University of Notre Dame invites Obama to speak at 2009 graduation commencement

At the East side of the Sacred Heart basilica at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN there is a sculpture that proclaims "In memory of the innocent victims of abortion". The statue was erected by the Notre Dame Knights of Columbus in 2000 and stands in defiance to those, such as the ACLU, who would demand that such statues be removed from public Universities in this country.

This statue not only signifies the advantage that the private, Catholic, University has as being immune from such dangerous foolishness of the ACLU, but also professes one of Catholicism's and the United States' main tenets: that human life is our most cherished, God given, unalienable, right.

The University of Notre Dame and their president, Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., have shown their willingness to dilute this fundamental belief by inviting Barack Obama to deliver the commencement address to this year's graduating class. Barack Obama, through his public actions, has shown that he does not respect this God given right. In the Illinois State Senate Obama sponsored infanticide by voting 3 times to allow children that survived abortion procedures to be denied life sustaining health care. In addition, Obama in his early days as POTUS has sponsored overseas abortions with American taxpayer monies and has rescinded President Bush's executive order to ban federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.

As a ND graduate and a Catholic, I am outraged by the University's invitation to Obama to speak at the commencement and by the awarding of an honorary degree to Barack Obama. There are also numerous other Catholics, alumni and other persons who agree with me as a petition has surfaced to express this outrage.

I am outraged not only for the University's "looking the other way" attitude by this invitation to Obama, but also by the honor bestowed upon him with the honorary doctorate degree. This cheapens the degree conferred upon all real ND graduates by awarding a degree to a person who thinks that there are 58 United States, who believes that proper tire inflation will yield oil savings equal to what can be harvested from U.S. resources, who compares a modern day SUV to the Ford Model T on efficiency, and who states that the "profit to earnings" ratios in the stock market make now a good time to invest. Maybe Obama will need some remedial education before receiving his degree from Notre Dame.

I also wonder if the University will feel compelled to cover the statue pictured here for Obama's visit as an olive branch of political correctness offered to those that might be offended by the statue's message. Heck, maybe Fr. Jenkins should extend an invitation to Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's pastor, to give one of his fiery speeches at Notre Dame's Grotto as a pre-commencement rally.