President Barack Obama strode head-on today into the stormy abortion debate and told graduates at America’s leading Roman Catholic university that both sides must
stop demonizing one another. Obama acknowledged that “no matter how much we want to fudge it … the fact is that at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable.” But he still implored the University of Notre Dame’s graduating class and all in the U.S. to stop “reducing those with differing views to caricature. Open hearts. Open minds. Fair-minded words. It’s a way of life that always has been the Notre Dame tradition.” One of the noisiest controversies of his young presidency flared after Obama, who supports abortion rights but says the procedure should be rare, was invited to speak at the school and receive an honorary degree. “I do not suggest that the debate surrounding abortion can or should go away,” the president said. Voices We asked parishioners of St. Anthony of Padua and St. Edward Catholic churches this morning about President Barack Obama giving the commencement address Sunday afternoon to the Class of 2009 at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. What Obama said Text of President Barack Obama’s commencement address Sunday as the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., as delivered, as transcribed by the White House. The Rev. John Jenkins is the school’s president. The Rev. Theodore Hesburgh is Jenkins’ predecessor. Brennan Bollman is the class valedictorian.
Rockford bishop’s response