March 24, 2009

Can you imagine Morehouse College, a black institution, inviting a white supremacist to speak? Neither can I. Which makes me wonder why Notre Dame University – a distinctly Catholic institution – has invited President Obama to be its commencement speaker this year.

Obama may be the most pro-abortion president in history. Several popes have labeled abortion murder.

Ralph McInerny, a serious Catholic who is retiring this year after 54 years of teaching at Notre Dame, has said, “By inviting Barack Obama as commencement speaker, Notre Dame is telling the nation that the teaching of the Catholic church on this fundamental matter can be ignored…Notre Dame has forfeited its right to call itself a Catholic university. It invites an official rebuke. May it come.”

It’s one thing to cozy up to the secular powers of the day, hoping to gain influence and grab government money. It’s another to invite someone who disbelieves in the fundamental teaching, not only of the Catholic Church, but of most serious Christian denominations that abortion takes an innocent human life created by God. Shame on Notre Dame. May the rebuke come quickly.

Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.