Why did mary ann glendon decline the Laetare Medal at the University of Notre Dame?”
Mary Ann Glendon: Nortre Dame Laetare Medal, Obama Disaster Here is the story of Mary Ann Glendon, the anti-abortion academic who said no to a Notre Dame speaking engagement and the prestigious ‘Laetare Medal’ award in a pointed letter to Father Jenkins. See her photos, biography, full text of her rejection letter, the White House response, and a video which will help you understand Catholic views on abortion. In some quarters my Catholic church in America has begun to look like a club in recent years. Many worshipers attend the Catholic church for the parties, safe schools and sense of community. That is all fine if the main goal is realized, but some parishioners have only a vague sense of moral clarity while many local priests advocate dubious Catholic teachings in their presence. Many of my fellow worshipers appear to be convenience Catholics, left rudderless by local priests with social agendas. Such is the case today at our finest university, Notre Dame. Mary Ann Glendon turned d
Breaking news in the controversy over the University of Notre Dame’s decision to grant an honorary degree to President Barack Obama: Harvard Law Professor Mary Ann Glendon has decided to decline the university’s prestigious Laetare Medal, which was to be awarded at the same commencement ceremony. Here is the reason in her own words: As a longtime Consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, I could not help but be dismayed by the news that Notre Dame also planned to award the President an honorary degree. This, as you must know, was in disregard of the U.S. Bishops’ express request of 2004 that Catholic institutions “should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles” and that such persons “should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.” That request, which in no way seeks to control or interfere with an institution’s freedom to invite and engage in serious debate with whomever it wishes, seems to me
Breaking news in the controversy over the University of Notre Dame’s decision to grant an honorary degree to President Barack Obama: Harvard Law Professor Mary Ann Glendon has decided to decline the university’s prestigious Laetare Medal, which was to be awarded at the same commencement ceremony. Here is the letter Glendon, who was the Bush Administration’s final ambassador to the Holy See, sent this morning to Notre Dame President the Rev. John I. Jenkins: “Dear Father Jenkins, When you informed me in December 2008 that I had been selected to receive Notre Dame’s Laetare Medal, I was profoundly moved. I treasure the memory of receiving an honorary degree from Notre Dame in 1996, and I have always felt honored that the commencement speech I gave that year was included in the anthology of Notre Dame’s most memorable commencement speeches. So I immediately began working on an acceptance speech that I hoped would be worthy of the occasion, of the honor of the medal, and of your students a
Mary Ann Glendon, a conservative Harvard law professor who was U.S. ambassador to the Vatican under George W. Bush, has announced that she will not be accepting the Laetare Medal at the University of Notre Dame’s commencement ceremony on May 17. In her letter to Notre Dame President Rev. John Jenkins, Glendon stated that she would no longer be accepting, citing the conflict with President Barack Obama’s presence as both a commencement speaker and a recipient of an honorary degree. Glendon is staunchly anti-abortion, and she expressed disappointment that Notre Dame was awarding someone — in this case the president of the United States — whose position on abortion is so starkly different from Catholic Church’s and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’.
