Scheidler: Jenkins Remains Utterly Immovable on ND 88

Says talking to Jenkins about the issue like talking to a "stone"
By James Tillman

WASHINGTON, DC, January 25, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- Joseph Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League says that prior to last week he had sent letters “begging and pleading” for a chance to meet with Father John Jenkins, President of Notre Dame, but he was never given the chance to do so.

So when he saw Father Jenkins at the March for Life in Washington last Thursday, he thought that it was "too good a chance to miss."

Jenkins had agreed to attend this year's March for Life as part of the pro-life measures he began on campus in response to the outcry caused by his invitation of President Obama to speak at last year’s Notre Dame commencement.

However, Jenkins’ announcement that he intended to participate in the March for Life did little to assuage the criticisms of pro-life activists, in large part because of his continued refusal to ask that the charges against the 88 peaceful pro-life protestors who were arrested on the campus last year be dropped.

The 88 pro-lifers face up to a year in prison and a $5,000 fine if they are found guilty of the charge of trespassing. Currently an online petition effort, demanding that Fr. Jenkins request that the charges be dropped, has been signed by over 5,000 concerned individuals.

However, according to Scheidler, Fr. Jenkins remains obstinate in his refusal to do so, saying that talking to Jenkins about the issue was like talking to a “stone.”

Scheidler told LifeSiteNews (LSN) that he told Fr. Jenkins “that many, many of my friends wanted me to talk to him about removing the charges of the Notre Dame 88. So [Father Jenkins] said, 'Well, now you've told me what they want,' and that was it."

“So I thought, 'Well, that wasn't very good,'” said Scheidler. “So I went back and I said, 'You know, I not only was a student at Notre Dame but I taught at Notre Dame, and I'm very fond of Notre Dame. And I am really concerned that these 88 people were arrested for simply going on the campus doing something that they should do,' or something to that effect. And he said 'Alright, now you've said that.' And he was very off-putting."

Joseph Scheidler is among those listed as "Notable Alumni" on the Notre Dame website. Other Notre Dame alumni are of a similar opinion as Scheidler; according toReplaceJenkins.com donations totaling over $16 million from over 1,500 alumni have been withheld from Notre Dame because of Father Jenkins' actions.

According to Scheidler, the whole impression Father Jenkins gave was that, "You can talk to me all day about this, and my mind's made up."

"I think he's going to stand his ground on this," he continued. "Although, you know, anything could happen. But I wouldn't want to be one of the 88, because they are facing, you know, a possible 6 months in jail and possible 5,000 dollar fine."

"I don't give much hope for any change. ... You might as well have been talking to a stone."
Such inflexibility, according to Scheidler, makes Jenkins' arrival at the March for Life little more than an empty gesture. "Going to the March was a very small payment for having Obama there," Scheidler said, "and nothing for saving these 88 people ... [from] paying for what was not a crime."

"He has said before that it’s out of his hands," he continued. "Well, it's not. He could say 'Drop the charges,' and they'd be dropped."

The problem posed by Father Jenkins’ obstinacy makes Scheidler fear for Notre Dame’s reputation, especially after Jenkins’ recent reelection to another five years in his position. “He's got five more years handed to him,” said Scheidler, “and I have great fears that Notre Dame is going to lose its reputation. It’s losing it fast. And it would be almost impossible to get it back.”

To sign the petition to Free the ND 88, click here.

EWTN.com - Trustee of Catholic College Served as Planned Parenthood Board Member, Received College's Highest Honor

January 25, 2010

A onetime board member of Planned Parenthood of Western New York serves on the board of trustees of an upstate New York Catholic university, according to the university’s web site. Dr. Ellen E. Grant, who joined St. Bonaventure University’s board of trustees in 2001, is also a recipient of the Gaudete Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the university.

Founded by Franciscan friars in 1858, St. Bonaventure University has 2,406 students, 1,932 of them undergraduates.

Planned Parenthood Clinic Listed on Jesuit University's Student Health Services Site

Planned Parenthood Clinic Listed on Jesuit University’s Student Health Services Site

January 05, 2010

The web site of the Student Health Services office at Loyola University New Orleans includes Planned Parenthood among its list of local clinics and offers a link to Planned Parenthood of Louisiana and the Misssippi Delta. The university’s web site also notes that students who have taken the sociology department’s capstone course (Sociology Internship/Practicum) “have interned at Planned Parenthood.”

Founded in 1912 by the Jesuit Fathers, Loyola University New Orleans has 4,474 students, 2,658 of whom are undergraduates.


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Notre Dame's Jenkins Would Do it Again - Calls Obama Visit "Successful"

By Kathleen Gilbert

SOUTH BEND, Indiana, January 6, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The unprecedented controversy that rent the U.S. Catholic community over President Obama's abortion-themed commencement speech and his reception of an honorary law degree at the University of Notre Dame last May has apparently not fazed the school's president, who called the climax of the scandal "a successful" day that he does not regret.

When asked in a South Bend Tribune interview published December 27 whether he would do it all over again, Notre Dame president Fr. John Jenkins answered, "Yes, I would."

"He is the president of the United States, and there was a tradition of Notre Dame inviting presidents to be commencement speakers and receive honorary degrees, and we continue that tradition," he said. Jenkins went on to point out the historicity of Obama as the nation's first black president, saying it was "an honor for us to welcome him to campus."

"For all the controversy, I think it was a successful day," he said.

The decision to host the President at the Catholic university sparked an immense outpouring of criticism in the weeks leading up to the speech, with 80 active U.S. bishops and over 360,000 petitioners opposed to the decision.

"It's important not to be afraid of controversies. If the issues are addressed with reason and respect, that's the best you can do. And universities, particularly, should be places where controversy can be addressed with reason and mutual respect," Jenkins said. He insisted that "there were things in [Obama's] life and his leadership that we could affirm." Regarding areas of disagreement, especially the President's enthusiastic support for abortion, the day allowed an opportunity to "speak about those differences openly."

"I thought he said things that he'd never said before on the issue of abortion - such as seeking a reasonable conscience clause, such as reducing the number of abortions - and I think it was a day when there was genuine dialogue among people who differed. And that’s really what a university is about," he said.

However, there is a group of individuals who have reason not to be completely satisfied by Jenkins' words about the need for "genuine dialogue": the 88 pro-life individuals who were arrested on campus May 17 while protesting President Obama are still facing up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine on charges of trespassing. While witnesses say pro-Obama protesters were allowed to roam free, the arrested individuals were singled out for displaying any pro-life message - including slogans on the sanctity of life, a large wooden cross, and images of Mary.

Fr. Jenkins has denied pleas from several corners to request that the charges be dropped - a request lawyers say the St. Joseph county prosecutor would likely heed. Fr. Weslin, one of the 88 arrested, called on his fellow priest in June to dialogue over the scandal - a request Jenkins ignored.

Notre Dame law professor emeritus Charles Rice called Jenkins' pursuit of token pro-life initiatives a "mockery" while he allowed the protesters to continue facing charges.

"It would be a mockery for you to present yourself now at the March, even at the invitation of Notre Dame students, as a pro-life advocate while, in practical effect, you continue to be the jailer, as common criminals, of those persons who were authentic pro-life witnesses at Notre Dame," wrote Rice in a September letter to Fr. Jenkins.

In the Tribune interview, Jenkins also touched upon his relationship with the local ordinary, Fort Wayne-South Bend bishop John D'Arcy, who took the unusual step of boycotting the commencment exercises, and instead showed up at a smaller ceremony held by Notre Dame graduates protesting the invitation elsewhere on campus. The Notre Dame president has met with D'Arcy several times since the event, he said, and they remain at loggerheads. He says he has not discussed the issue with Bishop Kevin Rhoades, who will take over for the retiring Bishop D'Arcy in January.

Upon learning of the invitation, about which he had not been consulted, D'Arcy stated last March that "the diocesan bishop must ask whether a Catholic institution compromises its obligation to give public witness by placing prestige over truth," and condemned the appearance of "surrender to a culture opposed to the truth about life and love."

Meeting in June, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a resolution expressing solidarity with Bishop D'Arcy and his "solicitude for [Notre Dame's] Catholic identity."

URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jan/10010609.html