---

Letters to the Editor - Notre Dame and Development and Peace Controversies

RE: The Notre Dame/Barack Obama controversy

We wanted to let Ms. Gilbert know she did a great job with her article on Cardinal George and Notre Dame.  We have linked to it on the Chatterbox section of our website.

Susan A. Fani
Director of Communications
Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, United States
_____________________

Dear Editor,

Unlike many Catholics I'm not impressed w/ 15 Bishops expressing their dismay that Obama has been invited to Notre Dame (ND).  Their job, which somewhere down the road they forgot, is to protect the Church.  

According to Cardinal George, "Whatever else is clear, it is clear that Notre Dame didn't understand what it means to be Catholic when they issued this invitation,"  Well, since ND doesn't understand what it means to be Catholic, whose fault is it?

Instead of Bishops writing letters, they need to 1) Yank Fr Jenkins from his office - why have someone in charge of a Catholic university - when HE doesn't  understand what it means to be Catholic. 2) ND will NO longer have the shield of being a Catholic university - remove it's Catholic identity.

Instead of Bishops worrying about offending people - they should worry more about offending our Lord who died for His Church.

And Catholics need to stop writing to Fr Jenkins.  Write to Rome, because our Bishops are not going to put up a fight. And in the meantime, the souls of uncatechized Catholics will perish due to their lack of courage. 

Sincerely,
Fabiola Gergerich, United States   
_____________________

The news that Notre Dame University is welcoming President Obama, the most pro abortion politician in our history, to speak at its commencement has surprised and saddened me beyond words. I understand that the university has made the comment that they anticipated the response of objections which they are dismissing. What is happening in this country? I understand fully that our government is now almost completely overshadowed by a relativist and morally corrupt agenda.

Why is the most prestigious Catholic university welcoming the signpost of abortion to give their  young graduates and future leaders the message of inspiration. Am I mistaken or is this the most morally bankrupt precedent our dear Catholic leadership has offered. What can and should we do to let our voices cry out with outrage. Our future, our babies are being torn asunder with no apologies.
 
Teresa-Mary Baran
Sausalito, California
_____________________

Dear LifeSiteNews and its readership,

As a practicing Catholic, I do not agree with many of President Barak Obama's political viewpoints, and was not a supporter of his in the latest election. However, as a graduating senior of the University of Notre Dame, I was excited to hear he would be coming to the speak at my commencement. I was thrilled by the idea of the President of the United States of America recognizing the prestige of the University which I love so much by his appearance. Additionally, I thought of the words of encouragement and hope for which President Obama is so well known, precisely the speech demanded of a graduation ceremony.

While I was not surprised by the controversy this choice generated, I was surprised by the number of public petitions signed and protests planned over this event. Frankly, I was affronted by the idea that the general public should impose itself on a private, and for me very personal and very special event. The senior class and doubtlessly the accompanying graduate students at the University of Notre Dame are having their own very healthy and very intelligent debate over our commencement speaker, but I would like to remind those who are neither seniors nor graduate students at our university that this is our college graduation. Please respect the significance this ceremony holds for each of us, and respect our right to the opportunity to personally witness a speech from the President of the United States and accept his honoring of our achievements here at the University of Notre Dame.

Marissa Pitterle
United States

_________________________________________________

RE: Development and Peace Controversy

Thank you for your excellent articles on Development & Peace.

I haven't given them money for years, as I always believe they were wrongly taking money from the Church's poor box to distribute to their political friends.

They need to be reminded that they ought to have a preferential option for the poor, and the very poor are the unborn.

You will note that their brochure for the 2009 campaign called "I Believe" shows the distribution of funds and it does not appear to include feeding the hungry, orphanages or schools. The only objective that comes close to the traditional relief of poverty seems to be "emergency assistance 6%.

"Democracy and participation" gets 26%, "Strengthening social movements" gets 30%, "Women's empowerment" 15% and so on, all of which makes it hard to determine what is actually being done with the money they receive from ordinary Catholics every year.

Go to page 15 of the following link to see the pie chart in the document.
http://www.devp.org/devpme/ENG/sharelent/Doc/IBeliveIGive.pdf

Tom Schuck
Weyburn, Saskatchewan
_____________________

Dear Lifesite

Please do not be discouraged by the two Bishops responses to your investigations.   They are getting their info from D&P.  Maybe these two Bishops could just investigate two of the links and see what their web pages say.  I have been reading lifesite for a long time and found you always to be honest and accurate.  When an error is made you always acknowledge the error.   Keep up the good work

Diane Paquette
Brampton, Ontario
_____________________

Please omit me from any further e-mails.  I do not support your accusations against Development and Peace and frankly I find it interesting that you present this information during Development and Peace’s biggest fundraiser of the year, Share Lent Sunday. 

We have supported D&P for years and have seen firsthand the good they have done and continue to do in the Global South.  Without D&P’s commitment to these struggling communities a lot of these people would not survive.  Again please do not send me any more e-mails from LifeSiteNews and I hope you reconsider the slandering of Development and Peace.
 
D.R.
British Columbia, Canada
_____________________

Your attacks on such a good, honorable organization as CCODP bewilders me.  Are we not all trying to bring Jesus' message of care and love for the oppressed, marginalized and violated to the world?  I expect such biased and twisted reporting from the secular media, but not amongst Catholic groups.  You are playing into the hands of the devil, he must be very pleased to see you sabotaging the work of such a good organization.  I pray that you come to your senses soon and stop these senseless attacks.
 
MC Robertson
Canada
_____________________

To all those working hard on covering the D & P story............
 
Keep up the good fight!  The truth must be told and light must shine in the darkness of this issue.
 
Thank you so much for your excellent reporting and supporting of the facts.  You havent lost credibility with us!  Your reporting is a breath of fresh air because you are not worried about who is involved in the issue, but that it is reported fairly, with charity and accurately.
 
Sincerely,
Sharlene Irving
Prince George, British Columbia
_____________________

You have to wonder what those French voters are actually thinking.... that we will get a replacement for the Holy Father that will say different? No faithful Holy Father can say other than what our present Holy Father says, which is the authentic teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. Thank you for your ongoing good coverage of issues. I have suspended my D&P monthly donations. I hope it will not need to be permanent.

Ruth Oliver
British Columbia

 Back to Top

---

MORE NEWS: LifeSiteNews.com Home Page  Last 10 Days   Archives   Special Reports

Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.