OK. I was kind of back and forth on this one for a while.
Fr. Jenkins, President of Notre Dame, who infamously invited and honored President Barack Obama on campus last year, joined hundreds of thousands of pro-lifers this week in protesting Roe V. Wade at the March for Life. And in a strange turn he also met some pro-lifers protesting him.
According to the Thomas More Society, Jenkins:
“came face to face with large banners urging him to “Free the ND88″ and many thousands of leaflets also calling out for his taking steps to end criminal prosecutions of the “ND88.”
Many folks are upset that Jenkins has not asked Notre Dame officials to withdraw the charges against the 88 pro-life protesters arrested on campus for protesting the Obama speech.
And initially I thought that maybe that wasn’t the time and place for that kind of action. And as much as I’ve taken issue (some say too harshly) with Fr. Jenkins’ decision to honor Obama, part of me wondered if the March for Life was the proper venue to go against a fellow marcher publicly. The March for Life is important and I’m not sure airing our grievances with each other during it is productive.
I thought that if I’m carrying a sign during the March for Life (which I have done) I’m going to be sure to make it about protecting human life.
But then I read Fr. Jenkins’ comment to LifeNews.com said:
“I felt it was important not to let those banners take away from the central goals of the day,” he said. “And I refuse to let them distract from advancing pro-life cause.”
You’ve got to be kidding me. Fr. Jenkins refuses to let them distract from advancing the pro-life cause? Give me a break! That’s absurd. The whole country was watching when this priest hung an award around the most pro-abortion President’s shoulders. Pro-lifers begged Fr. Jenkins to advance the pro-life cause by refusing to honor the President who publicly said he would kill his own grandchild when he said he didn’t want his daughter “punished with a baby.”
This entire (ongoing) episode is a terrible stain on Notre Dame’s reputation as well as the Catholic Church and Fr. Jenkins should be embarrassed by his actions.
But Fr. Jenkins ignored us all. Fr. Jenkins said he wanted dialogue. Well, now he’s got dialogue from people and he calls them a distraction? You know, I’m starting to think that when Fr. Jenkins says “dialogue” he actually just means for everyone to shut up and listen to him.
January 28, 2010 at 7:38 pm
Man…Notre Dame students and alum seem to love ND so much that they are overly willing to let Fr. Jenkins and the university off the hook.
January 28, 2010 at 8:13 pm
When President Jenkins first announced that he would attend the March for Life, I applauded his decision and asked fellow pro-lifers to tone down the criticism, give him the benefit of the doubt, and welcome President Jenkins' participation as a positive step in the right direction.
However, I also echoed Professor Rice's warning that, should Jenkins show up to the March for Life as a johnny-come-lately to the pro-life cause with the Notre Dame 88 still in legal jeopardy, he would make himself an object of scorn and derision to many of his fellow marchers (who, quite honestly, have been at this a whole lot longer than Jenkins has).
President Jenkins had it within his own power to avoid such a confrontation. That he chose not to take any action on behalf of the Notre Dame 88 is his own fault, not that of the marchers who had every right as pro-lifers to confront what they consider an injustice to their fellow pro-lifers among the Notre Dame 88.
And Jenkins only made it worse by having the chutzpah to say something as tone-deaf as this:
"I refuse to let them distract from advancing the pro-life cause."
What? 79-year-old Fr. Norman Weslin, one of the Notre Dame 88, has dedicated his life and fortune to the pro-life cause. President Jenkins, on the other hand, did a great deal over the last year to undermine the cause to which Fr. Weslin has dedicated his life. Perhaps Jenkins – the johnny-come-lately to the cause – should have stopped to think before he spoke, and instead have reflected on just who it is that has been most responsible of late for "distract[ing] from advancing the pro-life cause". Himself, or the dedicated pro-lifers who he (and now his defenders) has chosen to criticize?
January 28, 2010 at 8:16 pm
Since when do pro abortionists or those who
cow tow to them (Pres. Obama & Fr. Jenkins)
need respect? Respect for their ignorance ?
Respect for the killing of innocent children?
As godandchocolate said "Is it a requirement of justice? I don't think so. "
What about Respect for Life of the Unborn?
Those words aren't in the vocabulary of this
Fr. Jenkins. Nor are they in the vocabulary of Pres. Obama.
January 28, 2010 at 8:30 pm
What about a requirement for
justice for the babies ?
Don't forget the babies !
I remember a priest telling me that the
Right to Life issue was a Lost Cause….
That was in 1974.
Not much has changed in 36 years.
Almost 50 million children ahve been aborted
in America.
Whose to blame? Certainly not Notre Dame.
May heaven help Father Jenkins.
January 28, 2010 at 8:54 pm
I was surprised when Reverend Wright said ;
"God damn America ". It was all over the T.V.
during the last presidential run.
Imagine saying that?
God bless America. And God bless the 50 million unborn.
January 28, 2010 at 9:37 pm
My point, again, is that the fight for justice *for the babies* is distracted when those who should be fighting for them and praying for those who kill them are instead fighting Fr. Jenkins and fighting for the ND 88.
Would any unborn lives be saved by the dropping of charges against the ND 88?
January 28, 2010 at 9:44 pm
Yes godandchocolate. Babies would be saved.
The ND88 wouldn't be in court or jail, if not for the efforts of Jenkins.
January 28, 2010 at 10:28 pm
Headline Should Read 'SLOWDOWN AT MARCH FOR LIFE'
. Jenkins is a complete insult to the Right to Life cause if he doesn't stop the trespass
charges vs. the ND88. Jenkins has done enough damage. He probably won't withdraw his charges against the ND88. Don't be surprised this May,2010 to see another major College honor Obama or Pelosi. This college will continue to have the blessing of Catholic hierarchy . Where are all those "proud to be Catholic" people when you need them? They'll be off celebrating World Youth Day. Let us start remembering the unborn. The U.S.A. has killed 50 million uborn. When will The killing STOP? HEAVEN HELP FR. JENKINS
January 28, 2010 at 11:32 pm
There are no excuses for Fr.Jenkins .
God help Jenkins.
January 29, 2010 at 12:37 am
William McNichols says:
Catholics in the U.S. are one of the reason 50 million kids have been slaughtered over the past 37 years. Catholics areoverwhemingly anti-life.
The National Catholic Reporter shows that 58 percent of U.S. Catholics believe they do not have to follow the teachings of their bishop on abortion.
The next time the Pope goes to World Youth Day, he should emphasize the evil of abotion. America is only 22% Catholic, but 30% of Catholics are having the abortions. The Catholic Church has dropped the ball here !
Perhaps the March For Life should be held twice a month in Washington,instead of once a year.
Maybe then , Congress will get it right. With friends like Fr. Jenkins of Notre Dame, who needs enemies. HEAVEN HELP FR. JENKINS .
January 29, 2010 at 4:39 am
Why would anyone give Fr. Jenkins the benefit of the doubt and cast a suspicious eye upon the ND88? Hasn't Fr. Jenkin's actions (and inactions) spoken volumes?
January 29, 2010 at 2:04 pm
You know, since the infamous day of May 17,2009, I've been praying to Blessed Andre Besset for Fr Jenkins' conversion. They're both in the same order & so I'm sure that Blessed Andre has to interested in the salvation of Fr Jenkins' soul. The saddest part to me is that not only is he jeopardizing his own salvation but that of everyone who is following his duplicitous ways as well.
January 29, 2010 at 3:19 pm
Thomas Aquinas once said: "When the Faith is in imminent peril, prelates ought to be accused by their subjects, even in public." There will be people who try to excuse priests like Father Jenkins, in the name of being civil, or of honoring the priesthood. This works out great for guys like Jenkins, who can continue being idiots in public while all the "nice" people make excuses for them. "Don't make waves, good Christians all. Keep it in the family."
They used to say that about the priests who sodomized little boys. How's that working out so far?
I rest my case.
January 29, 2010 at 3:58 pm
My understanding is that while the ND administration could certainly provide a letter of desire for the dropping of all charges, the power to do so actually rests in the hands of the county prosecutor's office.
Also, I've spoken to one of the 88 and according to her she and others look forward to a court date where she and others can speak their case and give a public witness to the pro-life movement.
After having this conversation, the "ND 88" doesn't automatically conjure up images in my mind of hapless shackled prisoners.
As Dorothy Day and other Catholics who underwent the penalties of civil disobedience (which they stepped into consciously and freely) understood, the witness value (for peace, pro-life, etc) can reside in going through the court process, speaking truth to the civil authorities, etc.
So while all of this is quite sad, the 88 adults (no minors, right?) who willingly chose to protest back in May continue to bear witness for the pro-life cause. And while overall sad, there is a sort of strange beauty to it, a sad beauty understood well by Dorothy Day, Maurin, and countless others through the ages.
January 29, 2010 at 4:07 pm
So Fr. Jenkins is simply trying to advance the pro-life cause by his stubborn insistence on not asking to drop the charges against the ND88?
It's all so beautiful that Fr. Jenkins had abortion protesters arrested?
January 29, 2010 at 4:13 pm
This comment has been removed by the author.
January 29, 2010 at 4:14 pm
I didn't say that.
It is obvious that some of the arrested are not eager for the charges to drop. They want the platform to speak the truth which all of us in the pro-life movement uphold.
I offered my comment as another angle of what is going on.
What IS beautiful is the 88's witness.
God bless.
January 29, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Has the PRIEST PRAYED the OUR FATHER lately? Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those …
January 29, 2010 at 7:17 pm
I think we can do without the snark directed toward Fr. Wurtz. He's written nothing here to deserve such hostility.
I understand completely what he's saying about the "strange beauty" of martyrdom. Which doesn't mean that President Jenkins shouldn't come to the aid of the ND 88, only that their suffering is not without its own reward.
January 30, 2010 at 12:45 pm
I concur with Jay.
Fr. Wurtz is only trying to mediate between the two groups. Leave him be.
Father Jenkins needs to hear from us and we are justified in appropriate venues such as the March for Life.