Here Come the Irish:
Notre Dame Marches for Life
by O. Carter Snead
The March for Life, on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, is the largest annual civil rights event in the world. As long as it continues, the University of Notre Dame will be there.
One of the most iconic images from Notre Dame’s storied history is a July 1964 photograph of Father President Theodore Hesburgh standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the Rev. Martin Luther King at Chicago’s Soldier Field, singing “We Shall Overcome.” The photograph perfectly captures what Notre Dame aspires to be—not merely a world-class community of learning and research, but also, as its founder Father Sorin wrote, “a great force for good in the world” animated by the truths affirmed by the Catholic Church regarding the inalienable and equal dignity of every member of the human family. The image is so powerful because it shows that on that summer day in 1964 it was not merely Father Hesburgh (formidable though he was and continues to be) but the University of Notre Dame—the most important Catholic university in the world—standing in solidarity with our oppressed and marginalized brothers and sisters in their struggle for civil rights.
Last week—a little more than a half a century later—the University of Notre Dame once again joined its voice with those proclaiming the truth that every human being has a claim on us as fellow brother or sister, and is entitled to the essential protections of the law. On Thursday, January 22, seven hundred Notre Dame students, scores of faculty and staff, the university’s president, officers, and alumni traveled to Washington, DC, for the annual March for Life, an event that not only offers a large-scale witness to the tragedy of abortion and the grave injustice of Roe v. Wade, but also marks a joyful celebration of the great good of every human life from conception to natural death.
So, why was Notre Dame there, and why does it matter?
First, why would the world’s premier Catholic university offer its institutionalwitness at the March for Life? The short and most obvious answer is that the University of Notre Dame is pro-life as an institutional matter. This is manifest in several ways. In 2010, it reaffirmed its longstanding position with an official statement declaring: “Consistent with the teaching of the Catholic Church on such issues as abortion, research involving human embryos, euthanasia, the death penalty, and other related life issues, the University of Notre Dame recognizes and upholds the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death.” Notre Dame has formal policies relating to biomedical research that are anchored in its commitment to the inviolability of the human being at the embryonic and fetal stages of development.
by O. Carter Snead
The March for Life, on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, is the largest annual civil rights event in the world. As long as it continues, the University of Notre Dame will be there.
One of the most iconic images from Notre Dame’s storied history is a July 1964 photograph of Father President Theodore Hesburgh standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the Rev. Martin Luther King at Chicago’s Soldier Field, singing “We Shall Overcome.” The photograph perfectly captures what Notre Dame aspires to be—not merely a world-class community of learning and research, but also, as its founder Father Sorin wrote, “a great force for good in the world” animated by the truths affirmed by the Catholic Church regarding the inalienable and equal dignity of every member of the human family. The image is so powerful because it shows that on that summer day in 1964 it was not merely Father Hesburgh (formidable though he was and continues to be) but the University of Notre Dame—the most important Catholic university in the world—standing in solidarity with our oppressed and marginalized brothers and sisters in their struggle for civil rights.
Last week—a little more than a half a century later—the University of Notre Dame once again joined its voice with those proclaiming the truth that every human being has a claim on us as fellow brother or sister, and is entitled to the essential protections of the law. On Thursday, January 22, seven hundred Notre Dame students, scores of faculty and staff, the university’s president, officers, and alumni traveled to Washington, DC, for the annual March for Life, an event that not only offers a large-scale witness to the tragedy of abortion and the grave injustice of Roe v. Wade, but also marks a joyful celebration of the great good of every human life from conception to natural death.
So, why was Notre Dame there, and why does it matter?
First, why would the world’s premier Catholic university offer its institutionalwitness at the March for Life? The short and most obvious answer is that the University of Notre Dame is pro-life as an institutional matter. This is manifest in several ways. In 2010, it reaffirmed its longstanding position with an official statement declaring: “Consistent with the teaching of the Catholic Church on such issues as abortion, research involving human embryos, euthanasia, the death penalty, and other related life issues, the University of Notre Dame recognizes and upholds the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death.” Notre Dame has formal policies relating to biomedical research that are anchored in its commitment to the inviolability of the human being at the embryonic and fetal stages of development.
Notre Dame’s Right to Life club is the largest and most active student organization on campus. Notre Dame is the home of a wide array of pro-life programming, research, and social initiatives (the primary engine of which is the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture, where I have the privilege to serve as director).
To take only a few examples, there is the Notre Dame Vita Institute (a week-long intensive interdisciplinary course in embryology, philosophy, law, public policy, and social science for the leaders of the pro-life movement worldwide); the Evangelium Vitae Medal (the most important lifetime achievement award for heroes of the pro-life movement); Project Mom (a student initiative to provide support for pregnant women in need), and the Institute for Church Life’s Office of Human Dignity and Life Initiatives (hosting speakers, symposia, courses, and retreats).
Finally, Notre Dame is currently before the United States Supreme Court in an effort to reverse the federal government’s mandate requiring the university (on pain of crushing fines) to facilitate access to drugs that may, according to FDA labeling, cause the death of a newly conceived human being prior to implantation in her mother’s womb.
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