Notre Dame President Sits on Board of Directors of Pro-Abortion, Pro-Contraception Organization

LifeSiteNews.com ^ | 5.13.09 | Alex Bush and John Jalsevac

[victim soul]

Fr. John Jenkins, President of Notre Dame University, sits on the board of directors of Millennium Promise, an organization dedicated to fighting poverty in Africa that promotes contraceptives and abortion, it has been revealed.

The finding comes as the controversy over President Obama's award and speech at the University reaches a fever pitch in the last week before the event. As the president of Notre Dame, Fr. Jenkins has received the majority of the heat for the scandal. However, despite the criticism of over 70 U.S. bishops and over 350,000 petitioners, Jenkins has steadfastly continued to defend the university's honoring of the president. In a letter to graduating students dated this past Monday, Jenkins said that Obama is "a remarkable figure in American history and I look forward to welcoming him to Notre Dame."

Fr. Jenkins' involvement on the board of the Millennium Promise was first reported by the Drew Mariani Show and PewSitter.com. (See the list of board members here: http://www.millenniumpromise.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_bod

) Patrick Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society, a Catholic education watchdog organization, responded to the news of Fr. Jenkins' involvement in Millennium Promise, saying in an interview with LSN, "One has to wonder what Fr. Jenkins' opinion is of the Church's teaching on contraception."

Millennium Promise's mission is to enact the eight so-called Millennium Development Goals by 2015. However, the Millennium Development Goals have been widely promoted by pro-contraception and pro-abortion organizations, such as Millennium Promise, as including the goal of increasing access to contraception and abortion globally.

Millennium Promise raises funds from the private sector for what it calls its "flagship initiative," Millennium Villages, a group that works with small villages in Africa.

A Millennium Villages handbook explains that "family planning and contraception services are critical to allow women to choose family size and birth spacing, to combat sexually transmitted infections, including HIV infection, and contribute to the reduction of maternal morbidity and mortality."

It continues to explain that, "Services include: (1) Counseling; (2) Male and female condoms; (3) Pharmacologic contraceptives including oral, transdermal, intramuscular, and implanted methods; and (4) IUDs."

The handbook continues with an encouragement for "safe" abortion: "In countries where abortion is legal, safe abortion services in controlled settings by skilled practitioners should be established." (http://www.millenniumvillages.org/docs/MVP_Handbook_complete_18jun08.pdf page 92).

Fr. Jenkins has stated in the past that Notre Dame participates in the Millennium Villages Project via the Notre Dame Millennium Development Initiative (NDMDI). The efforts of the NDMDI focus on Uganda "where Notre Dame, through the Congregation of Holy Cross, has strong ties."

Interestingly, Uganda is known for its unprecedented success in reducing its HIV rate over the past several decades, using the so-called ABC approach, which emphasizes abstinence and faithfulness as the surest means of avoiding infection. In the last few years, however, anti-HIV leaders in Uganda have complained about an increasing effort by large Western aid organizations to pressure the country to vastly increase its promotion of condoms.

Patrick Reilly of the Cardinal Newman Society said that in his research into Millennium Promise he was extremely concerned to find that "not only condom distribution, but distribution of the pill, injectible contraception, and even abortion are part of the Millennium project's efforts."

"Any Catholic university that supports a program to reduce poverty by eliminating poor children has a serious problem," he said, adding that no Catholic "should be taking a leadership role in an effort that distributes contraception or promotes abortion."

URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/may/09051309.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources

[Prole]

Notre Dame's behavior is a disgrace to Christians everywhere.

I still cannot believe they arrested and imprisoned Dr. Keyes.

The leadership at Notre Dame should all be ashamed of themselves.

[x_plus_one]

Politics trumps christianity in the world of Fr. Jenkins.

[kittykat77]

Somebody’s going to Hell.

[maxwellsmart_agent]

Thanks for that posting! It explains everything, why he would invite Obama in the first place, and why he is going to hang onto it like a pit bull.

[scooby321]

I am so glad my College Football coach Urban Meyer told them to take a hike.

Notre Dame is a joke Football Team>

Florida 2 BCS titles under Meyer in 4 Years.

[Joe Boucher]

If true then Fr. John Jenkins should be let go.
Where is the Catholic Church?
Guess they’ve sort of lost their way.

[ZULU]

It would seem this guy should be defrocked and excommunicated.

[winner3000]

The Left will keep pounding us on condoms and contraception until The Church’s illogical resistence to them either stops or The Church loses all credibility. As a Christian I have to step back and agree that condoms do make a big difference to fight sexually transmitted diseases. I totally disagree however that kids below the age of 15 should be taught about them. On the other hand, the Left’s insistence that abstinance education should be left out of sex education makes them look batty too.

[Desdemona]

As a Christian I have to step back and agree that condoms do make a big difference to fight sexually transmitted diseases.

Um, no they don't. One of the biggest fallacies of the entire "sex is the ultimate and everyone should do it all the time" campaign is that there is no such thing as sex with no consequences. If semen can leak through, so can any number of other things.

The Left will keep pounding us on condoms and contraception until The Church’s illogical resistence to them either stops or The Church loses all credibility.

The left's pounding is all about distracting the populace from what they are really up to. And truthfully, when one fully examines the Church's position, one sees that the Church is standing up for women. By taking the sacred transmission of life out of the equation, women deny what they are here to do, and they become objects of man's lust. There's no respect in that on the human level, let alone the Divine. It also destroys and tears at the sacrifice necessary to make society truly charitable. It just invites selfishness and that's not good for families, relationships or any other social unit.

[Desdemona]

Where is the Catholic Church?

More like, where are the Fathers of the Holy Cross, which is his order, and who are they answering to. Most of them don't answer to a specific diocese.

This one's going to have to go to the top. Man, what happened to the orders. They used to be more orthodox than the dioceses.

[Girlene]

More about the origination of the Millenium Promise, Notre Dame’s President on Board of Organization at Odds With Pope’s Statements on Condoms in Africa

..................."Fr. John Jenkins, the President of Notre Dame is a board member of Millennium Promise, an anti-poverty group co-founded by former President Jimmy Carter and Notre Dame Trustee Raymond G. Chambers. The mission of Millennium Promise, as stated on their website is: "to support the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals." The Millennium Promise website links directly to the Millennium Project website, which contains the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). "...............

[Girlene]

Here's another article that further explains Jenkins decision to honor Obama at the commencement. The Board of Trustees are also pulling the strings. From Notre Dame, Trustees and Father Jenkins’ Final Word . It is a reprint by Frank Walker, "No Likely Support From Notre Dame's Board of Trustees For Rescinding Obama Invite"

"A great deal of criticism has been leveled at Notre Dame President, Rev John I. Jenkins, for his choice to honor President Obama at this year’s commencement. But Fr. Jenkins, like all university presidents, must consider the will of the school’s governing board. The Notre Dame Board of Trustees is a powerful organization, comprised of top international business owners, chairs of rich endowments, academic leaders, judges, attorneys, faculty, and prominent clergy. These individuals are typically very wealthy, well-connected and highly accomplished; many with broad interests outside the university. A closer look at the board and its affiliations might shed light on just how Notre Dame came to this decision.

Many of the influential alumni on the Notre Dame board are from the nearby Chicago area, and are part of the same Chicago power structure that President Obama ascended. Richard and Peggy Notebaert are leading members of the ND community, and Notebaert is chair of the Notre Dame trustees. While Obama served in the senate, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, received federal funding earmarked by Obama.. Key Obama campaign fundraiser, Frank Clark served on the board of the Notebaert Museum at the time. The Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, where ND trustee Arthur Velasquez is on the board, also received millions in earmarks. Velasquez contributed to Obama’s campaigns in ’04 and ’08. ".................

[Brytani]

Liberal 101 - To combat the scourge of global poverty legal, safe and free abortion should be available and encouraged for the poor while the stigma or religious implications associated with abortion downplayed.

Now, please tell me how this is any different then any other genocidal miscreant in history who in order to control a certain population of undesiriables, placed into action extermination programs?

I think I somewhat understand the liberal mind in this area. Abortions are obviously the tree that money grows on.

A poor pregnant woman goes in for assistance with living expenses, has an abortion and leaves miraculously healed of the scourge of poverty....right?