Editor:
I was disappointed with Georgetown’s choice of HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for keynote speaker at commencement 2012 exercises (Georgetown criticized for Sebelius invitation, May 18). All universities are open to the free exchange of ideas. Commencement is not a forum for this intellectual exchange. To be chosen as commencement speaker is an honor, and a candidate for a Catholic university should exemplify church values and be a beacon in our secular society.
Stated in the university’s response was that the invitation was sent in January before the recent lawsuit filed by 43 Catholic institutions regarding the birth control mandate. Before Kathleen Sebelius became chief architect of Obama care, a rudimentary Google search would have disqualified her as a speaker for a Catholic university. When Governor of Kansas, Sebelius supported abortion rights and vetoed pro-life legislation. She accepted a campaign contribution from George Tiller, the radical abortionist. In 2008, Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City reportedly told Sebelius to stop receiving the Eucharist until she publicly recanted her position on abortion and made a worthy confession. Kathleen Sebelius is an ardent supporter of the government’s position, not the church’s teaching. The choice not to support the church should have precluded her candidacy for commencement speaker.
The late Holy Father stated that in a Catholic university “Catholic ideals, attitudes and principles penetrate and inform university activities in accordance with the proper nature and autonomy of these activities.”
Georgetown has a long history of secularization. If the administration cannot embrace the principles of John Paul II’s apostolic constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae, it should not identify itself as Catholic.
Rosemary Biggio
Williamstown