Mary Ann Glendon Declines Nortre Dame

Mary Ann Glendon, who was scheduled to receive a medal at the Notre Dame Commencement Ceremony next month, while Barack Obama was receiving an honorary degree, has released a letter to President Jenkins to the media. She writes:

"First, as a longtime consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, 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."

It can be read in its entirety here. Mary Ann Glendon, the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard School and former US ambassador to the Vatican, has rendered noble service to the prolife cause and her action will heap further embarrassment on Father Jenkins and Notre Shame, embarrassment which is richly deserved and completely unnecessary but for their ill-conceived decision to honour the most prominant suppoter of abortion in the world today.