed emotions on all of this. It is great that ND can get the president of the US, that is fantastic, but his speech didn’t resonate with me. I think he would have done better just not talking about abortion, stem cell research, etc. </p>
<p>I don’t know, it was a lot of publicity for the school, but was this good publicity? I guess we are at the cross-roads of determining what we are…a top university or a Catholic university. We have straddled the line for many years, but maybe you just can’t be both? With this commencement we took a step toward being a top university, for better or for worse.</p>
<p>We are very glad that commencement seemed to go very smoothly–no real upsets other than the few protesters. It was, after all, a day to celebrate the students.</p>
<p>It is indeed possible to be both a top university and a Catholic university. The real question is whether those responsible for leading Notre Dame are willing to make the necessary difficult decisions. Until the Obama invitation, I would have said that the university was heading in the right direction. There are a lot of very good things happening on campus that most people outside the university never hear about. Unfortunately, those good things have been derailed by the very bad thing of honoring and pandering to the most pro-abortion President in history. Time will tell whether this invitation represented the first step in a meaningful dialogue on the abortion issue, or whether, in its blind quest for the respect of the secular academy, ND has allowed itself to be used by a President seeking to solidify his support among the nominally Catholic. </p>
<p>Based upon Obama’s speech, I’d put my money on the latter. All of his soothing rhetoric about seeking common ground, and not “demonizing” the other side in this debate, cannot obscure the fact (which he acknowledged) that he has yet even to consider changing his mind regarding the intrinsic evil of abortion, and that his political base demands that he continue to protect a woman’s right to “choose.”</p>
<p>“willing to make the necessary difficult decisions”</p>
<p>I think the decisions needed to keep ND Catholic are necessary but they aren’t at all “difficult.” There shouldn’t have been any hand-wringing at all over whether or not to honor somebody with Obama’s abortion track record. That he was considered at all, much less invited, much less warmly received, is a huge disappointment. If ND wants to be secular, go for it! And if 4 years of education there wasn’t enough to allow the graduating students to see through his sophistry, they should ask for a refund.</p>
<p>The most obvious tortured logic was that Mr. Obama was so impressed by Cardinal Bernardin’s kindess an inclusion that he became Christian …and joined Rev. Wright’s church? Yeah, that makes sense.</p>
<p>Perhaps if Obama had encountered a cleric more faithful to the Church’s teachings, and without the taint of scandal associated with Bernardin, he might have been more impressed with the Catholic Church and become a Catholic.</p>
<p>It’s not that he didn’t join a the Catholic church, it’s that he joined a church of a guy who’s anything but kind and inclusive.</p>
<p>Obama has the winning message for this generation.</p>
<p>As you learn about generations you see each generation is impacted by what happened during their developmental years. The current group of high school and college students has come of age during two wars. One of which history may find was unnecessary and the other may have gotten out of control because of lack of focus. We also came of age during a period of acrimonious debate in most circles.</p>
<p>I think you will find this generation will look for middle ground more than current adults. </p>
<p>Notre Dame is more in touch with today’s student then the people blogging at home. These are the future Catholic leaders of America. There is no doubt in my mind that Obama’s message was more effective reaching this generation than the people flying a plane around campus.</p>
<p>Only time will tell if middle ground or acrimony are more effective. Acrimony has had its failures. Its time for some middle ground.</p>
<p>What, exactly, was Obama’s “message” with respect to the human dignity and right to life of the unborn child?</p>
<p>Obama: “So let’s work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions by reducing unintended pregnancies, and making adoption more available, and providing care and support for women who do carry their child to term.”</p>
<p>We live in a democracy. We can not simply apply our will to the people that disagree with us. As a result we have two choices:</p>
<ol>
<li>Stay in our corners and continue to scream at eachother or</li>
<li>Try to meet in the middle and gain ground.</li>
</ol>
<p>Once you gain ground you can then work towards a new middle and gain more ground. I think that is a much more effective strategy to keep working towards the middle and gain ground.</p>
<p>The country is split 50-50 on abortion. Its not going away anytime soon, if ever. But we can reduce the numbers. There’s no doubt we stand on the right and moral side of the issue. But lets have the conversations and work towards 60-40 and then 70-30. Screaming at eachother keeps it locked at 50-50.</p>
<p>I agree with Sportfire 100%. </p>
<p>And yes, we gave a platform to Obama to speak at graduation. But in doing so, we also made him listen to Fr. Jenkins and Judge Noonan, both of whom are pro-life. And maybe this made Obama realize that he couldn’t just forget about Catholics. Maybe inviting him to ND helped him in his decision to maintain a conscience clause as he mentioned in his speech (although we will see if he follows though on that…). Sure, it’s not the overturning of Roe v. Wade, but that is NOT going to happen all at once. And with the way things are now, it is NOT going to happen any time soon. We need to take baby steps in the right direction. And a lot of those baby steps can be taken with the help of the other side. And once those steps have been taken, the end of abortion may no longer seem like the radical thing so many people see it as now. Claremarie, words like “human dignity” and “right to life” mean NOTHING if they are just being screamed at the opposing side. However, those words really mean something if the life of even ONE person can be saved. And right now, maybe the best way to accomplish that is by working together. We’ll never know if we expend all our resources trying to make people like Obama go away and stay away from our precious Notre Dame bubble, when the truth is, we have to live in this world with Obama and others like him. We may as well spend our energy actually doing something to make the world a better place.</p>
<p>And maybe Obama was just full of political bulls**t and isn’t really willing to put his money where his mouth is. But I bet there are people on both sides who heard his speech and ARE willing to reach out and work together with people with opposing views.</p>
<p>shellzie2006 - great post. I like your point - “the end of abortion may not seem radical” </p>
<p>If we keep working towards the middle eventually after people give it thought and aren’t reacting to images and screaming will see the moral argument is truly on the side of life.</p>
<p>If Obama had attended the rally on South Quad, he would have heard a representative of the Women’s Care Center describe how the number of abortions have plummeted in each county in which the WCC operates a crisis pregnancy center. But Obama has NEVER shown any willingness to consider even minimal restrictions on abortions. His “solution” to reducing the number of abortions will involve increased funding for Planned Parenthood for contraception and explicit sex education.<br>
There was absolutely no “screaming” at either the Mass or rally on South Quad. Were you there?</p>
<p>Not at ND yet. This fall.</p>
<p>Lets be realistic, if you want to stop abortions abstinence education will help but its going to take some sex ed and contraception. I think that is a better answer than abortion.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to stay for senior week. I’m home studying for my MCATs this Friday. 
In regards to the mass: prayers are, of course, always worthwhile. And I know that respectful protests were made, but it seems to me that those protests were pretty ineffective in terms of actually reducing the prevalence or legality of abortion. </p>
<p>While you and I both hope for legislation restricting the number of abortions, that is not the only (or maybe even the best) means to the end. As you pointed out in your post, the number of abortions can also be reduced through the increase in number of crisis pregnancy centers. I think the increase of assistance to women facing a crisis pregnancy is something that both sides of the debate can support. And, I know you won’t agree with me on this, but I think the number of abortions can also be reduced through contraception and sex education (ideally encouraging abstinence but educating ppl about contraceptives too).</p>
<p>Obama and Notre Dame: To Speak and Not to Listen
By Chuck Donovan and Teresa Donovan</p>
<p>President Obama will be making his much-anticipated address at Notre Dame this weekend. As graduates of the University of Notre Dame (1974 and 1986), we look forward to hearing what he has to say. We hope, however, that the President, who has taken listening tours overseas, will be open to hearing from members of the Notre Dame community, like us, who strive to speak for a particular group of voiceless Americans.</p>
<p>Besides the two of us, four additional siblings, three brothers and a sister, also graduated from Notre Dame. As a close-knit family that shares the Catholic faith and deep personal values, we’ve talked about the Obama invitation and, to a man and woman, we regret that it was tendered to a politician whose agenda on life issues is diametrically opposed to those values and the faith that informs them. The bestowing of an honorary doctorate on the President aggravates the disappointment, as the university clearly could have foregone this recognition even as it continued its tradition of hosting American presidents at commencement exercises.</p>
<p>University officials rightly point out that Notre Dame is not a partisan institution. It is also true that the election of President Obama represents, both symbolically and substantively, a step forward and away from the history of racial bias that has long divided this nation. If the President speaks to Notre Dame students, as we hope he will, about the role Catholics played in the civil rights movement alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, he will both echo a profound theme of engagement that Notre Dame embraces and encourage others who, in our day, carry on the struggle. Such encouragement is especially needed among those who labor for the civil rights of unborn children. </p>
<p>There are things President Obama should hear, things that a great Catholic university should be pointing out to our young, community-organizing President. The first thing he might be told is what his actions to promote abortion, seemingly at all costs, will do to community after community. In addition to the direct contribution of abortion to infant mortality and maternal morbidity, lack of stable family formation, the use and abuse of women, and the abdication of responsibility by men, the President’s decision to rescind the new regulations on conscience protections will disrupt communities that depend on the medical services of physicians of conscience.</p>
<p>Three of the six of us who graduated from Notre Dame chose to become physicians, a field for which the superb training there well prepared them. That training was more than knowledge, however. It involved the reinforcement of character, the refining of conscience, and commitment to the poor. It involved the inculcation of Catholic beliefs in the sanctity of human life, the permanence of marriage, the principles of charity and primum non nocere (first do no harm), and the equal justice that eluded this nation under slavery and segregation.</p>
<p>Should Notre Dame have disinvited President Obama? Nearly 360,000 Catholics in the worldwide Notre Dame community have publicly said yes, echoed by untold thousands of “subway alums” and graduates who may nevertheless not be inclined to sign petitions. Maybe the better thing now would be for the University of Notre Dame to invite the President back and, this time, ask him not to speak but to listen. He did not invent “community organizing” and large portions of his agenda will do irreparable harm to communities. Physicians and other health personnel will be driven from their fields under his anti-conscience rules and taxpayers will be forced to subsidize harm. The Notre Dame family, and the Catholic tradition that gave birth to it, could help him find a better way.</p>
<p>Chuck Donovan is Senior Vice President of Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. He graduated from Notre Dame in 1974. Teresa Donovan, MPH, is a professional staff member of the University of Kentucky College of Public Health. She graduated from Notre Dame in 1986.</p>
<p>This article originally appeared on CNN’s AC360 Blog on May 15, 2009.</p>