NOTRE DAME, Indiana, April 3, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The University of Notre Dame student coalition, ND Response, consisting of 12 different on-campus student groups are demanding that the University not bestow an Honorary Law Degree to President Obama during the May 17th commencement ceremonies.
More than 15 US Catholic Bishops, including the head of the USCCB, Cardinal George, have come out against Notre Dame’s decision to honor President Obama at the school’s commencement in May. In keeping with both the Catholic teachings on the sanctity and dignity of all human life and the USCCB mandate that Catholic institutions should not honor pro-abortion politicians, ND Response is urging the University to withdraw the honorary Law Degree being offered to President Obama.
Notre Dame Response has invited as the main speaker of the 2pm (EST) April 5, Palm Sunday rally nationally-recognized attorney Harold Cassidy, who has litigated pro-life cases that have advanced the true rights and interests of pregnant mothers. He will also use the occasion to address some of the false assumptions in the speech delivered in 1984 by former New York governor Mario Cuomo at Notre Dame in which Cuomo argued that is morally permissible for Catholics to agree with abortion.