Michael Sean Winters still doesn't get it. (Obama, Benedict and Notre Dame, revisited)

From the iNational Catholic Reporter/i, a href="http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/question-pope%E2%80%99s-catholic-identity" target=_blankMichael Sean Winters replies to my prior post/a:blockquote[Quoting my prior post]:blockquote"The pope regularly receives heads of state all the time. It is simply one of the many things the Vatican does. To do so, even to exchange personal gifts as a matter of courtesy, does not imply endorsement of any or all of the policies espoused by that particular head of state."/blockquoteBut, Obama was also head of state when he went to Notre Dame. Indeed, inviting the sitting president to give the commencement is "one of the things the university does" and Fr. Jenkins made it quite clear that the conferral of the honorary degree upon the President did "not imply endorsement of any or all of the policies espoused by that particular head of state."/blockquotea href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles_of_faith/2009/05/rev_jenkinss_re.html" target=_blankFr. Jenkins stated in his commencement address/a, Notre Dame honored Obama "for the qualities and accomplishments the American people admired in him when they elected him." br /pHowever, as a href="http://www.americanpapist.com/2009/04/round-up-bishops-who-have-responded-to.html" target=_blanka good number of bishops/a and a href="http://www.notredamescandal.com/SignthePetitiontoFrJenkins/tabid/454/Default.aspx" target=_blank367,000 Catholics/a wish to point out, the very act of bestowing an honorary law degree iconveyed a rather conflicted message/i. a href="http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2009/03/notre-dames-faustian-bargain" target=_blankIn the words of Stephen Barr/a:blockquoteHow can an institution that purports to be Catholic honor as a “doctor of law”—literally a “teacher of law”—a President who has made it very clear by word and deed that he intends to iremove from the laws of this nation/i anything that defends unborn human life?/blockquoteMichael Sean Winters continues:blockquoteIf President Obama's views are so radical, perhaps the pope should set aside the tradition of receiving the president. After all, the pope could have simply said he was starting his vacation early. But, conservative Catholics can't really attack the pope for refusing to see Obama, can they? At least they can’t question the pope’s "Catholic identity" the way they did that of Notre Dame./blockquoteSorry, but I don't see why Catholics would have any reason to protest. Fr. Z. reminds us, a href="http://wdtprs.com/blog/2009/06/amerika-magazine-gets-it-wrong-again/" target=_blankpopes meet with the good and criminals alike/a. John Paul II met with Fidel Castro and Yassir Arafat. Paul VI met with Idi Amin Dada. What they don't do is bestow a formal ihonor/i on them. br /pMoreover, a href="http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2009/06/what-planet-is-america-magazine-living-on-.html" target=_blankAs Carl Olson points out/a:blockquoteBenedict XVI and President Obama, according to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, will discuss "their shared belief in the dignity of all people." Regardless of the spin (does "all people", for Obama, include the unborn? I think not.), it's fair to say this meeting with involve some sort of actual idialogue/i -- bthe sort of dialogue that didn't take place at Notre Dame/b, despite the spin (see a pattern here?) aggressively and shamelessly put into play by Fr. Jenkins and others./blockquotediv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9017636-7000125010751148251?l=thepublicsquare.blogspot.com'//div