‘Fake Fear’ on university campuses as big a threat to civil society as ‘Fake News’

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Vice President Mike Pence is a Catholic. But the jury’s still out on Notre Dame

In days of old those who would not cross the path of a black cat, or anyone fearful of walking under a ladder was ridiculed. Today we accept as normal students who consider being in the presence of a vice president, “unsafe”. Like his students, Fr. Jenkins gets to decide of what to be fearful. In bringing Obama to the lectern, Jenkins “disregarded the objections of some 367,000 petitioners and 83 cardinals, bishops and archbishops, including his own ordinary, and infamously ignored the requests for “dialogue” from more than 80 peaceful pro-life protestors arrested for a prayer demonstration against the Obama appearance.” (LifeSiteNews, Dec. 7, 2016)

“Notre Dame traditionally invites presidents to speak at its graduation during their first year in office. “Obama was the sixth president to deliver the commencement address after Dwight Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. This is twice as many presidents hosted as commencement speakers as any other non-military college, according to CRUX. “I do think the elected leader of the nation should be listened to. And it would be good to have that person on the campus — whoever they are, whatever their views,” Fr. Jenkins stated. “At the same time, the 2009 commencement was a bit of a political circus, and I think I’m conscious that that day is for graduates and their parents — and I don’t want to make the focus something else.”

Will it require the Holy See to determine that if Obama should have been “listened to”, why not Trump? This is how Notre Dame senior students describe their “unsafe feelings”:

“For me personally, [Pence] represents the larger Trump administration,” Mondane told the university's newspaper. “His administration represents something, and for many people on our campus, it makes them feel unsafe to have someone who openly is offensive but also demeaning of their humanity and of their life and of their identity.” “Williams argued that the selection of Pence as the university’s commencement speaker goes against the school’s Catholic mission. “I feel that is offensive to such a large population here at Notre Dame, and I also believe it goes against certain Catholic Social Teaching, which is something the University likes to broadcast that it stands behind, but it picks and chooses when it wants to stand behind them,” Williams said. “In addition to the #NotMyCommencementSpeaker campaign, a number of student groups have spoken out against the invitation of Pence, including the Diversity Council and the College Democrats, according to Campus Reform.

The selection of Pence as the university’s commencement speaker goes against the school’s Catholic Mission? Vice President Mike Pence is a Catholic. But the jury’s still out on Notre Dame.