Disgrace in South Bend

1. The University of Notre Dame is a self-described Catholic institution of higher learning named in honor of the Mother of Our Savior. They have invited the 100% anti-life President to give its commencement address, and to receive an honorary doctor of law degree. This is too tragic to be a joke. Since I can't think of anything remotely charitable to say about the people who issued this invitation, or those who defend it, I'll just offer you the relevant statement from the US Bishops: "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." You'll notice that there's no "but he's the President" exception to that principle. Perhaps it's in the emanation of the penumbra, so I missed it.

2. Look, I know we have to respect the man, and show due honor to the office, but we are duty bound to speak the truth about the objectively grave moral evil of his actions. If you wish to make your opinion heard, consider signing to the Cardinal Newman Society petition. If you're an alum, you should know what to do when the next fund-raising letter arrives.

3. It's nice that Notre Dame will also be honoring Mary Ann Glendon at their commencement. But what a contrast will be there for all to see -- the 100% anti-life President and the 100% pro-life Catholic scholar and public servant. It's a perfect real-world illustration of the meditation from St. Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises on the Two Standards. Will the students get the message? Will the university? Will the President?

4. Here is ND Prof. Ralph McInerny's take on the situation: "It is an unequivocal abandonment of any pretense at being a Catholic university."

5. There is a very troublesome situation in Boston, where Catholic hospitals are entering into a joint venture with secular hospitals that perform abortions. Cardinal O'Malley is assuring everyone that the arrangement is morally acceptable, but the staff of the Catholic hospitals will have to provide information and referrals to people who are seeking abortions. The Cardinal is seeking another opinion from the National Catholic Bioethics Center, a very solid group. Please pray for their deliberations, and for the Cardinal, that they may do the right thing.

6. Don't worry, they said. You have the federal Defense of Marriage Act. You don't need a constitutional amendment defining marriage. Sure, but what do we do if there's a federal court challenge (in Massachusetts, no less) to DOMA on the grounds that it violates the Equal Protection Clause? Can we count on the current Administration to defend a law that it openly opposes? Yeah, sure.

7. Speaking of that, gay "marriage" supporters in California are doing the full Dan Brown conspiracy crackpot shuffle. Here's a summary of an absolutely delusional piece in a gay San Francisco newspaper that attacks the Knights of Columbus as if the order were some secret society of albino hitmen that nobody's ever heard of or encountered before. (I don't want to link to the original story because it's on a wicked website and I don't want to drive up their traffic). Boy, I had no idea that I was a member of such an "obscure Catholic group", nor that the entire Catholic Church "operates its legislative efforts through the little understood entity"! When do I get issued my official K of C "license to kill"? Maybe at the next Friday Fish Fry I'll ask one of the super duper secret members who's walking around with the tuxedo, baldric, cape, chapeau and sword -- if he's not too "obscure" to find. Sigh. Sin does indeed make you stupid.

8. Thanks to the Patriarch of Moscow for supporting the Holy Father's position on condoms and HIV/AIDS.

9. Remember that game "MadLibs", where you filled in the blanks in a story to make it funny? The National Catholic Register has created a MadLib to lampoon the idea that condom distribution is a good public health policy.

10. That old fashioned, out-of-touch, insular Pope, he's so unpopular he was only able to draw one million people to his Mass in Angola. Of course, there's only about 17 million people in all of Angola, and a similar sized crowd here, as percentage of the US population, would have been 18 million.