NOTRE DAME and PRESIDENT OBAMA

I am old enough to remember President Jenkins's predecessor as president of the University of Notre Dame. I don't mean CEO Molloy--he and his Mercedes limo don't count; I mean Father Theodore M. Hesburgh.

In 1963 the Texas Club at Notre Dame invited George Wallace to speak on campus. Not a single Roman Catholic bishop protested against that invitation. I did: I went to see Father Ted. I was an instructor in English at Notre Dame then.

Father Ted was one of the original members of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and later its chairman. He explained to me why he had not stepped in to stop Wallace's speaking at Notre Dame. "If I refuse to allow Wallace to speak, someday when somebody else is president, and you want to invite a Civil Rights leader to Notre Dame, he might refuse to allow your guest to speak." He advised me to organise a peaceful protest against Wallace's appearance. Along with several others, I did so. It received little support from the student body, and members of the Texas Club mutilated our "End Segregation Now" signs so that they read "Segregation Now," and waved them gleefully during Wallace's speech.

Four months later Rev. Martin Luther King appeared on campus. He had been invited by Father Ted, and Father Ted introduced Dr. King's speech.

In 1966 I attended Notre Dame's commencement; a number of my former students were graduating. I don't remember who gave the commencement address, but I remember well Father Ted's farewell remarks to the graduates.

"As you leave Notre Dame," he said, "I don't know what you believe. But I hope you believe in something. And I want to tell you that finding what you believe and believe in is the most important thing you will ever do in your lives."

I am proud of Father Jenkins, Father Ted's successor as president of my university.
I am proud of him for inviting President Obama to speak at commencement. And I am very, very proud of him for standing up for Notre Dame and for President Obama against the hypocritical fascist Catholic bishops and their faithful.

I wonder if the Catholic bishops would object if a Catholic university invited Bernard Cardinal Law to speak at its commencement? But then Cardinal Law couldn't come; the Catholic Church has him safely in Rome, in charge of Sta. Maria Maggiore, where U.S. law can't reach him.

You remember Cardinal Law: he is the holy man who kept moving pederastic priests from school to school and parish to parish when they were caught sexually molesting little boys. He protected criminal pederasts. And now the Catholic Church protects Cardinal Law.