|
|
AN OPEN LETTER TO TWO PRESIDENTS
Posted on the Diocese of Brownsville, TX
website (
www.cdob.org )
Bishop Raymundo J. Peña
Diocese of Brownsville, TX
April 24, 2009
This letter is addressed to the President of the
United States, Barack Obama, and to the
president of Notre Dame University, Father John
Jenkins. It is written in response to the fact
that Father Jenkins has invited Barack Obama to
be Notre Dame’s Commencement speaker on May 17,
2009, at which time the university will bestow
on him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.
Father Jenkins, what you have done is in direct
violation of the U.S. Bishops 2004 document on
Catholics in Public Life, which states that
Catholic institutions are not to bestow honors
on, or provide speaking platforms to, anyone who
stands in public opposition to the Church’s
moral doctrines, particularly those which defend
the sanctity of human life from conception until
natural death. The prestige that the president
will lend to your commencement is not sufficient
reason to disregard these principles. There are
numerous prominent public figures distinguished
for their moral rectitude and record of public
service from which you could have drawn.
Cardinal Francis George, Archbishop of Chicago
and current president of the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops, has urged faithful Catholics
to “do what you are supposed to be doing: to
call, to email, to write letters, to express
what’s in your heart about this.”
By now, you have already heard from dozens of
bishops, presidents of other Catholic
universities, numerous alumni, and well over a
325,000 people across the nation, speaking
against the action you have taken. Surely their
collective voice has made it clear that they
consider your action to be scandalously
inconsistent with Notre Dame’s symbolic mission
to showcase how Catholic faith can positively
influence modern life and culture. Why have you
refused to meet with twelve university student
groups, who have asked to talk with you about
your choice?
I join my voice to this growing chorus of
protesters, and I encourage Valley Catholics to
express what is in their hearts to you, Father
Jenkins, by calling you at (574) 631-5000,
faxing you at (574) 631-2770, emailing you at
president@nd.edu, or mailing a personal letter
to you at 400 Main Building, Notre Dame, IN
46556.
Father Jenkins, I pray that you use your office
not only to maintain and enhance the academic
excellence of the university, but also and above
all to preserve and promote Notre Dame’s
Catholic identity and mission.
Mr. Obama, I joined in our nation’s celebration
of the historic significance of your election to
the presidency, and did so with a glad heart. I
support you fully in your efforts to assist our
nation’s poor, and to improve our relations with
other nations. In particular, I thank you for
putting an end to harsh interrogation techniques
that have rightly been classified in the past as
torture. Such behavior is beneath our dignity as
a nation; it is intrinsically wrong to subject
any human being to torment simply on the
utilitarian argument that good may possibly
follow.
At the same time, I recognized that there is a
deep divide between you and the majority of
Americans on the paramount moral issue of our
time: the right to life vs. the claimed right to
abortion. A consistent ethic of life requires us
to protect the sanctity of every human life from
conception until natural death!
In the short time you have been in office, you
have taken a number of steps that have been
inconsistent with an ethic of life. You have
rescinded the "Mexico City policy" and
authorized the use of our tax dollars to fund
international groups that promote abortion
around the world. You have begun to eliminate
the "conscience clause" that protects doctors
and nurses from being forced to take part in
abortions. You have provided federal funding for
embryonic stem cell research that involves the
killing of human beings at their embryonic stage
of development. You have renewed funding for the
United Nations group (UNFPA) that helped China
enforce its "one child" policy of forced
sterilization and forced abortions. You promised
to sign into law the Freedom of Choice Act,
which is meant to strike down every pro-life law
enacted in the various states, including laws
which require notification (but not consent) of
the parents of a minor seeking an abortion,
mandatory 24-hour waiting periods, mandatory
dissemination of information on the physical and
emotional risks a woman incurs in having an
abortion, and the provision of information on
alternatives to abortion. Mr. President, less
than 18 months ago, Pope Benedict XVI canceled a
speaking engagement at La Sapienza University in
Rome, simply because some of the students
reacted negatively to the announcement of his
coming. Rather than risk throwing the university
into turmoil, the pope humbly withdrew. I
respectfully ask you to consider freely
withdrawing your commitment to speak at Notre
Dame University, for the same reason.
I offer you my prayers, and I pledge my
cooperation on all that you do to foster the
well-being of our people and the good of the
community of nations. I pray for peace and unity
in our nation, conscious of the fact that we can
never know peace or unity in a culture of death,
but only in a culture that celebrates, promotes,
and protects every human life at every stage of
its development. I ask you not to exclude from
the protection of law the most defenseless
members of our national family – the unborn. May
God grant you strength and wisdom to do the
right thing.
+Bishop Raymundo J. Peña
http://www.cdob.org/bishop/column/2009/4-24-09.htm
|
|
