On Palm Sunday, April 5, 2009, 400 students, faculty and others participated in a prayer rally at the University of Notre Dame to end the scandal of honoring President Obama at commencement. Last week, The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) urged its more than 20,000 members and the nearly quarter million supporters of the petition at NotreDameScandal.com to join the students in prayerful solidarity by offering the Holy Rosary.

“Prayer is our most valuable means for the renewal of Catholic higher education,” said Patrick J. Reilly, CNS president. “It is our hope that the witness of these faithful students will inspire the Notre Dame administration to reaffirm its commitment to its Catholic identity and the fundamental importance of being a public witness for life.”

Last Tuesday, the University of Notre Dame student-formed coalition, Notre Dame Response, announced their plans for the first public demonstration in front of the famous “golden dome” Main Building on campus to take place on Palm Sunday. Events in the prayer rally included an invocation, an address by the ND Response Chairman, a keynote speech, a Rosary, announcements, and a procession with flowers to the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes.

Attorney Harold Cassidy was the keynote speaker at the rally, and he addressed the importance of the pro-life movement.

Notre Dame philosophy professor Alfred Freddoso also spoke at the prayer rally. During his address he called to mind the example of suffering set by Our Lady of Sorrows and the founder of Notre Dame, Father Edward Sorin, C.S.C. The full text of Professor Freddoso’s speech is here.

Freddoso said, “May these examples inspire us all to re-dedicate ourselves to the proposition that Catholic universities have the most to offer our culture when they are not afraid to be distinctive, when they do not accept the facile assumption that intellectual excellence and fidelity to Christ need to be balanced off against one another, when they do not value worldly glory and prestige more than the truth that sets us free.”

It was announced at the rally that ND Response is leading a 40-day Rosary campaign for “the conversion of President Obama’s heart,” beginning this Wednesday, April 8, exactly 40 days before commencement. The students aim to have one million Rosaries prayed before then. The Cardinal Newman Society joins them in encouraging people to log their prayers online at NDResponse.com in addition to signing the petition at NotreDameScandal.com.