Notre Dame University has been prominently in the news for the past several weeks, not because of the school’s football team or because of its academic record but because the president of Notre Dame, Father John Jenkins, CSC, invited the president of the United States, Barack Obama, to give the commencement address this year and to receive an honorary doctorate. As soon as the announcement was made, voices arose to complain that it was not right for a Catholic university to give a prestigious honor and the bully pulpit to a man who has been so publicly and strongly supportive of abortion.
The bishop of Fort Wayne, Bishop John D’Arcy, in whose diocese Notre Dame campus is located, wrote two letters of strong protest and said he would not attend the graduation. Fifty-five (55) other bishops expressed their complaints (including Archbishop José Gomez and Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Cantú of San Antonio); a group of alumni across the country pledged not to contribute any more money to Notre Dame; an already functioning ex-student group, “Project Sycamore,” expressed its disappointment in the strongest terms; prominent faculty members, like Professor Ralph McInerny, voiced disapproval; 10 Holy Cross priests who live with Father Jenkins published an open letter to their colleague admonishing him for his decision; numerous student campus groups banded together to express their objection; and Mary Ann Glendon, prominent Harvard lawyer and head of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, who has just retired as American Ambassador to the Vatican, notified the university that she would not accept the Laetare Medal just awarded her and which would have been given at commencement. It has been a long time since I can recall a similar popular uprising on the part of Catholics.
Many of those who complained to Father Jenkins noted that in 2004 the Catholic bishops of the United States had issued a statement saying, “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.” (“Catholics in Political Life”) Father Jenkins, in a letter to members of Notre Dame’s Board of Trustees, argued that since the document was addressed to “Catholics,” and since Barack Obama is not a Catholic, the document would not apply to the Notre Dame situation. The 55 bishops who responded all bore witness that they had a different understanding of the intent of the document.
There were Catholic supporters of the Notre Dame decision. Father Richard O’Brien (as you would expect), retired professor of theology at Notre Dame, in his latest syndicated column growled: “The predictable flak (came) from the Catholic right, for whom abortion is the only moral issue that counts … It was clearly a coup for the university; President Obama was well-advised to accept the invitation … Although he won the majority of Catholic votes in the recent election, he also continues to be the object of criticism from some of the most conservative members of the Catholic hierarchy in the U.S., whose dioceses happen to be in states that supported candidate Obama…” What a cynical judgment.
This brief resume of recent events does not reveal the whole story. It is the worry of many that Notre Dame is gradually being secularized and losing its distinctly Catholic identity. This is a particular concern since Notre Dame is in the view of most Catholics the premier Catholic institute of higher learning in the United States. Critics point out that Father Jenkins has repeatedly allowed the presentation of “The V… Monologues” (a pro-lesbian film involving seduction) in the past several years and the “Queer Film Festival” (which has had two name changes more recently). Furthermore, Father Jenkins admits that the Catholic faculty of Notre Dame has dropped from 85 percent in the 1970’s to about 50 percent currently (and will continue to drop).
But there is another factor that should be noted. In 1961, the former president of Notre Dame, Father Theodore Hesburgh, CSC, initiated a series of meetings that culminated in the issuance of the “Land O’Lakes Statement,” a guiding document for many Catholic colleges and universities. The statement declared: “To perform its teaching and research functions effectively, the Catholic university must have a true autonomy and academic freedom in the face of the authority of any kind, lay or clerical, external to the academic community itself.” This was understood as a call for freedom from church and episcopal influence. Pope John Paul II’s document in 1990 Ex Corde Ecclesiae (From the Heart of the Church) can be seen, at least in part, as a corrective to tendencies in the Land O’Lake’s Statement. But it seems that the original understanding is still in Father Jenkins purview.
There are divisions in the Catholic Church in the United States. The Notre Dame affair reveals the alienation that has occurred between a number of institutions of higher learning and the church. Bishop D’Arcy stated the fundamental reason for this — the preference of the schools for “prestige over truth.”
Father John A. Leies, SM, STD, is president emeritus of St. Mary’s University and was formerly head of the Theology Department there.