<p>Or perhaps Our Blessed Mother removed from the Golden Dome.</p>
<p>Jesus</a> Missing From Obama's Georgetown Speech | NBC Washington</p>
<p>This man and his administration are unbelievable! Obama has absolutely no problem publicly bowing to the Saudi King, taking his shoes off before entering a mosque and having a seder dinner at the White House for Passover but he can’t make a speech standing in front of a momogram of Jesus at a Catholic University?? Shame on Georgetown for agreeing to honor this ridiculous request! And yet the Notre Dame alumns are being ridiculed for their stance against Obama speaking at graduation?? At least they aren’t afraid to stand up for their beliefs.</p>
<p>I am looking forward to hearing the “spin” that will be put onto this subject.</p>
<p>This does not surprise me. When my daughter visited Georgetown last year, our guide “apologized” for the cross in the quad (it was Holy week). Notre Dame, however should not be lumped together with Georgetown.</p>
<p>I don’t believe anyone would stand for this at ND. It would truly be a travesty if they did.
Asking him to speak is one thing; this would be quite another.</p>
<p>Overall I don’t have a big problem with Obama coming, but if they do ANYTHING like that, I will never give a cent to the university as long as I live. I can’t be the only alum that feels this way, I know there are already some who have stopped giving with it. I just hope they did their research and found that others will step up and make up for our donations.</p>
<p>Of course this won’t happen! It was just a communications decision~not a speech given to a Georgetown-based group! It reminds me of a couple of years ago, when my daughter was involved in a play at our Catholic Church. The play was sanctioned by the church, but open to the public. The stage was actually built over and around the altar. For the performances, the crucifix was covered and the Blessed Sacrament removed for sacred reasons. I don’t see this particular case at Georgetown as much different. And, I am sure nothing will be disturbed when President Obama speaks at graduation. No worries!</p>
<p>Well, I can certainly see wanting to remove the Blessed Sacrament before a sacred space is profaned, so perhaps Georgetown had the right idea, though I’m sure the administrators didn’t see it that way.
However, part of Obama’s mission in coming to ND is getting the photo op with all of the best and brightest Catholics (minus the Bishop, alas), to use in future appeals to Catholic voters, so he’ll probably want all of the Catholic props he can find.</p>
<p>This is outrageous. Why speak at a Catholic University if you are going to alter the surroundings to disguise its Catholic facet? He preaces tolerance of blacks, gays, etc. (which is fine) but to then be hypocritical and be intolerant of the Catholic Church! What is he thinking! And what was Georgetown thinking in complying with him? So Obama wants us to be tolerant with Islamic terrorists and be understanding of their religion which preaches killing all infidels (aka the majority of the world popultaion), will practice religious tolerance overseas in Saudi Arabia, etc. yet can’t handle a crucifix in the background as he gives a speech! He’s insane! It’s okay for him to be sworn into office using Lincoln’s Bible and whatnot, yet he can’t have an image of Jesus in the background for fear of offending someone!?!? Well, you certainly DID offend millions of people, God, and Jesus Christ himself, Obama. Way to go!</p>
<p>And if anyone disagrees with Obama’s policies, nutjobs like Janeane Garofaro claim they MUST be racist…so this MUST mean that Obama is anti-Catholic/anti-Christian for that matter.</p>
<p>And yet the media doesn’t even report this or any number of stupid things Obama has done because it would be wrong to portray ‘the Messiah’ in a bad light. --now I get why he had to hide Jesus…couldn’t handle the competition to be the Messiah…makes perfect sense now!</p>
<p>I don’t know about all of you, but I’d rather “cling to guns or religion” then be an Obama supporter!</p>
<p>Please, tell me that at least one liberal has seen the light and gets what a mistake Obama was… sorry for the long rant…will be back later with plenty more to rant about!</p>
<p>I fail to see how this one incident sheds light on ‘what a mistake Obama was’. It’s one freakin’ incident.</p>
<p>Personally, I don’t care either way. Crucifix, no crucifix…Whatever. It really is a non-issue in my opinion. It’s like Flag Lapel 2.0.</p>
<p>Gravity -</p>
<p>The issue is that Georgetown was asked by the Obama administration to cover up the monogram of Jesus - It’s not whether or not there was a crucifix present. It’s that Obama’s people did not want any symbol of Jesus to be present while he was giving his speech - at a Catholic university, no less. I just don’t understand what their thinking process was in regards to this situation.</p>
<p>In the future, if this situation occurs with different religions (the intentional covering up of specific religious symbols), will these people not also be offended?</p>
<p>It could definitely happen, Obama hasn’t been all that Catholic-friendly so far. He has had several nominees (I believe it is up to 5) for ambassador to the Vatican be rejected because they are pro-choice Catholics. He may be pro-choice, but he needs to realize that won’t fly at the Vatican (nor should it). How about respecting what you are being told by the Vatican, another sovereign country, and respect their wishes!</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, I understand what the issue is. But (a) I don’t see how it is proof of Obama being ‘a mistake’, and (b) I think it’s a non-issue. </p>
<p>I remember reading a while back about an elementary student who made some sort of painting during the holidays that contained Jesus, and it was placed in the hallway of his (public) school…Then some atheist parent caught wind of it and raised a ****storm over it. </p>
<p>I just don’t get that line of thought. Now, if a Jewish kid wasn’t allowed to hang his painting of a menorah but that kid was allowed to hang his painting of Jesus, then there would be an issue. But as long as there is no selective censorship regarding these issues, then, well…They aren’t issues. There is nothing wrong with having the Ten Commandments outside a courthouse as long as they stand next to Jewish/Islamic/other icons. So as long as Obama’s people do this in all relevant situations, it doesn’t matter…And I’ve yet to see that be the case.</p>
<p>i don’t believe that ND would fall to the level of meeting this request if Obama does make it, and if he does, maybe it would be a good way to simply say no and avoid the whole issue with Obama looking like the bad guy. </p>
<p>the problem is that Obama is coming into a catholic setting and ignoring the whole nature of the school, but is glad to embrace the cultures of other around the world. the graduation will have a religious aspect to it I would imagine as that is a major part of ND’s mission statement.</p>
<p>obama’s previous gestures were intended as respectful toward religion. having this in the background would appear preferential/endorsing of religion. two different matters, two different messages.</p>
<p>IBfootballer -</p>
<p>I disagree. He was speaking at a Catholic university - One would expect to see statues of Jesus and other religious symbols at this religious venue. It would not represent an endorsement of any kind as he was giving a speech at a Catholic venue. No message sent - Obama should have respected Georgetown for what it is (a Catholic university) and as such, he should have respected the symbols that are representative of it. For an outsider to request that these symbols be covered up is just wrong.</p>
<p>And I don’t understand how you can differentiate between Obama’s other gestures as being respectful towards those religions but that his fear of being labeled as “endorsing” Catholicism (and thus requesting the “cover up”) gives him the right to disrespect this religion.</p>
<p>For an outsider to request that these symbols be covered up is just wrong.</p>
<p>What about Georgetown complying?</p>
<p>As a Catholic, I am even more angry with Georgetown for complying with the request than I am with the Obama administration for making it (and that is a lot).</p>
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<p>As I stated earlier, shame on Georgetown for honoring this ridiculous request.</p>
<p>Matmoosemom -
I agree with you.</p>
<p>That may happen at Georgetown, but I don’t think that would fly at Notre Dame… I don’t think that inviting Obama here goes against our Catholic identity, but covering up the symbols of our faith and our university would. We are ND and we are not ashamed of who we are.</p>
<p>Georgetown, in covering up the Name of Jesus (the Name at which every knee should bend) has denied Jesus every bit as much as did Peter.</p>
<p>Georgetown clearly has found a new Savior to worship, as, I’m afraid to say, have many people and institutions. I really don’t think Notre Dame will be any different.</p>
<p>Well if you REALLY want to approach the issue so seriously (I don’t), then the fact they are doing this isn’t really all that bad: it is the perfect reflection of man’s fallibility and constant search for faith. It’s quite beautiful, actually.</p>
<p>I gotta say, I still don’t see where you are coming from with this “Notre Dame [Georgetown] isn’t a Catholic institution!” stuff. Ok, so they’ve both made decisions that are antithetical to the Church…So? That’s pretty much par for the course when it comes to being Catholic: every Catholic, from the Pope to Cafeteria Catholics, sin and make mistakes. Hell, the entire Church has sinned (see: Crusades, Inquisition). Why should Notre Dame/Georgetown be held to higher standards?</p>