Here is the website address of a new petition to Father Jenkins to request the prosecutor to drop trespass charges against those who demonstrated against Notre Dame's honoring of President Obama:
http://tinyurl.com/yb8dsts
The sponsors are Human Life International, headed by Fr. Tom Euteneuer, a Notre Dame alumnus (and a strong supporter of Sycamore Trust), the Thomas More Law Society, headed by Thomas Brejcha, another Notre Dame alumnus (and another supporter of Sycamore Trust), and LifeSiteNews, a principal organ of the pro-life community. (South Bend counsel for the defendants, Tom Dixon, is also a Notre Dame alumnus and also a Sycamore supporter.)
You will find on the website a link to descriptions of these fervent advocates for life who stand accused.
With Father Jenkins's first participation in a March for Life coming next week, the petition is advanced at an especially fitting time.
You can find one of our discussions of this matter at http://projectsycamore.com/bulletins/091219.php/
As we wrote there:
"Father Jenkins has steadfastly declined to tell the prosecutor that Notre Dame is willing for him to drop the trespass charges against those who demonstrated against the University's action in honoring President Obama.
"He has also steadfastly declined to explain why. His and the University's standard response has been that Notre Dame does not have the legal right to dismiss the cases. That is quite true and also quite irrelevant, as we wrote in our letter to Father Jenkins, as pro-life advocates have emphasized, and as Father Jenkins surely realizes.
"The question is not whether Notre Dame can require dismissal. It is, rather, why Father Jenkins does not suggest it. It is up to the prosecutor, not Father Jenkins, to decide whether the public interest requires prosecution. The University's purpose of preventing disruption was served by the arrests. It is had to see any remaining purpose other than retaliation, at least in the absence of any other proffered explanation."
There has now appeared on the internet an announcement of plans to picket Father Jenkins and the Notre Dame delegation by way of signs during the March for Life. There is yet time for Father Jenkins to prevent such a beclouding of this special day for the several hundred dedicated Notre Dame students who will participate in the March.
If you concur with the petition, I suggest you pass it along to as many as you think might be interested.
Bill