Pro-Life Advocates Confront Notre Dame's Father Jenkins at March for Life

Life News ^ | 1/25/10 | Steven Ertelt

[wagglebee]

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- At the March for Life last Friday, pro-life advocates confronted Father John Jenkins. He is the Notre Dame university president who is under fire for allowing President Barack Obama to give the college's commencement speech and by giving him an honorary degree.

Jenkins participated in the March for Life for the first time as a way of making amends but he was confronted by pro-life advocates for the fallout from the event.

Specifically, they are upset that he has not gotten Notre Dame officials to withdraw the charges against the 88 pro-life protestors arrested on campus for protesting the Obama speech.

Jenkins was presented with various banners along the parade route, reading "Fr. Jenkins: Free the Notre Dame 88."

Monica Migliorino Miller, the head of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, told LifeNews.com today that "the presence of the ND 88--those arrested protesting Obama's commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame last year and who await trial--was extremely effective during this year's March for Life."

She said volunteers distributed 10,000 pieces of literature were easily distributed to March for Life participants

"Hundreds of people stopped by the banners to inquire about the on-going court case, took literature and assured us that they would write to Fr. Jenkins and ask him to request the district attorney to drop all charges," Miller said.

Jenkins responded in an interview with the Notre Dame Observer student newspaper today.

“Out of all the controversy from last spring, we wanted to take steps to deepen the pro-life cause,” Jenkins said of his participation in the March for Life. I enjoyed being with them [Notre Dame students]. I admire their efforts and was proud of the way they came out themselves.”

He said he was not bothered by the signs and banners.

“I felt it was important not to let those banners take away from the central goals of the day,” he said. “And I refuse to let them distract from advancing pro-life cause.”

Senior Mary Daly, co-vice president of the Right to Life Club, told the student newspaper she is pleased Jenkins attended the event.

“I think that what we had at the March is a good start by the administration, and I really hope we can expect to see more involvement down the road,” she said.

During the March, Joe Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League, an ND alumnus, spoke to Fr. Jenkins and urged him to do the right thing.

"Some Notre Dame students seemed to understand our position—but many others were cool and aloof when we tried to engage them in conversation. Quite a few were under the false impression that there was nothing much Fr. Jenkins could do," Miller told LifeNews.com.

"We only hope that the Obama scandal can be resolved by the Notre Dame administration at least making an effort to free the ND 88. These pro-lifers only tried to speak the truth and witness to the sanctity of life in a situation that demanded a strong and vocal witness," she concluded.

[wagglebee]

Jenkins participated in the March for Life for the first time as a way of making amends but he was confronted by pro-life advocates for the fallout from the event.

He should be on his knees begging for forgiveness.

[wagglebee]

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[rbmillerjr]

I cannot believe he has the lack of humility to actually go to the March for Life.

He is an out an out fraud.

[Palladin]

He is such a hypocrite.

Jesus said: “Since you are neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth.”

This verse applies well to Jenkins.

[jackibutterfly]

He sounds like obama - he created the problem, and then acts as if he had nothing to do with it. What a poser!!!

[utahagen]

There’s just no other way to put it: Jenkins is a schmuck.

[Mengerian]

I once loved Notre Dame. I now consider it to be as bad, if not worse than, Reed, Vassar, Cornell, Columbia, Michigan, Wisconsin (Madison), and Colorado.

It's against my character, yet I wish noting but ill-will toward the sullied University of Notre Dame.

[stop_fascism]

The sheer gall of the man. He has done as much as any Catholic to damage the pro-life cause.

[wagglebee]

There’s just no other way to put it: Jenkins is a schmuck.

You're being to kind, he's a modern-day Judas.

[Albion Wilde]

[Guenevere]

Hypocrite.

[RobbyS]

He is lying to the students. he says he can’t do anything when the thing is that he doesn’t WANT to do anything. The 88 did something that few academic wills do, which is to DO something. They shamed him and he won’t forget it.

[wagglebee]

I forgot to ping you to this.

[Cicero]

Frankly, he has no business at a pro-life march until he withdraws charges against the ND protestors and publicly repents and apologizes for inviting the Abortionist in Chief to Notre Dame for an undeserved honorary doctorate of law.

A doctorate of law? Obama has never done any significant legal work. And although he was in academia for ten years, he never wrote a single legal article.

And what he taught his students was shameful. He deserved a doctorate of law like he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. That is entirely aside from the abortion issue, which was, of course, central.

[wagglebee]

Frankly, he has no business at a pro-life march until he withdraws charges against the ND protestors and publicly repents and apologizes for inviting the Abortionist in Chief to Notre Dame for an undeserved honorary doctorate of law.

I agree. His appearance at the march wasn't penance, it was validation of his sins.

[exit82]

I wrote a letter about what Jenkins actually aided and abetted last May:

President Obama spoke at the University of Notre Dame on May 17th, saying that all he wanted in the debate about abortion was that the words used in the discussion be “fair minded”. Fair minded sounds like such a nice phrase. But how does one speak of an unspeakable evil in a fair minded way?

Can we speak of slavery in a fair minded way? Shall we talk about child abuse in a fair minded way? Can we discuss the Jewish Holocaust in fair minded words? Can we discuss segregation and racial discrimination in a fair minded way?

Only a simpleton or a charlatan would try to discuss evil in a fair minded way. Because evil is wrong, it must be opposed, not coddled, not accepted, not minimized.

President Obama already has a track record on abortion. His actions show that, through his support of partial birth abortion, abortion on demand, taxpayer funding of abortion, and infanticide, he has dismissed any fair minded discussion out of hand. He has overturned the Mexico City policy so that every American taxpayer now pays for abortion on demand around the world, regardless of whether a person is opposed to abortion. He has stated and promised to Planned Parenthood that he will pass the Freedom of Choice Act, which would overturn all State abortion laws and allow abortions with no restrictions whatsoever, and paid for by their fellow citizens. Sound fair minded to you?

He says abortion should be made “more rare”. Why? If something is good, why would he want less of it? If something must be lessened, then obviously it is not desirable. The words sound fair minded, but they mask the disingenuous meaning of the idea. And his actions to date will only increase the number of abortions, not make them rarer.

He also supports embryonic stem cell research. This research kills a unique human being, a unique combination of human DNA. Thirty years of private research has shown that there is not one cure that results from embryonic stem cells, because these cells are so unstable. Adult stem cells are stable, and have been used in cures for over 70 diseases. Adult stem cell use does not result in the killing of a human embryo, which biologically is a human being.

So, how many embryonic children are to be killed in order to supposedly cure another child with juvenile diabetes, as the President suggested at Notre Dame? What number is appropriate, Mr. President? Especially for a cure that is a lie, Mr. President?

Abortion is evil. It kills an unborn child, by the most violent and painful means imaginable. We would not allow a dog or a cat to be killed in such a barbaric, inhumane manner. Shall we be fair minded and be all upset by the alleged “torture” of enemies, but remain silent about the torture visited on innocent babies over one million times a year in our own country?

With over sixty million abortions since 1973, have we yet sacrificed enough of our future, ignored enough the suffering of women who have aborted their children, or impoverished our nation enough from the loss of the beauty and uniqueness of those murdered children, or of their possible contributions to our nation?

Both Catholic and Christian teaching from the Bible is clear. Innocent blood is never to be shed. There is no compromise with such evil. We cannot decry the Jewish Holocaust, damn the institution of slavery, cry out against the abuse of children, or march in defiance of racial discrimination, and then ignore the murder of innocent children in our own land. Fair minded people understand why.

[wagglebee]

Excellent post!

Nobody was running around two centuries ago saying they wanted slavery to be “safe and legal and rare”.

[RedMDer]

I hope it's ok to put this here.

You can find it here

http://www.archbalt.org/respect-life/posters/index.cfm

[Upstate NY Guy]

I think its great you put it here.