Father Jenkins Wins Wings of Justice for Keeping Notre Dame Engaged with the Wider World

WINGS OF JUSTICE

Fr. John I. Jenkins

Ever since Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins announced at the end of March that President Barack Obama would receive an honorary degree and appear as his school's 2009 commencement speaker on May 17, he's had to defend himself from criticism from students, faculty, activists, and Catholic leaders.

Though many support his decision, Jenkins has experienced a huge backlash for refusing to rescind the invitation. There's a Web site dedicated to raising money to "help oppose Obama at Notre Dame." It's worth noting that, while the coalition attributed to the Web site, ND Scandal, is presented as a grassroots, "student-formed" group, at least one religious commentator refers to it as having been created by the Cardinal Newman Society in response to the invitation. The society has been accused of "red-baiting" and of launching "distorted, inaccurate, and often untrue attacks on scholars addressing complex issues." 

The petition being circulated by the site calls the situation a "travesty" that "comes on the heels of some of the most anti-life actions of any American president." Language such as that may seem like hyperbole to the progressive crowd, but for the president of the most prominent Catholic university in the country, those must be tough words to read. But it's not the first time Jenkins has come down on the side of free expression on campus.

Jenkins successfully resisted the banning of the play The Vagina Monologues on campus by arguing that "a Catholic university is where the Church does its thinking, and that thinking, to be beneficial, must come from an intellectually rigorous engagement with the world."

Jenkins said in a statement that the commencement invitation is one that has been extended to U.S. presidents from both parties for decades and that it doesn't mean the school condones all of the White House's policies.

The most recent president to speak at Notre Dame, George W. Bush, supported the death penalty. Some accuse him of perpetuating un-Christian economic policies. 

Indeed, it seems impossible that any U.S. president would come perfectly in line with the precepts of the Catholic Church. If that's what people want from their country's leader, perhaps they should move to the Vatican.

Instead of allowing Notre Dame to withdraw into a religious echo chamber, Jenkins said he sees Obama's "visit as a basis for further positive engagement." Jenkins seems to understand that the purpose of attending college is not to insulate oneself within a comfort zone of like-minded thinkers, but to engage the whole of society and grow from it.

WINGS OF JUSTICE

Nominated by BuzzFlash staff. To see a full list of past Wings of Justice honorees, click here.

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