Falls Church, VA — On Thursday, the University of Dayton presented former
U.S. Senator John Glenn the 2001 “Leadership With Virtue Award.” During his four terms in the Senate, Glenn voted against the pro-life position in 120 of 122 votes, according to the National Right to Life Committee.
Patrick Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society, a national
organization dedicated to strengthening the Catholic identity of America's
230 Catholic colleges and universities, issued the following statement:
Today many Catholics are ashamed of one of our own Catholic institutions. By failing to correct its first mistake of selecting Senator Glenn for this award, UD has made an even greater mistake of inviting the world to question its sincerity when it claims to embrace virtue and Catholic teaching.
Couldn't UD have at least delayed the ceremony? At a time when America is under the shadow of terrorist killings of innocent people and the prospect of more violence, UD chooses to honor a man partly responsible for the deaths of millions of America's preborn children. The shadows grow even darker in Dayton today.
More than a month ago, the Cardinal Newman Society called upon UD president Brother Raymond Fitz to cancel this award to Senator Glenn, thereby reaffirming UD's Catholic identity and taking the opportunity to teach UD's students and the general public about true virtue.
Brother Fitz could have publicly apologized to Senator Glenn and UD's students and alumni, explaining that Senator Glenn's abhorrent voting record and lack of compassion for the most vulnerable persons — preborn children, including those subjected to partial-birth abortion — should have disqualified him from consideration for this award. This, at least, would have minimized UD's embarrassment.
(This article courtesy of the Pro-Life Infonet email newsletter. For more information or to subscribe go to www.prolifeinfo.org or email infonet@prolifeinfo.org.)
