Did Obama Bring Hope to Notre Dame?

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Below I have provided the last several paragraphs form an article in "Catholic Culture" where the author shares his insights into the significance of this past weekend's commencement address at Notre Dame by President Obama.

~~John Cronin~~


Catholic Culture

By: Phil Lawler

With the invitation to President Obama, the administrators under the Golden
Dome confirmed what perceptive observers had known for a generation: Notre Dame
judges as the world judges.

The White House carries enormous prestige. The fact that its current
occupant promotes policies inimical to the Catholic faith is an afterthought.

The conflict between what a Catholic university should be and what Notre
Dame had become-- the "disconnect," to use the popular term-- was suddenly too
great to overlook. So over the past several weeks more than 80 American bishops
have clearly, explicitly stated that Notre Dame was wrong to honor President
Obama at commencement. This display of episcopal leadership is completely
unprecedented, at least in my lifetime. After so many years of silence-- a
silence that appeared to give tacit consent--dozens of bishops have chastised
the leaders of a major Catholic institution for their failure to uphold the
faith.

President Obama's appearance at Notre Dame may be forgotten by secular
essayists; the event may be mentioned only in the footnotes of American
political history. But it could be a major turning point in the history of
American Catholicism.

Will this be the incident that finally roused the American hierarchy from
its slumber? Will this be the moment at which Catholic educators are forced to
confront their responsibilities, to mold their schools into institutions that
respect and promote Catholic truth once again? Will Catholic bishops and
Catholic institutions make the commitment to challenge popular attitudes, brave
public opposition, and resolve to transform our society?

We can hope. We can pray. We can build on the strong statements issued by
our bishops in these past weeks, and apply the logic of those statements to
other institutions, other conflicts.

Yes, President Obama's appearance brought hope to Notre Dame. Not in the
way he intended.