Notre Dame Shame: Nick Healy Addresses his Alma Mater

I am deeply ashamed of my alma mater and can only hope that you will yet be persuaded of the wrongness of this decision. Notre Dame has announced where it stands on this: with the Power, not with the Church.

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AVE MARIA, Fl. (Catholic Online) - As the repercussions become increasingly evident and the fallout from the Notre Dame Scandal increases, we present a sincere, well written letter from one of thousands of Alumni who have written to Fr. Jenkins. Nicholas J."Nick" Healy, Jr. is a member of the Notre Dame Class of 1960.

Nick, who went from his Alama Mater to a distinguished career in law and higher education, writes this letter as a private citizen and not in his official capacity. He is the President of another University, one which is also dedicated to Our Lady, Ave Maria University. However, he writes this letter as a private citizen and graduate of Notre Dame who is, in his own compelling words "deeply ashamed of my alma mater".

He has graciously given us permission to publish this letter as we continue our efforts to provide a global integrated media platform for the important struggle for the soul and future of the University of Notre Dame. This effort is a part of the broader struggle to preserve, restore,or rebuild an authentic Catholic identity at all of our Catholic Colleges and Universities.

Nick adds his voice to the hundreds of thousands who continue to implore Fr. Jenkins to rescind the invitation to President Obama to address the 2009 graduates and receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Our Lady's University, that is the University of Notre Dame. This invitation has precipated a response unlike any I have seen in my lifetime. It is igniting a New Catholic Action (Editor):

Dear Father Jenkins:

Since you assumed the Presidency of the University of Notre Dame I have talked to scores of alumni and supporters who were heartened over your publically expressed intention to strengthen Notre Dame's Catholic identity. Admittedly, the hopes of many were somewhat diminished by your early failure to accomplish an outright ban on the notorious play The Vagina Monologues, and the perpetuation of formal gay and lesbian activities on campus. Nevertheless the hope of recovery continued, perhaps because having Notre Dame as an academic bulwark of the Church was seen as critical in the challenging political and economic climate we are now in.

With your announcement of the selection of President Obama as the Commencement speaker there can be no longer any basis for hope. This was not a decision in which issues of "academic freedom" or other perceived faculty rights might limit your freedom of action. It was a freely taken choice to embrace the world; to join with the political power even while that power was rapidly and comprehensively undermining the moral principles most sacred to the Church. By honoring President Obama, Notre Dame is effectively depriving the Catholic bishops of a united front to oppose the assault on life; and weakening the intellectual case for the protection of the unborn.

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Unlike Mario Cuomo, President Obama is not "personally opposed to abortion, but..." His record as an Illinois legislator and as a U.S. Senator has justly gained him the reputation as the most pro-abortion politician in the nation. He would not even allow protection to infants born alive in botched abortions, and has opposed any limits even on partial birth abortion. Yet you choose to honor him.

Those with any sense of our political currents know that it is only a matter of time -- perhaps one or two years -- before Catholic hospitals and Catholic doctors will be forced to perform abortions and sterilizations. Hospitals will close and doctors might well leave their practice. Some of those Catholic politicians who promulgate these grave injustices will be excommunicated. This in turn could begin a cycle of increasing persecution of the Church. Notre Dame has announced where it stands on this: with the Power, not with the Church.

I am deeply ashamed of my alma mater and can only hope that you will yet be persuaded of the wrongness of this decision.

Sincerely,

Nicholas J. Healy, Jr.
Notre Dame Class of '60

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