The Catholic bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind., announced Tuesday he will boycott President Barack Obama’s May 17 commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame, joining an estimated 80,000 people who have petitioned the university to rescind its plans.
For the first time in his 25-year tenure as bishop of the region that encompasses the famous Catholic university, Fort Wayne-South Bend Bishop John M. D’Arcy said he will not be on the main stage during the university’s commencement ceremonies because of President Obama’s “long-stated unwillingness to hold human life as sacred.”
“I wish no disrespect to our president, I pray for him and wish him well,” the bishop said in a statement released Tuesday. “I have always revered the office of the presidency. But a bishop must teach the Catholic faith “in season and out of season,” and he teaches not only by his words – but by his actions. My decision is not an attack on anyone, but is in defense of the truth about human life.”
