Archdiocese of Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley will boycott the commencement at Boston College because the Catholic educational institution is hosting the Prime Minister of Ireland at a time when the nation faces a government bill that would okay some abortions.
The College is scheduled to award Edna Kenny an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.
Pro-life advocates, led by Students for Life of America, are galvanizing pro-lifers against Ireland’s first pro-abortion Prime Minister Enda Kenny’s planned address to Boston College graduates. It has launched a web site, NotAtBC.com, to gather supporters to protest the speech.
“Since the university has not withdrawn the invitation and because the Taoiseach (prime minister) has not seen fit to decline, I shall not attend the graduation,’’ O’Malley said in a statement released this afternoon. “It is my ardent hope that Boston College will work to redress the confusion, disappointment and harm caused by not adhering to the Bishops’ directives,” he added, referencing the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops instruction that Catholic institutions not honor those whose views are inconsistent with the Church’s teachings.
The statement continued: “The Irish Bishops have responded to that development by affirming the Church’s teaching that “the deliberate decision to deprive an innocent human being of life is always morally wrong” and expressed serious concern that the proposed legislation “represents a dramatic and morally unacceptable change to Irish law.”
Defending the invitation, Boston College Spokesman Jack Dunn told the Boston Globe: “Boston College invited Prime Minister Kenny a year ago to speak at our commencement to celebrate its heritage and relationship with Ireland and our desire to recognize and celebrate our heritage. “Our invitation is independent of the proposed bill that will be debated in the Irish parliament this summer.”
Cardinal O’Malley also told the Catholic Herald that Ireland should oppose efforts to legalize any abortions.
“Abortion is the taking of an innocent human life; everyone should resist abortion. Ireland has the good fortune, in part thanks to Catholic sensibilities, that her people have been opposed to abortion despite the great pressure that they have come under from secularising forces,” said Cardinal O’Malley. “Ireland should be very proud of its pro-life heritage and how traditionally there has been great importance given to human life. Every life counts, and I am very proud that in Ireland protection is given to life that is as vulnerable as the unborn. I hope that Ireland will continue to stand up against the pressures – I know the pressures are there. Pressure to legislate for abortion is a dehumanising force in our world. The laws have a function of teaching what is right and wrong. And simply because someone is going to do something, does not mean that we have to facilitate it, condone it, or encourage it.”
Students for Life is calling on all pro-lifers to send a personal message on the new website to Boston College President, Rev. William Leahy, expressing outrage about Prime Minister Enda Kenny representing the school at graduation and demanding the invitation be rescinded.
“Make no mistake about it: Prime Minister Enda Kenny supports allowing abortion, on-demand, in Ireland. But, before he makes abortion legal in Ireland for the first time, Kenny has been invited by Catholic leaders in America to speak at Boston College’s commencement ceremonies and receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree,” SFLA said in an email to LifeNews. “For any college to honor the man who would usher in the mass death of Irish preborn children is simply unconscionable.”
Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins explains why it is so important for people to speak out:
“I find it incomprehensible that Boston College, a Catholic university, will honor Prime Minister Kenny while knowing he is advocating for legal abortion in Ireland. Legalized abortion here in America has led to the deaths of over 55 million preborn baby girls and boys, the victimization of millions of women, and the crumbling of families. After our painful experience for the past 40 years, we know what legal abortion will do to Ireland.
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“As Catholics, Christians, and pro-lifers of all faiths, the time is now to stand in solidarity with the innocent pre-born, oppose Prime Minister Kenny, and demand he stop promoting the grave moral evil of abortion in Ireland. Boston College must hold true to its Catholic mission and immediately revoke their invitation to Prime Minister Kenny to speak at their commencement ceremony. Now is the time to send the message that abortion will not be tolerated by the Boston College family, the Catholic Church, and millions of Americans nationwide.”
