Editor:
After reading the coverage of the discussion between two “pro-life” professors (Law professors discuss Obama’s abortion stance, June 5), Douglas Kmiec and Robert George, moderated by Mary Ann Glendon, the former professor of Law at Harvard, and former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, who refused the Laetare Medal at Notre Dame because of the college’s Humanitarian Award to President Obama, and viewing the event on YouTube – I found a couple of glaring omissions in the reportage.
Omitted was the fact that Kmiec never answered the few questions he was directly asked such as “Explain how abortions will be lowered if funding is increased and laws are less restricted?”
Partial-birth Abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and every other kind of abortion possible are all part of Obama’s agenda. He’s the most extreme abortion president the country has ever had. Kmiec tried to differentiate the moral difference of first trimester vs. a third trimester abortions where there is none morally. Kmiec even cited the poll showing that Catholics voted for Obama 54 percent to 41 percent — but never mentioned that Catholics who attended Mass at least once a week, voted for McCain 62 percent to 38 percent.
But where Professor Kmiec was factually more wrong was in his accusation that some bishops “intimidated” supporters of abortion by denying them Communion. Are we, as Catholics, “intimidated” or are we shown the way to salvation when we are well-advised to keep all the commandments or commanded to abstain from mortal sin and repent lest we suffer the consequences?
For Kmiec to assert that both sides must reach a common ground when there is no common ground when it comes to intrinsic evil of abortion — one wonders whether the learned professor is as truly pro-life as he says. The operative word is not “compromise,” nor is it reaching “consensus” — rather it narrows down to faith and obedience.
Francis Sparagna
Millville
Editor:
On behalf of the directors, staff and members of The Cardinal Newman Society and the more than 367,000 people who signed our petition opposing Notre Dame’s honor for pro-abortion President Barack Obama, I would like to publicly thank Bishop Joseph Galante for his prayerful witness for a strong Catholic identity on Catholic campuses. In anticipation of Pentecost, Bishop Galante was sent a spiritual bouquet from the petition’s signers which included 116,741 Mass Intentions, 146,944 Rosaries, 57,728 Aspirations, 236,615 General Prayers, 74,974 Divine Mercy Chaplets, 28,862 Days of Fastings, 19,877 Novenas, 37,125 Eucharistic Holy Hours, and 3,272 Masses Offered by Catholic Priests. As the battle for the souls of Catholic campuses continues, the Church is blessed to have shepherds like Bishop Galante — and they will need our prayers more than ever!
Patrick J. Reilly
President, The Cardinal Newman Society