Most Rev. Robert W. Finn, Bishop of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese, was interviewed by Jack Smith of the Catholic Key Blog about the University of Notre Dame’s commencement honoring President Obama. Bishop Finn explained why the May 17 commencement proceedings were so problematic for the Catholic Church and why President Obama’s speech brought “dialogue” “to a screeching halt.”

“Catholics are blessed for the witness and leadership of the bishops who have and are continuing to publicly oppose Notre Dame’s scandalous honor for our pro-abortion president,” said Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society. “Bishop Finn makes an essential point that the worst fears of many were realized at Notre Dame’s commencement.”

Bishop Finn said, “This is part of the scandal of Notre Dame’s invitation to the President - that it has the potential of confusing people concerning the Catholic teaching against abortion, and on the priority of abortion among other issues of public policy.”

Referring to the introductory speech given by Notre Dame president, Rev. John Jenkins, Bishop Finn said, “Fr. Jenkins himself uses a whole series of very, very hard words. He uses the words - division, pride, contempt, demonize, anger, distort, hateful, condemn, hostility. And one might wonder whether he uses these words as a kind of a caricature of the 60 to 70 bishops who have spoken out against his invitation.”

During the months leading up to commencement, Fr. Jenkins repeatedly appealed to the principles of “engagement” and “dialogue” when attempting to defend his decision to honor President Obama. When Hon. Mary Ann Glendon historically refused Notre Dame’s offer of the Laetare Award on account of the scandal she said that commencement is not the right place for the necessary engagement to take place.

Despite being corrected so many times before May 17 – even by Notre Dame’s own bishop, Most Rev. John D’Arcy – Fr. Jenkins’ again emphasized the “primacy of dialogue” when he introduced President Obama at commencement, as if that were the ultimate justification for honoring a vigorously pro-abortion leader.

During his interview, Bishop Finn also said, “Dialogue is a means to an end. The purpose of dialogue has to be a change of heart. If I listen well and we each speak the truth, then the dialogue may have a chance of being productive. But I have to have some authentic principled goal in mind… Dialogue is important, but the question is fairly raised, ‘May we negotiate about things that are intrinsic evils?’ and I think the answer is no.”

Bishop Finn noted how President Obama clearly put an end to Fr. Jenkins’ calls for dialogue during his speech.

“I think the message of the day was this – that the President of Notre Dame said that they had invited the President of the United States and decided to honor him for the sake of dialogue. And then the President got up and said that the differences that we have on abortion – namely the Catholic Church’s staunch opposition to abortion and his staunch support of abortion were ‘irreconcilable.’ And at that moment, it would seem to me that the dialogue came to a screeching halt. Father Jenkins’ expressed desire for dialogue, whether it was well-founded or justified, at that point got thrown back in his face. The President shut the door on dialogue by saying that there was not going to be any change in his position on abortion and he understood that there was not going to be any change in the Church’s position on abortion. To me, that was the lesson of the day. I am glad that Mr. Obama was so clear.

Bishop Finn continued, “And then, amazingly, everybody gave him a standing ovation. The perception unfortunately was that this was a completely acceptable position of his and, because he is a bright and talented man, this trumps the destructive decisions that he’s making day after day.”