CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Pro-life advocates said the University of Notre Dame's recent invitation to President Barack Obama to speak on campus is a chance to participate in public discourse, unlike the school\u2019s welcoming of Obama as commencement speaker in 2009.<\/p>\n\t\u201cOne is a scandal and the other is entirely appropriate,\u201d said Eric Scheidler, executive director of the Pro-Life Action League.<\/p>\n
\tIn a recent press release, Notre Dame explained that it has invited both Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to speak at the school during the campaign in order to \u201cprovide the campus community a firsthand impression of the contenders and their messages.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tIt noted that the university was continuing a 60-year long tradition in offering Notre Dame as a \u201cforum for serious political discussion\u201d by the presidential candidates.<\/p>\n
\tThe invitation drew some concern from those who feared it would be a repeat of the university\u2019s 2009 decision to invite Obama as the commencement speaker and award him an honorary degree. Numerous bishops spoke out against the decision and a petition protesting it drew more than 100,000 signatures, pointing to the president\u2019s adamant support for abortion without limits.<\/p>\n
\tObama has also recently announced support for redefining marriage to include same-sex couples. In addition, his administration has come under fire for issuing a mandate that requires employers to offer health insurance plans covering contraception, sterilization and early abortion drugs. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\tNotre Dame has joined more than 80 other schools, dioceses, charitable organizations and private businesses in filing lawsuits over the mandate, arguing that it violates their constitutionally-protected right to religious freedom.<\/p>\n
\tScheidler, who led hundreds of pro-lifers in protesting Obama\u2019s commencement speech at Notre Dame, believes that the current invitation is an \u201centirely different kind of situation than what we saw in 2009.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tIn that situation, Obama was presented as \u201ca fitting voice to speak to students about their futures,\u201d while in reality, his adamant support for abortion makes him unfit to do so, he told CNA.<\/p>\n
\tConferring an honorary degree was \u201ctotally outrageous and scandalous from a Catholic perspective,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\tThe \u201cessential difference\u201d in this situation, Scheidler explained, is that the president is not being given an honor in being asked to speak about his political positions in an election year.<\/p>\n
\tRather, Notre Dame is making a claim, on behalf of the Catholic faith, to \u201ca vital place at the table of public discourse,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\tScheidler argued that withdrawing from public discussion of important issues because one or more candidates oppose Church teaching is \u201cprecisely the wrong response.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHe suggested that Obama would love for Catholics to refuse to have any engagement with pro-abortion culture.<\/p>\n
\tIn fact, he said, the problem with the contraception mandate is that it is \u201cdriving Catholics out of the public square,\u201d and the faithful should not willingly cooperate by removing themselves from public debate.<\/p>\n
\tHaving filed a lawsuit against the administration and its mandate, the university has made it clear where it stands on the subject, he said, and it would be very difficult to read the invitation as an endorsement.<\/p>\n
\tThe current situation is \u201cplainly\u201d different from 2009, agreed William Dempsey, founding president and chairman of Project Sycamore, a group of Notre Dame alumni concerned about \u201cpatterns of secularization persisting on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThey\u2019re not conferring an honorary degree on Obama this time,\u201d he told CNA, and they are not presenting Obama as someone to emulate.<\/p>\n
\tWhile Project Sycamore as an organization does not have an official position on the matter, Dempsey said that he believes it is generally good for Catholic universities to be part of the public debate, inviting speakers with differing views as long as they are not being honored or given a platform to oppose Church teaching.<\/p>\n
\tWhen deciding on speakers, it is important to adhere to the bishops\u2019 policies, he explained. Beyond this, each individual case must be \u201cdecided with prudence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tIn this case, Dempsey said, the invitation does \u201craise some questions as to whether it is prudent and wise\u201d to offer an invitation to Obama when the school is \u201clocked in litigation\u201d with his administration over the HHS mandate.<\/p>\n
\tHe cautioned that consideration must be given to what message will be conveyed by inviting someone who is a \u201csignificant adversary\u201d in matters of fundamental religious liberty.<\/p>\n
\tIn addition, he noted, if Obama accepts the invitation this late in the campaign, it will only be because he \u201cthinks it will advance his political stature in this election,\u201d and the university may want to consider the possibility that it may be aiding the president in his bid for re-election.<\/p>\n
\tStill, Dempsey said, it would be hard to read the invitation as an endorsement given the similar invitation granted to Romney, and the prudential considerations at play in this instance are not the same as the more fundamental concerns raised in 2009.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThis is quite different,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\n
![](\"https:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\")
<\/a>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews\/~4\/nmlajfUVi8c\")
<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington D.C., Sep 28, 2012 \/ 04:05 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pro-life advocates said the University of Notre Dame's recent invitation to President Barack Obama to speak on campus is a chance to participate in public discourse, unlike the school&rsquo…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\n
Pro-lifers say Notre Dame invite to Obama is different this time<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Washington D.C., Sep 28, 2012 \/ 04:05 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pro-life advocates said the University of Notre Dame's recent invitation to President Barack Obama to speak on campus is a chance to participate in public discourse, unlike the school&rsquo...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pro-lifers-say-notre-dame-invite-to-obama-is-different-this-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pro-lifers say Notre Dame invite to Obama is different this time\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Washington D.C., Sep 28, 2012 \/ 04:05 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pro-life advocates said the University of Notre Dame's recent invitation to President Barack Obama to speak on campus is a chance to participate in public discourse, unlike the school&rsquo...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pro-lifers-say-notre-dame-invite-to-obama-is-different-this-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-28T10:05:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pro-lifers-say-notre-dame-invite-to-obama-is-different-this-time\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pro-lifers-say-notre-dame-invite-to-obama-is-different-this-time\/\",\"name\":\"Pro-lifers say Notre Dame invite to Obama is different this time\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-09-28T10:05:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-09-28T10:05:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Washington D.C., Sep 28, 2012 \/ 04:05 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pro-life advocates said the University of Notre Dame's recent invitation to President Barack Obama to speak on campus is a chance to participate in public discourse, unlike the school&rsquo...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pro-lifers-say-notre-dame-invite-to-obama-is-different-this-time\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pro-lifers-say-notre-dame-invite-to-obama-is-different-this-time\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pro-lifers-say-notre-dame-invite-to-obama-is-different-this-time\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pro-lifers say Notre Dame invite to Obama is different this time\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pro-lifers say Notre Dame invite to Obama is different this time","description":"Washington D.C., Sep 28, 2012 \/ 04:05 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pro-life advocates said the University of Notre Dame's recent invitation to President Barack Obama to speak on campus is a chance to participate in public discourse, unlike the school&rsquo...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pro-lifers-say-notre-dame-invite-to-obama-is-different-this-time\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pro-lifers say Notre Dame invite to Obama is different this time","og_description":"Washington D.C., Sep 28, 2012 \/ 04:05 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pro-life advocates said the University of Notre Dame's recent invitation to President Barack Obama to speak on campus is a chance to participate in public discourse, unlike the school&rsquo...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pro-lifers-say-notre-dame-invite-to-obama-is-different-this-time\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2012-09-28T10:05:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pro-lifers-say-notre-dame-invite-to-obama-is-different-this-time\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pro-lifers-say-notre-dame-invite-to-obama-is-different-this-time\/","name":"Pro-lifers say Notre Dame invite to Obama is different this time","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-09-28T10:05:00+00:00","dateModified":"2012-09-28T10:05:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Washington D.C., Sep 28, 2012 \/ 04:05 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pro-life advocates said the University of Notre Dame's recent invitation to President Barack Obama to speak on campus is a chance to participate in public discourse, unlike the school&rsquo...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pro-lifers-say-notre-dame-invite-to-obama-is-different-this-time\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pro-lifers-say-notre-dame-invite-to-obama-is-different-this-time\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pro-lifers-say-notre-dame-invite-to-obama-is-different-this-time\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Pro-lifers say Notre Dame invite to Obama is different this time"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1186\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}