This coming Sunday, May 31, is the 50th day of Easter, Pentecost Sunday. As the Easter season draws to a close, the church universal celebrates the gift of the Holy Spirit, first poured into the hearts of the Lord’s disciples gathered in that upper room so long ago, and now extended to all baptized and confirmed believers in support of our communion and our evangelizing mission.
Every Pentecost before the gospel is proclaimed, a beautiful Sequence prayer of praise is sung, “Come, Holy Spirit, Come!” In that prayer we ask the Holy Spirit to “shed a ray of light divine… bend the stubborn heart and will… and guide the steps that go astray.” With our whole heart we need to offer this prayer on Pentecost. Recent events at the University of Notre Dame, one of our most prominent Catholic institutions, signal that we need a ray of light divine more than ever since there are too many stubborn hearts and wills among us and countless steps still going astray. The controversy of abortion has not only divided our nation but also our church. How sad it is.
When Notre Dame invited President Obama to its commencement exercises this spring, many people felt it was a wrong decision, including myself. The problem, as far as I was concerned, is the message the church was communicating about its fidelity to our consistent magisterial teaching about the evil of abortion. In the past the president has been very consistent in his advocacy for abortion rights. As a result, many people, including Mary Ann Glendon, the former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican who declined to accept the university’s prestigious Laetare Medal Award as a result of the invitation, questioned the appropriateness of this decision.
Understandably the university wants to have a good relationship with the president and his administration. So too does the entire Catholic community. But some things are more important than a good relationship with those in government, as history has taught us. Ironically, many who favored the invitation felt that protests which resulted from the invitation were inappropriate at best and mean-spirited at worst. I myself am not an advocate of such public protests, but there does come a point when frustration sets in and those promoting justice feel most vulnerable and believe they have no other recourse.
Whether the university likes it or not, the golden dome in South Bend, Ind. has become very much a national symbol of our American Catholic community, just as the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome has become a symbol of the global Catholic community. Bringing the new president on campus must have seemed like a real coup for the university officials who were looking for good press and greater respect among their peers. On the other hand, when the institution seemingly skirts its Catholic philosophical underpinnings and disregards its partnership with the local church in carrying out its evangelizing mission, only disrespect will result in the long run.
The local bishop of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, The Most Rev. John D’Arcy, has been a very good friend and supporter of Notre Dame. He has often spoken out in support of the university when others have been negative. I felt especially saddened about the awkward situation in which he found himself when his own magisterial responsibilities were disregarded. I admire the way he spoke out against this wrong decision without denigrating the reputations of the university and its administration. I also felt bad for the graduates and their families who do take seriously our church’s teaching about respect for life and found the graduation celebration a time of confusion and unrest on campus.
Yes, those who oppose church teaching should not necessarily be excluded from dialogue at a Catholic university. The venue of graduation, however, does not seem like the appropriate one when most folks are there because of the graduates. Any suggestion that they could choose to stay away seems unfair and unreasonable. Once the invitation was given to the president, given the respect we should have for his office, it would have been hard to withdraw the invitation. I had hoped the president himself might have decided to stay away. But, good politician that he is, he took advantage of this opportunity to mingle with Catholics for a day and have his say.
In his address to the graduates, the president called for reasonable discourse about the ethical principles that govern respect for all human life from conception to natural death. In dealing with intrinsic evils, like abortion, the only discourse that seems reasonable is one that promotes conversion, dramatic changes of mind and heart. Such was the discourse of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when he spoke out against racism. A commencement address and an honorary degree don’t look at all like reasonable discourse. They look more like public affirmation of the speaker and his message.
These judgments about the president are being made on the basis of past consistent positions he has advocated. Can the presidency change him? We certainly hope so. Many of his followers seem unschooled in fundamental humanitarian ethical principles governing all human life. Those who courageously oppose pro-choice politics not only have a right to speak out against such matters but also, as people of faith, have a responsibility to pray for the necessary changes in mind and heart.
There are those who delight in pointing out that many Catholics support the university’s invitation to the president. This should not be too surprising since more Catholics than not voted for this president. Does this signal they were pro-choice? Probably not, but it does signal that respect for life was not viewed as critical as the cost of war and a weakened economy. Furthermore, Catholics are traditionally lined up more with the president’s political party than with the opposition.
In all of this, there is great concern that all the hostility and ridicule foisted upon our previous president from one side of the political spectrum will now be transferred to this new president by the other side. We can’t let that happen or we shall tear ourselves apart as a nation. Respect for the office of presidency necessarily involves some respect for the person himself who holds the office. Disagreements about such serious matters need to be articulated but always with civility and charity. The pro-choice mentality is one of the most troublesome signals that in recent decades our steps on the road to human progress have gone far astray and hearts and wills have become quite stubborn as a result of the entrenchment of misguided notions about the extent and true meaning of freedom.
Our church needs the advocacy of communities like the University of Notre Dame in its effort to promote the gospel of life now more than ever. Many of us regret that too many people will interpret this moment as a disengagement on the part of Notre Dame and some of our people from our Catholic evangelizing mission. As we pray to the Holy Spirit this weekend, we are more aware than ever that we do indeed need the Holy Spirit to come among us once again and “shed a ray of light divine” on this very thorny issue. God bless.
