Should President Obama decline the invitation to give this year's commencement address at Notre Dame?

Roman Catholic scholars are among the most thoughtful on the planet. It's thehierarchy that can stumble. Consider Hans Kung, John Dominic Crossan, Matthew Fox and others. By speaking at the Notre Dame commensment President Obama reinforces the idea that scholastic openess is more than good form, it's essential today.

People who ask and then do not understand what the big deal is - obviously don't understanding the Moral teaching of the Church. Abortion is intrinsically evil! There is never a good reason for taking the life of an unborn child PERIOD. END OF STORY. A Catholic University or a person claiming to be Catholic and then not following the moral teaching of the Church, is no longer Catholic. It is not a pick and choose your dogma religion. Do some research as I did with an open heart and learn what the teaching is and then try and live it! In this relativistic culture it is one of the hardest things to do, but worth more than what this world has to offer - which is turning against God, his Church and his holy priests.

God is Love! This is also a time of his mercy so turn to him now or you will face him as the Just Judge.

I just wished that Catholics understood their own theology. We have the RIGHT to DISSENT. There is such a thing as thing as the sensum fidelium. The fact is many, many Catholics dissent from MANY sexual teachings of the majesterium. Rather reminds me of the time that the lower clergy and the laity kept the Church faithful in face of the Arian heresy held by a majority of the bishops of the 3rd Century - including Rome... Perhaps the bishops should LISTEN and STUDY human BIOLOGY more and speak less of what they know almost nothing about... The bishops should also realize that we live in a pluralistic, secular society. God save us from a theocracy! Muslim, Christian or any other religion! Christianity has long moved beyond the medieval mindset. Bishops please take note! Thank heavens the bishops can't have us burned at the stake anymore at least...

Jesus chose rough-around-the-edges men and the worst woman prostitute to be his closest friends while here on earth. Are we getting away from what He tried to teach us?

As a Double Domer - BA'88, MA'92, and fourth generation ND person, I understand the institution of Notre Dame, and even have the huge non-institutional 'soft' community of Notre Dame alumni and subway alumni. That much broader, much deeper community holds Notre Dame in such regard precisely because it does 'stand for something,' and that something is unabashedly Catholic. The problem with Fr. John Jenkin's invitation - and this was pretty much his own personal doing, not that of any large committee - is that it does dilute that unabashed character of Notre Dame as Catholic. It suggests that many of these issues are even up for debate. The Catholic Church has been consistent for centuries that regarding issues of Life, they are not. This is not a second order issue of moral consideration upon which people of good conscience can disagree as to means or even outcome - issues such as celibacy, gay rights, nuclear disarmament, the wars in the Middle East, immigration, or any of dozens of huge issues. It is about Life, and the First Order demand for justice that adheres to that right and obligation. Obama sees it from a point of view that through most of history - and likely in future history when abortion itself will be medically unnecessary - the Church regards as barbaric and callous.

The rift this controversy has uncovered is generational. Notre Dame's centrality to American Catholicism is unravelling, and Catholicism in general among American Catholics is unravelling. It simply doesn't matter as much as it used to, either morally or socially. Fr. Jenkins has simply inadvertantly put a spotlight upon it. The decline of the mainline Protestant denominations - Episcopalian, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran - is a harbinger of this decline and process of secularization. Catholics sense the coming "Anglicanization" of their church - the point at which "tolerance and diversity" trumps everything over actually standing for a coherent set of values. Notre Dame's Sacred Heart Basilica is one of the loveliest churches in America - a shrine to generations of Notre Dame Catholics adhering to comparably similar beliefs and sentiments through ages. The process of being 'tolerant', like mainline Protestants, will have Sacred Heart little more than a gilded concert hall for Mozart masses within a generation, just as so many Protestant cathedrals are functionally today. That is what stirs the sadness among Notre Dame's broader community.

as a former catholic i find it ridiculous that these folks are as ignorant as they are...but war and the death penalty are ok, right....what century are we in anyway?

i left the catholic church years ago for their outdated approach to life...hypocritical to say the least...these protesters should get a like...and oh, by the way god is not GREAT.

OMG. These Catholics who are protesting Obama's speech because of his views on abortion had nothing to say when George W. spoke, even though he presided over dozens of executions and capital punishment is also against Catholic doctrine. Why weren't they squawking about that? I worked for a Cathoic school for 21 years and let me tell you, they are the biggest hypocrites in the world in my opinion. Not just on this issue, but many, many others.

One of the hypocrisies that I experienced at the Catholic school where I worked was it was made clear that if single female teachers became pregnant, they would be fired because of having sex before marriage. What about the male teachers, all of whom were not virgins I can assure you? They couldn't get pregnant so because there was no visual proof of their fornication, they, like all men as opposed to femal teachers and all women in the Catholic church, never had this threat hanging over their heads. What the????? So, I was single when I worked there. If I had gotten pregnant, I guess the only way I could keep from being fired would be to have an abortion right?????????????????????

Why don't all the complaining Catholics and especially Pat Buchanan show the same anger towards the Catholic Church in Ireland and it's abuse of children that was detailed in Ireland Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse report? Somehow I doubt you will. Bunch of hypocrites!

Why don't all the complaining Catholics and especially Pat Buchanan show the same anger towards the Catholic Church in Ireland and it's abuse of children that was detailed in Ireland Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse report? Somehow I doubt you will. Bunch of hypocrites!