By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
During a recent interview, Archbishop Raymond Burke, Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, said the recent Notre Dame scandal of inviting pro-abortion President Barack Obama to speak at its 2009 commencement has served to sensitize people to the shame of abortion and to realize how dangerous it is for Catholic institutions to pursue prestige in the secular world at the expense of fidelity to Christ.
In an interview with Inside the Vatican, Archbishop Burke said, “We all have witnessed the compromise and, indeed, betrayal of the Catholic identity of Notre Dame University. Thoughtful Catholics cannot help but reflect upon the great danger for a Catholic institution in pursuing a kind of prestige in the secular world, which leads to a betrayal of the sacred aspect of its work, namely the fidelity to Christ and His teaching.”
He believes that the Notre Dame scandal revealed the gravity of the problem of abortion in America and helped people to “realize even more how far we have gone away from God’s will for human life. That the premiere Catholic university in the United States would give an honorary doctorate of law to one of the most aggressive pro-abortion politicians in our history is profoundly shocking.”
The Archbishop urged the faithful not to forget what happened at Notre Dame. “We need to take the measures that are necessary so that this is not repeated in other places. If it could happen at Notre Dame, where else could it happen?”
In order to do this, the Archbishop said people must give witness to the Gospel of Life in a way that people can receive it. He offered Bishop John D’Arcy of Fort Wayne-South Bend, who refused to attend the commencement, as an example of a powerful witness.
“He (Bishop D’Arcy) knows the good things that are happening at Notre Dame, for example, a very strong participation in sacramental life among the students, daily Mass, regular confession and so forth. As a Bishop, he wants to save these good things, while at the same time correcting what is gravely wrong.”
Archbishop Burke went on to say that he has friends who are professors or students at the university who claim there is a great number of students at Notre Dame who are very devout in their practice of the Catholic faith, and strive in every way to live their faith and grow in it.
“We certainly want to save that and promote it,” the Archbishop said.
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