Notre Dame Alumni Protest, Launch 'Project Sycamore'

It profoundly wounds its claim to be a Catholic institution. It strikes with incalculable cost at the pride of its graduates.

NOTRE DAME, IN (Project Sycamore) - Sycamore urges protest of Notre Dame's decision to award President Obama an honorary degree and to invite him to deliver this year's Commencement Address.

Despite President Obama's unwavering and notorious support of the pro-abortion agenda, the University has inexplicably decided to honor him by inviting him to be this year's Commencement Speaker and to receive an honorary degree.

In consequence, Bishop John M. D'Arcy of Fort Wayne/South Bend, who was not told of the invitation until just before The White House press release, has announced that he will not attend the graduation.

The President, the Bishop declared, "has placed in public policy his long-stated unwillingness to hold human life sacred [and] has brought the American government, for the first time in history, into supporting direct destruction of human life."

Accordingly, the Bishop observed, the 2004 declaration of the United States Bishops applies: "Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support of their actions."

In these circumstances, the Bishop said, which "many have found shocking," he could not attend the graduation, since a bishop "teaches not only by his words but by his actions." He concluded: "Notre Dame must ask itself if it has chosen prestige over truth."

In defending this action, Father Jenkins has pointed to a "long-standing tradition of inviting the current U.S. president to speak at the University, " as if this somehow explains how honoring a person who champions a cause so antagonistic to fundamental Church teaching can be reconciled with the University's claim to Catholic identity.

Significantly, it may be noted, the list of Presidents does not include President Clinton, a strong pro-abortion advocate. Father Jenkins added his hope that the occasion would be a "catalyst for dialogue," as if there would be a debate about abortion instead of a Presidential speech.

Finally, Father Jenkins has protested that "the University is not honoring the president for his stances on" abortion and stem cell research, as if this blindingly obvious fact somehow cleanses the action. Surely the University would not advance such a justification for conferring honors on a pro-discrimination President committed to wiping out the civil rights laws.

We have prepared a statement to Father Jenkins, the Board, and the Fellows that we invite all to join. It reads as follows:

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"Statement Of: The Officers and Board Members of The Sycamore Trust together with associated Notre Dame Alumni and other members of the Notre Dame Family
Addressed To: Father Jenkins and the University Fellows and Members of the Board

"We wish to express our astonished dismay at, and deep disappointment in, the decision to invite President Barack Obama to deliver this year's Commencement Address and to confer upon him an honorary degree.

"President Obama's statements and executive and legislative actions identify him as unremittingly hostile to the moral claims of the unborn and accordingly to a central teaching of the Catholic Church. By virtue of his position, he is now the nation's leading champion of virtually unrestricted abortion rights.

"Notre Dame is the nation's leading Catholic institution. Its action will be publicized widely by enemies of the Church and by pro-abortion advocates as a sign that the pro-life position is too "inflexible." Notre Dame will be praised by condescending secularists and anti-life advocates for its display of "tolerance."

"But to those who honor steadfast commitment to principle and respect for the lives of the unborn, the University's action will be seen as the sacrifice of fundamental moral values in an opportunistic grasp for secular acclaim and, perhaps, federal favor.

"This is not, we stress, a question of whether to interdict the President of the United States at the gates of the University or of withholding the respect to which he is entitled. It is, rather, a matter of according honor to one whose views on abortion are morally repellant to the Church to which the University claims fealty, to the Church's faithful members, and to countless loyal alumni of the University and others of its extended family.

"No matter any disclaimers by the University or what President Obama says, the ineradicable facts that will stamp this occasion are the University's decision to inscribe in the University roll of honorees the name of the most pro-abortion President in the nation's history and its choice of him as the person to speak to the 2009 graduates about the values they should hold dear.

'This compromising action gravely diminishes Notre Dame. It profoundly wounds its claim to be a Catholic institution. It strikes with incalculable cost at the pride of its graduates.

We protest.'

Officers

William H. Dempsey ('52)
President
Joseph A. Reich, Jr. ('57)
Vice President
George L. Heidkamp ('52)
Treasurer & Secretary

Directors

Richard V. Allen ('57, '58)
Dr. Daniel M. Boland ('56, '61)
Timothy M. Dempsey ('89)
Arina Grossu ('06)
Dr. John A. Gueguen, Jr. ('56, '58)
Dr. Susan Biddle Shearer ('88)
________________________________________
email: news@sycamoretrust.org
phone: (703) 536-4666
web: http://www.sycamoretrust.org

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The purpose of Project Sycamore is to provide a source of information, a means of communication, and a collective voice to Notre Dame alumni and others in the Notre Dame family who are concerned about preserving the Catholic identity of the University.