THE PRESIDENT & "THE GIPPER"

Notes of Concern….
Jack Blair




The President & The “Gipper”

The President of the United States received an invitation to attend the Commencement Ceremony at The University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. In addition to making the speech to the graduates he would receive an honorary degree.

There is absolutely nothing unusual about this.

The White House gets hundreds of invitations for a president to speak at high school and college commencements every year.

What was surprising was the best-known Catholic university had not only invited, but also planned to honor, a person whose personal views were at odds with beliefs central to the Catholic church.

Those who schedule the president would have considered this fact.

Those who invited the president would also have considered this fact.

The University of Notre Dame demonstrated its long-standing commitment to fairness, and its respect for the Office of the President, in extending the invitation. It also recognized the importance of intellectual freedom owed to those young men and women who study there.

I feel certain the political science department at Notre Dame teaches the same information about the separation of church and state as do other fine schools. I feel more certain that the president of Notre Dame and the Board of Trustees of the school felt justified in honoring anyone who had been elected by the people to serve as president.

A president’s personal religious philosophy should not preclude his making speeches, appearances or accepting awards from people or organizations that hold differing views. He is, after all, president of ALL the people.

President Obama demonstrated personal boldness in agreeing to go into this particular situation, one that could have been easily avoided. He did so while maintaining his own beliefs and acknowledging the different beliefs of others.

President Obama outlined three goals to the assembled graduates and their families. They are not Catholic goals or Protestant goals but rather common ground goals.

1. work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions

2. reduce unintended pregnancies

3. make adoption more available and provide care and support for women who do carry their children to term

Is there anything in those three goals that a good, dedicated, person practicing any religion could find objectionable?

It wasn’t the goals, however, that most impressed me. It was the presentation of the goals along with an observation of great importance to fair minded people.


The President acknowledged that there would be continued conversations over these issues. He acknowledged that resolution of our differences would not come easily to us. And he underscored the importance of the ongoing conversation in helping all of us reach an appropriate accommodation of our own views with those who differ.

In other words, presidents who have some differences with Catholic thought should not be banned from an ongoing discussion of the issues. Colleges and universities should be central to these kinds of discussions, no matter who founded them or supports them.

It is essential that educational institutions be free from any influence that would subvert healthy intellectual discussion and research.

This is true whether the school is Bob Jones University or The University of Notre Dame.

For many, there is a long association of Notre Dame with the football player George Gipp, immortalized in an important film starring, oddly enough, former President Ronald Reagan.

It is not my purpose to discuss this film beyond mentioning that George Gipp was considered very brave in the face of a terminal illness. The phrase: “win one for the Gipper” became well known.

The famous football coach, Knute Rockne, George Gipp and a fine portrayal by a future president, Ronald Reagan ,the actor , all came together to provide a never ending association of the ideas of bravery, dedication and hope with the University of Notre Dame.

Over the years, the university, especially under its president Theodore Hesburgh, took a leadership role in the battle for civil rights in America.

The university has a number of wonderful traditions. It is a fine institution of learning. It has been a “player” in many of the nation’s struggles. That it should step forward, and step out, to honor an American president with whom it has some disagreements in philosophy, is a continuation of that tradition.

When Barack Obama mounted the Commencement platform at The University of Notre Dame, both Obama and the university won another one for “The Gipper! “