The Cardinal Newman Society offers its annual list of commencement speakers at Catholic colleges. While noting good commencement speakers, they also list all the scandalous invitations.It includes the usual list of pro-abortion politicians and judges.
The list isn’t on their web page yet, but here it is:
Update: Added another commencement speaker. See below.
“It is very stupid to stay there; but we cannot morally just pick up and leave now.”
Hi RichardW – It seems you’re saying it’s stupid to be moral… Perhaps you meant that there’s a very high cost to doing the moral thing – which is often, as we all know, the case…
Sinner:
Thank you for your post.
No – forgive my poor writing skills. What I meant to say that it is militarily stupid to stay in Iraq. However now that we are there we cannot just pick up and leave. We have an obligation to the civilian population. We have a moral obligation in justice to establish a stable government.
God bless
Richard W.
I’d like to hear the take from the families of the four contractors that were killed then mutilated on that bridge a few weeks ago. Mr. Rather, Mr. Kopppel, Mr. Jennings please ring them up. When that happens you’ll see the devil in a parka…
Frankly, these POW’s have gotten off easily. No less than Alan Derschowitz has been advocating extreme torture methods for two years.
KMac:
Torture is always counterproductive. An individual under torture will say anyhting that he thinks his torturer wanst to hear. The information is therefore tainted. Most of the prisioners are the prision were not prisioners of war. They were detainees – including individuals who were stopped for traffic violations. Few of them had been committed with due process. When I was a young Special Forces I was told that this was exactly the wrong way to handle detainees. It is a disaster for our side.
God bless
Richard W.
You know, while what the soldiers did was wrong (and also perverted), and it is a public relations fiasco, it is nothing at all compared to what we are fighting, on a worldwide basis – which is the notion that to get what you want, all you need to do is mass murder enough innocent men, women and children. Unless we defeat this notion, decisively, it will continue on for a great length of time, and will worsen, inevitably. (Just like the Hitler evil worsened when it was not decisively confronted). We have this choice: either defeat this evil terrorist ideology now, or defeat it later when the price will be much higher (probably including nuclear and biological terrorism). I vote for now.
Truly sickening…
Hey Richard W. – Your writing skills are great, I assure you! I agree with what you say on needing to stay and do what we can to form a stable government. And man, special forces… Wow.
Sinner:
Thank you. for yoru kind words. However I am old and broken down. Noetheless I have volunteered to return to active duty and I have requested a combat assignment. This is going to be a long war and even has beens like myself could be useful. Please pray for me.
God bless
Richard W.
Hey Richard W.,
You bet I will pray for you. I pray each day for all those brave souls who are putting their lives on the line for us all, and who suffer immensely each day in that pursuit. For me, I have never doubted the existence of true evil in this world, in its many forms, and sadly, we must confront such now. I also pray for those so many on the other side who have been infected so greatly by that evil, that their hearts may be truly transformed, and that the courage and bravery of those like you should not be expended in this way. I also know that where there is a will (even when the body is somewhat spent!), that God will make great use of all your goodness and talents and wisdom and ferocity. I have been thinking a great deal about Pat Tillman, and always remember Christ’s words – “For no greater love hath a man than to lay down his life for his friends.” I pray that such may not ever happen to you, but if God were to will it, I will know, as most all Americans do, that it was an expression of true love. I look forward to knowing you more on this forum in the meantime, and again, will consider it truly an honor to include you in my humble but fervent sinner’s prayers.
God bless to you, Sir
Unbelievable. The Church is just rotting from the inside out.
Sinner:
Thank you very much.
God bless
Richard W.
Alan Page, the former ND football player and Minnesota Viking, and current member of the Minnesota State Supreme Court, will be Notre Dame’s commencement speaker this month. It is not known what his position on abortion is, but his philanthropy is well known in the state of Minnesota.
I suspect that Justice Page’s views on abortion would not be public, as it would not be ethical [or prudent, whatever the technical term is] for a justice to speak on some issue that could come before the court.
Unbelievable. The Church is just rotting from the inside out.
Truly sickening…
Weeping towels are available for those who need them.
Meantime, is it at all possible to axe the despair and get on with the work at hand? State your disapproval to the powers that be and go on about the business of trying to be saints.
As Dom says, as of today the list still isn’t on the Newman web-site yet, but you can trust the above.
Now here’s a thought. Instead of waiting until—as will, God willing, inevitably happen—a convenient list of email addresses to protest these folks is made available, why not Actually Write in Protest Via Postal Mail?
Yes! It’s possible! All you need to to is to locate the colleges in question (Google is a gift from God), identify their presidents and postal addresses, fire up your word processing programs, and write some letters.
A few stamps, a bit of time, a trip to the mailbox…tough, I know, but you can do it!
Alternatively, we can all commiserate with each other here.
Just to get started (this took about 5 minutes):
John H. Garvey, Dean
Boston College Law School
885 Centre Street in Newton, Massachusetts 02459
(617) 552-4340
R. Mark Sullivan, President
The College of Saint Rose
432 Western Avenue
Albany New York 12203
1-800-637-8556
Anybody else want to contribute some names and addresses and phone numbers?
You’re right, Kelly Clark. Thanks for the info.
Sinner
No problem!
It might be a good idea to cc the bishops of the dioceses in question. If you’d like to, here are the addresses relevent to the two colleges posted above:
Sean P. O’Malley, OFM/Cap.
Archbishop of Boston
Cathedral of the Holy Cross Rectory
75 Union Park Street
Boston, MA 02118
Bishop Howard Hubbard
Diocese of Albany
40 North Main Avenue
Albany, NY 10022
(or you can e-mail Bishop Hubbard at: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address))
Hey, Dom
Care to post some of the good stuff? How fare some of the other Catholic Colleges? Who is speaking at some of the authentic Catholic Universities, and which ones are showing improvement in their choices?
BTW, the alumni dollar means a lot to some of these places. If you are or know an alumnus, make your voice heard.
Here’s what I’ve found so far:
“Franciscan University of Steubenville will confer over 500 degrees at its fifty-fifth annual commencement, Saturday, May 8. Honorary degree recipients include Jim Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives; papal biographer George Weigel; Bishop Allen H. Vigneron of the Diocese of Oakland, California; and former Franciscan University trustee Joan Smith.”
“Christendom College is pleased to announce that Bishop Thomas J. Welsh [the retired bishop of Allentown, Pa., and the first bishop of the Diocese of Arlington], and Miss Nellie Gray [president of the March for Life] will be joining the 77 members of the Class of 2004 for commencement exercises over the weekend of May 14-16, 2004.”
“Francis Cardinal Arinze, Nigerian-born prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, will travel from the Vatican to preside at commencement ceremonies at Thomas Aquinas College on Saturday, May 15, 2004.”
“Ave Maria College will award honorary degrees on May 7 to Phyllis Schlafly, one of Americanteresting that more time has been given to the abuse over the past week than all of the networks did in the previous decade for Saddam’s atrocities), but it is definitely abuse. That many of the Abu Graib guards are corrections officiers in private life may not say so much about the situation in Iraq as it does about the situation in US prisons. The brutal murder and death of John Geoghan through the alleged neglect of prison officials is at least as troubling.
]]>
3027
2004-05-07 11:01:53
2004-05-07 15:01:53
open
open
about_the_abu_graib_situation
publish
0
0
post
Great blog.
I must disagree with your assesment of the situation. It is worse than it appears. Prior to the Iraqi War Secretary Runsfeld in effect fired the Secretary of the Army (White) and the Army Chief of Staff after they claimed that it would take about 400,000 US Troops to occupy Iraq. We have about 130,000 troops in Iraq now. We are having a very difficult time maintaining that nomber in Iraq. The only way we can do it is by mobilizing large number of Reserves. However when you place Reserves overseas for long periods of times, especially in a counter insurgency you have problems as developed in the prision.
Also the US Army did not discover the problem and initiate an investigation in January 2004. The Red Cross reported the problem to teh Army in December 2003. The Army launched a quiet – very quiet investigation, that resulted in 7 officers and senior sergeants being given non-judicial punishment under Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (“UCMJ”). This means that they cannot be subsequently court martialed, which means that there will be no pre-trial discovery and the Army keeps its records secret.
The Army only criminally charged 6-junior enlisted after the photos were released. Historically it is safer to prosecute junior enlisted becasue they cannot afford sharp civilian defense attorneys who will agressively pursue discoevery. Discovery that will embarass the Army.
It was militarily stupid to invade Iraq. It is very stupid to stay there; but we cannot morally just pick up and leave now. More shocking revelations will follow.
God bless
Richard W.