Notre Dame Sticking With Obama For Commencement

University officials say they won't rescind an invitation for President BarackObama to speak despite criticism.

By: WKRG Staff | WKRG-TV
Published: March 24, 2009

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SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - Officials at the University of Notre
Dame say they won't rescind an invitation for President Barack
Obama to speak at its spring commencement despite criticism from
some Catholics that his views on abortion and stem cell research
run counter to Catholic teaching.
The Cardinal Newman Society, a conservative Roman Catholic
group, says more than 28,000 people have signed an online petition
calling the choice of Obama as commencement speaker "an outrage
and a scandal."
School spokesman Dennis Brown says he doesn't foresee a
circumstance under which the university would rescind Obama's
invitation to speak at the May 17 event.
Notre Dame's president, the Rev. John Jenkins, says the
invitation should not be taken as condoning or endorsing Obama's
positions on specific issues regarding the protection of human
life.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)