Notre Dame Response

There's been a lot in the paper about Notre Dame inviting President Obama to their commencement tomorrow. There's also been a lot of stupid commentary. Several news commentators think that some "rogue Catholics" are trying to tell the US president how to think, even though he's not Catholic. No, we are not. We are asking a Catholic University to uphold Catholic teaching. We are not asking non-Catholics to do anything. The bishops and archbishops are shepherds of Catholics, not everyone, and they know that. By keeping silent, they are letting their flock be mislead. They've been patient a long time, perhaps thinking people would come around, but it's only gotten worse. Many people think that the few students who've decided to protest and not attend their own graduation are a bunch of lunatics. They are not. They apparently went to a Catholic university on purpose, not because it was The Fighting Irish. It's not just for the football, people.

I don't know where this is going, but it's going somewhere. We are not infringing on others' opinions, we are simply asking Catholic institutions to BE Catholic, and if they don't want to be, then please feel free to leave. Flaunting the request of bishops is not at all the job of a university president. I know academia has gotten into the habit of disobedience, but it has got to stop.

Another fun thing I keep seeing in comments after news articles is that "the Catholic Church's biggest worry should be that it will be a much smaller church if all these people leave." YES! It WOULD be! I don't remember the Bible asking us to keep a certain number of followers of Christ. It asks us to be faithful. If we cannot do that, there are many other churches to belong to, and that's ok. If that's their journey of faith, let them follow it. What I'm tired of is people trying to "liberalize" the Church. It's the body of Christ! Christ isn't modern enough because he doesn't go along with what the world wants? Since when??
Anyway, I'm done with that soapbox... for now. Let us continue to be "a sign of contradiction."

Please enjoy this video from NDresponse.com