The Catholic Church and President Obama have SO much in common, and yet we continue to concentrate on our one or two differences. How sad that is...
Police Arrest More Prostesters At Notre DameSOUTH BEND, Ind. (May 16) - Graduation festivities got under way at the University of Notre Dame on Saturday — as well as another day of demonstrations over President Barack Obama's appearance Sunday.
University spokesman Dennis Brown said there were no reports of protests on campus at any of the ceremonies held by various schools, centers and institutes. For the most part, the only difference on campus was the heightened security for Obama's visit, he said.
Bishop John D'Arcy, whose Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend includes the Notre Dame campus, helped students protesting Obama's visit kick off an all-night prayer vigil Saturday night. D'Arcy led them in prayer at the campus' grotto for more than 20 minutes and praised their plan to protest Obama's visit.
"The young people have behaved with great dignity. They have been firm in their purpose and strong in their purpose, but prayerful. They haven't followed those who said we're going to make it a circus," he said.
About 150 people, including students, parents and alumni, prayed with D'Arcy for three things: that Obama will change his support of abortion rights and embryonic stem-cell research, that people throughout the world gain a greater respect for life and that Notre Dame and other Roman Catholic universities will more fully embrace their Catholic identity.
D'Arcy spoke to the students about three hours after about 12,000 people attended a commencement Mass at the Joyce Center on Saturday evening. Neither D'Arcy nor the Rev. John Jenkins, the university president, mentioned the controversy during the 85-minute service.
Earlier in the day at the school's front gate, more than 100 people gathered to protest the decision to invite Obama to speak at commencement and receive an honorary degree.
Shortly after noon, 23 protesters marched on to campus. Nineteen were arrested on trespassing charges and four also faced a charge of resisting law enforcement, said Sgt. Bill Redman, St. Joseph County Police Department spokesman. They were being held on $250 bond.
Among those arrested was the Rev. Norman Weslin, a Catholic priest and founder of the Lambs of Christ abortion protest group. He also was among 21 people arrested during a similar protest Friday.
None of those arrested Saturday were students, Brown said.
Former Republican presidential candidate Alan Keyes and five others were arrested Friday and held overnight. Keyes was released Saturday evening after posting $1,000 bond.
Also protesting Saturday was Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff identified as "Roe" in the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. She now opposes abortion.
She said she had planned to be arrested on Saturday, but changed her mind when a security officer ushered her to the side and gave her a chance to walk away.
"I didn't know why he just kind of gently moved me away. So I'm like, maybe this isn't the right time," McCorvey said.
Some driving past the protesters on Saturday waved in support. Others yelled at them. One man honked his horn in protest and held up a handful of hangers, a symbol of the gruesome procedures some pregnant women resorted to before Roe v. Wade.
Later, about 10 pro-Obama demonstrators assembled across the street holding up placards with slogans such as "Honk if you support Obama" and "Pro-Jenkins/Notre Dame." Jenkins has been criticized by many, including dozens of bishops, for the school's decision to invite Obama.
On campus, though, there were no signs of protest. Students generally favored Obama giving the graduation speech. The graduating class voted to name Jenkins their Senior Class Fellow.
A full page advertisement in the South Bend Tribune on Saturday had the headline: "Catholic Leaders and Theologians Welcome President Obama to Notre Dame." The ad, signed by university professors around the country, many of them at Catholic schools, said that as Catholics committed to civil dialogue, they were proud Obama was giving the commencement address.
There were some students, though, who opposed Obama giving the speech. ND Response, a coalition of university groups, has received permission from Notre Dame to hold a protest on the west end of the South Quad on Sunday. Spokesman John Daly said he expected 20 to 30 graduating seniors to skip commencement and attend the prayer vigil.
ND Response has passed items with a yellow cross with yellow baby's feet that graduates could put atop their mortarboards to wear during the graduation ceremony. Some of the people who listened to D'Arcy then went to a chapel at one of the dorms on campus for an all-night prayer vigil.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press
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