I guess increasing the faith based initiative and hanging with Rev. Rick Warren wasn't enough?

Bernie Madoff's first name is Bernard. I am sure someone knows his middle name, if he has one.

how could I forget Prop. 8

"If a midwestern school seeks attention by granting Mr. Obama an honorary doctorate in law, the next logical step would be to grant Judas Iscariot posthumously an honorary doctorate in business administration."

--Father George W. Rutler

Why are the arguments of republicans so prima-facie stupid?

Until every pedophile priest is behind bars, the catholic church forfiets it's right to complain about anything.

If a president became dictator and instituted martial law, invaded countries left and right, widened the death penalty to include political opponents, and basically ended democracy in the US would the Catholics support this man because he implemented a ban on abortion?

This is one issue I have with headlines like this one. It makes it sound like every Catholic has a direct line into the Vatican and we've been programmed to seek and destroy on its orders.

Sorry to burst that bubble.

Yes, it sounds like these Catholics are angry about President Obama's address at Notre Dame. I, a Catholic, and many Catholics I know, are not. I would give my first born to hear that address.

Catholics, like any groupable bunch of humans, have diverse opinions and theories on their faith. Let's try to remember that these bishops, priests and Newmann Clubs don't speak for all of us. It's not like the people of the Catholic Church got to pick them anyway.

So, yes, "Some Catholics protesting Obama speech at Notre Dame." Other Catholics are applauding the Fighting Irish for the very same thing.

"Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion."

This is a perfect example of the kind of weasle-worded crap which has convinced me that the catholic church is all about dogma. I cannot imagine any true follower of Jesus saying such a thing.

Since he's speaking there in the first place. Other than being red meat for deranged Salon letter writers, what were you going for?

Sadly, although I am at ground zero for this whole "controversy," I cannot partake, owing to the heavy gravity of my qualifying exams. McInerny, via blog posting (linked at sig), certainly seems upset at the University's divestment of its Catholic "pretense" resulting (in his mind) from the choice of Obama as commencement speaker. It is unfortunate that blather as archaic as this emerges from someone so "philosophically" inclined and further that this sentiment will be linked unavoidably even if indirectly to the Medieval Institute, a intellectual establishment that is, in most respects, rather wide-thinking. O Ralph McInerny, WWFDD?

You'd think that even conservative Catholics would be open to hearing speakers with different viewpoints speak at a Catholic university -- after all, aren't they the ones who complain about lack of academic freedom? I guess when it's their own orthodoxy they're defending, though, the situation is different. I also suspect that plenty of Notre Dame students, staff and faculty would fail an anti-abortion litmus test; should they be forbidden to speak, too?

If they can't keep from getting their bloomers in a bunch and are ready to throw their red pope shoes at him, then just don't go. There are other universities that would like Obama as a speaker.

He should also investigate these mega churches for violations and take away their tax exempt status as it applies. Give the pedophile hiders and hypocrite christians something to really cry about.

Good for UND for inviting Obama. A few years back, the South Bend archdiocese tried to force UND to stop the film festival. The UND president said UND is a university first and Catholic second. Stop giving these protestors any more publicity.

If a president became dictator and instituted martial law, invaded countries left and right, widened the death penalty to include political opponents, and basically ended democracy in the US would the Catholics support this man because he implemented a ban on abortion?

It's hard to speak for all Catholics, who are a diverse bunch. However, speaking for the Catholic leadership, they would most certainly support such a man, and in fact did for the past 8 years.

It's pretty funny that the self-declared representative of Jesus Christ on earth declares that "thou can go ahead and kill" so long as you're killing someone the Church has declared an enemy. The reason it's funny, and not horrific and sad, is because the Church is watching its relevance plummet, and all the while they're firmly declaring themselves an irreplaceable part of the 19th century.

They should really just go back to basics: declare that the world if flat after all, that the sun orbits the earth, and become an arguably more relevant organization dedicated to entertaining tourists with anachronistic tidbits from a past age. At the end of the tour, they could have a mock witch burning.

Imagine no religion......

Considering that Indiana voted for Obama by a slim majority and St. Joseph County (South Bend) voted for Obama 58-41%, it would appear that the majority of folks around there wouldn't mind seeing him.

These are right wing cranks trying to say they speak for Catholics. They sure as hell don't speak for me or anyone, I mean ANYONE, of the dozens of fellow Catholics I know.

I attended catholic schools all my life and can assure you that the average catholic in the US couldn’t care less what the Pope did or thought. The pope is a weird medieval carryover from an ugly and tragic period of the Catholic church’s history that stays around because people feel good if there are some ancient traditions still going on.

…kinda like when people kept on watching Johnny Carson even though they knew the tonight show had become completely lame for his last 20 years on the air.