Obama at Notre Dame

Man. I have thought about this a lot, actually, Lacey! :) I have a friend who is a Liberal person politically, and a Catholic, but not really, anymore, as she doesn't go to Mass or believe in a lot of what the Church believes, and she posted a link on Facebook to a blog where the author wrote about Obama at Notre Dame. This guy and I do not agree because he was of the opinion that the Church is somehow contradicting itself on Its' stance about Life Issues and I think that a) the Church is always right and b) they are truly NOT contradicting themselves when it comes to Life issues. I also don't agree that "right wing Catholics" (whatever the hell that is) are the only people offended at the possibility that Obama would receive an honorary degree from a Catholic college.

Now - some conservative Catholics MIGHT be contradicting themselves about Life issues. For example, if you are in line with the Republican party's beliefs, you are probably anti-abortion, and anti-euthenasia, BUT you are probably PRO-death penalty. I do not feel this way, I am not a person who believes in the death penalty and I am a person who believes in life beginning at conception, so I am obviously against abortion. There isn't really a big party, though, for people who think like I do, so what do you do? You have to make a choice and do the best that you can. This varies greatly from person to person, as to what they choose to do. Mostly the Church recommends that you vote your conscience and that it's a moral obligation that we have to vote. But it's hard, it was especially hard for me with this Presidential election.

For the record, I voted for Obama in the primary against Hillary Clinton. I was very excited at the possibility of a Black President and I can say that I was 100% with Chris Rock on why - I thought it was about time and I thought it would be a beautiful thing to say to a young child, no matter what color or race they were, that they could be ANYTHING, even the President of the US! If I were a young black child before Obama, I would think "sure I can, tell me another one". To me it was so much 40 Acres and a Mule before Obama. Also, I read Obama's book a few years ago and I was impressed by him.

Then I read a lot of stuff on Obama and saw several interviews that he did where he talked about abortion. When he was asked in an interview when he felt that life began he said that it was 'above his pay grade'. I was so disappointed - I mean, it's a hard, complicated question and to pay it so little mind was really awful, I thought. He is extremely pro-Choice and goes on and on about abortion being 'safe, rare and legal', but I only could see him voting for measures that made it so far beyond that - and not safe at all for the babies born alive, in the case of a vote that he wanted to make in the Illinois State Senate. I don't know how you can claim to want abortion to be rare, but to demand that it be available to everyone, no matter what their age, and that their parents don't have to know that a young girl is getting surgery, at the very least.

So I had to vote my conscience and not vote for him but I was still excited that he won. I don't consider it my fault that we as a country are in the position that we're in, that we've never had a black President, so I reserve the right to be happy that he is now President. I pray daily that he will have a conversion of heart about Life issues, PARTICULARLY this nonsense about embryonic stem cell research and cloning, which is what all this federal funding of stem cell research is leading to, I firmly believe.

SO now Notre Dame invites him to not only speak at their commencement but to receive an honorary degree and I think it's awful, but I am not surprised at all. I don't even know why Notre Dame considers themselves a Catholic college at all! I was very happy to hear that the Bishop of South Bend wrote eloquently about why he would not be attending the commencement where Obama speaks - I think that is his right and duty.

It's not just that Obama is Pro-Choice - he is a Democrat, NOBODY is surprised that he is Pro Choice. The problem is that he seems to have NO regard for Life at all or for people that might have different beliefs than he does. The most offensive is the Freedom of Choice Act, which scares the hell (!) out of the Catholic church in this country, as well it should. Catholic Hospitals HAVE to have the right to refuse to have abortions performed in them, if they don't, they will have to close. It's also offensive that he is trying (and I guess is going) to get federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, without any care for how many Americans feel about it.

I DO understand the cachet involved with having a sitting President, let alone the first Black president, speak at your college. But we have to stand for something, and this is not it, in my opinion. That said, I really wouldn't look to Notre Dame to set any standards, Catholic-wise. Talk about a Cafeteria Catholic - Notre Dame is the worst, wanting all the good that being a Catholic college does for you without bearing any of the responsibility. Here is an excellent article that better articulates my point.