Teachable Moment

Some quotes from the University of Notre Dame website re: yesterday’s graduation ceremonies:

‘Obama’s visit, in the face of discord about his position on abortion, placed the University under a barrage of criticism and protest. Both he and University President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., addressed the discord as a teachable moment.”

Father Jenkins was interrupted for applause when he noted, “Most of the debate has centered on Notre Dame’s decision to invite and honor the President. Less attention has been focused on the President’s decision to accept,” he said. “President Obama has come to Notre Dame, though he knows well that we are fully supportive of Church teaching on the sanctity of human life, and we oppose his policies on abortion and embryonic stem cell research.”

While his stance on abortion was likely unacceptable to some, he (Obama) said he aims to a dialogue of “fair minded words.”

A more somber “first” went to Judge John Noonan, who stepped in to make Laetare remarks when Mary Ann Glendon, Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard University and former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, declined the 2009 Laetare Medal. “Debate is not now about to close,” on the subject of abortion, he said. “At its center are the claims of conflicting consciences.”

TheFundamentals wonders just when “debate” and “dialogue” became substitutes for principles and values? Do words now speak louder than action? Teachable moment? For whom? What Church teaching was taught in this kumbaya moment? Are fair minded words the culture of convenience’s new stand in for fundamental values? Let’s all come together and have a big group hug. We’ll talk. In the meantime at least half of us are headed where we want to be going. You folks in the minority can come along and we’ll chat. Such a deal!

Just imagine where we would be if the minority in 1776 sought more dialogue and debate.

Each of these good intentions moves the road a bit closer to its certain destination.

The community organizer should have noted these “fair minded words” in this teachable moment:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.