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Open Letter to Fr. Jenkins
from Monica Miller

May 3, 2010

Dear Fr. John Jenkins:

Your recent statement of April 30, 2010 reveals that you remain blind to the injustice of prosecuting fellow Catholics and other Christians who stood up for the dignity of human life. The whole problem regarding the plight of the ND 88 is that you invited Barak Obama to deliver the commencement address at a Catholic university—a president who supports, defends and advocates the unjust law of Roe v. Wade. This is a law that has sent literally millions of innocent human beings to their deaths—a law that contradicts everything that the Catholic Church stands for. Months before the May 17, 2009 commencment, dozens of pro-life groups (including Citizens for a Pro-life Society) and your own bishop, as well as thousands of Catholics, Christians and people of good will, pleaded with you, begged you and admonished you to dis-invite this advocate of the legalized killing of the innocent—yet you would not listen.

The ND 88 are only “guilty” of promoting and speaking the truth in a situation of extreme scandal to the Church and to society, a situation that demanded that such truth be spoken. You refuse to request that the charges be dropped. However, in 2007, other protestors, in a similar situation, never faced prosecution for their on-campus demonstrations. Yet you are willing to persecute fellow Catholics, fellow believers and pro-lifers—with whom you should have communion and fellowship. You simply cannot claim that Notre Dame supports the right to life while, at the same time, allowing the prosecution of fellow pro-lifers who advocated the right to life issue on your campus. The irony is sadly obvious.

The Pre-Trial Diversion program really means that the ND 88 be penalized for doing what is right. If they accept this offer they are required to pay fees of $328.00 and commit to 20 hours of community service. In essence, it is a kind of admission of guilt. Where is the justice in that?

You try to justify the prosecution of the ND 88 by pointing out that there were “approved” on-campus events in oppostion to Obama’s appearance. However, no one was permitted on campus who carried anti-Obama signage or posters of the victims of abortion. This means that some speech was tolerated while other speech was not. In addition—many arrests took place days before these approved events were conducted. In other words, on-campus oppostion to Obama’s delivery of the commencement address was already completely restricted—not only on the day of the commencement itself.

Members of Citizens for a Pro-life Society came to Notre Dame and held signs of the victims of aboriton. Many of them were photos of aborted babies taken from trash dumpsters behind Michigan abortion clinics. Our goal was to show the truth to the graduates as they lined up to enter Joyce Stadium. The ND graduates were about to listen to—and even honor a man— who supports a law that sent these babies to their deaths and allowed their bodies to be thrown into the trash. The graduates needed to see and be confronted by the hideous injustice of legalized abortion supported by Barak Obama. Indeed, since you wanted Obama at the commencement, you should have wanted the graduates to see the injustice that he supports. Our actions were for the sake of promoting the truth, and we are quilty of doing nothing wrong.

Once again the ND 88 ask that you request the St. Joseph County prosecutor to drop all pending charges. For the sake of truth, for the sake of life—please do it.

Sincerely, Monica Migliorino Miller, Ph.D.
Director of Citizens for a Pro-life Society

 

 
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