A Man of Honor?

The Catholic blogosphere is all abuzz, and rightly so, over the invitation extended to President Obama to speak at the University of Notre Dame's commencement and to recieve from that University an honorary law degree. The president of the university, Father John Jenkins, has borne the brunt of the anger for the decision of the university to bestow these honors upon the President, and again rightly so. But few have taken the President to task for his acceptance of these invitations. A portion of the balme for this scandal rests with th President.

President Obama is an intelligent man. He knows full well that many of his views and some of the policies he has impemented, particularly those views and policies regarding the snactity of human life, fail to square with the teachings of the Catholic Church. Further, he knows that the University of Notre Dame is the flagship institution of Catholic higher learning in the United States. Honor requires that such knowledge would preclude acceptance of any awards from such an institution. His acceptance of the university's invitation is the equivalent of Francis Cardinal George agreeing to accept the Margaret Sanger Award from Planned Parenthood.

Unfortunately, it seems that the concensus is that it would be impolite for the university to disinvite the President now that the invitation has been extended and accepted. I disgaree. It's never to late to acknowedge a mistake. There is, however, another honorable way out of this dilemna. The President could prove himself a man of honor, as opposed to a crass politician, and decline the invitation. If he wishes to avoid admitting having made a mistake he could beg off on the grounds of pressing issues of state, it's not like there aren't plenty of those around these days. We'd understand his hesitance to admit error.

Til next time, all the best. Joe