| Politics

It is a travesty that the University of Notre Dame, considered by many to be a Catholic University, should give its public support to such an anti-Catholic politician. (Most Reverend John C. Nienstedt)

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (Catholic Online) - Rev. Hugh W. Cleary, C.S.C. is the Superior General of the Congregation of the Holy Cross (Congregatio a Sancta Cruce). The Holy Cross Community is the Order which serves the University of Notre Dame. This University is one of the Premier Catholic Universities in the United States and has become the center of a controversy which will not fade. This controversy has become the symbol of the growing desire among not only the Catholic faithful but other Christians, that Notre Dame reaffirm its Catholic Christian identity on every front. That entails taking a strong stand for the Right to Life of all persons from conception to Natural death.

On March 22, 2009, Fr. Cleary wrote a 13 page letter to the President of the United States. Unusual not only for its extraordinary length but also for its candor, the letter has surfaced on the internet. The letter seems to reveal a Superior General in a quandary and going through a personal struggle. Fr. Cleary goes to great lengths at the beginning of this 13 page letter to create what appears to me be a safety valve of sorts,a kind of “plausible deniability” move right out of the political playbook. He explains to the President that since 1967 the University has been under the control of lay men and women: “On March 6, 1967, with the consent of the Holy Father Pope Paul VI, in the spirit of Vatican Council II with its clarion call for all Catholics to take greater responsibility for living and strengthening the life of the Church, the Congregation of Holy Cross ceded its ownership of the University of Notre Dame to a Board of Fellows. The University remains, however, under the continuous sponsorship of the Congregation of Holy Cross of which I am the Superior General…”

Fr. Cleary may be hoping that should the president not withdraw from speaking he will be able to say he tried. He continues: “As you know the University of Notre Dame's decision to award you the honorary degree and to invite you to deliver the commencement address is fraught with controversy. As Superior General of the Congregation of Holy Cross I have been deluged with angry e-mails regarding Notre Dame's decision to invite you to campus for the honors you are to receive. Because of the University's legal civil alienation from the Congregation, I have no authority over its decision making - those responsibilities are now directed by a Board of Fellows and a Board of Trustees. Nevertheless I do hold personal authority over all of the Holy Cross priests and brothers of the Congregation who serve at the University of Notre Dame including its president who is always a Holy Cross priest.”

He then engages the President where his positions are antithetical to the truth concerning life, explaining what he calls the “…intrinsic Catholic dogma which upholds the dignity of human life.” Indeed this is Catholic Moral teaching, every procured abortion is intrinsically evil because it is the taking of innocent human life. However, in calling this a “Catholic position” we need to explain that the Catholic Church proclaims that this position is grounded in the truths revealed by the Natural law which are knowable through reason and binding on all men, women… and Governments. These truths are also confirmed by Medical science. Fr. Cleary most certainly knows this but sadly did not state it with clarity in this lengthy letter. From Paragraph 2273 of the Catechism: “The inalienable right to life of every innocent human individual is a constitutive element of a civil society and its legislation:

"The inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil society and the political authority. These human rights depend neither on single individuals nor on parents; nor do they represent a concession made by society and the state; they belong to human nature and are inherent in the person by virtue of the creative act from which the person took his origin. Among such fundamental rights one should mention in this regard every human being's right to life and physical integrity from the moment of conception until death. The moment a positive law deprives a category of human beings of the protection which civil legislation ought to accord them, the state is denying the equality of all before the law. When the state does not place its power at the service of the rights of each citizen, and in particular of the more vulnerable, the very foundations of a state based on law are undermined.... As a consequence of the respect and protection which must be ensured for the unborn child from the moment of conception, the law must provide appropriate penal sanctions for every deliberate violation of the child's rights."

There is an “abortion distortion” advanced by some Catholics in public life. It attributes the Catholic position on life to being one of many “religious” positions. It then asserts that it should thus be left ...