Mary Ann Glendon and Mother Teresa

Marjorie Campbell, marjorie@marjoriecampbell.com

Comparisons are being drawn between Mary Ann Glendon's brave, calm refusal to participate in Notre Dame's graduation exercises and Mother Teresa's February 3 1994 speech at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC.

I think such comparisons are  just and appropriate.

In fact, one might argue that Mother Teresa's concluding remarks at that breakfast -  "A sign of care for the weakest of the weak - the unborn child - must go out to the world. If you become a burning light of justice and peace in the world, then really you will be true to what the founders of this country stood for. God bless you!" - plead for and presaged the sort of decision that Professor Glendon has rendered.  It took a deep desire to "become a burning light of justice and peace" for Prof. Glendon to refuse to nod, clap and stand as Notre Dame awards President Obama a discretionary, honorary law degree - a man, who, through his power as President, has permitted an unprecedented expansion of the destruction of the weakest of the weak worldwide:  the unborn.

Perhaps Prof. Glendon's own conscience and character longed to stand up and speak aloud, as Mother Teresa did that Thursday morning, but, amazingly, she obeyed the directive of our bishops and expressed, simply and calmly the astonishment of so many of us:

I could not help but be dismayed by the news that Notre Dame also planned to award the president an honorary degree. This, as you must know, was in disregard of the U.S. bishops’ express request of 2004 that Catholic institutions “should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles” and that such persons “should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.” That request, which in no way seeks to control or interfere with an institution’s freedom to invite and engage in serious debate with whomever it wishes, seems to me so reasonable that I am at a loss to understand why a Catholic university should disrespect it.

We, however, are not at a loss to explain Prof. Glendon's courage - she comes from a long line of Catholic women who refuse to dumb down, ignore or compromise the most basic of Catholic teachings, the most basic of moral concerns for the voiceless, dependent humans we call "the unborn."  

Thank you, Prof. Glendon.  On your behalf, I am now  signing the petition to ask Father Jenkins and Notre Dame NOT to honor President Obama.  I should have done so sooner.

Comments

[Kathleen S.]

Strong women like Prof. Glendon and Sarah Palin are demonstrating the call of the second Vatican Council, namely:
“The hour is coming, in fact has come, when the vocation of women is being acknowledged in its fullness, the hour in which women acquire in the world an influence, an effect and a power never hitherto achieved.”
It is women like these that answer the call of the culture at hand by living, leading by example and publicly defending what is right with gifts of the "feminine genius" they possess. The status quo should stand up and take note. No great movement takes place in a culture without convicted women.