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MANASSAS, Virginia, May 8, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Televangelist priest Rev. John Corapi, S.O.L.T. and The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) are leading a national prayer campaign for Catholic higher education and an end to the scandal caused by the University of Notre Dame’s decision to honor pro-abortion President Barack Obama at commencement on May 17, 2009.

The campaign began yesterday, the National Day of Prayer, when Americans are invited to pray for their country.

In a video released on the Internet, Fr. Corapi, on behalf of the Cardinal Newman Society, is calling for prayer for Catholic higher education.  In particular, Corapi urged supplication for the University of Notre Dame, which he said “dishonored itself, and to some extent the entire Catholic world” by deciding to honor President Obama with the commencement address and an honorary law degree May 17.

While Notre Dame has honored many past U.S. presidents, said Corapi, Obama is the first “that has such an obviously public and pernicious anti-life and anti-Catholic Christian bias.

“No president in history has been so damaging to the cause of respect for life than this one, and he's only just begun.”  President Obama's hostility to pro-life laws, including regulations protecting the conscience rights of doctors objecting to performing abortions, “marks him as a singular enemy of essential elements of the Catholic Church's moral teaching.”

“Metaphorically and morally,” he said, the Notre Dame invitation “is like shooting yourself in the foot. But Notre Dame limps on. 

“Many of you did what you could to prevent this travesty from actually happening, and at this moment, barring a bolt of lightning or divine intervention, it looks like it will happen.”

Fr. John Corapi thanked the signers to the petition at NotreDameScandal.com, which now holds nearly 355,000 signatures.  Fr. Corapi also urged Catholics to continue the fight for the renewal of Catholic campuses across the country.

“Authentic Catholic identity needs to be restored in our Catholic universities and other institutions of learning,” Corapi warned.  “If it is restored our nation will be restored.  If it is not restored, we will have much to answer for in the moral unraveling of a great nation.

“If we chose prestige over principles and popularity over morality then we become part of the problem, not part of the solution.”

“The Cardinal Newman Society’s work to renew Catholic higher education has been ongoing for 16 years,” commented Patrick J. Reilly, President of CNS.  “We encourage prayers from Catholics across the nation that the energy of protest will be directed to the larger task of reform and renewal of Catholic higher education.”

Youtube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X89_XLYbpxU