President Obama is the ninth U.S. President to be given an honorary degree from the university. One would then be inclined to ask if people were outraged about the fact that former President George W. Bush also received an honorary degree. Pope John Paul II vehemently disagreed with many of the policies of the George W. Bush administration (see Iraq war and the sanctity of all human life as the church defines it).
I would also note that former President Jimmy Carter was awarded an honorary degree and I can’t recall any large protest. You may note that the former President is also pro-choice.
If we step further back we will find that President Eisenhower gave a commencement address as well in spite of what we know now to be some moral failings. I have not read of anyone denouncing the fact that the university allowed him to give an address. Franklin Roosevelt was also honored with an honorary degree. I have never read of the university expressing any regret for giving a degree to either man.
The bottom line is that there have been a number of commencement speakers and recipients of honorary degrees whom had philosophical differences from the church. Some were minor and some were major differences in matters of faith and belief. The important thing to note is that the catholic church is made up of a membership that doesn’t always agree with each other and that does not always agree with all of the teachings of the church. Through time we have seen a number of major teachings be swept away or severely modified. This is the history of the church and will continue to be the future of the church. Disagreement and intelligent discourse should be encouraged to bring forth a multitude of interesting views. If that was not the case, Catholics would still be celebrating mass in Latin across the globe.
I’m rather disappointed in the response of many so called Christians and Catholics on this issue. It strikes me as rather contrary to the teachings of Christ.
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