Gut Check

YOUR VIEW: Will bishops sanction Notre Dame?

By James T. Grady

An excerpt.

That is, until now, when Notre Dame, acting through its president, chose to confer an honorary doctor of laws upon President Obama. This is what created the frustration among Catholics, particularly pro-life Catholics, who believe that Catholicism is a religion of "life" and that human life begins in a woman's womb and is just as precious before as well as it is after its birth.

This is not about eating fish on Fridays, or attending Mass on Sunday, or even the future ordination of women to the priesthood. This is a serious matter central to what is known as Catholic culture and the Catholic identity. This is why nearly 80 cardinals, archbishops and bishops joined the more than 360,000 Catholics who by online petition opposed the Notre Dame "scandal."

This is not to suggest that Notre Dame stands alone in its disregard of the bishops' mandate. Indeed, close to home at Boston College, Father Kenneth Himes O.F.M,. chairman of the school's Theology Department, of all things, has issued a statement to the Boston Globe supportive of President Jenkins' alleged exercise of free expression, even if that included flying in the face of the Catholic hierarchy. It should be noted that this is the same Father Himes who in 2006 wrote to the B.C. faculty a letter objecting to an honorary degree being awarded to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "on moral principle and practical moral judgment." Isn't this ironic?

Link (here) to the full op-ed piece

More on Fr. Kenneth Himes, OFM (here) , (here) , (here) and (here)