Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix wrote by e-mail to Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C. yesterday, March 25, to express his disapproval of the “grave mistake” of inviting pro-abortion President Barack Obama to commencement. This news comes as the national petition protesting Notre Dame’s decision to honor Obama, at NotreDameScandal.com, surpasses 167,000 supporters.

“The message is unequivocal and unrelenting: there is no way for Notre Dame to justify honoring President Obama given his clear record on issues that stand in direct opposition to fundamental Catholic teachings,” said Patrick Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society.

Bishop Olmsted’s opposition joins that of Notre Dame’s Bishop John D’Arcy, who on Tuesday, March 24, announced his public boycott of the May 17 commencement ceremonies because of the honor provided President Obama. Both bishops cited the USCCB June 2004 Statement, “Catholics in Political Life,” as support for their opposition.

That statement says, “The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.”

Also yesterday, nearly a dozen student groups from Notre Dame launched the website www.NDResponse.com, outlining their protest and opposition to the selection of President Obama as commencement speaker.

In his e-mail to Father Jenkins, Bishop Olmsted called the selection of Obama “a public act of disobedience to the Bishops of the United States,” and a “grave mistake.”

Mike Phelan, Director of Marriage and Respect Life for the Diocese of Phoenix, gave the following introduction to Bishop Olmsted’s letter to Father Jenkins.

"Due to the fact that the invitation by Notre Dame’s president, Fr. John Jenkins, to President Barack Obama to give the commencement speech at Notre Dame’s May graduation is a public act causing widespread public scandal due to the U.S. President’s clear support of policies which fail to protect and even attack innocent human life, Bishop Olmsted has given permission to release the attached email text publicly."

The following is the text of the message sent by Bishop Olmsted to Notre Dame President Father Jenkins:

I am saddened and heavy of heart about your decision to invite President Obama to speak at Notre Dame University and even to receive an honorary degree.

It is a public act of disobedience to the Bishops of the United States. Our USCCB June 2004 Statement “Catholics in Political Life” states: “The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.” No one could not know of the public stands and actions of the president on key issues opposed to the most vulnerable human beings.

John Paul II said, “Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights – for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture – is false and illusory if the rights to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with the maximum determination”

I pray that you come to see the grave mistake of your decision, and the way that it undercuts the Church’s proclamation of the Gospel of Life in our day.

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted

Diocese of Phoenix

The text of the e-mail from Bishop Olmsted to Father Jenkins was first reported by blogger Thomas Peters at AmericanPapist.com.