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Students at an all-women Catholic college in the United States have rebelled against a decision to invite a pro-abortion former president of Ireland to give the commencement address at this year’s graduation ceremony.
Former Irish president Mary McAleese was invited to give the 2025 commencement address at the all-women’s Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana, where she was also to receive an honourary degree.
Dr McAleese served as the president of Ireland from 1997 to 2011. She is a noted pro-abortion abortion politician who said that she “would see the failure to provide abortion as a human rights issue”.
The former president supported the repeal of Ireland’s pro-life abortion ban in 2018, removing from the Irish Constitution the recognition of an unborn child’s right to life.
Responding to the invitation, the college’s pro-life society, Belles for Life, and The Loretto Trust, which exists to preserve St Mary’s Catholic values, launched a petition calling on the school to retract the invitation that the Trust slammed as “a grave scandal to the Catholic faith”.
A letter was also sent to the college president with the same request.
Lydia Poe, the vice president of Belles for Life, said: “The fact of the matter is I think with a lot of the professors on campus and administration, they like to push an agenda… opposed to Catholicism…
“I think that’s fantastic to have diverse ideas out there, but our biggest problem is the college giving her [McAleese] an honorary degree and promoting her as an honorary role model.”
The Loretto Trust added that the invitation to Dr Mary McAleese “sends a scandalous message to students that one can actively oppose Church teachings while still being celebrated by a Catholic institution”.
In 2021, thousands of Catholic students and staff at the University of Notre Dame signed a petition calling for President Joe Biden not to give the commencement address traditionally reserved for sitting US presidents or vice presidents.
“By honouring Biden”, the petition stated, “the University would be seen as little troubled by Biden’s actions… Catholics – including especially Catholic politicians – and others who share Biden’s views would be confirmed in their ruinous error while others would be newly led astray…
“He [Biden] embraces the most pro-abortion and anti-religious liberty public policy program in history.”
President Biden did not ultimately attend the graduation due to supposed scheduling conflicts.
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