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Notre Dame Student Demonstration sets Record Straight on Mario Cuomo’s flawed 1984 Speech and University’s Scandalous Decision to Award President with Honorary Law Degree

April 6, 2009 – NOTRE DAME, INDIANA – On the steps of Notre Dame’s famed Golden Dome and under the watchful eye of the school’s patroness, ND Response held its first public demonstration protesting Notre Dame’s commencement speech invitation to President Obama.

Harold Cassidy, nationally recognized litigator and Alfred Freddoso, Professor of Philosophy and Oesterle Professor of Thomistic Studies at the University of Notre Dame, gave keynote speeches to a crowd of over 400.

Mr. Cassidy gave a stirring speech in which he spoke to women’s liberties, President Obama’s actions, the example of Mother Teresa and the watershed and dreadfully misleading speech by Mario Cuomo given at Notre Dame in September of 1984. Mr. Cassidy, while noting Mr. Cuomo as “a man with a good heart,” reviewed the inaccuracies of Cuomo’s speech in which he “created the blueprint for Catholic lawmakers everywhere to justify their participation in what is a grave human rights injustice, not just for the child, but for pregnant mothers themselves.” In particular, Cassidy discussed the incongruity and crux of Cuomo’s flawed and harmful argument that an unborn child could not be given the same legal protection as that of other human beings because such belief is a purely religious belief.

Mr. Cassidy stated that “whether an embryo or fetus is an entire separate, unique, irreplaceable human being is a purely scientific question,” citing a recent court US Court of Appeals case that ruled as a matter of biological fact that abortion terminates the life of “a whole, separate, unique, living human being” and recent court testimony in which an abortion clinic expert testified that abortion kills a human being. To Mr. Cuomo’s argument, he further asked, “Can you conceive of an elected official ever arguing that he himself would not own a person as a slave, because it is immoral to do so; but he must support a law that protects his neighbor’s right to own slaves?”

Alfred Freddoso roused the crowd when he stated “Make no mistake, this protest has to do with President Obama’s actions and with his intentions regarding future actions, and not merely with his beliefs.” Later in his talk, Freddoso reflected on the decision of the leadership of Notre Dame, “And despite their protestations to the contrary, the administrators of the university have made themselves complicit in the culture of comfort and convenience over and against the culture of sacrifice and self-giving; they have made themselves complicit in the culture of fearfulness and quiet despair over and against the culture of gratitude to and hope in the Father … they have made themselves complicit in the culture of individual autonomy and individual self-creation over and against the culture of faithful and enduring commitment and of shared dependency within a rich communal life—and, sad to say, they have done it under the mantle of the Catholic Faith which they profess with their lips. This would be sobering even if we didn’t find ourselves at the beginning of Holy Week.”

ND Response will be holding more demonstrations and educational forums to help the student body and public further understand President Obama’s public record of consistently violating fundamental moral principles and the University of Notre Dame’s failure to uphold its mission as a Catholic institution in honoring Obama.

ND Response is an ad hoc coalition of Notre Dame-sponsored student groups that has been organized to lead student reactions to the University’s decision. These groups include Notre Dame Right to Life, Jus Vitae (Notre Dame Law School Right to Life), Notre Dame Knights of Columbus Council 1477, the Irish Rover independent student newspaper, Notre Dame College Republicans, The University of Notre Dame Anscombe Society, The Identity Project of Notre Dame, Notre Dame Knights of the Immaculata, Notre Dame Children of Mary, the Orestes Brownson Council, and the Notre Dame Law St. Thomas More Society.

Full Text of Palm Sunday Rally Speeches Available

We are pleased to be able to offer the full text of both keynote speeches from our Palm Sunday Prayer Rally for download:

* Full Text of Harold Cassidy’s Speech (PDF, 181K)
* Full Text of Alfred Freddoso’s Speech (PDF, 40K)

Campus-wide Eucharistic Procession

The University of Notre Dame will be hosting its Fifth Annual Eucharistic Procession this April 26, following the 11:45 am Mass at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. The Procession is sponsored by Notre Dame Campus Ministry, along with several student groups from Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s, and Holy Cross. While this event is not affiliated with NDResponse, we encourage all to attend and pray for Our Lady’s University. For more information, please see the Procession Site.