Catholic University's faculty letter to Boehner re. his commencement speech there.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/lessons-for-the-media-the-bishops-and-john-boehner/2011/05/22/AFQx5L9G_story.html

Here’s the background: This year, Catholic University invited Boehner to give the address at its May 14 commencement, and why not? Boehner is Catholic, and universities like to get famous people to give such speeches. Notre Dame was similarly proud in 2009 when it snagged President Obama as its commencement speaker. But a group of Catholic academics, including some leading members of the Catholic University faculty, decided Boehner’s visit was a useful moment to remind him and everyone else about Catholicism’s strong instructions about our duty to the poor and government’s responsibility to promote social justice.

The anti-abortion Notre Dame protesters shouted in fury at the university and insisted that the president should not even have had a chance to speak at a Catholic institution. Boehner’s critics, in sharp contrast, were respectful and never said he didn’t belong there. The opening paragraph of their letter welcomed the speaker — and also served as a not-so-subtle poke at the Notre Dame rejectionists and the bishops who supported them.

“We congratulate you on the occasion of your commencement address to The Catholic University of America,” they wrote. “It is good for Catholic universities to host and engage the thoughts of powerful public figures, even Catholics such as yourself who fail to recognize (whether out of a lack of awareness or dissent) important aspects of Catholic teaching.” The rest of the letter was tough. “From the apostles to the present,” the professors wrote, “the Magisterium of the Church has insisted that those in power are morally obliged to preference the needs of the poor.” They added: “Your record in support of legislation to address the desperate needs of the poor is among the worst in Congress.”

The letter specifically condemned the House-passed Ryan budget, arguing that it “guts long-established protections for the most vulnerable members of society.” It cited the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ strong criticisms of the GOP plan (since softened by Archbishop Timothy Dolan, the conference president). “A just framework for future budgets cannot rely on disproportionate cuts in essential services to poor persons,” wrote bishops Howard Hubbard of Albany, N.Y., and Stephen Blaire of Stockton, Calif. Pointedly, the Catholic academics said the budget had “anti-life implications,” including its cuts to the Women, Infants, and Children program.

For their efforts, the professors got nothing like the avalanche of attention let loose by the far angrier anti-Obama Notre Dame protesters. As for Boehner, his address went off peacefully. He offered a sweet-natured, non-political talk about the power of “humility, patience and faith,” complete with references to the Blessed Mother, the Hail Mary prayer and the speaker’s intrepid Catholic high school football coach.