Obama's Notre Dame Address 'Most Consequential Intervention' Over Religion's Role In Politics, Columnist Says

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology;  Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 08 May 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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The "reaction of right-wing Catholics" to the University of Notre Dame's invitation to President Obama to deliver its commencement speech and receive an honorary degree "falls into the category of 'more Catholic than the pope,'" Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne writes in an opinion piece.

Dionne adds that to the "dismay of many conservatives," the Vatican's newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, offered a view on Obama's approach to abortion that was "so positive" that a spokesperson for the National Right to Life Committee "was moved to criticize Pope Benedict XVI's" newspaper. In the article, L'Osservatore Romano foreign affairs contributor Giuseppe Fiorentino wrote that Obama "does not seem to have established the radical changes" on abortion that "he had aired." According to Dionne, the Vatican newspaper "analysis" came as "Catholic liberals and conservatives are battling fiercely over Notre Dame's decision to invite" Obama to speak at commencement. Dionne says the Vatican's "article will strengthen the liberal claim that the Catholic right's over-the-top response is rooted at least as much in Republican and conservative politics as in concern over the abortion question."

"This restrained view contrasts with charges that Obama is the 'most radical pro-abortion president in history,'" Dionne writes. He notes that although the "consternation on the right over the Vatican article was immediate," many "[r]ank-and-file Catholics do not share in the conservatives' gloominess." Dionne adds that the "extent to which the ferocity on the Catholic right has emboldened moderate and liberal Catholics to fight back" has been "[l]argely lost in the Notre Dame furor." When Obama delivers the commencement address the "stakes will be highest for moderate and liberal Catholics who insist the president is seeking common ground on the moment's most contentious ethical issues," Dionne says. He writes that Obama's commencement address is "likely to be his most consequential intervention in the debate over religion's role in American politics," concluding, "In accepting the invitation, Obama has assumed a large responsibility that he should not try to escape" (Dionne, Washington Post, 5/7).

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