“Additionally, Fr. Jenkins has placed some of his students in a moral dilemma as to whether they should attend their own graduation. Many pro-life seniors, along with their families, are conflicted about whether to participate in the commencement ceremony. The lack of concern for these devoted sons and daughters of Notre Dame, who love this University and the Catholic principles on which it was built, is shameful. “
I would walk out too.
What would Jesus do?
Didn’t Jesus turn down Satan when offered a political kingship?
Alternate graduation at another site. Convince one of the deans to hand out diplomas. Failing that, President of Student Council can hand them out.
If University won’t go along, sue them, individually.
Many large Universities have smaller ceremonies within the different 'Colleges', at the time of Commencement. Our oldest son graduated from UMass Amherst, but he was in the Commonwealth College, which was the Honors group, and they had a special ceremony a couple of weeks before Commencement, where they received the special cords they could wear to the big ceremony. We didn't want to have to fool with the crowds on the day of the big Commencement, so we decided to use that special ceremony as our son's Graduation Day, and we attended that one, then went out to eat with him. He had a part time job driving for the area's bus system, so he worked extra hours and made some money on Commencement Day, driving folks back and forth from their parking on the outskirts of Campus to the stadium for Commencement.
Our #2 son graduated from Carnegie Mellon, and again, the School of Computer Science had it's own ceremony in the afternoon, AFTER the big Commencement. Again, we skipped the crowds, and attended the small one.
It would take some planning on the part of the students, but it could be done! If, for some reason, the school didn't allow them to have their ceremony on the campus, or at the Basilica, it could be done at any number of Catholic Churches in the area. They could invite the Bishop to attend their ceremony, since he's refusing to attend the larger Commencement.
The graduates will still get their diplomas, whether or not they attend the Commencement. The University will mail the diplomas to the students. If I'm not mistaken, none of the graduates receives the diploma on that day; they only receive the special holder for it, with the actual document coming later.
I remember something about money-changers at the Temple...