Mary Ann Glendon: An Open Letter to Fr. Jenkins

April 27, 2009 – 1:25 pm

First Things: Declining Notre Dame: A Letter from Mary Ann Glendon – Mary Ann Glendon

April 27, 2009
The Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.
President
University of Notre Dame

Dear Father Jenkins,

When you informed me in December 2008 that I had been selected to receive Notre Dame’s Laetare Medal, I was profoundly moved. I treasure the memory of receiving an honorary degree from Notre Dame in 1996, and I have always felt honored that the commencement speech I gave that year was included in the anthology of Notre Dame’s most memorable commencement speeches. So I immediately began working on an acceptance speech that I hoped would be worthy of the occasion, of the honor of the medal, and of your students and faculty.

Last month, when you called to tell me that the commencement speech was to be given by President Obama, I mentioned to you that I would have to rewrite my speech. Over the ensuing weeks, the task that once seemed so delightful has been complicated by a number of factors. Read More »

By P. Langdale Hough | Posted in Catholic Institutions | Comments (6)

Robert P. George on the NIH Embryonic Stem Cell Research Guidelines

April 20, 2009 – 10:11 am

By Robert P. George, Princeton University

Yuval Levin points out that the NIH guidelines for implementing President Obama’s deeply regrettable policy of funding research using stem cell lines created by killing human embryos include a “tiny silver lining.”  Obama’s recent executive order rescinding President Bush’s August 9, 2001 executive order on the subject opened the door for guidelines that would have authorized federal government funding of research involving cell lines deriving from the creation of human embryos by cloning, in vitro fertilization, and other means specifically for research in which they are killed.   NIH officials declined, for now at least, to walk through that door.  However, they have not provided their reasons for this decision, and the Director of the NIH has expressly indicated that the agency could reverse course at any time and authorize funding for so-called “therapeutic cloning.” Read More »

By P. Langdale Hough | Posted in Mission | Comments (1)

The Corner (NRO): Yuval Levin on the NIH Stem Cell Rules

April 20, 2009 – 10:09 am

The original post on The Corner (NRO) by Yuval Levin can be found here – Editor

Stem Cell Rules by Yuval Levin, Ethics and Public Policy Center

When President Obama announced his new embryonic stem cell funding policy last month, he left it to the NIH to set the rules, giving them no clear guidelines or ethical boundaries. Today, the NIH announced its draft funding rules, and while the picture on the whole is grim, it certainly could have been worse.

On their face, the new NIH rules are essentially the Clinton administration guidelines, which were published in 2000 though never actually put into effect. They would fund research on lines of embryonic stem cells derived from embryos created for reproductive purposes but not implanted, and turned over by their parents to be destroyed for research. The consent forms involved also have to demonstrate a degree of separation between the decision to produce embryos and the decision to make them available to researchers. The NIH will not fund the use of embryos created by human cloning, or those created by IVF specifically for research. Read More »

By P. Langdale Hough | Posted in Embryo Destructive Research, Obama on Embryo Destructive Research | Comments (1)

There He Goes Again! Kmiec’s Latest Obamapology

April 16, 2009 – 2:37 pm

Matthew Franck, Radford University

The conduct of Pepperdine’s Professor Douglas Kmiec as “house Catholic” of the Obama administration is starting to resemble a carnival freak show: “Step right up, folks, and watch the pro-life Catholic Obama supporter tie himself into knots of altogether new and fascinating shapes.  Why, when he’s through, even he can’t disentangle himself!”

Weeks ago, we asked here at Moral Accountability, “Which executive order or bill signing will it take for Professor Kmiec to recognize his own moral accountability for the Obama administration’s policies?  Or will he continue to rationalize ‘pro-life support’ for a pro-abortion president, no matter what happens?”  The answer is very clear now: that Professor Kmiec will say just about anything to paper over President Obama’s radically pro-abortion agenda, and while the president remains unbending in his devotion to the unfettered abortion license, Kmiec will engage in all manner of contortions in order to defend that devotion while claiming he himself does not share it.

Every new effort by Professor Kmiec reveals him in a fascinating new shape.  His latest is on display in an op-ed at the Politico website, defending the University of Notre Dame’s invitation to President Obama to give the commencement address and receive an honorary degree on May 17.  But it is not really a defense of Notre Dame for inviting someone whose politics diverge from Catholic teaching.  It is a defense of President Obama as someone faithful Catholics should love. Read More »

By P. Langdale Hough | Posted in Catholic Institutions | Comments (10)

Robert P. George and Douglas Kmiec on Life Issues

April 7, 2009 – 9:02 am

In the aftermath of their exchange regarding President Obama’s position on the funding of embryo destructive research involving human cloning, Douglas Kmiec (Pepperdine Law School) posed twelve questions to Robert P. George (Princeton University)  regarding the policies, ethics, and science surrounding life issues, and embryo destructive research in particular. Links to Douglas Kmiec’s questions and Robert George’s responses can be found below. Once again, many thanks to Dan Gilgoff for posting this exchange.

Douglas Kmiec: 12 Questions for Robert P. George

Robert George: 12 Responses to Douglas Kmiec

By P. Langdale Hough | Posted in Embryo Destructive Research | Comments (4)

Hadley Arkes: A Modest Proposal for Dialogue at Notre Dame

March 31, 2009 – 2:58 pm

The Catholic Thing: A Modest Proposal for Dialogue at Notre Dame – Hadley Arkes

Rev. John Jenkins, President of the University of Notre Dame, was reported to have said that he doesn’t condone President Obama’s policies, and yet he thinks it important for the president to come to Notre Dame “to engage in conversation.” Professor Hadley Arkes of Amherst College calls for a truly rigorous discussion with President Obama at his delivery of the commencement address at the University of Notre Dame in May.

By P. Langdale Hough | Posted in Catholic Institutions | Comments (2)

Moral Accountability in South Bend

March 31, 2009 – 8:11 am

Matthew J. Franck, Radford University

The genesis of MoralAccountability.com, as you can see from our mission statement, lay in the disturbing phenomenon, in the 2008 presidential campaign, of self-proclaimed “pro-life” Catholics, Evangelical Protestants, and others declaring their support for the candidacy of Barack Obama.  The signers of that statement set forth as one of our goals the effort “to help ensure that never again will good intentions conspire with shoddy reasoning and wishful thinking to compromise the rights of the weakest and most vulnerable members of our community and to undermine the institution of marriage.”  And so we called on all our fellow citizens of good will, but especially those who proclaim a commitment to the sanctity of life yet who had supported President Obama in the election, “to join us now in repelling the attacks that will be launched against life and marriage by this administration.” Read More »

By P. Langdale Hough | Posted in Catholic Institutions, Obama on Abortion, Obama on Embryo Destructive Research, Policy Briefing, Web Briefing | Comments (5)

Robert P. George on Statement by Members of the President’s Council on Bioethics

March 27, 2009 – 8:33 am

Robert P. George, Princeton University

I commend the statement published by several of my colleagues on the President’s Council on Bioethics concerning federal funding of embryo-destructive research. I share with them the conviction that each and every member of the human family, irrespective not only of race, sex, and ethnicity, but also irrespective of age, size, location, stage of development, or condition of dependency, possesses profound, inherent, and equal dignity. That is why, like the signatories to the statement, I oppose research, and a fortiori public funding of research, involving the killing of human embryos. Human embryos are not nonhuman, or subhuman, or prehuman creatures that may legitimately be treated as raw material for research designed to benefit others. Each embryo is, rather, a human being in the earliest stages of his or her natural development. Although I object to nothing in the statement, I thought a bit more needed to be said to ensure maximum clarity. For example, in the discussion of President Bush’s policy on the funding of embryonic stem-cell research, I thought it important to note that not all signatories agreed with every aspect of the President’s policy. Some of us, for example, did not support the President’s decision to permit funding of research using stem cell lines derived prior to August 9, 2001. Still, what the statement says is true and important. I congratulate my colleagues for their excellent work, and I warmly commend their fine statement to our fellow citizens.

Links:

Bioethics Forum: Federal Funding of Embryonic Stem Cell Research – Gilbert Meilaender, Paul McHugh, Benjamin Carson, Nicholas Eberstadt, Jean Bethke Elshtain, Alfonso Gómez-Lobo, William Hurlbut, Donald Landry, Peter Lawler, and Diana Schaub

By P. Langdale Hough | Posted in Obama on Embryo Destructive Research | Comments (0)

An Open Letter to President Obama’s Pro-Life Supporters

March 24, 2009 – 8:27 am

Friends:

We share with you a commitment to the profound, inherent, and equal dignity of every member of the human family. It is for this reason that we oppose abortion, embryo-destructive research, euthanasia, and every other form of direct killing of innocent human beings. We believe that these practices are grave injustices that no society should promote, facilitate, or even permit.

Despite Barack Obama’s record of support for legal abortion and its public funding, and his pledge to lift President Bush’s limitations on the federal funding of embryo-destructive research, you felt that Obama would, all things considered, make a better president than John McCain, and you encouraged your fellow pro-life citizens to join you in voting for him. Some of you argued that Senator Obama, despite his vocal support for legal abortion and equally vocal opposition to pro-life legislative initiatives, was actually the superior candidate from the pro-life point of view. His economic and social policies, many of you said, would strike at the causes of abortion and reduce its incidence. You predicted that lives would be saved. Read More »

By P. Langdale Hough | Posted in Abortion Reduction Debate, Catholic Politicians, Mission, Obama on Abortion, Obama on Embryo Destructive Research, Obama on Human Cloning, Obama on Same-Sex Marriage, Policy Briefing, Policy Poll, Web Briefing | Comments (2)

Arkes – Kmiec Debate Available Online

March 23, 2009 – 1:23 pm

The Matthew J. Ryan Center at Villanova University has posted the video recordings of the Cicero Podium Debate between Professor Hadley Arkes (Amherst College) and Professor Douglas Kmiec (Pepperdine Law School). This event took place on February 13, 2009, and was a session of the conference “The Better Angels of Our Nature: The Legacy of Abraham Lincoln”.

Part I

Read More »

By P. Langdale Hough | Posted in Mission, Obama on Same-Sex Marriage, Policy Briefing, Policy Poll, Web Briefing | Comments (2)