Notre Dame students express outrage over Joe Biden being honored
A Cardinal New Society report summarizes that a “contingent of 89 students published a letter in the University of Notre Dame’s student newspaper in protest to the University’s announcement on March 5 that Vice President Joe Biden will be honored with ‘the oldest and most prestigious honor accorded to American Catholics’ due to his support of ‘abortion and same-sex marriage advocate.’
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“As students of this University, some of whom will graduate in May, we are disappointed Notre Dame has failed in this instance to live up to its Catholic mission,” the students stated. “We deserve to see the Laetare Medal given to an American Catholic who merits it by having served as an outstanding example for Catholics and having performed real service to the Church in this country.”
Notre Dame announced that former Speaker of the House John Boehner and Biden would be honored during the 2016 commencement ceremonies in celebration of “respectful dialogue,” “compromise” and “working for the common good” in opposition to the “toxic political environment” of our time.
The Cardinal New Society report outlined the opposition to the move and remarks from Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne – South Bend, Ind., where Note Dame is located, who severely criticized the University’s decision to honor Biden, saying the controversial choice could “provoke scandal” by giving the impression “that one can be ‘a good Catholic’ while also supporting or advocating for positions that contradict our fundamental moral and social principles and teachings”
In a statement condemning Notre Dame’s decision, The Cardinal Newman Society pointed out that Catholic Biden has compromised his fidelity to Church teaching on intrinsic evils far too many times in his decades of public service in the interest of political compromise. Biden has publicly supported Roe v. Wade and legal abortion, the legal redefinition of marriage to include same-sex couples, taxpayer funding for embryonic stem cell research, and the HHS contraception/sterilization/abortifacient mandate.
“Biden’s positions on all these issues are directly contrary to Church teaching,” wrote the students. “His public service has not been ‘to the Church,’ but largely against the Church.”
Remarking on Biden’s support for the HHS mandate, the students noted, “Notre Dame itself is suing the federal government for relief from this mandate.”
“We object to Notre Dame’s decision to honor Vice President Biden with the Laetare Medal. Giving the award to Speaker Boehner at the same time does not alleviate the scandal committed by the University’s blatant disregard for the injunction of the Catholic bishops,” the students wrote, referring to the U.S. bishops’ 2004 document “Catholics in Political Life.”
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photo Matt Pascucci
Hopefully these students will have the courage to skip the convocation.