The Petition Thing

The petition denouncing Notre Dame's announced plans for commencement has signatures approaching the 115 thousand mark.
Ralph McInerny has been particularly fiery and eloquent on why it is a scandal for a purportedly Catholic place of higher learning to bestow honours on a man who has, in a very short time, done more personally to facilitate the Private Murder of the Unborn Unwanted than at his most optimistic Satan ever thought possible.

I have not signed it.

I'm not sure, if Obama were merely the commencement speaker, (and yes, it is a great PR and prestige coup to have the POTUS as your graduation speaker,) but were not being given the honorary doctor of jurisprudence would it be all right?

I have always thought that non-Catholics who did not hold to that to which all members of the Faith are bound in conscience to hold, (and yes, I know plenty of people who consider themselves "good Catholics" don't -- well, they're wrong,) need not be excluded in quite the way putative Catholics did, from appearing in Catholic places, at Catholic functions, as long as it was not to explicitly or implicitly proclaim doctrine at odds with the Faith.

So the commencement address would seem to be acceptable -- IF Obama, a man whose beliefs and actions are at odds with a basic tenet of NATURAL LAW were not being giving that LAW degree.

Of course, the nose-thumbing of Notre Dame may be a tacit endorsement of the president's enthusiasm for the Private Murder of the Unborn Unwanted .
There are indications that the vast majority of TPTB at ND are also committed to keeping the Private Murder of the Unborn Unwanted legal.
But in charity, I'll assume they think Obama's facilitation of the Private Murder of the Unborn Unwanted is a flaw in an otherwise impeccable morality.

Oh, and well done Bishop D'Arcy!