Notre Dame Redux

The Summer 2009 issue of Notre Dame Magazine has four articles in it regarding the 2009 Commencement. None of them is pro-life.
The first article was written by Richard Conklin who at one time was Father Hesburgh’s chief PR/ Apologist, but is now retired. (He is the Spin Doctor Emeritus). Notre Dame must be really concerned to bring him out of retirement to deal – in part – with this situation. What he has written is mostly a rehash of previous arguments made by the University. However, he is good at throwing in little phrases which, almost subliminally, are meant to denigrate the opposition and elevate his position on the issue. Hence the Cardinal Newman Society is characterized as “. . . a self appointed guardian of orthodoxy in Catholic higher education.” On the other hand, he identifies The Tablet from which he quotes favorably as “The respected English Catholic publication.”
Mr. Conklin completes his article with this quote from Father Hesburgh, “Well, if you have a disagreement with someone, you may as well have him over to your place.” Obviously Notre Dame has no disagreement with President Obama. However, it does have one with pro-life people. We are waiting for our invitation and if it comes, whatever happens can’t be any worse than the handcuffing and prosecution that took place in May.
The second article is disingenuous in the extreme. It is written by R. Bruce Dold who is the editorial page editor of the Chicago Tribune. His perspective for his essay is that of a proud father of a 2009 Notre Dame graduate. What he neglects to tell us is that the Chicago Tribune in an editorial written by him during the 2008 campaign endorsed Barrack Obama for the presidency. As a matter of fact, Mr. Dold, without denial from him, has been classified as a pro-abortion Catholic by Tom Roesser. Mr. Dold’s article deserves absolutely no consideration for obvious reasons.
The last two articles are written by Kerry Temple and John Nagy who are the editor and associate editor, respectively, of Notre Dame Magazine. Suffice it to say that they know which side their bread is buttered on. Their articles are basically worthless except that Temple, whose essay is titled Defining Moment, and is accompanied by a picture of President Obama shaking hands with Father Hesburgh, writes the following: “The occasion was historic. In his first spring in office, America’s first African-American president was at Notre Dame, and he paid tribute to the last living member of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, CSC, the principal architect of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964.”
IS THAT WHAT ALL OF THIS WAS ABOUT?