Conservative Catholic Groups Fueling Obama Notre Dame Scandal

[babylonsister]

Conservative Catholic Groups Fueling Obama Notre Dame Scandal
Anti-Abortion Groups Decry Obama's Graduation Speech, Majority of Catholic Voters Support President

By David Weigel 4/24/09 6:00 AM


President Barack Obama (WDCpix)


Within hours of the news that President Barack Obama would give the commencement address to this year’s graduates of Notre Dame University in South Bend, Ind., angry opponents of the decision founded a new Website, NotreDameScandal.com, where they could register their complaints and sign a petition asking the school to “halt this travesty.”

“Notre Dame has chosen prestige over principles, popularity over morality,” reads the petition. “Whatever may be President Obama’s admirable qualities, this honor comes on the heels of some of the most anti-life actions of any American president, including expanding federal funding for abortions and inviting taxpayer-funded research on stem cells from human embryos.” Within days, tens of thousands of people had signed on.

“Virtually every media story for the first few weeks of this scandal cited our site and our petition,” said Patrick Reilly, the president and founder of the Cardinal Newman Society, in an interview with TWI. “There’s tremendous outpouring of support for the students who are opposing this outrage at Notre Dame. Some of them have said they’ll have nothing to do with Notre Dame if this goes forward.”

After eight years of only occasional disagreements with a Republican president, conservative Catholic activists have moved into the trenches to oppose Obama. They cite his repeal of the Mexico City rule, or “global gag rule” that banned providing federal money to international groups that promote or provide abortions, his stem cell compromise, and his cabinet nominees like Kathleen Sebelius, the pro-choice governor of Kansas, to argue that he is the most pro-abortion rights politician ever to ascend to the job. They are bolstered by new media outlets and organizations that did not exist at their current strength in 2000, the last time Catholics had to contend with a pro-choice president. At the same time, they’re encouraged by a series of high-profile statements from church leaders on political morality–including the 2004 declarations by bishops that they would deny communion to then-presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), and Pope Benedict XIV’s 2005 speech attacking the “dictatorship of relativism.” A small number of conservative groups, and a more newsworthy group of conservative bishops — 42 so far — are turning the Notre Dame speech into a watershed moment, while obscuring the fact that the president enjoys majority support from Catholics.

more...

http://washingtonindependent.com/40303/few-conservative-catholic-groups-fuel-obama-notre-dame-scandal

[ShortnFiery]

1. I bet they have "an opus dei."

:evilgrin:

[SharonAnn]

2. But of course! Who ever thought it was any different?

They are Catholic right-wingers, but right-wingers all the same.

[onehandle]

3. "Majority of Catholic Voters Support President"

Yep.

[WhiteTara]

4. conservative = racist

what a code word...pffft!

[Peace Patriot]

5. Funny they don't mention military spending, U.S. bombs killing dozens of civilians in

Afghanistan every week, the occupation of Iraq, possession of enough nuclear weapons to kill life on earth tens times over, the trillion dollar bailout of the rich, and the utter lack of accountability for leaders who tortured hundreds of prisoners, slaughtered a hundred thousand people to get their oil, spied on everyone, broke hundreds of fundamental laws, and stole billions from the U.S. in war profiteer contracts.

These are all Barack Obama's responsibility as well, to one extent or another. Love him or not, we are not going to see any relief from mindboggling military budgets--even while schools suffer, children go without food and clothing, and parents despair over loss of work, medical bills, loss of their house and many other worries; we are not going to see a reduction of nuclear weapons any time soon--the global corporate predators who really run the U.S. need them for bully power, with all attendant risks of ENDING all life on earth; we are clearly not going to see accountability for Bush Junta crimes, some of them of the most heinous nature. Obama could be criticized for any of these "anti-life" policies, but no, all fascist Catholics worry about--minority that they are--is women's rights over their own bodies. It is the sole, sick focus of their 'morality.' When they start agitating against war, against nuclear weapons, against torture, against the impoverishment of millions, then maybe they should be taken seriously, as an advocacy group. But their position is so hypocritical--and so clearly a male dominance thing in a Church that preaches that women are not worthy to be priests because they don't have a prick like Jesus (yup, a recent Pope said that)--they cannot be taken seriously. They are just jerks.

(Note: I have always admired the Catholic Worker movement--the movement founded by Dorothy Day, and which is still thriving--for their consistent position against nuclear weapons, war, poverty and abortion. They also live with the poorest of the poor and feed the poor, daily. They are very good people. They are not hypocrites, and not into dominance games.)