Notre Dame feels political heat again

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By Julia Duin

A surprise decision by the University of Notre Dame to send five students to last weekend's gay rights march in the District has produced fury among alumni still smarting from the Catholic institution's invitation to President Obama in May.

Five students belonging to the school's Progressive Student Alliance were given an undetermined amount from the university's student activities fund - from fees assessed to students - to drive to Washington, bunk with friends and participate in the National Equality March last Sunday. Thousands of participants marched from the White House to the Capitol to support gay rights.

Since the news broke Tuesday in the Observer, the student newspaper, comments and postings about the school's sponsorship of the trip have ricocheted on Catholic blogs and some gay outlets.

William Dempsey, a retired Arlington lawyer from the school's Class of 1952 who heads Project Sycamore, an alumni organization with a 10,000-name mailing list, said Notre Dame alumni are "tearing their hair out" over the news.

"We've had a torrent of e-mails from alumni that are suffused with dismay, astonishment and sadness," he said. Notre Dame has "been the icon of American Catholic education for generations. This is like a parent turning on a child unexpectedly." He has asked the university for an explanation but so far the response has been "unsatisfactory," he said.

Dennis Brown, spokesman for the university, did not answer questions from The Washington Times about why one of the nation's pre-eminent Catholic institutions approved the trip, although he did e-mail a brief statement saying the PSA sponsored the journey. And in a short phone conversation, he said the PSA only needed approval from a faculty adviser to spend money on the trip.

PSA President Jackie Emmanuel told the Observer that the school funding was "a wonderful surprise."

"They haven't always been supportive of us in the past," sophomore Joanna Whitfield told the publication. "But we're thrilled."

The Roman Catholic Church has taken one of the strictest stands against homosexual acts of any Christian denomination, calling such acts sinful and homosexual desires "disordered." The church's stance has been reiterated repeatedly under the present Pope Benedict XVI, during whose reign the Vatican has prohibited any priesthood candidate who has "present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or supports the so-called 'gay culture' " to enroll in seminary.

Last year, the PSA presented a petition with about 3,000 signatures of students, faculty and staff to the office of the school president, the Rev. John I. Jenkins, asking the school to add sexual orientation to its nondiscrimination clause.