Notre Dame’s Profs Band Against Bishop Jenky

49 Notre Dame Professors, Staff Protest Alumnus and Board Member Bishop Jenky

Peoria Bishop Daniel Jenky preached during Sunday Mass last week that the Obama Administration’s egregious violations of religious liberty are “following a similar path” to the anti-religion campaigns of Hitler and Stalin.

Now, The Huffington Post reports, 49 professors and staff employees of the University of Notre Dame have drawn up a petition calling for the resignation of Bishop Jenky from the University of Notre Dame Board of Fellows unless he renounces “loudly and publicly this destructive analogy.”

From the report:

The letter, addressed to the University President and the Chair of Board of Trustees is below:

Dear Father Jenkins and Mr Notebaert,

As you will be aware, the Most Reverend Daniel Jenky, a member of Notre Dame’s Board of Fellows, has been widely quoted for a homily in which he described President Obama as “seem[ing] intent on following a similar path” to Hitler and Stalin. Bishop Jenky’s comments demonstrate ignorance of history, insensitivity to victims of genocide, and absence of judgment. We accept that Bishop Jenky’s comments are protected by the First Amendment, but we find it profoundly offensive that a member of our beloved university’s highest authority, the Board of Fellows, should compare the President’s actions with those whose genocidal policies murdered tens of millions of people, including the specific targeting of Catholics, Jews, and other minorities for their faith. We request that you issue a statement on behalf of the University that will definitively distance Notre Dame from Bishop Jenky’s incendiary statement. Further, we feel that it would be in the best interest of Notre Dame if Bishop Jenky resigned from the University’s Board of Fellows if he is unwilling to renounce loudly and publicly this destructive analogy.

Read the list of Notre Dame professors who signed the petition here.

In fact, Bishop Jenky’s statement reportedly made no reference to the genocidal actions of Stalin and Hitler, but only to the dictators’ antipathy toward the Catholic Church and other religions. A citizenry that trusts in God is an obstacle to a political leader who seeks extraordinary powers, and Christianity in particular affirms the sacred dignity of each human life.

Here is what Bishop Jenky said, according to the Chicago Tribune:

Hitler and Stalin, at their better moments, would just barely tolerate some churches remaining open, but would not tolerate any competition with the state in education, social services and health care. In clear violation of our First Amendment rights, Barack Obama — with his radical, pro-abortion and extreme secularist agenda — now seems intent on following a similar path.

…This fall, every practicing Catholic must vote, and must vote their Catholic consciences, or by the following fall our Catholic schools, our Catholic hospitals, our Catholic Newman Centers, all our public ministries — only excepting our church buildings — could easily be shut down.

The Tribune reported this explanation of Bishop Jenky’s homily from the Peoria Diocese:

“Based upon the current government’s threatened infringement upon the Church’s religious exercise of its ministry, Bishop Jenky offered historical context and comparisons as a means to prevent a repetition of historical attacks upon the Catholic Church and other religions,” said Patricia Gibson, chancellor of the Peoria Diocese.

“Bishop Jenky gave several examples of times in history in which religious groups were persecuted because of what they believed,” Gibson said. “We certainly have not reached the same level of persecution. However, history teaches us to be cautious once we start down the path of limiting religious liberty.”

Only one of the 49 signers to the Notre Dame petition teaches history, with a specialty in organized labor.

The root of this issue is not so much that they are offended by his 'extreme' analogy of mentioning Hitler and Stalin, it is that they have a higher regard for the president of the United States than they do for the Church's teaching on respecting and valuing human life. I would be willing to bet a decent sum of money that the vast majority, if not all of these professors do not share the Church's teaching in Humanae Vitae, nor do they consider it a problem for Catholic hospitals and institutions to have to pay for services which are against the consciences of (hopefully) a decent number of its employees. So why would they share the bishops views or understand his analogy?