Obama v. the Catholic Church

By HOWARD LURIE
Mon, Jun. 1, 2009

MANY WHO read this piece will probably say I'm being excessively cynical.

I plead guilty. But merely because they're right doesn't mean that I'm wrong. So here goes: I strongly suspect that President Obama's speech at Notre Dame's commencement was an attempt to separate Catholics from the teachings of their church.

Many in the Catholic community and church hierarchy expressed outrage at the school's invitation to Obama to speak, and to award him an honorary degree. For them, it was highly inappropriate for a Catholic university to honor someone whose support for abortion is so contrary to the position of the church. the rest