Story Created:
May 1, 2009 at 3:55 PM EDT
Story Updated:
May 1, 2009 at 5:43 PM EDT
GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) — Roman Catholic Bishop Michael Warfel of the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings has joined dozens of Catholic bishops nationwide in criticizing the University of Notre Dame for inviting President Barack Obama to speak to graduates.
Notre Dame invited the president to give this year's commencement address on May 17 and receive an honorary law degree.
Warfel became the 57th Roman Catholic bishop who, as of Friday, had gone on record against the invitation because of the president's support of abortion rights and embryonic stem-cell research.
The Obama invitation sends a "shamefully ambiguous message" about Notre Dame's fidelity to church teachings, Warfel wrote in a letter to the school's president, the Rev. John Jenkins.
"Until there is clarification, this decision will prevent me from advocating participation by members of this diocese at the University of Notre Dame," Warfel said.
Warfel said he will encourage Catholic parishioners in his central- and eastern-Montana diocese to boycott the Indiana school and its Catholic formation programs "until its leadership discontinues making decisions that are inconsistent with the promotion of the Catholic Church's teachings on the sacredness of human life."
Jenkins has said the university does not condone all of Obama's policies but that it's important to engage in conversation. University officials have said the school does not plan to rescind the invitation to Obama despite the objections it has received.
