In a statement released today (June 22, 2009), the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) expressed “appreciation and support” for Bishop John D’Arcy, who publicly opposed the University of Notre Dame’s decision to honor pro-abortion President Barack Obama at the university’s May 17th commencement ceremony.

“The bishops of the United States express our appreciation and support for our brother bishop, the Most Reverend John D'Arcy,” the statement reads. “We affirm his pastoral concern for Notre Dame University, his solicitude for its Catholic identity, and his loving care for all those the Lord has given him to sanctify, to teach and to shepherd.”

The Cardinal Newman Society, which also criticized Notre Dame and gathered more than 367,000 signatures on a petition opposing the commencement address and honor to President Obama, welcomed the bishops’ strong expression of unity in support of Bishop D’Arcy.

“Facing criticism by political partisans and secularists, Bishop D’Arcy prayerfully led dozens of his fellow bishops and thousands of Catholics worldwide in confronting the scandal at one of our own Catholic universities,” said Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society.  “It is a comfort and a blessing to American Catholics that the bishops’ conference would issue such an extraordinary expression of unity and support.”

Last month, The Cardinal Newman Society helped coordinate a spiritual bouquet for Bishop D’Arcy and his 82 brother bishops who publicly stood with him, “in grateful appreciation to the Church’s shepherds who prayerfully provided witness for a strong Catholic identity on Catholic campuses.”

The bishops received 116,741 Mass Intentions, 146,944 Rosaries, 57,728 Aspirations, 236,615 General Prayers, 74,974 Divine Mercy Chaplets, 28,862 Days of Fasting, 19,877 Novenas, 37,125 Eucharistic Holy Hours, and 3,272 Masses offered by Catholic priests.

According to the USCCB press release, the bishops approved their statement in support of Bishop D’Arcy during their spring General Assembly in San Antonio last week, June 17-19.

Bishop D’Arcy took several actions to oppose Notre Dame’s scandalous actions.  He voiced his strong disapproval, announced his boycott of the commencement exercises, and issued a correction in response to Notre Dame President Fr. Jenkins’ attempts to defend the choice of Obama as speaker and honoree.

Bishop D’Arcy declared that, despite Fr. Jenkins arguments to the contrary, the University of Notre Dame was in direct violation of the 2004 USCCB document “Catholics in Political Life,” which reads, “The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.”

Most of the 82 bishops who joined Bishop D’Arcy also took the position that Notre Dame was in violation of “Catholics in Political Life.”