Bishop Jenky deserves appreciation, not condemnation from Notre Dame faculty
Charles E. Rice is a professor emeritus of law at the University of Notre Dame, and the author of several books on faith and the right to life.
On April 14, Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, C.S.C., of Peoria, Illinois, delivered a courageous homily at Mass during “A Call to Catholic Men of Faith.” Bishop Jenky said, “This fall, every practicing Catholic must vote, and must vote their Catholic consciences, or by the following fall our Catholic schools, our Catholic hospitals, our Catholic Newman Centers, all our public ministries—only excepting our church buildings—could easily be shut down. Because no Catholic institution, under any circumstance, can ever cooperate with the intrinsic evil of killing innocent human life in the womb.”
Forty-nine members of the Notre Dame faculty denounced Bishop Jenky in a Letter to the University President, Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Richard C. Notebaert. The Letter called on them to “definitively distance Notre Dame from Bishop Jenky’s incendiary statement.” The signers, said the letter, “feel” that Bishop Jenky should resign from the University’s Board of Fellows.
The faculty Letter claims that Bishop Jenky “described President Obama as ‘seem[ing] intent on following a similar path’ to Hitler and Stalin.” They accuse Bishop Jenky of “ ignorance of history, insensitivity to victims of genocide, and absence of judgment.” The astonishingly simplistic and defamatory character of those accusations can be appreciated only by looking at what Bishop Jenky actually said:
Remember that in past history other governments have tried to force Christians to huddle and hide only within the confines of their churches like the first disciples locked up in the Upper Room.
In the late 19th century, Bismarck waged his “Kulturkampf,” a Culture War, against the Roman Catholic Church, closing down every Catholic school and hospital, convent and monastery in Imperial Germany.
Clemenceau, nicknamed “the priest eater,” tried the same thing in France in the first decade of the 20th Century.
Hitler and Stalin, at their better moments, would just barely tolerate some churches remaining open, but would not tolerate any competition with the state in education, social services, and health care.
Read the full story.In clear violation of our First Amendment rights, Barack Obama—with his radical, pro abortion and extreme secularist agenda, now seems intent on following a similar path.
I'm with you! The good Bishop should be lauded and applauded, NOT shut up.
ReplyDeleteDoes this mean Notre Dame is willing to go along with the HHS mandate?
I love Bishop Jenky. If ONLY there were more priests there, including the President and former Presidents and that he, and people like Fr. Wilson Miscamble would have more say on the criteria for selecting faculty members instead of the nonsense that Hesburgh put into the Land O' Lakes statement! Then Fr. Jenky was rector of Sacred Heart Bascilica when i was attending Notre Dame from 1985-1989. He heard my confession once, and it was as evident then as it was reading his homily what an effective channel of the Holy Spirit he is! People in darkness cannot stand the light. Nothing has changed since St. John the Evangelist penned that verse.
ReplyDeleteJean, the link to the full story goes back to Blogger dashboard.
ReplyDeleteIs this the same Notre Dame that gave Obama an honorary degree? Rather than Bishop Jenky be forced to resign from the University's board of fellows, I think the 49 members of the Notre Dame faculty who are complaining about Bishop Jenky should be fired so that they are free to work at a non-Catholic university.
ReplyDeleteI used to follow Notre Dame when they were still a Catholic University befor nobama!
ReplyDeleteAs a history student, Bishop Jenky is right on in his statements, but the fellow Notre Dame faculity don't know wheat they are talking about, just more left wing liberal hot air that most of your younger generation is too dumb to know because government (public) school have them dumbed down.